Uses of the Law: To Engage God’s Spirit (1)

T. M. Moore

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Acts 1.4, 5

Reading, meditating on, and following the Law of God gives us a greater appreciation of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ and, thus, enables us to know the salvation of God more fully and completely. As we take up the Law we are daily reminded of and renewed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. At the same time, our failures of obedience (1 Jn. 1.8-10) remind us of the completeness of Jesus’ suffering. Learning and obeying the Law can only increase in us love for Jesus Christ and gratitude for His salvation, even as He uses His Law to bring forth more of His righteousness in us, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

But how does this occur? Seeing that we remain sinful and have no strength of our own to bring to the task of obeying God and enjoying His blessings, how is it that we are actually able to glorify Him through obedience to His Word? This is the work of God’s Spirit, Whom the Father promised in order that we may know the full benefits of His covenant love. The Spirit of God brings redemption and new life to the believer (Jn. 6.63; Gal. 4.6). He engages us for seeking and advancing the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6.33; Rom. 14.17). He works within us to will and do of God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2.13), bringing forth holy virtues, gifts for ministry, and power for witness in our everyday lives (Gal. 5.22, 23; 1 Cor. 12.7-11; Acts 1.8). He works with the Law and Word of God to bring us into the presence of the glory of God, and from there, to send us forth to refract that glory to the world (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

We will not know the full potential of what the Spirit of God can do within and through us until we take up the Law of God with Him as the foundation and fodder of His transforming work in our lives (Ezek. 36.26, 27). The Law of God is a kind of cornerstone of Scripture, guiding and directing us in understanding all the will of God for our lives. Within the Law itself, as in all Scripture, Jesus Christ is the essential component and theme (Jn. 5.39). Thus, studying the Law of God reveals Christ to us and teaches us how to read the rest of Scripture so that we may gain more of that glorious vision. And it is this vision of Christ, rooted in God’s Law, into which the Spirit is working to change us from glory to glory, day by day.

We cannot expect fully to engage the glorious work of God’s indwelling Spirit apart from knowledge of and obedience to 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 Book Store.