The Christian, the Law, and Jesus – The Kingdom Curriculum IV (1)

The Christian, the Law, and Jesus

Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. Psalm 132:8, 9

“What, then, is the Christian’s relationship to the Law?” We return to the question with which we began this series on The Kingdom Curriculum. By now, however, we have hopefully arrived at a different answer from the one given nearly a generation ago. We have seen that the Apostles, the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit of God all endorse and urge obedience to the Law of God. Further, we understand that, by the work of the Spirit of God in quickening us unto salvation, we now have the heart for God which is essential to living by His Law. And we have seen that God’s intention for His Law is that it should regulate and guide the affairs of all men, not just the redeemed.

So how can we answer this question with anything other than a resounding affirmation that the holy, righteous, and good Law of God is of the utmost importance for those who would follow Jesus in this life (1 Jn. 2:1-6)? Particularly when we remember that “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9), we can only conclude that the Law of God is more important than we may have first thought.

But in what ways?

First, as the ground of our salvation and righteousness in the sight of God. This is true only because Jesus laid the groundwork for salvation through His own obedience to the Law of God, and by suffering all the wrath and judgment the Law of God demands against sinners such as we. Jesus’ obedience and suffering – grounded as they were in the Law of God – make it important for us to know the Law, that we might fully appreciate the extent of Christ’s work in clothing us with His righteousness and salvation.

Beyond that, He continues to clothe us with His righteousness as He works within us, by His Word and Spirit, to make us willing and obedient to God. Here again, in our sanctification as in our justification, we claim no righteousness of our own. Our obedience to God’s Law, whereby Jesus clothes us increasingly in the white garments of His righteousness, is His work in us, transforming us from glory to glory into His own image (2 Cor. 3:12-18). Yes we must apply ourselves, pursuing the holiness of God according to all His Word (2 Cor. 7:1); yet we could have no profit of our pursuit whatsoever if Jesus did not work by His Spirit on and in us to clothe us with His righteousness and not our own (Jn. 6:63).

We fulfill the Law in Jesus. We are delivered from its judgment by Jesus. We grow in the righteousness of the Law by Jesus. Jesus is the key, the wardrobe, and the garments of righteousness, outlined in the Law of God, that we must possess if we would walk in constant fellowship with God. “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).

Order your copy of The Law of God today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, Waxed Tablet, to place your order and take up the Kingdom curriculum of our Lord.

—

“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is 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.