Fulfill the Law

“Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matt 3:15)

Today I want to take just a couple minutes of your time, and ask you to think about something: fulfilling righteousness. Three verses come to mind here. This one, where Jesus is asking John the Baptist to baptize Him. John begins to protest saying in effect, You should be baptizing me.

Then in Matt 5:17 Jesus says “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” He goes on to say that the Law would stand forever.

The third verse I want to throw in the little concoction is from Paul in Romans 8. This is where it gets a little hairy because the first two were about Jesus fulfilling the law, and we all love that. Yep – Jesus did it all, so the law is no more problem for us. We are not under the law brother, so don’t bother me with all this righteousness and holiness stuff.

But Paul has the audacity to say “in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Rom 8:4) Does that feel a little out of context to you? Here is the whole thing from verse one:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So there it is. The law was weak because we were weak, so God sent Jesus who kept the law (every little bit of it!) and took our punishment for breaking it. What a plan! So the meeting of the requirements part is done by Jesus, now all that is left is for us to walk in the Spirit, and not fulfill the lusts of our flesh! Wait – how did it come back to us being good again?

It's not about doing good works to be acceptable, it's about being accepted so you can do good works! [Tweet this] We fulfill the law when we live the Spirit filled life. (See Ephesians 2:8-10)

Let me try one more time.

No Spirit inside  Cannot keep the Law  [        ]

Spirit inside        Law fulfilled                 [Check]

If you are struggling with trying to act good, quit it! You must have the Spirit of God on the inside. Ask Him to come in, and live in you. It is what He is hoping for. It is what you are hoping for too! Does this sound really good to you?

Some of you have been involved with Church your whole life, and struggled with every kind of sin and impurity. You feel shame and guilt, maybe so much so that you quit church, quit religion, quit all of it. It does not have to be that way. The Spirit inside can change everything!

You know what to do – Ask Him to change you – to come into you. You don’t need my words. Use your own, but ask Him today.

Then tell me about it – or tell someone about it.

If you are still not sure what to do or say – check my post called “What Peace.” It may help.

Thanks for reading today. Please let me know if this blog helps.

Ben