Previous | | Next | | E-Mail | | Contents | | V&FT
"'. . . that He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.'
For from Zion will go forth the Law
Even the Word of God from Jerusalem."
Micah 4:2
The Argument:
Some Christians say we are not obligated to obey the Laws of the Old Testament, we are
only obligated (no . . . not "obligated," but "it would be better if we
decided to") bring forth the "Fruit of the Spirit" mentioned in Galatians
5. But by refusing to listen to the Words the unchanging Spirit authored before Christ,
the "Fruit of the Spirit" is distorted. The only way to bring forth the Fruit of
the Spirit is to obey God's Law.
All of the Fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5 are commanded by the Law of God in the Old Testament. Paul had nothing less in mind than obedience to the Scriptures.
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Pop Psychology teaches us that Love is an elusive, enigmatic, uncontrollable passion that can neither be developed nor tempered. "Love" either is or it isn't, and if I feel "love" when it is inconvenient, or don't feel "love" in a context where I have pledged to render certain responsibilities, there is nothing I can do about it. And to say God commands me to love someone when I don't "feel" like it, is a blasphemous obscenity to modern man, and will not be tolerated by the televised prophets of the modern age. "Law" kills "love," in this view.[51]
But God's Law indisputably commands love, and so for the Christian, love must be born, nursed, controlled, or killed by the power of the Spirit, conforming to the Blueprints of God's Law.
Jesus said that the greatest of all commandments is the Old Testament commandment to "love the LORD thy God with all thine heart. . . ."[52] The Second Greatest commandment is also from the Old Testament, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."[53]
We are commanded to "hate" the enemies of God[54] but Leviticus 19:17 warns, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart." God's Law commands us to feel God's feelings.
Only the one who has never read the Old Testament could conclude that it does not command us to love. As John writes in his first epistle, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments: and His Commandments are not grievous."[55]
Shouldn't the Christian be obeying God's Law?[56]
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Previous | | Next | | E-Mail | | Contents | | V&FT
(51)
In so many ways we are taught by the secular humanist culture around us that there is a conflict between Love and Law. Certainly there is a conflict between man's law and Love. It is against "the law" for a policeman to love his enemy and cover a multitude of sins. Man's "law" commands him to engage in violent vengeance. Knowing more about man's law than God's Law, we tend to impute the qualities of man's law to God's. This is always dangerous.Since God is love, every act of Law-making by God is an act of love. His Law is in our best interest. Since God's Law is comprehensive, there is no need for man to make any laws. When man makes laws, it is out of a desire to destroy God's loving Law. Thus, every act of law-making by man is an act of violence and hatred - hatred of God and hatred of Man, His Image-Bearer.
The relationship between Law and Love is so important we have covered it in more detail in a separate section below.
(52) Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37.
(53) Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39.
(54) Psalm 139:21-22; cf. Luke 14:26.
(56) The sounds of the overthrow of the Old World Order are not the sounds of clashing swords and exploding bombs, but rather the sounds of love, in every relationship, in every household, in every area of life.