The Spirit of The Law

[Christsfreeservant]

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7 ESV)​

If you look up this word “rejoice” in the Greek Interlinear on biblehub.com, it says that it means to “delight in God’s grace, to experience God’s grace, to be conscious (glad) for his grace.” So, this isn’t just about rejoicing in the Lord, in general, but more specifically we are to rejoice in him and his grace to us. And that is certainly much cause for rejoicing, for without his grace to us who believe in him, we would all still be bound in slavery to sin, without hope, and without purpose, and we would all end up in hell for eternity.

So, we are to be glad in the Lord and in his grace to us always, without end. For by his grace Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who is also God – the second person of our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – was crucified on a cross in order to put our sins to death with him so that by God-persuaded faith in him we might be crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness.

[1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:1-23; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20]

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” while we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works,” “which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,” as “his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:10).

And when this says that we are to let our reasonableness be known to everyone, this is speaking of fairness, treating other people with fairness and reasonableness which “builds on the real intent (purpose) of what is really at stake” “in order to keep the spirit of the law” (biblehub.com). And now Jesus Christ is our example in this, and how did he do this? It wasn’t by lessoning God’s standards to make life easier for us, was it? In fact, he taught the law more strictly in order to keep “the spirit of the law” (Matthew chapters 5-7).

Let me give you an example of this from Matthew 5:27-30 ESV:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”​

So, “fairness” and “reasonableness” tell people the truth. It is not fair nor reasonable for us to ever lie to people by diluting the truth of the gospel to make the truth more palatable to human flesh so as not to offend people. But this is not an excuse to be mean and hateful, either. For the Scriptures teach that we are to speak the truth “in love” to one another, and Jesus and the NT apostles are our examples for how this should be done, and what this should look like. And they did not hold back truth to make people feel good.

And then we are not to be anxious (worried) about anything, but we are to take all our concerns to the Lord in prayer, seeking his counsel and wisdom, trusting in his grace and mercy, and leaning on him for support and strength to make it through every day and every difficult situation. And we must trust in the sovereignty of God over our lives, knowing that whatever happens to us, God allowed it (not necessarily caused it), and he will bring us through it. We just have to give these situations over to God and follow his lead.

And when we do this, when we surrender our circumstances over to the Lord, trusting in his grace and mercy, and following his leading in our lives, we can be at peace even in the midst of some of the worst “storms” of life. And this is something I have to remind myself of from time to time, too, when things in my life are troublesome and Satan tries to get me to be afraid. I have to remind myself that God is in control, and that he has this handled, and that he will get me through it, and then I must walk by faith.

Lead Me Gently Home, Father

By Will L. Thompson, 1879

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
When life’s toils are ended,
And parting days have come,
Sin no more shall tempt me,
Ne’er from Thee I’ll roam,
If Thou’ll only lead me, Father,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home, Father,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

Lead me gently home, Father,
Lead me gently home;
In life’s darkest hours, Father,
When life’s troubles come,
Keep my feet from wand’ring,
Lest from Thee I roam,
Lest I fall upon the wayside,
Lead me gently home.

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