Christ Alone!

- revisiting the Law of Christ debate

I can hear restless sighs and exclamations of 'oh no, not that again'! I understand. It is tedious to revive dispute long after it seems that things have settled - not least the clouds of dust raised by the to-and-fro of ongoing argument. Perhaps (I hope and pray) I have mellowed, at least in my 'passion' over the subject. But I haven't had my view altered. Not one bit.

The question in dispute was "are we as believers in any sense 'under law'?" What is this 'law of Christ' which Paul mentions in Galatians 6 vs 2?

"Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load."

This is the only verse in all of the New Testament where that phrase is used (the 1 Corinthians 9 verse says something totally different, in a completely different context. Not helpful to string two verses together and elaborate them into a whole 'system'). I still contend that in the context of the whole of Galatians, with Paul's considerably strong insistence that believers should not consider themselves as living 'under law', we simply cannot make this one verse reverse (sorry!) his whole argument's direction. 

'Fulfillment Theology

Second, I argue that the word 'fulfill' here is vitally important. We know that Christ has 'fulfilled' the Mosaic law. And thus what has resulted means that that Law is obsolete - redundant. Jesus states that He upholds all of it. It is not a write-off. But it has been exceeded; superceded; transcended by a greater and more glorious principle. A new dynamic by which the believer's life in Him now operates. We no longer live by law-obedience. We live by keeping in step with the Spirit. And in this final section of Galatians, Paul argues that we mirror the sin-bearing aspects of our Saviour in helping our brothers and sisters who are struggling with 'a sin'. Not that we in any way do for them what Christ alone does - has done. - He alone died for sins; we have no need to But we have His heart, His mind, in that we set ourselves to 'seek and to save' our erring brother. We work to 'carry' his burdens, sharing the weight (but not the sinning). So, in the language Paul so ably employs, we do not 'keep' this law of Christ, we 'fulfill' it. This is the action of the loving heart which is created in the child of God. It disposes us to go far far further than any commandment could require us to. When the believer behaves in this way, in every sense he or she completes the new commandment of Jesus that we love one another 'as I have loved you'. Effectively, we are laying down our lives for them.

Illustrations

My simple mind looks for ways to see this. 

Here is a caterpillar. A crawling grub, earthbound, mono-coloured. Now consider what it will become. In a few short weeks its being is transformed. One would not easily link it with its former state. Now it is a beautiful, graceful coloured-winged marvel. Now it rides the breezes above the ground to which it was once bound. But look more closely. Examination shows that you can still make out the previous form - of the caterpillar. 

Life in the Spirit - is that in complete ignorance of the righteous requirements God commands in the lives of the former testament?  No, that former law pointed towards what would be the ultimate shape of what would come - it was a shadow. Everything the former scheme was aiming at is now achieved - and exceeded - by what God has brought about in the effusion of His own Spirit - Christ is the substance.  The believer is being transformed daily to become more like the Saviour himself.  The seed - the shape of 'law' has died. What grows from it is vibrant, sun-seeking and vigorous. It bursts into the light - and keeps going upwards. It has the power to crack concrete. But first, the seed must die.

To attempt to restrict the 'style' of the transformed life in Christ to mere law-living is precisely what Jesus himself describes when he refers to the futility of trying to contain new wine in old wineskins. To attempt it will result in disaster. We need new theology to search out and explore new covenant.

Greater Glory

 This is the same comparison Paul makes in comparing the 'glory' (revealed splendour) of the Law to the appearing of the Son in 2 Corinthians 3:

"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!"

Here is how we are to place 'law-living' by the side of Christ-living'. The former does not have the vocabulary to define toe latter. It is all Christ, and Christ alone. To reduce living in Him to a set of rules, in the place of the freedom of the Spirit detracts from that focus. 

And that, my friends, is why I contend so passionately for the theology of the Christ-covenant.