“Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the actual form of those realities, it can never perfect the worshippers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.”  (Hb 10:1 HCSB)

A metaphor allows us to perceive a reality by use of a symbol. It also was used by God to help us understand the story of the redemption of Jesus. Jesus became the true sacrificial Lamb of God expressed in the very first Passover. The Jews experienced God’s mercy in Egypt before the exodus led by Moses. In the life of Christ, we see a lived-out expansion of this metaphor to express His self-sacrifice, in reality, to produce a strong visual. The Gospel story presents the real live story of the expression of this symbol – the actual redemption — the salvation of the human race.

Why God uses Living Symbols Metaphors are the highest form of language, used to join many combined elements of truth over time, unifying them into a conscious whole – a visual that many minds might otherwise misunderstand. For example, in physics, via math, symbols (atomic simples), when unified present logical truths such as Einstein’s E=MC².

Metaphoric symbols were used in the old testament depicting lambs being slain by the Jewish priesthood. These were symbolic types of the future sacrifice Christ would offer on the cross. These present pictorial imagery by linking metaphoric components to rationally help us understand the larger sweep of the story of redemption.

Christ dying on the cross was no accident. It was planned since post-creation to redeem failing humans from the complexities of evil. We must see evil as destroying life by denying God’s moral laws — His love maxims. Through the cross of Christ God brings man into a consciousness of sin versus pure living via the assistance of the Spirit, and his need to be saved by God’s indwelling empowerment of sanctifying the will, to reject the selfishness of sin. Love is the binding axiom of the entire story of our need to appreciate this initiating love which flows from the heart of God and forms moral law and binds justice, though transgressed by our failures, from which we can be redeemed.

A covenant is a Biblical term for an agreement. Currently, we are in the New Covenant (NC) period of redemption and are called to come into union with God. Most Christians can know that Jesus is unified to God at least from the teaching of the Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit as One. Some view the Triune God as a metaphor used for man to understand the unities of the Character of God. The Father gives us the beautiful picture of the control and stability of a unified household running smoothly in love; the Son gives us the view of God as the creator of man, as One with us in brotherhood, to the degree that He would die in our stead; the Spirit is the invisible God that operates in all spheres creating and rearranging all atomic and mental unities of consciousness and continues to renew minds which are spiritually born again.

Life is a journey in God’s reality or our own delusion. When I had my vision of Christ in my mid-twenties I did not foresee that I would be baptised as a believer,  eventfully be called to work for a Christian publishing enterprise, would own a financial publishing house, continue to teach the New Covenant of Christ, preach, write and publish advice about faith in our Lord. Looking back my life had many ups and downs, serious challenges, and continues to daily drive me to me knees in prayer for my children and grandchildren.

We all have freedom of choice to determine our destiny. God allows us to operate in life in our free will. Hence, you can even choose to reject salvation. No man is pressured to accept Jesus Christ as Sovereign. He never forces His agenda though He does act to make us aware of His grace and love extending to us.

Living life can be seen as a progressive metaphoric journey. God may even warn you through discipline that he gave you ears to spiritually listen to Him, even though you may have closed them to avoid awareness of His mercy. (see Christ’s use of ears as a metaphor).

A prodigal may fall into a metaphoric real-life pit of sin, as God teaches consequential lessons about the danger of self-dependency without Him. Others may ruin a marriage through adultery. We all have eyes to see, but we can blind our mental awareness by an addiction such as drinking alcohol daily. But God can lift anyone who surrenders his or her life to Him, up out of self-induced delusion. (see christ’s use of eyes as a spiritual metaphor)

“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete” (Hb 8: 13 ESV)

The book of Hebrews presents the New Covenant of God as replacing the Old Covenant given to the previous Hebrew generations through Moses:

“Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbour and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hb 8: 6-12 ESV)

The New Covenant is Universal The apostle Paul, elaborated this truth of the New Covenant to be not only for the Jews but for all people. “Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.'” (Gl 3:8) In Romans 3:20 Paul stated: “since there is One God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.” Uncircumsized means all nations inclusive with the believing Jews who were circumcised. Paul was selected by Jesus to teach the gospel covenant to both the Gentile — which means non-Jew — and to the Jews: “This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel” (Ac 9:15)

When God gave Abraham — the forefather of all the Jews — a son He said: “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gn 12:3) and “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gn 22:18) There are many proofs that the New Covenant was designed for all the human race.

Christ Himself choose his disciples commanding them to make this a universal effort to include all mankind: “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mk 16:15 NLT)

We are in the period of time God refers to as the New Covenant (NC) which began at the death of Jesus Christ. He has made it very clear that His substitutionary death and salvation is for al the human race!

The New Covenant redefines moral law As followers of Christ, the moral law is now written on our hearts with the two maxims informing all NC ethical principles. The two primary principles that all moral law springs from in the universe, are based on Christ’s teaching. (see Mk 12:28-31 HCSB). They are:

1) Love God first, and
2) Love others as you prefer to be loved.

When viewed through the filter of love, the moral law is refreshingly perceived as non-threatening life-guidance. Law is now appreciated because of what Christ has done for us on the cross also out of love for others — for you and I — for the entire human race.

He died as a propitiation (substitutionary death) for our sins. Sin is the transgression of the law of God, in relation to how we have erringly crossed the love-boundaries — the two primary conscious formations of law — and harmed others or disrespected God through ingratitude or denying His existence and authority over our life: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rm 3:23)

The New Covenant is expressed by Love We can now perceive God’s love because He first expressed His love to all of us. In the life and death of Jesus Christ, God reaches out to us and to all men and women of the world. In theological terms: God calls each of us into reconciliation with Himself by His action of propitiation – through Christ’s self-sacrificing love, bearing our sin on the cross. When we respond to Christ’s love and live accordingly, such “Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.” (Rm 13:10 NIV)

The death of Christ was considered a righteous act as was His selfless life, and repeated demonstration of love for others, including many who were considered undesirables – sinners of the worst kind! Thus, only Christ is righteous. Most of our righteousness is accounted as “filthy rags” in comparison to Jesus. Isaiah, a prophet who had the most to say of the coming Messiah put is this way: “All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment (Is 64:6)

If you believe you are sinless, ask yourself if you have ever – in thought or deed – missed the mark of loving others. Or if you have denied expressing gratitude to God for His gifts of life and His love to you, like your family: parent, spouse or child. Stop for a moment, and listen to the truth in your own heart, without comparing yourself to any other sinner – such as “I am pretty good compared to ____”.

When we believe, His righteousness is mercifully gifted to cover not only the shame of remorse for sin but also freeing us from judicial danger if we feel we are in disunion with God. Faith in Christ discharges us from the law’s claim upon us. Without Christ, we remain guilty.

The New Covenant teaches that we are Justified by Faith Legally speaking, God’s verdict on the believer’s behalf is: You are acquitted – not found guilty. The theological term is “you are justified by faith alone in Christ”. His very own righteousness is imputed to us, or “covers us with His love” having paid the sin debt, and continues to cover us if we slip up here and there until we meet Him at the end of our lives — at His second coming when those accounted righteous will be separated from the evil-doers. God will view us as righteous due to the work of Jesus on our behalf — this attributed righteousness is “also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Rm 4:24)

“And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. (Rm 3:22-24)

For those who reject His mercy, judgement will follow many to the grave, until the second coming. At that time, there will be a court of judgment established by Christ the Magistrate of Justice. (see 1 Th 4:16-18 HCSB) For now, He is patient, not wanting any to perish. This extended mercy is to allow time each one of us time to accept Him and His sacrificial death on our behalf. (see 2 Peter 3:9)

“Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Php 1:27 HCSB)

The apostle Paul seriously could claim, “for me, living is Christ” (Php 1:21). His entire life focus was to take the Gospel to the entire world. Jesus had called him for that very purpose — to which he was created to accomplish in his lifespan.

In verse 27 Paul further asks each believer to continue to focus on: “Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” As Christians, we know that if we take time for our morning and evening devotions in Scripture, we will find encouragement to happily live within the mindset of a Christian lifestyle which is the opposite of much of this wicked world. Jesus taught, though we are in the world, we are not of the world.

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, sharing the same feelings, focusing on one goal. (Php 2:1-2)

Reading the above scripture, we find that we must first think similarly with Paul, to live out Christian values. First, our determination can only be steadfast if we renew ourselves by reading and hearing the scriptures that reveal Christ’s life and his command to walk in the light with no part dark.

The testimony of this life forming within each one, over our lifetime — though never reaching the perfection we find in our Savior — we will increasingly know that the following changes are occurring in our heart: we will be attracted to and want to unify with, and share our sincere affection of joy with those who walk in the Spirit as sons and daughter of God (see Rom 8:14); we will understand that we need to forgive others as Christ forgave, honestly expressing mercy among a wider scope of people; and we will resonate with Paul, by narrowing our focus in a world of distractions to one primary goal that all our goals must submit to and enhance.

In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul expressed Christ’s humility and exaltation as He lived on earth and asked us to form our mind’s attitudes while looking at His life and how he expressed mercy for us:

“Make your attitude that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God
as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself
by assuming the form of a slave,
taking on the likeness of men.
And when He had come as a man
in His external form,
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death—
even to death on a cross.
For this reason God highly exalted Him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow—
of those who are in heaven and on earth
and under the earth—
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Paul sums up his application for our lives: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” As we live in cooperation with the Spirit’s leading, be assured that it is God who inspires and directs the renewal process. Understanding this will help us avoid the trap of thinking that we gain any merit by our good feelings about how great we are, or our intelligent understanding of doctrine, or any other virtue besides acknowledging what Paul knew for certain when he obeyed his calling — Christ came to save sinners of whom I am chief:

“For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world. Hold firmly to the message of life. (Php 2:13-16a)

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (Jn 16:23-24)

Jesus is talking about a new relationship between the believer and God. Previously, people approached God through priests. After Jesus’ resurrection, any believer could approach God directly. A new day has dawned, and now all believers are priests (see 1 Pet 2:5), talking with God personally and directly. We approach God, not because of our merit, but because Jesus, our great High Priest, has made us acceptable to God.

Jesus would soon be facing the cross, where He would die for the sins of humanity. His disciples had relied on Christ’s close walk with His Father in heaven and knew that Jesus prayed to the Father for them. For example, He had prayed for Peter whom He knew would deny Him after His arrest: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Lk 22:31) Clearly, they were aware of His intercession for them.

Further, He explains that they could go directly to the Father, in His name.

“In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (Jn 16:26-28)

Hebrews 7: 25 shines more light on how we are to pray — the method applied not to just the apostles, but to all believers. “He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” With belief in Jesus, we can draw near to God by faith in Him, directly without the assistance of priest or pastor in this world. Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God leveraging our prayers to the Father, by additionally interceding for us as our high priest:

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:19-23)

You may ask, how can I be forgiven if not by confessing to an ordained man of the cloth? Scripture sets the record straight: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jo 1:9 ESV)

We are not limit praying for one another, or confessing to lay-elders, especially in the context of praying for the healing of a saint who is ill: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (Jm 5:16)

It is noteworthy that Paul, a great apostle chosen directly by Christ Himself, requested prayer for the Gospel work that he was conducting — asking the faithful Christians in the established churches of Christ to do so on his behalf for Christ’s glory. (see Col 4:3; 2 Cor 1:11).

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Lk 11:13

When Jesus taught his disciples – He made the point that the Holy Spirit, the gift of God’s ever-present indwelling personhood, was ready to live within them. How could they gain this advantage? By just desiring this close relationship and asking.

During Pentecost after Jesus had ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit poured out on 120 believers in the upper room while worshiping with gratitude and praise. This empowerment of the church testified to the presence of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus.

Jesus was the incarnate Son of God, who in John 8:12 called himself the Light of the world. Paul further stated: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Co 4:6

“Light” is a metaphor which means the divine revelation which clears out the darkness of sin and guilt in a man’s life by revealing the glory of God in the face of the man, Christ the Lord, who walked amongst them.

The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of Christ, continues achieving this work on earth within believers. Here Paul notes that we are to let Christ abide in our heart via his Spirit, and emphasises – don’t let yourself drift away from this inner light of God as some have and will: “Some people once had God’s light. They experienced the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit.’ Heb 6:4 [God’s Word]

Jesus used a similar metaphor to reveal the presence of the Holy Spirt – the lamp’s light evidenced by the perception of the physical eye. Here He depicts the representative Christian walking in the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, using careful discernment to follow the Word of God and the promptings of God’s still small voice. (see Is 30:21)

Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness. Take care then, that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you. Lk 11:35-36 [HSCB]

Again, Jesus uses the eyes of man, as a metaphor of accepting the Gospel light via the Holy Spirit, contrasting a healed blind man’s acceptance of Christ, to the spiritually blind Pharisees who excommunicated him for being healed on the Sabbath:

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him; he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. Jesus said, “For judgment, I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. Jn 9:35-41

As Christians, we are offered the abiding presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, without whom we will walk in darkness. We must be careful if we believe that we walk in the light, abiding in Christ when we have an admixture of misguided ideology allowing lust, pride, legalism or any flagrant sin — thinking that we can still walk in the light of His loving presence. Without Christ we will be love’s kill-joy, our religion will be a hollow shadow of darkness. (see 1 Co 13)

It is Christ who calls us to walk in the revealed light of His Spirit, obedient to the revealed will of God. When doing so we will passively perceive His love. Our behaviour will actively echo His love for others.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

The mindset of sin, which is living a life separate from God, will naturally result in a life of sinning — doing the opposite of God’s will. Actions that we call sin are only the result of a sinful condition, the effect of not having a true relationship with Christ.

If we get this backwards, we’ll think that doing wrong things is what separates us from God. The opposite is true: living apart from God is what leads us to do bad things. Sin (singular) leads to sins (plural).

King Solomon began his reign with his heart trusting God, in a unified, trustful relationship, that in time faltered. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father.” (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon’s sin began by replacing his relationship with Yahweh, by the outward worship of other gods, to satisfy the multicultural customs of his many foreign wives.

Did Eve fall because she ate the apple? No. She ate the apple after she fell — after tempted to distrust God — to rely instead on her secret perceptions of reality (preferring to know both good and evil), apart from spiritual unity and trusted guidance. Reaching for the fruit was only the result of a disconnect with her God. This resulted in spiritual death, disunity from God.

It took some time for Solomon to begin living apart from God in rampant sinning, whereas for Eve, this occurred with one flirtatious temptation. Minds unified with Christ’s mind is the conditional reality of a mature outward life, flowing from an inner spiritual life of unity.

Though we are seeking to know Christ, we may not yet know Him as intimately as we are privileged to know Him. Thus there may be times when we turn our eyes from Him. Dependent on ourselves without His Spirit leading, we will fail.

Here is a lesson: When a married man and woman separate, they no longer know each other straight from the heart, of the mind, intimately in conjoined reality. The New Testament uses the metaphor of marriage, to define our relationship with Christ as His bride.

If we continue to seek to know Him, to trust in our relationship with Him leading, our hearts and behaviour will be right as we grow into trusted union with Him. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV) We will know Christ increasingly, insofar as we follow His Spirit’s lead and trustingly obey.

If you are not doing anything wrong, it does not mean that you are good. Doing the right thing by not doing a bad thing is not necessarily being good.

I am not arguing that if you’re doing wrong, you’re doing right, or that it’s all right to do wrong. Many act right on the outside, yet live life terribly on the inside. You can only do right if you lovingly respond to Christ’s love for you – living right depends on expressing gratitude genuinely on the inside, expressed joyfully on the outside confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s witness.

Think of the Pharisees, looking the prudent part of the good guys’ club. Jesus spoke some firm words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27, 28: “Listen, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? You are like painted tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, yet are full of dead men’s bones. You think you’ve got it made by appearing righteous to men, but within you are lifeless – full of hypocrisy and corruption.”

Most agree that the goal for the Christian is to be good both on the inside and on the outside. If you’re not good on the inside, aren’t you better off at least being socially acceptable on the outside?

Jesus said that the religion of the Pharisee never measured up to truly loving God and our fellow man sufficient for eternal life. “Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20. If you think external goodness is recognisably real, it’s no good for the divine inspection.

We may presume to serve God while relying upon our efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. However, cold and hardened hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ. They seek only to perform the duties of the Christian life on the outside to get on the inside with God.

In Revelation 3 is a metaphoric message to the church for the time just before Jesus comes again. “I know your works. They’re lukewarm! – Not hot or cold – so I will vomit you out of my mouth!” (Verses 15, 16). External goodness is a bad tradeoff – a fake mask – it’s worse in God’s estimation than no goodness at all! He prefers cold hearts to show-and-tell righteousness, to a dog and pony Christianity – it’s as sickening as slaking an unrefrigerated Fresca after a day hiking in the sun.

External appearance alone is repulsive to God. Prodigals have a better chance of realising their need as sinners and repenting – are more easily reached with the mercy of the Gospel than the one who feels no need.

Must Christ fill the church with prestigious people who are classy enough to display required pretentious behaviour? Or politically or theologically correct sufficient to keep a church worker’s priestly pension safe. Pride is a barrier limiting any personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t guarantee righteousness by checking off public achievements to gain God’s high five.

Let’s stop trying to do what is right, by setting time aside for devotion and contemplating Christ’s love-based Principles as we allow Him to out-express His life in us via the Holy Spirit.

Instead, we can swap out the fake; put in time and energy and effort toward seeking Him. He will then come and live His life in us. Only Christ’s right doing through you will make you good – and the bonus, you’ll be right with God.

“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Rom 7:12)

There are three attributes of the moral law of God, taught by Paul. The law is holy, it is righteous, and it is good. Since God Himself can only designate these three attributes, the law is an expression of God’s character. It follows that to live a life led by the Holy Spirit; we live a life designed and motivated by the abiding love of Jesus Christ, which when so responding, our hearts sing within.

The law is the unchanging guideline of His holiness. Christ died so that “the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Rom 8:4 NLT)

Disciples on the road to Emmaus listened to Christ use scripture to explain why He had to die, to fulfil the Word of God, to initiate the new covenant of grace. Later they admitted the experience as heart-warming. (Luke chapter 24)

Do the characteristics of God change? No, he remains holy, righteous and good just as a life of Godliness — of loving God and loving others reflects Christ, who fulfilled the letter of the law by dying for you and me.

Jesus made it clear that the law of God continues. (Matt. 5:17–19). To keep the law is evidence of being faithful to loving God and loving others.

Most Christians understand that the law can never save us. The law was never our way to salvation, though if revealed our need for Christ to save us from our own rule-based method of salvation, determined by works.

To live a Spirit-filled life means that we live following two primary laws of God, upon which predicates the law of God — both principles of love — for our Creator, and for the creation of man. (Matt 22:36-40)

Try viewing the law, as the pair of shoes in which you walk fulfilling loving God first, then loving your fellow sentient beings. Only in Christ’s love can we love — our love then walks and expresses itself in all areas of our life. In contradistinction, Jesus warned when “lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12 ESV).

Love perishes when the law of God depreciates as the standard of true love which reflects the character of Jesus Christ — who expressed the exact image of God as a man. Paul worked tirelessly with the churches teaching that our character is to be reformed — changed into the likeness of Christ: “My children, with whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you”. While Christ recreates our character in His image, will we not reflect God as loving, which will naturally be holy, righteous, and good, fulfilling the law?

Read Romans 13:10 and Matthew 22:37–40 to find out why love is the fulfilment of the law.