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6. Is the Law of God holy, just and good? Rom. 7:12. Does peace of mind come from keeping the Ten Commandments? Ps. 119:165.
COMMENT: No one who consistently breaks God’s Law can have real peace of mind. He will have fears and frustrations, as well as a guilty conscience. But the person who keeps God’s Law has a clear conscience. He is at peace with God, with himself and with his neighbor. He has “the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding” (Phil. 4:7).
The Law of God is the way to peace, happiness and joy. It is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind. It was given to make man happy, to lead him into the full, abundant life, and to lead him into eternal life. All the evil in the world has been caused by the breaking of God’s great Law.
7. How did Jesus expand the keeping of the Ten Commandments? Matt. 5:21-22, 27-28. Did John understand this principle? 1 John 3:15. Did Paul understand the spiritual aspects of God’s Law? Rom. 7:14.
COMMENT: Jesus came not to do away with the Ten Commandments (Matt. 5:17). Rather, He came to teach and show by example how to live by the spiritual intent of God’s Law.
In Old Testament times God required only physical obedience from His “church.” In other words, obedience only in the letter. This was because the Old Testament Church of God—the ancient nation of Israel—was not given the Holy Spirit to help them keep the spiritual intent of the Ten Commandments. But in New Testament times, God has made His Holy Spirit available to those whom He calls. He desires that His Spirit-begotten children follow Him in keeping the spiritual intent—the fullness—of His Law.
To be sure His disciples throughout the ages understood this new, “magnified” (Isa. 42:21) way of law keeping, Jesus singled out the commandments forbidding murder and adultery as vivid examples. He taught that now we are not only to abstain from the physical acts of murder and adultery, but we are also to avoid hatred and sexual lust in our thoughts as well.
Hatred against another human being is the spirit of murder. Sexual lust is the spirit of adultery. Christ showed how God’s commandments apply to our innermost thoughts and attitudes. Let’s notice how we can keep the spiritual intent of God’s Law, although still imperfectly because we are not yet born of God.
8. How did Christ summarize the great Ten Commandment Law of God? Matt. 22:36-40. What is the basic characteristic of God’s nature and character? 1 John 4:8, 16.
COMMENT: The Ten Commandments are expressions of the divine love of God because they reflect the very character and nature of God, which is summarized by the word love. This love, as we learned in the previous lesson, is not just another form of human love, but the divine love that comes directly from God through the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22).
Since God is love, Jesus showed that the whole spiritual intent and purpose of God’s Law is love. The first four of the Ten Commandments show us how to love God, while the last six show us how to love our neighbor —all fellow human beings.
9. If we possess and exercise God’s Spirit, will the love of God that it imparts enable us to “fulfill”—to keep— God’s spiritual Law? Rom. 5:5; 13:10.
COMMENT: The divine love of God imparted to converted Christians by the Holy Spirit is expressed within the bounds of God’s Law—the Ten Commandments. It is manifested first of all in adoration and worship of God and literal obedience to Him; then in outgoing concern, compassion, kindness and service toward fellow human beings.
The love of God enables us to fulfill the spirit of the Law. As the Apostle Paul explained: “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10, RSV). (More about how God helps us keep His spiritual Law will be covered later in this lesson.)
10. Could there be any truth in the widespread belief that love fulfills the Law of God in such a way that the keeping of the Law is no longer necessary? 1 John 5:2-3; John 14:15; 15:9-10; 2 John 5-6.
COMMENT: The Apostle John emphasized the importance of love. But never did he or any other writer of Scripture say that love put away, superseded or destroyed the Law of God. John, who was a close friend,
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