Question: Who must obey the Law of God?

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2.3-6

As we have seen, from the beginning of God’s redemptive work, He intended that His people should know full and abundant life by living within the parameters of His Law. The commandments of God were given to the people of Israel, redeemed by grace, in order to enable them to live in justice, mercy, wisdom, and love. In the Kingdom of Israel, all God’s people were expected to learn and obey the Law of God.

Why should this change as the redemptive work of God came to fuller and more complete realization under the New Covenant? As John makes clear in the text above, it does not. In the Kingdom of God, brought near by our Lord Jesus and inaugurated by His Spirit, the Law of God is established, not as a means of salvation, but as the way of holiness, righteousness, goodness, love, and life (Rom. 3.31, 7.12; 1 Jn. 5.1-3).

Redemption and salvation are still works of God’s grace, wrought for and upon a people of His choosing, accomplished not by the blood of a lamb, smeared upon the lintels of a home, but through the blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. All who receive the gift of salvation are called to follow Jesus, and Jesus, as He Himself explained, fulfilled all the Law of God (Matt. 5.17). To the followers of Christ God gives His Spirit as an indwelling presence, to instruct and empower them for obedience to His Law (Ezek. 36.26, 27; Jer. 31.31-34).

Indeed, if we claim to be followers of Christ and do not “keep” His commandments, we are lying and deceiving ourselves. The truth is not in us if we will not bring ourselves under the cope of truth and find the way of life within it. The love of God, for which we have been redeemed, is perfected in those who “keep” the Word of God, walking according to the commandments of the Lord in the same way that Jesus Christ did.

God has called us to His Kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2.12). Greatness in that domain, unto the glory of God, is realized by learning, obeying, and teaching the Law of God (Matt. 5.17-19).

T. M. Moore

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