How Do Christians Live Upright Lives If We Do Not Answer To The Law?
Updated: Feb 6, 2022
One of the main purposes for The Gospel Perspective is to aid in showing how The Gospel puts Jesus front and center in everything.
We could not have changed ourselves. Following rules and commandments did not bring life to us. It could not. Only faith in what Jesus has done could do that (Romans 8:3).
Galatians 3:21-22 “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”
The law was a school master to show us our need for Christ. However, when we accept the person of Jesus by faith, we are no longer governed by the law (Galatians 3:24-25). The law is an unbearable yoke (Acts 15:10), and Jesus said my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So Jesus does not require us to do law keeping to be righteous. He accomplished that for us.
So the common sense question to be asked by every believer who realizes that they are no longer governed by the law is: how do we live upright lives if we are no longer under any facet of the law?
(By the way, The law is an all or nothing proposition. We are not free to pick and choose which ones to keep and not to keep. Gal. 3:10-12, Romans 10:5, James 2:10) More on this in a later post.
The answer to the above question would be The Spirit.
Galatians 5:18 “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
Read that verse again!
When we are born again with a righteous spirit and a new heart The Holy Spirit also comes and joins himself to our new spirit and He is sufficient! (1 Corinthians 6:17)
The Holy Spirit is the most powerful weapon we have against the flesh, and He is powerful!
The flesh doesn’t stand a chance when we take our eyes off of sin and our performance and place our faith in who Christ is and what fruit He can bring in our lives.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
The law was so weak through the flesh, but the Spirit brought life and righteousness that the law would have brought if we were able to keep it.
There is nothing the Spirit can’t do in relation to you expressing righteous behavior that you might be missing out on by not trying to live according to the law.
Romans 8:3-4 “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
So we can see that The Spirit is enough and He doesn’t use that which condemns us (the law) to bring upright living but rather He guides us with Himself working through us from the core of our being.
Jesus brought grace upon grace. Where grace is there is unearned favor and blessing. Thank God that Jesus is enough for not just salvation but He walks with us every step of the way in our day to day lives!