Page 119 - Laying Down the Law

he asks, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made
perfect by the flesh?” Paul declares that these fleshly ordinances were in effect, only
“until a better system could be established.”
The King James speaks of these carnal ordinances being in effect until the “time
of reformation.” The Darby Bible describes this time as “the time of setting things
right.” The Douay-Rheims Bible similarly describes this occasion as “the time of
correction.”
When Christ came, He set things right between God and man. He removed the
enmity that existed between them, “having canceled out the certificate of debt
consisting of decrees against us...,having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).
Christ brought “re-formation” to man by giving him a new heart and a new spirit.
Men who experience the spirit birth truly become “new creatures” in Christ. Thus, the
period of man’s probation under the Law is brought to a close, and a new era of life
in the Spirit is initiated.
Although every member of Christ’s flock has the ability to hear His voice, and
John has testified that the anointing (the Holy Spirit) teaches them all things,
Yahshua has given ministers to the flock to help shepherd them.

Ephesians 4:11-14
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...

If the ministers are not equipping and edifying the saints, leading them “to a
perfect man,” then they are not fulfilling their calling. Ministers who are leading
people back to the Law are unwittingly leading them away from the Spirit who alone
can make them perfect. A minister should emphasize the need of every saint to hear
the voice of God themselves. He must impress upon those who are partakers of the
Spirit their daily need to be surrendered to the direction of the Spirit in all their
actions and words.

Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

The tragic effect of embracing the Law as one’s guide and instructor to know
what the Father would have men to do, is that the saints fail to seek the mind of the
Spirit. Believing the mind of God can be ascertained in the Law, they see no need to
look for it elsewhere. Those who look to the Law as their guide will remain in
perpetual childhood. If we would be perfect, we must walk as Christ walked.