Law's Primal Origin - Part Two
By John Gavazzoni

Go to Part One, Part Two or Part Three

Answering an astute brother's question, seemed to provide a good follow-up to our original article. His question is below and my answer follows, and below that are some insightful comments from brother JT that deserved to be included. The questioner is referencing both my article, and JT's comments.

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Question from an astute brother: “This is very tricky, because there are many NEW TESTAMENT passages of scripture which speak of works, responsibility, rewards, etc. And often it is very difficult to determine whether one is acting out of a regenerated mind or just plain old good works. After all, one who gives a cold cup of water to a little one, will not lose his reward. And there are those who do are NOT born from above who do the right things and God is pleased. This is a subject that I think requires a lengthy treatment, covering the major scriptures that seem to contradict the primary message.”

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My response which is slightly edited to the questioner: “You're right brother. This subject does call for a lengthy treatment, and that without sweeping what seems to be contradictory scriptures under the rug. So, as the fellow said, what else is new? I've never come substantially into any great truth without having to wade through a mire of confusion on the way.

I'll make this comment for now: On one hand, we have Paul identifying and explaining the church as "the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all." That clearly sets us apart from "the world, the flesh, and the devil." Yet, we have the same apostle and others admonishing the church about things that are not right among them.

A careful study of where the writers of the New Testament are coming from, reveals that they are confrontational about things that really don't belong to the life of the church. They are addressing that which is alien to us, but to which we are presently subjected, the final effect being, that the alien elements ultimately serve to draw forth the fulness of Christ from within us to overcome the challenge.

Inevitably, and of course God knows this, and has made a place for it in His plan for us, we, to some degree or another, receive these admonishments as law, and from that experience, the futility that God has subjected us to increases in intensity. But remember, that futility is not merely problematic, it is part of the process of "the Sons of God coming into their own," as Phillips translates it, or more literally, to realize the liberty of our glory.

Many, many years ago, a brother-in-law of mine and myself, had an epiphany about how Christians Christianize the law. Both of us, having been mentored very similarly in our early days as believers, were pushed to make a law out of reading our Bibles, praying, witnessing, going to church, not drinking, not smoking, not dancing, no movies - all that stuff; yeah, we were into heavy, heavy fundamentalist legalism.

Reading Paul carefully, one finds that he does not accept either sin or righteousness as of him, as per: "Therefore, I conclude that it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." and " . . . nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me . . . " He's completely consistent. Neither the origin of sinning, nor the origin righteous living are traceable to our determination.

All in all, the New Testament makes a distinction between that which is born of God, and therefore incorruptible, and that which has been formed out of the substance of our sonship, ie, our creaturehood, which suffers from God-imposed futility. So we have to deal with a duality, no matter how much folks insist on no duality. In our creaturehood, we have to suffer the existential actuality of acting out that which is not true of us, in order to fully come to realize what is really true of us.”

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Hi John, “So many good points here! I believe this insight is at the core of man's existential dilemma today. In the belief that doing somehow establishes us in being, this ancient spin is continually played out in man's diminished consciousness.

Whereas the truth is found in entering His rest! In whom we find the freedom to live and move and possess our souls in a conscious oneness of being. When the spin is removed all activity or any doing becomes an effortless expression of the nature of God that resides within our breast.

He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him Ephesians 1:9-10. Thanks again!” JT

Go to Part One, Part Two or Part Three