The Law of Christ

•     Gal 6:2  Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

•     John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

1.   POSITED

A.  The law of Christ is specifically …

1)   Christ-like love, that is,

2)   Christ’s New Commandment

B.  Proofs:

1)   Internal evidence: bear one another’s burdens = love

2)   Parallel scriptures…

•     John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love

one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

•     John 15:12  This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

•     1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

•     James 2:8  If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as

yourself," you are doing well.

•     1 Tim 1:5  But the goal of our instruction (commandment) is

love

•     Gal 5:6  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through

love.

•     John 13:14  If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

2.   WHAT IS ‘NEW’ ABOUT THE NEW COMMANDMENT, after all, love is supreme in the Old Testament as well …

•     Gal 5:14  For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

•     Lev 19:18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I

am the LORD

•     Mat 22:38,39 … love God … love neighbor

A.  NEW PROPHET, law-giver – not Moses but Christ

•      John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you

•      Acts 3:22  Moses said, 'The Lord God shall raise up for you a

prophet like me from your brethren; to him you shall give heed in everything He says to you.’

•      John 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth

came by Jesus Christ.

•      John 8:31 If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of

Mine

•      John 12:48  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.

•      Mat 7:24  Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built

•      Mat 17:5  … This is My beloved Son … listen to Him

•      Mat 28:20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;

and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

•      Heb 1:2  in these last days has spoken to us in His Son

•      Heb 3:1  … consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession

•      Eph 2:20  having been built upon the foundation [teachings] of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner

stone

B.  NEW PATTERN, example – love displayed by Christ (unconditional, unwavering, unrestrained giving, as the cross)

•      John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

•      John 13:14,15  If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I gave you an

example that you also should do as I did to you.

•      Eph 5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

•      Phil 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus

•      2 Cor 8:9  For you know the grace (the way He gave) of our Lord

Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

•      1 Pet 2:21  … Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example

for you to follow in His steps

•      Rom 8:29  … predestined to become conformed to the image of

His Son

•      1 Cor 11:1  Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

•      1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

•      1 John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

C.  NEW PEOPLE – the church

•     John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

1)   The community is no longer a people defined by physical traits, but now spiritual – the church

a)   Blood bought b)   Regenerate

D.  NEW PURPOSE (motive) – our works are not for merit, but from gratitude, having been so loved

•     John 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

•     1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

•     1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

•     2 Cor 5:14  For the love of Christ controls us

•     Luke 7:47  For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for [therefore] she loved much

E.   NEW POWER, that is, the Law for the Christian is internalized, in contrast to the Gentile who is without law and the Jew who is under law.

1)   In-law to Christ (Greek: ennomos), 1 Cor 9:21  to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the

law of God but under the law of Christ, that I might win those who

are without law.

2)   Written on the heart, Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people