Aimed at Love – Uses of the Law: To Promote Sound Doctrine (4)

Aimed at Love

Uses of the Law: To Promote Sound Doctrine (4)

The aim of our charge is love…. 1 Timothy 1:5

Jesus taught that all the Law and the Prophets found their proper expression in the two-fold commandment of love for God and neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40). Thus, is it inconceivable that we could study the Law of God, read it through the filter of the Prophets and our Lord Jesus Christ, and expect that the Apostles would come to any other applications of the Law than these. At the same time, we should also be able to see that it will not be possible to fulfill the “aim of our charge” apart from careful reading and study of the Law of God.

Sound doctrine is not just a matter of abstract theology reduced to arcane definitions and mind-boggling terms. Doctrine is only sound when it issues in love on the part of those who are learning it. And such doctrine, to be sound, must come to expression in the form of good works set forth in the Law of God. The Law thus contributes to our understanding of sound doctrine by providing an abundance of concrete examples to guide our thinking concerning how we should love God and our neighbor.

We shall return to this theme on Sunday. Sound doctrine is, as Paul explains it, a jewel with four facets. The first facet consists of achieving a right understanding of the teaching of God’s Word, and we have been addressing this during the first four installments in this current series. We must have our minds rightly grounded in the Word of God if we are to be able to keep from swerving away from sound doctrine. The Law of God, as we have seen, provides the intellectual cornerstone for the rest of Scripture. We will not have a mind for sound doctrine if we neglect the study of God’s Law.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Bookstore, then Church Issues.

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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.