That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The verse promises freedom from condemnation for those united to Christ and living under the Spirit's rule, so that the law's righteous requirement — love to God and neighbor in meekness, humility and holiness — is met in them. The law itself could not produce this obedience because it was weak through sinful human nature, so God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. Christ as representative of the fallen race lived out the law, met its every demand, never sinned under the fiercest temptation, and bore its curse by death as a sacrifice, so believers are counted as having suffered the penalty and rendered perfect obedience. That righteousness becomes theirs through the new birth that writes the law on the heart, through faith that yields the will and lays hold of God's promise, and through accepting Christ's blood for pardon and His obedience in place of their own, while His grace transforms their nature into His likeness. This does not excuse continued transgression but creates a Spirit-led life that delights in God's commands, reproduces Christ's character in love and good works, and proves that through divine grace humanity need not remain in sin.
Context and Wording
The promise is that no condemnation rests on those united to Christ Jesus who live in step with the Spirit rather than the flesh, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus liberates from the law of sin and death, God having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin to condemn sin in the flesh so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. This is the experience of everyone who knows the truth and accepts salvation, made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That freedom is the rightful testimony of every soul whose name is on the church books, revealing the depths of a Saviour's matchless love and proving living communication with God as a channel of His grace.
The righteousness of the law is its righteous requirement, and the law remains holy, just, and good. It requires love to God and neighbor with meekness, humility, and holiness, which people cannot produce in themselves, so the law makes way for and points to the gospel. The gospel promises that God will give that love and make people humble, meek, and holy, and those who lay hold of those glad tidings have it done to them according to their faith, so the righteous requirement is fulfilled in them through faith in Christ Jesus, with the gospel continually leading back to a more exact fulfilling of the law. What God requires is stated in simple form, to love the Lord with all heart and soul and strength and mind and the neighbor as self, and to do this and live. Through faith in Jesus Christ as substitute, surety, and righteousness, believers lay hold on divine power so that the righteous requirement becomes real in their lives as they live by the Spirit and not by sinful nature, and keeping God's commandments is the evidence of faith in Christ as divine Saviour.
To walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit is to live under the Spirit's rule and freedom rather than according to sinful nature, and walking after the Spirit means living free from sin. Through God's Son sin is condemned in the flesh, and the Spirit frees believers from sin's rule and from sin and death so they can live in keeping with the law's righteous requirements. Christ was manifested to take away sins and to give His followers grace in ample abundance so they may not sin, leaving no excuse for envy, fault-finding, jealousy, sin and iniquity.
The law reveals sin and reaches thoughts and desires as well as actions, and it condemns transgressors unless they repent and return to loyalty to God.
Human Inability Under Law
The law was weak through the flesh and therefore could not justify people, since in sinful nature and weakened human condition they cannot keep it. Though holy and just and good in itself, it cannot produce obedience in those weakened by the flesh. Its righteous requirement is fulfilled only in those who do not live according to the flesh but through the new power God gives by the Spirit.
Satan declared that the sons and daughters of Adam could not keep the law, and by that claim charged God with lack of wisdom and love. After Adam's transgression he claimed the whole human family and spread the belief that keeping God's law is impossible.
Apart from Christ no one can in spirit and in truth keep even one of the commandments. By human strength alone people cannot obey the law, nor can they repay the debt of sin. The strength to obey so that its righteous requirement may be fulfilled in them comes only through Christ, and His righteousness is never permission to keep breaking the law.
Christ Condemning Sin
What the law could not do because it was weak through sinful human nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin to condemn sin in the flesh. Through God's Son sin is condemned in the flesh, and through the Spirit the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who are in Christ and walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, freed from sin's rule to live in keeping with the law's righteous requirements. That fulfillment means the character of the Lord Jesus is reproduced in those who believe in Him as personal Saviour.
He combined full divinity with real humanity, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, laying aside royal robe and crown and glory to clothe divinity with humanity and become a babe in Bethlehem, joining the human and the divine in Himself to unite fallen humanity with God, bridge the separation caused by transgression, and elevate humanity in moral value with God. In that humanity He lived and honored and lived out the law in a sinful world on behalf of the human family, making obedience to the holy law possible. By that union He met every demand of the law and overcame every objection Satan raised against obedience, removing the stigma and degradation placed on the human family.
He was tempted on all points as people are tempted, submitting to all the temptations that beset people and meeting the fiercest temptations human nature can know, yet He never sinned and never surrendered allegiance to God as Adam did, but by faith held to divinity. As head and representative of the human family and of the fallen race He passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell, stood against Satan's temptations and came off conqueror, teaching in His own nature that obedience is possible so men need not follow Adam's example. By a life of perfect obedience He redeemed man from the penalty of Adam's fall, and by standing under the curse of transgression and suffering the penalty of death as sacrifice in man's behalf He made it possible for man to obey the law. In Him believers are counted as if they had themselves suffered the penalty their sins incurred and as if they had themselves obeyed and rendered perfect obedience, for perfect obedience cannot be rendered without His imparting His merits and righteousness, and this credited suffering and credited obedience shows the fullness in Jesus and the love wherewith He loved sinners.
By bearing the penalty of man's past transgressions He gives the sinner another chance and a second trial and opens the way to be reinstated in God's favor. He died as sacrifice for those who break the law and stands before the Father as their advocate, so that through repentance and faith in His blood they may be freed from sin's condemnation and through His grace enabled to obey God's law, though His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin. His life proves to heaven and to unfallen and fallen worlds, to the heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that through divine grace and partaking of the divine nature man need no longer stand under the curse of the law or remain in transgression. By teaching and example He exposed as false Satan's declaration that Adam's sons and daughters could not keep the law, overcame every objection against man's obedience, and showed the controversy settled.
In parting with His only begotten Son and sending Him into the world and in His death on Calvary God gave to the world and to angels evidence of the changeless character of His love and made manifest heaven's provision for those who believe to keep the commandments. That work of turning people back to God began as soon as Adam sinned, so that through obedience to God's law and faith in Christ they regain the lost image of God, their senses no longer bent and twisted, their words and thoughts and strength made clean, a new character formed, and the lowering power of sin overcome.
How Fulfillment Comes
The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who are in Christ and walk by the Spirit rather than after the flesh, through the new power God gives by which the Spirit frees believers from sin's rule and from sin and death. God sent Christ in human likeness and condemned sin in human nature so that this obedience becomes possible, for the law is holy, just and good but cannot produce obedience in those weakened by the flesh. This life of obedience in harmony with God through repentance and faith, expressed in love, is part of sanctification through union with Christ.
It comes through the new birth, in which divine grace renews the heart and brings it into subjection and harmony with God's law. The same law once engraved on stone is written within by the Holy Spirit, bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit in a life of obedience to the law written on the heart. The change is from sin and rebellion to holiness, obedience and loyalty, and from alienation to reconciliation, faith and love, so that faith does not make the law void but establishes it under the new covenant.
It comes by a faith that submits the will to God, yields the heart to Him and fixes the affections on Him. The law requires love to God and neighbor with meekness, humility and holiness, which people cannot produce in themselves, but the gospel promises that God will give that love and make people humble, meek and holy, and those who lay hold of those glad tidings have it done to them according to their faith. Such faith works through love, purifies the soul and renews the heart in God's image, and the renewed heart delights in God's holy commands, unlike the unrenewed heart which cannot be subject to His law, so the gospel continually leads back to a more exact fulfilling of the law.
It comes when a person stops seeking to establish own righteousness and accepts the righteousness of Christ, His blood atoning for sins and His obedience accepted for man. In Christ believers are counted as if they had themselves suffered the penalty their sins incurred and as if they had themselves obeyed and rendered perfect obedience to the law, showing the fullness that is in Jesus and the love wherewith He loved sinners. Perfect obedience cannot be rendered without Christ imparting His merits and righteousness to believers, and God accepts human efforts to keep the commandments because Christ supplies the righteousness people cannot achieve by themselves. Having the Spirit of Christ, they walk even as He walked, with God's law within the heart always doing what pleases the Father.
It comes because Christ meets the law's claims by transforming human nature through grace, creating a new spiritual life in the heart, implanting a holy nature and imparting His own divine nature and image. Apart from Christ no one can in spirit and in truth keep even one commandment, but in Christ believers become partakers of the divine nature and Christlike in character. In human nature He kept the purity of His divine character and lived and honored the law in a sinful world to unite fallen humanity with God and bridge the separation caused by transgression.
Christ came to abolish sin, not to abolish God's law, since sin is the transgression of the law and it is sin that must be abolished. The spotless and pure One came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was treated as a sinner so that the believing and repentant sinner may be treated as righteous. When the light of truth reveals the sacred, holy, unchangeable character of the law, the believer walks in obedience and is justified and sanctified.
His righteousness does not cover continued lawbreaking without repentance and is not given as permission to keep breaking the law. Christ came to give strength to obey God's law so its righteous requirement can be fulfilled, which is not possible in human strength alone. The Spirit of Christ supplies grace, teaches believers to delight in the law and enables heartfelt obedience, while God's love in the heart cleanses malice, hatred, jealousy and selfishness and produces love for God and neighbor which fulfills the law.
The righteousness of Christ must become inward righteousness, for without it keeping God's law is impossible. Justification through faith must not be held as mere theory but be practiced and accompanied by Christ's pure character, and when the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit the fruit is peace, courage, joy and harmony. God now requires the same perfect obedience to His law that He required of Adam before his fall, a righteousness without flaw and without shortcoming in His sight, rendered only by the faith that brings Christ's righteousness into daily practice.
Life Walking by Spirit
The life given by the Spirit reproduces the character of Jesus in believers, producing Christlike character and works and bringing them into harmony with every precept of the law through love. God's love in the heart cleanses malice, hatred, jealousy and selfishness and produces love for God and neighbor, which is what fulfills the law. Christ dwelling within renews God's image, makes believers partakers of the divine nature, and leads to loyalty, justification, sanctification and heartfelt obedience taught by the Spirit's grace and delight in the law. Those who believe in Him as personal Saviour are made rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to communicate, laying up a good foundation for eternal life.
The renewed heart delights in God's holy commands, while the unrenewed heart cannot be subject to His law. Such renewal comes from a faith that submits the will, yields the heart and fixes the affections on God, working through love, purifying the soul and renewing the heart in God's image. Keeping the commandments is the evidence of faith in Christ as divine Saviour, substitute, surety and righteousness, by which believers lay hold on divine power so the law's righteous requirement becomes real in lives lived by the Spirit and not by sinful nature. Christ leads those who receive His righteousness by faith into conformity with God's will, and following Him means living in obedience to God's law, since sin and holiness cannot be joined.
Christ died to make it possible to keep the law and to live a life of loyalty and obedience. By a life of perfect obedience as representative of the fallen race He passed over the ground where Adam fell, redeemed from the penalty of Adam's fall, bore the penalty of past transgressions, gives the sinner another chance and second trial, opens the way to reinstatement in God's favor, and by imparting His own righteousness makes obedience possible. The advantage secured at infinite cost is freely offered to all, but God forces no one and each person is left to choose for himself. His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin.
Acceptance with God is not on the ground of good works, yet reward will be according to works. All who believe in Christ and obey His commandments receive the gift of eternal righteousness and will be abundantly rewarded. Others may suffer in like manner as victims of religious prejudice, but they do not stand under the curse for the world as Christ did by suffering death in man's behalf to make obedience possible.
Walking after the Spirit rather than the flesh is part of sanctification after Christ's example, meaning service to God's glory by laboring for others, giving less care to self and devoting self to God, which corrects faults and strengthens weaknesses as believers grow toward Christian perfection. Those led by the Spirit carry Christ's message with a burden for others, and while following the path of obedience brings clearer understanding, refusing the light leads to confusion and darkness. God's righteous demands are met in those who walk in obedience through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
There is no excuse for envy, fault-finding, jealousy, sin and iniquity, because Christ has made every provision for everyone who believes in Him as personal Saviour to be saved from sin. He was manifested to take away sins and to give His followers grace in ample abundance so they may not sin, and walking after the Spirit instead of the flesh means living free from sin by that provision. His provision through His atoning death and abundant grace, with His life and example of self-denial and obedience, shows believers need not remain in sin.
Christ came to restore the moral image of God by revealing God's character in living the law, which is the foundation of His government, bringing people back from disobedience to obedience so those who accept Him as personal Saviour grow in grace and in His strength are enabled to obey. His work of turning people back to God began as soon as Adam sinned, so that through obedience to God's law and faith in Christ they regain the lost image, since God did not give a new set of sinful energies and passions after the fall. Through growing right principles and grace from heaven people can win over the pull to evil, and when they obey their senses are no longer bent and twisted nor their powers ruined by use on things that lead away from God, but their words, thoughts and strength are made clean, a new character is formed and the lowering power of sin is overcome.
People cannot obey the law by their own strength or repay the debt of sin, but Christ came in human nature to give power to obey, so those who accept Him as personal Saviour receive divine help to resist sin and temptation and become obedient subjects of God's kingdom. Though Satan's temptations have made the whole race transgressors, the sacrifice opens a way to return, and through grace people are enabled to render obedience, so that in every age God gathers out from apostasy and rebellion a people true to Him with His law in the heart. It is God's design for His church to demonstrate to the world that through Christ's grace the law can be kept, and those in His service do not follow worldly customs and practices but amid the awful confederacy of evil stand firmly and bravely for God, protesting by blameless lives against prevailing apostasy. To purify a peculiar people He left the royal courts, clothed divinity with humanity, lived the principles of the law, and shows His grace has power to redeem and raise men and women to moral integrity, because He desires to sanctify and glorify His people.
The verse promises freedom from condemnation for those united to Christ and living under the Spirit's rule, so that the law's righteous requirement — love to God and neighbor in meekness, humility and holiness — is met in them. The law itself could not produce this obedience because it was weak through sinful human nature, so God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh. Christ as representative of the fallen race lived out the law, met its every demand, never sinned under the fiercest temptation, and bore its curse by death as a sacrifice, so believers are counted as having suffered the penalty and rendered perfect obedience. That righteousness becomes theirs through the new birth that writes the law on the heart, through faith that yields the will and lays hold of God's promise, and through accepting Christ's blood for pardon and His obedience in place of their own, while His grace transforms their nature into His likeness. This does not excuse continued transgression but creates a Spirit-led life that delights in God's commands, reproduces Christ's character in love and good works, and proves that through divine grace humanity need not remain in sin.
Context and Wording
The promise is that no condemnation rests on those united to Christ Jesus who live in step with the Spirit rather than the flesh, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus liberates from the law of sin and death, God having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin to condemn sin in the flesh so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh. This is the experience of everyone who knows the truth and accepts salvation, made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. That freedom is the rightful testimony of every soul whose name is on the church books, revealing the depths of a Saviour's matchless love and proving living communication with God as a channel of His grace.
The righteousness of the law is its righteous requirement, and the law remains holy, just, and good. It requires love to God and neighbor with meekness, humility, and holiness, which people cannot produce in themselves, so the law makes way for and points to the gospel. The gospel promises that God will give that love and make people humble, meek, and holy, and those who lay hold of those glad tidings have it done to them according to their faith, so the righteous requirement is fulfilled in them through faith in Christ Jesus, with the gospel continually leading back to a more exact fulfilling of the law. What God requires is stated in simple form, to love the Lord with all heart and soul and strength and mind and the neighbor as self, and to do this and live. Through faith in Jesus Christ as substitute, surety, and righteousness, believers lay hold on divine power so that the righteous requirement becomes real in their lives as they live by the Spirit and not by sinful nature, and keeping God's commandments is the evidence of faith in Christ as divine Saviour.
To walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit is to live under the Spirit's rule and freedom rather than according to sinful nature, and walking after the Spirit means living free from sin. Through God's Son sin is condemned in the flesh, and the Spirit frees believers from sin's rule and from sin and death so they can live in keeping with the law's righteous requirements. Christ was manifested to take away sins and to give His followers grace in ample abundance so they may not sin, leaving no excuse for envy, fault-finding, jealousy, sin and iniquity.
The law reveals sin and reaches thoughts and desires as well as actions, and it condemns transgressors unless they repent and return to loyalty to God.
Human Inability Under Law
The law was weak through the flesh and therefore could not justify people, since in sinful nature and weakened human condition they cannot keep it. Though holy and just and good in itself, it cannot produce obedience in those weakened by the flesh. Its righteous requirement is fulfilled only in those who do not live according to the flesh but through the new power God gives by the Spirit.
Satan declared that the sons and daughters of Adam could not keep the law, and by that claim charged God with lack of wisdom and love. After Adam's transgression he claimed the whole human family and spread the belief that keeping God's law is impossible.
Apart from Christ no one can in spirit and in truth keep even one of the commandments. By human strength alone people cannot obey the law, nor can they repay the debt of sin. The strength to obey so that its righteous requirement may be fulfilled in them comes only through Christ, and His righteousness is never permission to keep breaking the law.
Christ Condemning Sin
What the law could not do because it was weak through sinful human nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin to condemn sin in the flesh. Through God's Son sin is condemned in the flesh, and through the Spirit the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who are in Christ and walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, freed from sin's rule to live in keeping with the law's righteous requirements. That fulfillment means the character of the Lord Jesus is reproduced in those who believe in Him as personal Saviour.
He combined full divinity with real humanity, bone of bone and flesh of flesh, laying aside royal robe and crown and glory to clothe divinity with humanity and become a babe in Bethlehem, joining the human and the divine in Himself to unite fallen humanity with God, bridge the separation caused by transgression, and elevate humanity in moral value with God. In that humanity He lived and honored and lived out the law in a sinful world on behalf of the human family, making obedience to the holy law possible. By that union He met every demand of the law and overcame every objection Satan raised against obedience, removing the stigma and degradation placed on the human family.
He was tempted on all points as people are tempted, submitting to all the temptations that beset people and meeting the fiercest temptations human nature can know, yet He never sinned and never surrendered allegiance to God as Adam did, but by faith held to divinity. As head and representative of the human family and of the fallen race He passed over the same ground where Adam stumbled and fell, stood against Satan's temptations and came off conqueror, teaching in His own nature that obedience is possible so men need not follow Adam's example. By a life of perfect obedience He redeemed man from the penalty of Adam's fall, and by standing under the curse of transgression and suffering the penalty of death as sacrifice in man's behalf He made it possible for man to obey the law. In Him believers are counted as if they had themselves suffered the penalty their sins incurred and as if they had themselves obeyed and rendered perfect obedience, for perfect obedience cannot be rendered without His imparting His merits and righteousness, and this credited suffering and credited obedience shows the fullness in Jesus and the love wherewith He loved sinners.
By bearing the penalty of man's past transgressions He gives the sinner another chance and a second trial and opens the way to be reinstated in God's favor. He died as sacrifice for those who break the law and stands before the Father as their advocate, so that through repentance and faith in His blood they may be freed from sin's condemnation and through His grace enabled to obey God's law, though His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin. His life proves to heaven and to unfallen and fallen worlds, to the heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that through divine grace and partaking of the divine nature man need no longer stand under the curse of the law or remain in transgression. By teaching and example He exposed as false Satan's declaration that Adam's sons and daughters could not keep the law, overcame every objection against man's obedience, and showed the controversy settled.
In parting with His only begotten Son and sending Him into the world and in His death on Calvary God gave to the world and to angels evidence of the changeless character of His love and made manifest heaven's provision for those who believe to keep the commandments. That work of turning people back to God began as soon as Adam sinned, so that through obedience to God's law and faith in Christ they regain the lost image of God, their senses no longer bent and twisted, their words and thoughts and strength made clean, a new character formed, and the lowering power of sin overcome.
How Fulfillment Comes
The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who are in Christ and walk by the Spirit rather than after the flesh, through the new power God gives by which the Spirit frees believers from sin's rule and from sin and death. God sent Christ in human likeness and condemned sin in human nature so that this obedience becomes possible, for the law is holy, just and good but cannot produce obedience in those weakened by the flesh. This life of obedience in harmony with God through repentance and faith, expressed in love, is part of sanctification through union with Christ.
It comes through the new birth, in which divine grace renews the heart and brings it into subjection and harmony with God's law. The same law once engraved on stone is written within by the Holy Spirit, bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit in a life of obedience to the law written on the heart. The change is from sin and rebellion to holiness, obedience and loyalty, and from alienation to reconciliation, faith and love, so that faith does not make the law void but establishes it under the new covenant.
It comes by a faith that submits the will to God, yields the heart to Him and fixes the affections on Him. The law requires love to God and neighbor with meekness, humility and holiness, which people cannot produce in themselves, but the gospel promises that God will give that love and make people humble, meek and holy, and those who lay hold of those glad tidings have it done to them according to their faith. Such faith works through love, purifies the soul and renews the heart in God's image, and the renewed heart delights in God's holy commands, unlike the unrenewed heart which cannot be subject to His law, so the gospel continually leads back to a more exact fulfilling of the law.
It comes when a person stops seeking to establish own righteousness and accepts the righteousness of Christ, His blood atoning for sins and His obedience accepted for man. In Christ believers are counted as if they had themselves suffered the penalty their sins incurred and as if they had themselves obeyed and rendered perfect obedience to the law, showing the fullness that is in Jesus and the love wherewith He loved sinners. Perfect obedience cannot be rendered without Christ imparting His merits and righteousness to believers, and God accepts human efforts to keep the commandments because Christ supplies the righteousness people cannot achieve by themselves. Having the Spirit of Christ, they walk even as He walked, with God's law within the heart always doing what pleases the Father.
It comes because Christ meets the law's claims by transforming human nature through grace, creating a new spiritual life in the heart, implanting a holy nature and imparting His own divine nature and image. Apart from Christ no one can in spirit and in truth keep even one commandment, but in Christ believers become partakers of the divine nature and Christlike in character. In human nature He kept the purity of His divine character and lived and honored the law in a sinful world to unite fallen humanity with God and bridge the separation caused by transgression.
Christ came to abolish sin, not to abolish God's law, since sin is the transgression of the law and it is sin that must be abolished. The spotless and pure One came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was treated as a sinner so that the believing and repentant sinner may be treated as righteous. When the light of truth reveals the sacred, holy, unchangeable character of the law, the believer walks in obedience and is justified and sanctified.
His righteousness does not cover continued lawbreaking without repentance and is not given as permission to keep breaking the law. Christ came to give strength to obey God's law so its righteous requirement can be fulfilled, which is not possible in human strength alone. The Spirit of Christ supplies grace, teaches believers to delight in the law and enables heartfelt obedience, while God's love in the heart cleanses malice, hatred, jealousy and selfishness and produces love for God and neighbor which fulfills the law.
The righteousness of Christ must become inward righteousness, for without it keeping God's law is impossible. Justification through faith must not be held as mere theory but be practiced and accompanied by Christ's pure character, and when the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after the Spirit the fruit is peace, courage, joy and harmony. God now requires the same perfect obedience to His law that He required of Adam before his fall, a righteousness without flaw and without shortcoming in His sight, rendered only by the faith that brings Christ's righteousness into daily practice.
Life Walking by Spirit
The life given by the Spirit reproduces the character of Jesus in believers, producing Christlike character and works and bringing them into harmony with every precept of the law through love. God's love in the heart cleanses malice, hatred, jealousy and selfishness and produces love for God and neighbor, which is what fulfills the law. Christ dwelling within renews God's image, makes believers partakers of the divine nature, and leads to loyalty, justification, sanctification and heartfelt obedience taught by the Spirit's grace and delight in the law. Those who believe in Him as personal Saviour are made rich in good works, ready to distribute and willing to communicate, laying up a good foundation for eternal life.
The renewed heart delights in God's holy commands, while the unrenewed heart cannot be subject to His law. Such renewal comes from a faith that submits the will, yields the heart and fixes the affections on God, working through love, purifying the soul and renewing the heart in God's image. Keeping the commandments is the evidence of faith in Christ as divine Saviour, substitute, surety and righteousness, by which believers lay hold on divine power so the law's righteous requirement becomes real in lives lived by the Spirit and not by sinful nature. Christ leads those who receive His righteousness by faith into conformity with God's will, and following Him means living in obedience to God's law, since sin and holiness cannot be joined.
Christ died to make it possible to keep the law and to live a life of loyalty and obedience. By a life of perfect obedience as representative of the fallen race He passed over the ground where Adam fell, redeemed from the penalty of Adam's fall, bore the penalty of past transgressions, gives the sinner another chance and second trial, opens the way to reinstatement in God's favor, and by imparting His own righteousness makes obedience possible. The advantage secured at infinite cost is freely offered to all, but God forces no one and each person is left to choose for himself. His blood avails only for those who return to allegiance and obey the law they violated, for He never becomes a party to sin.
Acceptance with God is not on the ground of good works, yet reward will be according to works. All who believe in Christ and obey His commandments receive the gift of eternal righteousness and will be abundantly rewarded. Others may suffer in like manner as victims of religious prejudice, but they do not stand under the curse for the world as Christ did by suffering death in man's behalf to make obedience possible.
Walking after the Spirit rather than the flesh is part of sanctification after Christ's example, meaning service to God's glory by laboring for others, giving less care to self and devoting self to God, which corrects faults and strengthens weaknesses as believers grow toward Christian perfection. Those led by the Spirit carry Christ's message with a burden for others, and while following the path of obedience brings clearer understanding, refusing the light leads to confusion and darkness. God's righteous demands are met in those who walk in obedience through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
There is no excuse for envy, fault-finding, jealousy, sin and iniquity, because Christ has made every provision for everyone who believes in Him as personal Saviour to be saved from sin. He was manifested to take away sins and to give His followers grace in ample abundance so they may not sin, and walking after the Spirit instead of the flesh means living free from sin by that provision. His provision through His atoning death and abundant grace, with His life and example of self-denial and obedience, shows believers need not remain in sin.
Christ came to restore the moral image of God by revealing God's character in living the law, which is the foundation of His government, bringing people back from disobedience to obedience so those who accept Him as personal Saviour grow in grace and in His strength are enabled to obey. His work of turning people back to God began as soon as Adam sinned, so that through obedience to God's law and faith in Christ they regain the lost image, since God did not give a new set of sinful energies and passions after the fall. Through growing right principles and grace from heaven people can win over the pull to evil, and when they obey their senses are no longer bent and twisted nor their powers ruined by use on things that lead away from God, but their words, thoughts and strength are made clean, a new character is formed and the lowering power of sin is overcome.
People cannot obey the law by their own strength or repay the debt of sin, but Christ came in human nature to give power to obey, so those who accept Him as personal Saviour receive divine help to resist sin and temptation and become obedient subjects of God's kingdom. Though Satan's temptations have made the whole race transgressors, the sacrifice opens a way to return, and through grace people are enabled to render obedience, so that in every age God gathers out from apostasy and rebellion a people true to Him with His law in the heart. It is God's design for His church to demonstrate to the world that through Christ's grace the law can be kept, and those in His service do not follow worldly customs and practices but amid the awful confederacy of evil stand firmly and bravely for God, protesting by blameless lives against prevailing apostasy. To purify a peculiar people He left the royal courts, clothed divinity with humanity, lived the principles of the law, and shows His grace has power to redeem and raise men and women to moral integrity, because He desires to sanctify and glorify His people.