agedman
Hello Agedman. This post is helpful to the discussion in a few ways.I think we agree on more than we do not if I understand your caution correctly...I will try and expand on this....
The "full expression" is Love. However it is not found in keeping the decalogue. It is found by maturing in Christ.
I would say maturing In Christ is law keeping.....I think Paul says it here...
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:
for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Agedman.......Paul is not discussing law as a means of justification here as he does in Galatians......we agree that;
16
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
So in Romans 13...he is describing how the Love of God is manifested in believers loving God and loving man ...by law keeping.
We love God by keeping the commandments as SONS...not as servants.
We are servants...or...better still...WILLING BONDSLAVES.
He says love is the fulfilling of the love.....
I have heard it preached--- The law is Loves eyes
Jesus said this in Jn15
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14
Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Love is defined by law keeping......How do we love God?
We have no other gods, we do not take his name in vain, we make no graven image, we keep the Lords day....
How do we love our neighbor?
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Love will not break God's commandments......Jesus was a law keeper.100%
11for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
[/INDENT]I don't see the decalogue in that list, and there is no doubt that the results of the list is "the divine nature."
The decalogue is found in this list I will show it in my next post...bascially the scriptural assurance of our salvation is shown in doing the works of the law.....from A Baptist Catechism with Commentary..pg89-90
Third, There must be a Moral Law for moral beings in God’s created
order and moral government. The Moral Law is for rational, morally–
responsible beings who will one day stand before God to be judged (Rom.
3:19–20). It would be unthinkable for a holy, righteous God to have an unholy and unrighteous people as the glorious result of his bestowal of grace, or that the Divine standard for God’s people should be left to subjective experience or speculation (Rom. 2:14–16; Titus 2:11–14; Heb. 12:14; 1 Tim. 1:5–11; 1
Pet. 1:13–16; 2:9).
I will agree that "keeping the law" is not divided from or not impacting the life and living of a believer.
However, keeping the law does NOT result in love that you desire to show in your post.
I think i have shown it in romans 13.
The "law" is to be a guide, not master. It is to aid in forming principles to live by, but not "laws" to shackle.
The commandments...are not suggestions...but commandments.
Jesus was not shackled by law keeping, neither are we.
When Paul is discussing law as a schoolmaster in gal 3:24 he is speaking there toward the unsaved.....with Christ being the end of The law....
for righteousness for any who believe.
Agedman...you offered several quotes from 1 jn which are fine quotes indeed...but love is not nebulous...it is found within law keeping.
[/INDENT]Iconoclast, it is a caution to not place the law as providing anything but a pointer to show the need of Christ.
That is all the law ever accomplished.
here is where we are not in agreement.here is what the law is.or was supposed to be in the OT....but is now...in the NT-
again from A Baptist Catechism with Commentary;
The Moral Law remains as the revelation and
epitome of God’s holy and righteous character.
Second, its administration has been changed. (Ezk. 36:25–27; Jer. 31:31–
34; Heb. 8:1–13; Rom. 2:11–16; 6:14; 8:1–9; 2 Cor. 3:1–3, 6). The Law of
89
God is no longer merely written upon tables of stone, but upon the heart
[inner being] of the individual believer at regeneration. The Law has been
internalized by the Spirit of God in the context of his enabling grace. Thus,
the believer, by the dynamic of Divine grace through the Spirit, is necessarily
and effectively brought into conformity with the Moral Law of God in
principle.
The weakness of the Old Covenant was that the heart remained
unchanged and religion was merely external, except for an elect remnant of
true believers. Under the New or Gospel Covenant, the heart or inner being is
transformed through regenerating grace to conform in principle to the Moral
Law.
Any denial of this reality is a denial of Divine grace inregeneration, conversion and sanctification—and this strikes at the very heartof practical antinomianism. The believer’s union with Christ is necessarily
life–transforming spiritually, morally, intellectually and ethically.
If the Law has not been abrogated, then what is its relevance? The
relevance and perpetuity of the Moral Law may be understood by the
following considerations: first, the prologue to the Decalogue sets the
historical, redemptive and covenantal context for the Law: “And God spake
all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Ex.20:1–2).
God reveals himself as Israel’s covenant God and Redeemer. Thus, the Law was given to a
redeemed covenant people that they might reflect the moral character of the Lord their God, not as a means to salvation or simply as a legalistic document for Israel. Redemption requires revelation, and revelation contains legislation in both the Old and New Covenants (Rom. 3:19–20; 1 Tim. 1:8–10; 1 Jn. 2:3–
5). This historic giving of the Law in this codified manner must be understood
in the greater context of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1–3; Ex. 2:24; Dt.
29:12–13). Believers in the Gospel economy are likewise to reflect the moral
character of God as his redeemed covenant people in Jesus Christ (Heb.
12:14; 1 Pet. 1:14–16; 2:9), who is the true “Seed of Abraham” and the
fulfillment of that covenantal promise (Gal. 3:6–26). The Law magnifies the
Lord Jesus. His redemptive work fulfilled its demands as to our justification.
We are to reflect the righteousness of the Law as to our sanctification in
obedience to him by the grace and Spirit of God (Rom. 8:1–4; 1 Jn. 2:3–5).
Second, the nature, character and self–revelation of God must determine
the relevance of the Law—not our own thinking or feelings. God is
immutable. The Moral Law is the transcript of his moral self–consistency or
absolutely righteous character. This is why the Moral Law and its abiding
principles reoccur in the New Testament and have a necessarily close affinity
with the Gospel (Matt. 22:37–39; Rom. 7:12, 14; 8:1–4; Gal. 3:24; Tim. 1:5–
11; 6:14–16; Jas. 2:8; 1 Pet. 1:15–16).
I will link to another post...part two-
