The Key to the Law – The Law of God: Question and Answers

The Key to the Law
The Law of God: Question and Answers

Jesus is the key to keeping the Law of God.

Question: What did Jesus teach about the Law of God?

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” John 13:34

In giving this “new” commandment Jesus was not setting aside the Law of God. The “new” commandment, as John explained, is really just the “old” commandment, which we have had from the beginning. What makes it “new” is the new Kingdom environment in which we take up this commandment in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:7-11, 26, 27).

Jesus’ “new” commandment is the way to learn and keep all the commandments of God: look to Jesus and follow Him.

You cannot follow Jesus without keeping His “new” commandment, and His new commandment is really all the old commandments rolled into Him and brought to expression in us, by the inward work of the Spirit of God (2 Cor. 3:12-18).

Jesus embodies the love God has for us and all His creation (John 3:16). If we want to learn how to love God, look to Jesus and the ways He actively and passively fulfilled the Law of God and accomplished the mission on which He was sent. Then we, too, by our obedience, may take up our own mission to bring the love of God and neighbor to the world (John 20:21).

If we want to know how to love our neighbors, look to Jesus, Who denied Himself, emptied Himself, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was obedient to the calling God appointed for Him (Phil. 2:5-11).

All the Law is summed up, exemplified, and keyed-in to Jesus. Look to Jesus. Contemplate Jesus. Call on Him, walk with Him, abide in Him, learn from Him, and, as you do, you will fulfill the Law of God.

Got a question about the Law of God? Write to T. M. at tmmoore@ailbe.org, and your answer might appear in this series of In the Gates columns.

Visit our website, www.ailbe.org, and sign up to receive our thrice-weekly devotional, Crosfigell, featuring writers from the period of the Celtic Revival and T. M.’s reflections on Scripture and the Celtic Christian tradition. Does the Law of God still apply today? Order a copy of T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, and study the question for yourself.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.