New Testament Conception of Law: Contemporary problems and ancient solutions Part III

The focus of the last post was on the law in the gospels. Jesus never claimed to have abolished or negated the Law of Moses. Jesus said he came to both fulfill the law and to enable others to do the same. By doing so, he established the moral law of God and His governmental model for all time. Because his suffering and death satisfied God’s law and justice, faith in Jesus is the means by which we all may obtain God’s pardon for our sins or moral crimes against the law of God. In this, the love of God is reveal and experienced. God is not tolerant. Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection fulfilled the law. The law of faith annulled the law of sin so that everyone who believes can fulfill the requirement of the moral law. Was this the view of Paul taught in his letters? If not, what was Paul’s view of law?

Paul’s View of Law

Paul’s conception of authority is important to understanding his view of the Law. In his letters, Paul clearly outlined the order of his authority. God was the highest authority. Paul called God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior.[1] The authority of Jesus is almost as high as God is. Jesus is the Lord, messiah, savior, and our hope.[2] Paul’s apostleship was “according to the commandment of God our Savior and Jesus Christ, our hope.”[3] Jesus called him to be his apostle,[4] but God had ordained it. [5] Having been appointed to his apostleship and instructed by Jesus, Paul’s instructions to the followers of Christ were the commandments of the Lord Jesus.[6] They were the laws of the Jesus, Lord and Messiah. That is why he distinguished his opinions from his speaking on behalf of the Lord. His preaching and teaching was the same as Moses, the prophets, or Jesus himself.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he created or recreated all rule and authority.[7] The office and authority of his Paul’s apostleship was one part of the new universal rule. Just as God ordained secular authorities, so were those in the kingdom of Christ. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God.[8]

Paul defined the Law as the covenant of promise made to Abraham.[9] It encompasses the Law of Moses[10] as well as the word of the prophets.[11] The law of God was holy and good.[12] Paul even regarded the law as spiritual.[13] As we will see later, the new covenant in Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the one promised by Jeremiah.[14] As portended by Jeremiah, the law of God fulfilled because of becoming of human nature.

Paul dealt extensively with the purpose of the Law. He taught that the law was made for the lawless, not the righteous (lawful); in modern conception, it is to regulate the moral behavior of citizens, protecting law-abiding from the destructive.[15] It seems strange that he would claim it was given so that transgression of the law would increase.[16] He preached this to explain how the power sin dominated human life because of rebellion against the can’t of the law. The knowledge of sin comes by knowing the law. The principle goes back to God’s warning to Adam’s eldest son Cain. When Cain revealed jealousy of his brother Able, God told him, “Sin lies at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master or dominate it.”[17] The problem is we all have failed to master it. As Paul wrote, “we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.”[18] Therefore, “there is none righteous not even one.”[19] There may be some who are self-righteous, but none righteous before God.

The law also serves as a tutor teaching us all about our need for forgiveness.[20] The law then lead us to Jesus Christ because his death satisfies the required punishment of God’s law.[21] His resurrection is our hope of eternal life when we believe on the Lord Jesus. When anyone “confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in his or her heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved.”[22]

This concludes the definition and purpose of the Law as explained by Paul. In the next posting, Paul view on the law will be completed. Many believe Paul taught the law of the old covenant ended with Jesus. Whether this is true will be covered in the last part of this series on the New Testament Conception of Law.
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Notes:
[1] 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Col. 1:3; 1 Tim. 1:1
[2] Act. 2:36; Rom. 1:1-7; 10:9,13; Php. 3:20; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Tim. 1:1
[3] 1 Tim. 1:1
[4] Acts 9:1-19
[5] 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal.1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1
[6] 1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thes. 4:2; Tit.1:3
[7] Col. 1:16
[8] Rom. 13:1-3
[9] Gal. 3:15
[10] Act. 13:39, 15:5, Rom. 13:8-10, Gal. 3:15; 5:14; 6:2; Eph. 6:2
[11] Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Cor. 14:21; Isa. 28:11
[12] Rom. 7:12; 1 Tim. 1:8
[13] Rom. 7:1
[14] Jer. 31:31-34; 2 Cor. 3:1-6; Gal. 4:22-31
[15] 1 Tim. 1:8-9
[16] Rom. 5:20
[17] Gen. 4:6-7
[18] Rom. 3:23
[19] Rom. 3:10
[20] Gal. 3:22-25; 4:4-5href="http:
[21] Gal. 1:3-4; 3:24
[22] Rom. 10:9-10

What can a child-like faith do?

James, the brother of Jesus, said that faith without works is dead.¹ Who would leave their house without faith? Every one believes they will be relatively safe beyond their home. Who would sit on a chair or drive their car? It takes faith to believe all chairs will hold them and all cars will get them to their desired destination. Even when a father is encouraging his child to trust in his ability to
catch her, she usually hesitates for a few moments before jumping off from a highplace. Once her dad has caught her, she demands to do it again and again and again.

Jesus said, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”² This is comparable to a child jumping off a roof in the arms of her father. In fact, it is comparable in several ways: First, we are the human brain is hard wired to recognize the natural presence of God. The mystery of the divine presence is the awesome experience of newness. Most of us know the excitement of making a new friend or falling in love. Meeting God for the first time is like that. Once our gracious Creator has come near, we begin to recognize His still small voice. Then the call to jump comes … not merely a leap of faith but a risk of trust. The leap of trust risks failure of being wrong in hopes of being right. If God catches, the act of faith establishes a new trust—a do it again God kind of trust. The analogous catch means God also acts in a substantial way. God’s response may be healing, deliverance from an addiction, or some other miracle to a timorous situation; it could be an instantaneous experience of peace as if a heaven burden of guilt was lifted; or God’s act might simply confirm the reality of His presence some other way—maybe just by a subsequent feeling of His love and acceptance. Whatever God’s response, it is that concrete settling of trust that makes children want to repeat it over and over and over again--adults too.

Therefore, entering the kingdom of God means simply entering it at the bidding of the Lord Jesus. It is the excited, thrill seekers, heart thumping Yes to God’s invitation into the unknown. I dare even to think it might be comparable to running into a black hole and coming out on the other side realizing that you are not only still alive but aware of a whole new dimension. That dimension is called spirit, the realm of God and the core of one own being. It is at the core of you own existence that your trust relationship with God is fully experience. At the center of eternity, you meet God as the one you can trust forever.

In many ways, life as a child of God is difficult because of human nature. Living in a physical world in which social relationships are often oppositional to God’s ways makes adjustment to both worlds rather challenging. That is why Jesus came into the world to ransom us and to show us the way.³ The Jesus we encounter in the eternal spirit and in the Bible is the one who lived without moral or spiritual crime. He understands our frailties, confusions, lapses, and finiteness. He even understands the pain of sin. God accepted his death as sufficient punishment for all of our moral crimes called sin. Relying on God grace, our responsibility as children of God is to learn to live under His rule, and God made Jesus king to lead and teach us to do just that.⁴

“This is the work of God that you believe in him whom He has sent.”⁵ Jesus also said, “He who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also.” ⁶ If Jesus is king of God’s kingdom, how could we do his works without obeying his laws? Therefore, Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”⁷ That is what the faith of God’s people does. For we live by faith and not by our senses.⁸

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¹ Jas. 2:17
² Mk. 10:15; Lk.18:17
³ Mat. 20: 28; 1 Tim. 2:6; 1 Pet. 2:21-25; Heb. 2:14-18
⁴ Ac.2:36
⁵ Jo. 6:29
⁶ Jo. 14:12
⁷ Jo. 14: 21
⁸ 2 Cor. 5:7; Rom. 1:17; Hab. 2:7

At the Church of the blogger

Thank you for visiting my little church on the blogosphere.

You may have never been to church before, but don't worry. I promise you it will not be like going to those buildings with stained glass windows and medieval dirges piped through organs by people in long dark robes. I hope you will sense the presence of peace and love when you visit. For the purpose of Church of the Blogger is to spread words of life, hope, and wholeness. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly."

So that we are all on the same page, my definition of life is as follows: life is relationship. The opposite of life is death, and death is separation from good relationship. Abundant life means wholesome relationship with parents, spouses, siblings, friends, work associates, and other people in society as much as possible. In the Bible, the gospels speak of eternal life. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to God, the Father, but through me." Therefore, eternal life is life with the Eternal One. God is the Eternal, and "God is Spirit."

The reason I said I hope you sense the presence of peace and love is because God is peace and love. When God comes near a person or persons, they experience one of two things: peace and loving acceptance or guilt and fear. If you happen to feel fear or guilt, you have become aware of past moral wrongs. You are feeling that because the presence of God is near. Because God is holy without past moral sin, His presence produces awareness of unresolved breaches of moral law, which is what sin is. Moral law is innate in human nature and human society. Hence, when the Creator is near, those who have broken the moral laws he established in human nature become evident.

How does one deal with the moral culpability and subsequent feeling of guilt? Confess them to God and ask God to forgive you of those remembered sins. Do so for the sake of Jesus, which I will explain in another post. If you do, you will feel the burden of guilt dissipate and peace you may have never experienced before will ensue. At some point this will be followed by the loving acceptance of the presence experienced.

Hopefully, you are experiencing the peace and love of God. If not, I pray in the name of the one who accepted God's punishment for our moral crimes, when he suffered and died 2,000 years ago in order to fulfill the legal requirements of God's law so that we could receive the benefit of God's unmerited forgiveness and acceptance--the Lord Jesus is his name--that God will visit you before the day is over. When you realize God is real and near, this is called revelation.

Thank you Lord for your eternal sacrifice of love for our eternal reconciliation with our Creator.