The Letters of the Law Part 2

The Letters of the Law
Part Two 

“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  Romans 10:2-4 (ESV) 

Yesterday I told you about a new word that I had come across, “antinomianism” and maybe I will segue back to it, however today I would like to cover what Paul had to say about “The Law” from the Book of Romans. And by using a few points from the book “Hard Sayings of Paul” by Manfred Brauch in kinda like in a line by line format we can see how this all can just pop out and make itself known to the Freedom Fighter world. There was stuff there I believe we oughta know. Such as… 

When we read things like “another law waging war against the law of my mind” (Rom 7:23) or “the law of the Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2) or “the law of faith” (Rom 3:27) that Paul writes about in the Book of Romans, we see that “law” is being used figuratively. To kinda give this a technical point of view we could say that the term law is being used to denote realities which help regulate life for the pagan or the Christian, get it? But Paul really only had the Mosaic Law to look through, a law that went back to the time of Moses and had regulated life for Israel for like a really long time, right? So the first thing to look into is Paul’s own understanding and experience of the law. 

Paul was “a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law blameless.” (Phil 3:5-6) This law was God’s law; it expressed God’s will and God’s purposes for His people. To obey this law was to be obedient to the will of God and, as a rabbi, Paul knew this law very well, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Rom 7:12 ESV) He knew it that is spiritual, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.” (Rom 7:14 ESV) That it comes from God, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,” (Rom 7:22 ESV) and that it leads us into a real life, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.” (Rom 7:10 ESV) 

As that Hebrew of Hebrews, Paul understood the privilege to possess the law was a gift of God’s grace, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.” (Rom 3:1-2 ESV) He knew there was going to be accountability within the possessing the gift of the Law. “But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law”--- and to continue on to qualify as, “a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.” (Rom 2:17-19 ESV) Since we can see that one was obligated to keep the Law (Romans 2:17-24) and according to his own testimony, Paul believed the keeping of the Law was do-able. 

But with concern or regard to this obligation, Paul was blameless (Phil 3:6). This all changed with experience with Jesus Christ on that dusty road to Damascus. So how much of “The Law” do you think is necessary to keep in our everyday life? The Antinomianist just might say no to that but I think there are reasons why the law is good and so did Paul. But I would reckon it to ourselves that an encounter with Jesus Christ would give us the kind of authoritative interpretation needed to not go crazy with enforcing it in the way Saul of Tarsus did. Tomorrow I would like to cover the ripple effect of Paul’s encounter with the Messiah but as I close today I pose this question to all of us. Has our encounter produced a ripple effect to those around us or are we all just striving to be a Biblical enforcer? Hmmm…. Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter contributor 

GPS – God’s Positioning System: Matthew 8:1-13; Luke 7; Psalm 91; Proverbs 8

Compass Pointers: “One very effective restraint is the force of conscience: Paul says, “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them.” (Romans 2:14-15) Systematic Theology   Wayne Grudem

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: John 13:34-35; Level 2: John 13:31-35

Anchored to the Rock: Prayer is the sovereign remedy. Robert Hall