God’s Law of Love
The book of James calls it the royal law of liberty. Can it even be kept? Or is obedience legalism?
How does the Bible describe the law of God?
The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Every government has laws to ensure order and protection for its citizens. It is no different with the King of the universe and His government, except His law is eternal, true, upright, perfect, sure, right, and pure. God’s dominion knows no bounds, and His law, therefore, is universal as well, so even though it’s mostly neglected on earth, it is still binding.
Does it have a role to play in my life?
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Satan rebelled against God’s law in heaven because he didn’t want to be restricted by it, and when Adam and Even believed his lie about defining good and evil for themselves (Genesis 3:5), his lawless kingdom took over earth as well. Our Creator God defines good and evil for us in His law because He knows what’s best for us better than we will ever know ourselves. And His law is not a restriction; it’s there to be a blessing, to protect us from evils, such as murder, adultery, theft, and falsehood, ensuring a happy and harmonious existence for all.
How else does the law affect me?
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
When James is talking about the law, he is referring to the Ten Commandments, and he actually says it’s not enough to keep some or even most of them. Breaking even one is breaking them all. Consequently, there is no human being who hasn’t been condemned by the law, which is the standard during the judgment (see “Is There a Judgment?”).
Does God leave me in my condemned state?
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Because Jesus is the Creator God, He was able to take the condemnation of the law on Himself at the cross, on behalf of all humanity, so that every person who accepts Him by faith in His substitutionary sacrifice could stand before the law clothed in His perfectly righteous life!
Does that mean we are now free to break it?
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
If you were caught speeding and the police officer wanted to give you a hefty fine, but decided to give you a warning instead, would you then go screeching out back on the highway to break the speed limit again? No, you would carefully watch your speed. Jesus’ death on the cross was an act of mercy and forgiveness for those who accept it, not a license to live lawlessly.
What is the breaking of God’s law called?
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
What does sin do?
Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God because at the root of sin is selfishness, which is abhorent to God’s character of love. As a result, sin creates separation between me and God, the Giver of life, and leads to eternal death if left untreated.
What is the motivation for keeping His law?
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Since selfishness is at the root of sin, and sin is the breaking of His law, then the law is really a law of love, dealing with my relationship with God (the first four commandments) and my neighbor (the last six). That’s why Jesus said that the entire law hangs on loving God and loving my neighbor. When there is genuine love present in a relationship then pleasing that person ceases to become a burden; in fact, without love for Jesus it’s not possible to keep His law.
What is one of the purposes of the law?
He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
God knows me better than I know myself, and He knows if I truly love Him. The Ten Commandments are really a mirror for me that shows my genuine condition; they provide evidence letting me know if I truly love Him because it can be easy to deceive myself. Jesus says there will be people who served Him and thought they loved Him, but their lawlessness will say otherwise.
What promise does God give me?
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
God promises to help me keep His commandments because He knows that I cannot overcome sin myself. But He does not force Himself on anyone, so I must ask, and the promise is He will write His law in my heart and mind, enabling me to walk in His commandments through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me! The only one who can create a new heart in me is the One who created the world in Eden. If I take Him at His word, believing that He will keep this promise, He will do it according to my faith (Matthew 9:29), making it a delight for me to do His will (Psalm 40:8)!
What are the Ten Commandments?
First: I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Second: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Third: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
Fourth: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Fifth: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Sixth: Thou shalt not kill.
Seventh: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Eight: Thou shalt not steal.
Ninth: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Tenth: 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.
Did they change in the New Testament?
First: Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Second: Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Third: Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
Fourth: For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. ... There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Fifth: Honour thy father and thy mother.
Sixth: Thou shalt not kill.
Seventh: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Eight: Thou shalt not steal.
Ninth: Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Tenth: Thou shalt not covet.
Is it possible for the law to change?
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
The fact that Jesus had to die on the cross to pay for the penalty of lawlessness for us is the biggest evidence that the law of God is unchangeable.
What is God’s law a reflection of?
GOD: And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
LAW: But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully.
GOD: But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
LAW: Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
GOD: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
LAW: The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
GOD: And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure.
LAW: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
GOD: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
LAW: Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
GOD: He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
LAW: The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
GOD: For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
LAW: For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
GOD: In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
LAW: My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.
GOD: God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
LAW: All thy commandments are faithful.
GOD: He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
LAW: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
GOD: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
LAW: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
GOD: And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
LAW: The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
The Ten Commandments are a reflection of God’s character in written form, and Jesus demonstrated what it looks like in human form. Through the law and Jesus’ life we may better comprehend God’s character. Because God cannot change, neither can His law.
How does the devil feel about keeping God’s law?
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? ... Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.
The devil’s war against God and His law started in the courts of heaven and has been raging ever since here on Earth. Is it any surprise that the devil would try to persuade people that God's law is no longer binding and even go as far as persecuting those who keep it?
What does Revelation say about the saints?
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Those who are saved will be keeping the commandments of God, not because they are saved by doing so, but because of their love for Jesus.