The Substance of True Spirituality – The Kingdom Curriculum IV (3)

The Substance of True Spirituality

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane… 1 Timothy 1:8, 9

Because all believers in Jesus Christ remain sinners – that is, people who commit sin, although not people who are condemned by it – we need the Law of God. The law is laid down for sinners; Paul was our chief, but we are willing participants in his unholy and profane band (1 Tim. 1:15). Thus we are just the sort of people who need to learn how to use the Law “lawfully”, that is, according to its intended purposes.

But what are those purposes? We have been glimpsing them all along thus far in our study. The Law of God is given to free us from the fetters and fears of sin. We use it lawfully when we allow it to illuminate the sin within us and to designate the path we should walk instead. The Law is the Spirit’s primary resource in making us willing and able to do what is pleasing to God (Ezek. 36:26, 27; Phil. 2:12, 13). As we learn the Law and walk in it, the power of the Spirit flows through us, in His wanted grooves, as it were, bringing forth the glory of God in the form of the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:12-18). The Law was given to bring us into the full and abundant life in the presence of God (Lev. 18:1-5). Fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore await those who walk the paths of the Law in the presence of God day by day (Ps. 16:11). And the Law complements our testimony in Jesus Christ, marking us out as the holy ones of the Lord and the primary objects of the devil’s wrath (Rev. 14:12; 12:17).

All of this is but to say that the Law of God is the essential component of true spirituality. We cannot understand the rest of Scripture apart from the Law. If we neglect or transgress the Law, our prayers will fall on deaf ears in the court of King Jesus (Ps. 66:18; Prov. 28:9). To walk in the Spirit, to dwell in the light as Christ is in the light, and to live such works as bring glory to God – which is the calling of every truly spiritual person – we must know and obey the Law of God.

They who walk in true spirituality are not those who flaunt ecstatic experiences of the Spirit, or endure long hours of spiritual discipline, or boast of immediate revelations and insights from God. They walk in true spirituality who walk in the Law of God. For the Law of God – given by God, fulfilled by Christ, taught by His Spirit – is the substance of true spirituality, and none walk that path who do not walk in the Law of God.

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.

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“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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.