The Spirit and the Law

William Landon writes the following poignant words in his book The Spiritual You concerning the Spirit and the law:

". . . Is the written code the only source of regulation that the Father has provided for us? The Bible answers clearly 'No.' There is a law that works in guiding us in righteous living: 'because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.' (Romans 8:2) It is the internal operation of the law of the Spirit of life that is the regulation that has the power to work in our lives. This is clearly different from the written code. The internal law of the Spirit of life is the only system of control or regulation that has ever been demonstrated to practically produce righteous living. The demonstration of this reality comes from the earthly life of Christ as Jesus.

"The law of the Spirit of life is internal while the written code is external. The law of the Spirit of life is impressed on our spirit and not imposed from outside. This law is the operation of the Father's life in us as our life. This law regulates us when we submit to the Father's leading in our life. This is something that can't be externally judged or assessed except by how our actions line up with God's truth.

"It is the subjective nature of the law of the Spirit of life that makes the reliance on this law unacceptable to religious institutions. We cannot assess someone's adherence to the law of life by comparing his/ her behavior to some checklist or code. There are times when the law of life does not lead people to do what we would like them to do but this, in and of itself, is not an indication of their error. It is beyond question that the blatant violation of moral behavior (murder, adultery, etc.) indicates wrong actions. However, in the more debatable actions (lack of institutional church attendance, failure to tithe, failing to do volunteer work, etc.) it is not at all clear whether someone is following the leading of the law of the Spirit of life or not. It is because the law of the Spirit of life is internal and subjective that it cannot be used to judge our behavior. This is not acceptable to religion or any other legalistic body.

Regulation Vs. Law in Living

"Remember one of the primary attributes of life is that it is moving and spontaneous. In such a fluid environment as life it is difficult (if not impossible) to drag around so cumbersome a thing as a static, external written legal code. The only way we can live in the moment-by-moment freedom of God's real life is to be internally regulated. It is not primarily a question of obedience or disobedience. We are not even speaking of independence or subjection. This is entirely a question of what we will be in obedience and submission to.

"One of our foundational assertions is that Christ came to give us life and to set us free. 'I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full' (John 10:10b), and again: 'It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.' (Galatians 5:1). We are required by our makeup to be submitted to one moral ruler or another. We can be submitted to God as His dependent children or we can be slaved to Satan as our tyrannical overseer but we must be in one condition or the other. If we accept external law for the regulation of our living then we also accept Satan's rule in our lives. It is in Satan's economy and not God's that external law is the preferred method of regulation.

"The Father's preferred method of regulation is by the law of the Spirit of life. This is the regulation that comes naturally out of our yielding to the operation of God's life in our spirit. This is the central source of peace and rest in our living. We know that this is key to our living in peace and rest because this is a principle accomplishment of Christ's crucifixion: 'When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your [flesh], God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross' (Colossians 2:13-14).

"It is the Bible's clear position that what the religious organizations of men so confidently hold up as our 'guide of living' and our 'protector against error' is not any of these things. Far from being the mechanism that the Father has left us for right living, the law is, in reality, opposed to us. The written, external legal code must oppose us because it requires that we do that which we cannot hope to do--to live rightly out of our own resource. What the written law does in reality is to confirm our failure to attain right living from our own efforts. The written law shows us the standard but can offer no resource to help us attain that standard.

"So we can see, what we are speaking of here is not regulation or no regulation but what type and source of regulation. We must choose every day what regulator we will live under. There is the written code that has proven itself time and again to be weak and unsuited to the task we are trying to apply it to. Or there is the regulation of life that operates with limitless power and is a match for every task: 'one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life' (Hebrews 7:16).

"I am not speaking against the working and the plan of God when I speak against living by the written law. Rather I am holding up the full, living work of God in every willing heart. I am proclaiming the ultimate intention of the Father that we should cease from our striving and live by the power of another life. This was God's purpose and intention from the beginning: 'The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God' (Hebrews 7:18-19)."