INTRODUCTION
All of us are ruled by the ideas in our heads. Some ideas
in our heads are consciously and/or unconsciously hidden from
ourselves and from others. These are ugly, so we hide from them.
Our prejudices, opinionated preferences, any perversities, perceptions
of life's experiences, our assumptions, ideologies and judgments
formulated within our cultural environments come together to cause
us to feel, think, believe, speak and do what drives each of us.
As our ideas, motives and perceptions change so do we change—for
good or evil. And since the Bible is a book expressing the ideas
of the omniscient and omnipotent, God so do our ideas about God's
ideas make us what we are becoming.
Self-evidently then, when I attempt to explain Scriptures with
which I know others disagree, I'm imposing my present ideas upon
what I choose to further understand and explain. How can
I be assured that I'm right in the conclusions I draw? Confrontation
with truth is inwardly threatening. Comfort in personal opinions
is reassuring. There's also the complication that we are told
by the apostle Paul, "the Law is spiritual," as he states
in Romans 7:14. What does that mean? Do the answers lay the foundations
for truth in the inner man? Do we want truth in our inner being!
"THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL"
The apostle uses the word Law (nomos) more than 80 times
in his epistle to the Church of God in Rome. A survey of these
uses is stunningly revealing, for it provides definitions of what
he means in chapter 7 and throughout the New Testament.
Paul's numerous references to the Law are integral to the Gospel
which was promised through God's prophets in the Holy Scriptures
(Rom 1:1-2). Furthermore, the Gospel reveals the power of God
leading to salvation for everyone who believes in the faith of
Jesus Christ (1:16). Denial of God's eternal power and divinity
(1:20) and the choice of perversity of life by those falsely professing
the wisdom of God are key factors in rejecting God (and His
Law) in their own knowledge (1:28).
ROMANS 2 begins with a cunning and sarcastic comparison
of correctly judging the Gentile world for its gross unrighteousness
but wrongly judging one's own inner application of the riches
of God's goodness which leads to repentance (vv 4-5). Verse 12
gives the first direct reference to law:
Doers of the Law are justified, not hearers (2:13; and
as Jas 1:18-26 amplifies). Gentiles who by nature do aspects of
moral law are affected in their consciences and thus accuse or
excuse themselves in what they know of law (vv 14-15). Surely
we know that all our secrets will be judged by Jesus Christ
and according to the Gospel (v 16). Do we seek to be purged
of all secret sins (as David in Ps 19:12-14 seeks)?
Paul then vehemently speaks as if all the Church are Jews inwardly
(vv 28-29)—and perhaps there were many Jews in the congregation,
but they were all guilty of sin. They rely on law (v 17), are
instructed out of the Law (v 18), are guides to the blind and
lights to those in darkness (v 19), instruct the foolish, teach
babes, have the (outer?) form of knowledge and truth in the Law
(v 20), but do they teach their (inner?) selves (v 21)? Do they
steal, commit adultery, pilfer from religious shrines, do they
dishonour and blaspheme the Name of God by breaking the Law (vv
22-24; as Christ has defined God's Law, e.g., in Mt 5:27-32)?
Paul has moved from the notion of law and codes of behaviour that
have some basis in God's Law to the perspectives of Law that Christ
has given in His Gospel.
The sarcasm then moves to focus on circumcision (vv 25-29). God's
praise comes with circumcision of the heart, which is a miracle
of God. Religious circumcision brings praise from the men
who circumcise the indoctrinated initiate into their modes of
thought. Circumcision may also be a matter of arrogance and a
measure of separation from the law-breaking Gentile world.
Paul asks the question: If the uncircumcised keep the righteous
requirements of the Law, will not their physical uncircumcision
be counted as spiritual circumcision (v 26)? Yes! It is these
righteous requirements of the Law of God that define the
spiritual intents of the Law and which are brilliantly addressed
in Matthew chapters 5,6,7, which deserve comprehensive exposition.
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART
The NT Greek for circumcise is peritemno (TDNT,
VI.72-84; mula in Hebrew; TDOT, VIII.158-162; TWOT,
Item 1161). The range of meanings includes: to remove foreskin
or prepuce; to cut round; to prune; to encircle with the view
of taking away dominion; to capture; to rob of territory; deprive
of wisdom. Some Old and New Testament verses helpful in better
understanding Rom 2:25-29 are:
In the blessings and cursings chapter, (Lev 26), the will
of God is expressed to us by Moses:
When the second set of tablets for the Ten Commandments was cut
by Moses, so that the LORD would write His Law on them, one of
the pre-conditions given was:
Those who are interested in natural health remedies should
notice that by cutting off some foreskin the pain in the neck
is removed. When the blood of sprinkling, confirming our covenant
with God, is seen, then the spiritual messages move past the stiff
neck into the heart of the head!
When the spiritual Israelite humbly recalls all the blessings
and curses on his journey to the Promises, God makes this promise:
The NT is consistent with these OT verses. Just before he was
murdered by the Sanhedrin, Stephen, one of the seven deacons chosen
by the church in Jerusalem, rightly accused the gang of hypocritical
religious leaders:
Human love seeks visible gratification for its expression. Godly
love steps out in faith, giving as God gives.
Col 2:11-12 speaks of spiritual circumcision in the context
of baptism and has strong affinity with Rom 7, which describes
the war of the flesh against Spirit and Spirit against the works
of the flesh (see Gal 5:17-25):
ROMANS 3
The apostle Peter warned that parts of Paul's epistles are difficult
(2Pet 3:16) and, like much of the rest of Scripture, are misinterpreted
and distorted by some. The Epistle to the Romans is one
of the most controversial among scholars (Brendan Byrne, S.J.,
Romans, Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1996; pp xi, 1).
Paul does not disagree with any apostle or prophet of Scripture,
so what is said here must not contradict any other part of the
Bible.
LAW IN ROMANS 4 AND 6
The sin-and-baptism chapter speaks of law in these famously-misunderstood
verses:
ROMANS 7
With the conquest of sin and death by the sacrifice of the Lamb
(Rom 5:8-11), and with the Christian becoming the slave of righteousness
(6:18,22), the discussion in Rom 7:1-4 enters the analogy of the
death of a husband and the freedom to marry another. The Husband
of OT Israel was Jesus Christ. With death in baptism (6:3-4),
the betrothed Christian prepares for the future spiritual
marriage—for the Bride of Christ is to prepare to marry the Son
of God (Rev 19:7-9). There is the requirement to "bear fruit
to God" (v 4), for faith and works are inseparable (Jas 2:26).
Paul explains what he means by serving "in newness of the
Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter" with respect
to the Law (7:6). We are alerted in Rom 7:5 to the discussion
that follows (in vv 7-25), which expounds on the problems concerning
being in the flesh and having the passions aroused to sin by
the law at work in our members, which bear fruits to death.
Let's look at these difficult verses.
This ever-present tension of seeking to know the truth of the
Law, and hence its wrathful condemnations of sin in the heart,
and always living by the grace and mercy of God through Christ,
lead to the final transformation and the resurrection of the firstfruits.
This is essentially what Paul describes as his personal experience,
which is also the experience of David, and is the experience of
every Christian whose heart and ear are circumcised.
The escape from the pain, the despair, the condemnation of the
flesh's lusts rings out like a jubilant song in the final verses:
MORE IN THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS
In Rom 8:7 we are reminded: Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God, it is not subject to the Law of God, nor indeed
can be.
The remaining verses to which I'd like to refer uphold what has
preceded.
SPIRITUAL, PRACTICAL, PROPHETIC
The apostle Peter gives us another perspective we think we understand:
The OT is consistent with these NT teachings, as Jeremiah shows.
Parts of this message are the most difficult I've given to date.
The difficulties are perhaps akin to the three-part series on
The Song of Songs which is not fully edited as yet but
of which audio copies are available.
The context of the apostle's statement in Rom 7:14—For we know
that the Law (nomos) is spiritual (pneumatikos),
but I am carnal (sarkinos), sold under sin—needs careful
examination.
Those who have sinned without law (anomos) will
perish without law; those who have sinned in law will be judged
by law.
The audience must realise that choices of sexual perversities
are a denial of divine Law by the world at large. However, the
apostle makes the stunning conclusion—so strongly implied—that
those who know the Law of God in the Body of Christ are judged
by it now.
Paul says that the person who is visibly Jewish (phanero Ioudaios)
and visibly circumcised is not necessarily a spiritual Jew
(v 28). A spiritual Jew is one whose heart is circumcised
in the Spirit and not necessarily in the letter (v 29). What are
the real evidences of being circumcised in heart? This is where
the problems of misperception lie.
In Ex 6:12 Moses responds to the LORD when asked to approach
Egypt's Pharaoh, "The children of Israel haven't heeded me.
How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?"
Moses felt deprived of sufficient wisdom to speak and robbed of
strength to cut through to the heart of Pharaoh. Ex 6:13-27 adds
that the large gathering of Israel, backed by the LORD, had to
come out of Egypt. Moses was again asked to approach Pharaoh for
permission to leave with all Israel.
Ex 6:30 But Moses again said to the LORD, "Behold,
I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?"
Circumcised lips are those which courageously and faithfully speak
the words of God. Such lips are separated from the wisdom and
ownership of the world and are wholeheartedly covenanted to the
Word of God. Moses was still learning.
Lev 26:40-41 (All Israel is to) confess their iniquity
and the iniquity of their fathers (so the Bible teaches that we
and our leaders are required to confess the sins of those before
us, for they helped create our present evil state)—(the LORD goes
on to say that Israel must confess) their unfaithfulness in which
they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary
to Me, 41 and this is why I also have walked contrary to
them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; however,
if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept
their guilt—then God will remember His Covenant (cf. Ex 19:4-6).
What must be removed from the heart to cause humility acceptable
to God? What territory in the heart must be brought into captivity
to Christ? What foreign dominance in the heart must be taken away?
What must be pruned and cut out of the heart that feeds on the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? What will
cause acute sensitivity and produce fruits of the Spirit?
Dt 10:16 Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be
stiff-necked no longer!
The Law they were given required spiritual discernment, circumcision
of the heart to see and hear rather than imagining what
God means in His Law.
Dt 30:6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and
the heart of your descendants (i.e., our spiritual descendants
who choose to turn to God at His calling, for we are children
of Abraham and children of promise; Gal 3:29; 4:28), to love the
LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that
you may live.
Jeremiah understood in the same way as Moses:
Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away
the foreskins of your hearts.
Abraham and Moses would have seen the parables in the droplets
of blood from their foreskins typifying the sprinkling of blood
on the altar of the Tabernacle and Temple and which also foreshadowed
Christ's sprinkling of blood (see Is 52:15; Heb 9:19-21; 10:22;
12:24; 1Pet 1:2). The problems of creating a circumcised heart
also have much to do with ears that hear.
Jer 6:10 speaks powerfully to us: To whom shall I speak
and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised,
and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach
to them; they have no godly delight in it.
What is the foreskin of the ear that cuts out the hearing of truth?
What are the noises of confusion and denials that must be taken
captive so that the ear can hear?
Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and
ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did,
so do you.
Circumcision of the heart and ears is evidenced by not grieving
nor quenching the work of the Holy Spirit. We must allow God to
take from us what hardens us and give us what causes us to accept
all the characteristic works of the Holy Spirit. Examples are:
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither physical circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything, but God-given faith
working through love.
When spiritually circumcised, faith enters the heart and divine
Love flows out!
Gal 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision
avails anything, but a new creation.
Walking in newness of life is walking in faith and is in humanly
unfamiliar territory.
Phil 3:3 expands yet again on what Paul has said in Galatians:
For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
The circumcision is another way of saying the Christianity
that lives the covenant of royal priesthood (Ex 19:4-6; 1Pet
2:5,9; Rev 1:6; 5:10).
In Him you were circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the
circumcision of Christ (for Christ was cut off), buried with Him
in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith
in the working of God.
Gal 5:24 demands that we all genuinely crucify the lusts of the
flesh, yet these lusts are too frequently unseen, unrecognised,
or rejected—so a state of spiritual uncircumcision persists.
With that necessary digression into circumcision in Old and New
Testaments, we come back to Paul's epistle and look at Romans
3, with its references to law. What does Paul mean by his use
of the word "law"? We've noted that he speaks of law
as Gentiles might apply it, which has some moral connections with
God's righteousness. How does Paul separate the Law of God and
'law' or Torah (religious instruction) as understood by Jewish
or man-made traditions? The chapter begins with the question:
What advantage has the Jew (3:1)? They were given the oracles
(logia, teachings) of God (v 2). But the teachings (logia)
of God and His Christ are in the stewardship of the church of
God (see 1Cor 4:1; Acts 7:38; Heb 5:12; 1Pet 4:11). Just as circumcision,
not understood by the religious leaders of Christ's time, was
in their hands, so circumcision of the heart and the spiritual
teachings that pertain to that, which must be understood by Christians,
are in the hands of the firstfruits whose names are in the Book
of Life.
In Rom 3:19 he says: Now we know that whatever the Law
says, it says to those who are under the Law, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
How is the entire world guilty before God? It has contravened
the teachings and laws of His Son, Jesus Christ! Christ will judge
all! And likewise, Jesus Christ never contradicts what the apostles
and prophets have truly said. Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Paul,
Jesus are all in agreement. It is human misinterpretation that
attributes disagreement and contradiction to the Scriptures, but
there is none. If I have ears to hear and a heart that sees, because
of circumcision, and I live by the Law of God and His Christ,
then I am under that Law—its judgments and its promises. And I
see that the world stands guilty before God, for it is in transgression.
But if I am under the rule of Christ then He judges me and will
reward me according to His Law, which is His Father's.
However, in v 20 we read: Therefore by the deeds of law
no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by law is the knowledge
of sin.
If I really understand this law and carry out, supposedly perfectly,
the works of that law then I am not justified, I am not made righteous,
even though my knowledge of sin is the result of knowing the law.
Why is that?
Verses 21-22 begin to answer my question: But now the righteousness
of God apart from law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets, 22 i.e., the righteousness of God is through
faith in Jesus Christ to all.
What is this faith in Jesus Christ? It is walking, doing, thinking,
feeling as He has shown. It is living by every word of God—as
I will not tire in saying! It is by the power of God and faith
in Jesus Christ! Can any Christian, one who is circumcised in
heart and ear, boast about his own spirituality? Paul answers:
Rom 3:27-28 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
what law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith (and that is the
gift of God). 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified
(made righteous) by faith apart from the deeds of law (for the
deeds of law are a product of human will, which I must
rightly use, but that is inadequate).
Law tells us what sin is. Law defines. Spirit inspires, gives
gifts, encourages. Faith drives correctly. Grace removes the burdens
of sin repented of. The Law is my means of measure of what is
right. The truth of that is revealed by the Spirit. My greatest
efforts do not earn me salvation, but I must always make the greatest
efforts. Faith and works go together.
Rom 3:31 then asks: Do we then make void law through faith?
Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish law. (I need the
Law so that this process is made evident to me).
Rom 4:3 states that Abraham believed God and that this was accounted
to him for righteousness. The religious leaders of Christ's day
(should today's leaders be excluded from this condemnation?) did
not know God nor the Scriptures (see Mt 22:29; Jn 8:19; 16:3).
Rom 4:13-15 elaborates on the promises given to Abraham:
For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not
to Abraham or to his spiritual seed through law, but through
the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of law are
heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect (for
only human efforts would then be rewarded with eternal life, which
is of course an absurdity), 15 because law brings wrath (because
we are transgressors, and the wages of sin are death. And when
we speak of law, do we speak only of fulfillment in the letter
or of perfection in spirit?); and where there is no law there
is no transgression.
But there is transgression! All have sinned and do sin! My spiritual
grasp of sin is through my spiritual grasp of what the Law of
God intends, and that comes by the Spirit—circumcision of the
heart and ear! The Spirit removes my resistance. Faith drives
my will.
Rom 6:14-15 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we
sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
The spiritual perceptions of what the Law means reveal the depths
of sin in our hearts which are driven by deceits, lusts, and covetousness
(see Jer 17:9; Mk 7:21-23; Rom 8:7; Col 3:5). We are not under
the threatening judgments of the Law in that the penalty of death
is removed by the Lamb of God and the mercy of our gracious Father
is ever-present with those whose hearts are always humbled by
circumcision. Law prophesies that we must have mercy and
grace, just as Adam prophesies the Second Adam, Jesus Christ,
(as Rom 5:12-15 and 1Cor 15:21-22 clarify).
Rom 7 has the heaviest use of the word law, nomos
in Greek (TDNT, IV.1022-1091). The Greek root, nemo,
to allot, to do what is proper, leads to nomos, which has
the meanings, rule, custom, tradition, norm, usage, convention,
cosmic law, natural law, moral law.
Rom 7:1 Do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those
who know law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as
he lives?
Prior to Paul's conversion he had been a renowned scholar and
student of the Law as interpreted by the Pharisees, 'the separated
ones.' He certainly knew, in his physically circumcised
but spiritually-uncircumcised state, that the Law said in summary,
"You shall not covet!" But it is by circumcision of
the heart and ear that the spiritual depths of meaning and awareness
of that law alert the heart and mind to the truths of the law.
Before he was under the Law—under its judgments with merely human
perceptions. Now he is under grace, knowing the far greater reach
and depth of the Law and that it is humanly impossible to please
God—which is what his Judaism sought to do. Rules, regulations,
humanly reasoned additions to the Law of God in fact overrode
the Divine intents of the Law.
Rom 7:5-9 continues: For when we were in the flesh the
passions of sins worked in our members through the law and made
us fruitful for death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the
law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve
in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the
letter. 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly
not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through
the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law
had said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, taking opportunity
by the commandment, produced in me all manner of covetousness.
For apart from law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the
law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
Let's continue in Rom 7:11-16. For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore
the Law is holy, and the Commandment holy and just and good.
After conversion, by the work of the Holy Spirit, one's mind is
overwhelmed by the fact that just as the Law reveals sin, the
depths of the Law conceal sin. We are deceived until more and
more of those overpowering depths of understanding of the glories
of the Law are revealed. But the flesh hates obedience to God
(Rom 8:7; Jer 17:9: Gen 6:5). The flesh is self-willed and conspires
self-deceptively to make one feel that one's self-will is pleasant
and therefore good. It is the entire Will of God, far removed
from the wills of the flesh and human mind, that must rule to
the very bottom of our hearts where our ideas are born (Rev 2:23;
Jer 11:20a; 17:10). The birth and nurture of false ideas are the
work of the Deceiver of the world. The birth and nurture of God's
ideas in our hearts are the work of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 13 asks: Has then what is good become death to me?
Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing
death in me through what is good (i.e., the true knowledge of
the Law), so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly
sinful. 14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal,
sold under sin.
Then that characteristic struggle, fight, life-long battle of
every Christian who is able to identify with all the saints of
Scripture is described:
Rom 7:15-16 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For
what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that
I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the
Law that it is good.
And how can that which is always good, spiritual and holy be overturned
as the means of revealing sin? Divine laws reveal sin and reveal
the glories of God.
Rom 7:21-23 uses nomos five times. Paul says: I
find then the law, that evil is present with me, in the
one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the Law of God
according to the inward man.
The apostle speaks of renewal of the inner man day by day (in
2Cor 4:16) and of being strengthened with might through the Spirit
of God in the inner man (in Eph 3:16).
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of the mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members.
Let's remind ourselves of a few basic statements Paul makes for
upholding the Law:
By the Law is the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20b); The
Law brings wrath and offence (4:15a; 5:20); Where there
is no Law there is no transgression (4:15b; 1Jn 3:4 Sin
is lawlessness).
Rom 7:24-25 Oh wretched man that I am! Who can deliver
me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our
Lord! So then, with the mind I serve God's law, but with the flesh
the law of sin.
Paul's cry of pain and relief is also the product of spiritual
awareness of the law and of the love of God for His children as
they always seek perfection in overcoming and in fulfilling His
Will as He defines it. There is further cause for joy in the victory
over sin in Rom 8.
Rom 8:1-4 adds to Paul's joy: There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (for they
are ever alert and alerted to sin and repent because of the work
of the Spirit). 2 For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what
the Law could not possibly do in that it was weak through the
flesh (for the Law is spiritual, and therefore eternal, and reflects
the nature of the Life of God), God did by sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned
sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law
(which is spiritually discerned) might be fulfilled in us who
do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Clearly then, the Law Paul is speaking of is the Law that the
carnal mind resists. And since the carnal mind is deceitful, how
does one know for sure that one sees according to the Will of
God? That Law defines all the righteousness, the love, wisdom
and judgment of the Almighty God. When we resist any aspects of
that demand for righteousness, then we are carnal and deceived.
If repentance is not forthcoming, if overcoming is resisted, then
there is condemnation and judgment by Christ under the Law. One
cannot avoid or diminish the struggle against the law of sin.
One cannot diminish what the will and intent of the Spirit is.
One cannot reject some seemingly little righteousness because
it may apparently be too difficult, and then expect to live as
one of the children of God. If we resist an application or one
point of the Law, we are guilty (see Jas 1:22; 2:10; 4:17).
Rom 9:31-32 Israel, in pursuing the law of righteousness
(as they saw it in their faithless blindness), has not attained
to the law of righteousness (to which the children of God begotten
by the Spirit have attained and must attain). 32 Why (did Israel
not achieve the righteousness of God)? Because they did not seek
it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law (Their idolatries,
their self-willed denials of some of the Gospel, their
vain traditions all precluded righteousness). For they stumbled
at that stumbling Stone (which is Jesus Christ—and He demands
perfection).
It is in Rom 10:4 that we find why many cannot comprehend the
Law of God and how it should be applied.
Rom 10:4-5 For Christ is the end (from the Greek,
telos: end result; purpose; goal; final description) of
the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5 For Moses
writes about the righteousness which is of the law (and is revealed
by circumcision of the heart), "The man who does those things
shall live by them" (which is cited from Lev 18:5. The whole
chapter deals with sexual lusts. We should again note that with
the doing of the Law under the revelatory guidance of the Holy
Spirit comes deep and exciting spiritual revelation and coherent
understanding).
Jesus Christ has shown us, and shows us, how to live according
to the righteous requirements of the Law. The Law on which all
the Law and the Prophets hangs is summarised:
Rom 13:8-10 Owe no one anything except to love one another
(as God defines according to His Word and not as we might define
according to our imaginations), for he who loves another has fulfilled
the Law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery,"
"You shall not murder," "You shall not steal,"
"You shall not bear false witness," "You shall
not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all
summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour
as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore
love is the fulfillment of the Law.
That love is always to be manifested and practised as it is defined
by God and His Son. Other ideas of love are denials of what God's
will is. Love's application may hurt a neighbour, because a Christian
may rebuke his brother, but it cannot harm unless love is perverted.
And the rebuked brother, if he has the love of God, is not harmed
nor offended (Ps 119:165).
Allow me to expand further on the biblical ideas of what is spiritual,
for these are practical and prophetic.
1Cor 2:10,13-15 tells us: God has revealed (the mysteries
of God; vv 6-7) to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches
all things, yes, the deep things of God (So the Christian experience
of the Life and Love of God in this life is humanly unsettling
and spiritually productive for there is change and growth in the
grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ). 13 These things we also
speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy
Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness to him (for there is always some
human excuse for not applying some spiritual demand of Scripture);
nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things (according to all
the word of God), yet he himself is rightly judged by no one (because
he readily admits his error and willingly seeks to live by every
word of God without self-deceiving excuses).
The heart with spiritual discernment is willing and faithful in
self-questioning and does not reject biblical questions put to
it. Spiritual discernment is coherent, consistent, gracious, forgiving
and encompasses all aspects of Christ's teaching. We all know
this! Do we apply all this all the time? If not, why not?
1Cor 3:1 gives more: And I, brethren, could not speak to
you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
Immaturity in spiritual discernment is viewed as living carnally.
Another aspect is given in Gal 6:1. Brethren, if a man
is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such
a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you
also be tempted.
Spiritual power is attributed to those who are able to help their
brethren in the fullness of the manner Scripture describes. There
is no arrogance that the helper will not be tempted by the same
sins of the one helped.
In Col 1:9 we read: For this reason we also, since the
day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that
you may be filled with the knowledge of His Will in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding.
Spiritual understanding can be defined as behaving as the apostle
Paul would ask us do.
1Pet 2:5 You also, as living stones, are being built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The churches of God are to become one spiritual House with all
the spiritual qualities of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus Christ,
the Foundation and Cornerstone of that House.
Jer 31:31-33 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah (for there will no longer be any doctrinal
divisions or disagreements); 32 not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke (because they lacked faith and rejected the Spirit),
though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. 33 But this is
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write
it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people.
The Law in the hearts of the spiritually circumcised will work
unhindered, uncontaminated, purely and powerfully.
Ezk 11:19-20 expresses the same thoughts as Jeremiah: Then
I will give them one heart (unity of purpose, will, doctrine,
and practice) and I will put a new spirit within them, and take
the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,
20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and
do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
Let's conclude with some of king David's most powerful words.
Ezk 36:26-27 almost repeats this: I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will
put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes,
and you will keep My judgments and do them.
Ps 19:7-11 The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the
soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the
fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of
the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired
are they than gold, yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than
honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
and in keeping them there is great reward.
This is why the Law is spiritual—it manifests the workings of
the Spirit. That amazing Psalm of repentance says to us: Ps
51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in
the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom—and might I add—the
love of God which surpasses all knowledge and which all of us
need ever more.