Heb 8: 8-13; Titus 2: 1-15; John 13: 21-38; Romans 13: 8-14

Although we may have completed our exploration of God’s Ten Commandments, our meditation on the subject has not yet been concluded. There are some other issues that now need to be brought into perspective. The first is this: what is the role of the Ten Commandments in the life of Christian? If we say we are saved by grace through faith, how does the law fit into the picture? As we saw at the beginning of our studies, there are many Christians in today’s church who claim that once we are saved, we are no longer under the judgement of the law of God and therefore the Ten Commandments have no meaning for a true believer. This “lawless” version of Christian teaching is a travesty of the truth – a scandalous misinterpretation of what the Bible is saying. Although it is true that we can never be saved by the law for the simple reason that no one in their own strength can keep it, this does not mean that the law no longer applies.

The passage in Heb 8: 8-13 sums up what other books of the New Testament teach us (for example Rom 5:5; Gal 4:6-7) that when we come to faith, the Holy Spirit writes God’s law on our hearts and helps us to live by them. And He not only helps us to live by them. He helps us to do it lovingly and joyously. This is the new way of living that the New Testament holds out for us. It introduces us to the new and exciting truth that once the Holy Spirit abides within our hearts, following the law is no longer a daily duty but a daily delight. As the psalmist said: “for I delight in your commands because I love them” (Psa 119:47). We explore further the erroneous belief that once we become Christians we are free from any responsibility to obey the Ten Commandments. Before going any further, let us clarify our use of the word “law”. By “law” we meant the Ten Commandments. There were other laws in Israel – the ceremonial law, for example – that do not apply to us who live in the New Testament times, for they were abrogated by the death of Jesus. But the issues raised in the Ten Commandments still hold true for today.

Let us focus on the text that is often repeated by those who advocate that once we are saved by grace the law no longer applies: “for sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14). What Paul is saying in the whole of the epistle to the Romans is that no Christian need depend on the keeping of the Ten Commandments as the means of his or her salvation. Paul does not mean that the law of God is abolished. But that the Christian does not look to the law for either justification or sanctification. Once the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, instead of resisting the law, we can rejoice in it. Why? Because we sense within us a new strength that enables us to do the things God asks of us. The road of grace, which has been opened to us through the death of Christ, has not been fenced by a long list of legalistic rules but by God’s loving design in His moral law, the Ten Commandments. We may be under a new law of love, but Scripture clearly teaches that love is the fulfilling, the completeness of the law.

The text from John 13: 21-38 highlights for us an extremely important issue – the relationship of law to love. The law and love are not incompatible or mutually exclusive but are inter-related and inter-dependent: love needs law to guide it. In his book Christ the Controversialist, John Stott wrote: “What the New Testament say about law and love is not If you love you can break the law, but rather if you love you will keep the law.” Jesus is the embodiment of love. But on one occasion He said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them.” (Matt 5:17). In His life and teaching He fulfilled the law – both in word, deed and intention. However, just before leaving the world He announced to His disciples a new commandment that has been described as the badge of true discipleship – a command to love. This new commandment revealed the purpose behind His coming. It was not to set aside the law but that the requirement of the law might be met through the obedience that springs not from duty but from love.

To break any one of the Ten Commandments is a breach of love. It follows therefore, that if love directs and controls the life, then there can be no such breach. This is true both of a person’s relationship with God and of our relationship with others. Listen to how Paul puts it when talking about our relationship with others: “let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law” (Rom 13:8). To love perfectly is to fulfil perfectly the law which was spoken in love. And where there is no love there can be no real understanding of the law. So important is this simple but magnificent principle that we spend our last article in this series applying it to each of the Ten Commandments. If we love God absolutely, then we will not be able to find room for another god and the first of the Ten Words are fulfilled. Supreme love for God also means that we will not suffer anything to stand between us and Him and so all idols are broken to pieces. Out of love will spring a reverence of His Name and a life worthy of the one who lends His name to us. Love understands the principle behind the Sabbath and will not just cease from work but will also gladly engage with rest and remembrance.

In the second part of the Ten Commandments, love for God means we will honour our parents and quench all thoughts of hatred towards others. Love treats another’s property with respect and keeps our thoughts and conduct towards the opposite sex pure. When love is the filter of what we speak, it arrests the faintest whisper of false witness against others. And love for God gives us a contentment with ourselves and what we have that leaves no room in the heart for coveting anything but Him and the greatest thing – love (1 Cor 13:13). When men and women learn to love then Sinai, the mountain of fire, holds no fear. They can stand tall against it. Knowing that as Jesus lives and loves in them, thoughts will be born, words will be spoken and deeds will be done – in love. Then in thought, word and deed, the law will be fulfilled.

God Bless,

KS, Holyland Specialist Team