#161 The Triumph, Peace, and Power of True Christianity - Part 10
The Triumph, Peace, and Power of True Christianity part 10, by Pilgram Marpeck
Translated by Peter Hoover, edited by Edsel Burdge, Jr.
Christ, the end of the law; on one level in Christ
Christ, the End of the Law
Since Jesus Christ broke down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles, he has brought Jewish and Gentile law together and made the two into one (Romans 8; Ephesians 2). The only way to become free from the yoke of this law is to let Christ bear us again, when our old spirit and life dies, (I John 3–5) and we are made new in him. Once this happens, and Christ comes into our lives, he fills us with patience, and out goes love for the laws of Moses and the Gentiles.
Outside of Christ, neither Jewish nor Gentile law gives life (Romans 2). The law serves only as a bit in the mouth of disobedient and uncomprehending carnality. For as good as a carnal man may become, he still needs the bit of the law to keep him in check. To be sure there are differing grades of carnality, just as there are different grades of rebellion or obedience in animals (horses seem to be more obedient than donkeys), but all animals must be restrained with the bit (Psalm 32; Galatians 3). The bit and bridle for carnality is the dead letter of the law and man-made rules. It is not Christ, who with his Spirit (apart from the fear of the law) gives life (Romans 8).
Those motivated by the Spirit of God are God's children. We have not received the spirit of slavery, which keeps us bound in fear, but we have received a childlike spirit through which we cry, "Abba Father." We are children and heirs if we suffer with him, and shall we not also reign with him? Christ does not reign with the law, neither Jewish nor Gentile law, but through the Word of God alone.
He is the Word of God.
The man who does not have Christ within him cannot live by the Word of God. He is nothing but flesh without spirit. But he who has Christ living in him has the firm government of the Word in his heart. He needs no other ruler than this, as Paul says in Colossians 1. Everyone who rules or punishes apart from this Word (which is Christ, according to John 1; John 8) is part of the government of darkness and the enemy of those who are in the kingdom of the Word (which according to John is the Son of God and the light of the world that enlightens all men in the beginning).
Outside of Christ, we have only one kind of law. Jewish and Gentile laws all become one thing. In the same way, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. All who are in Christ become one new creature in God (Galatians 3; Galatians 5–6). Professing "evangelical" Christians get this confused. They try to justify their use of worldly force by fusing the Gospel of Christ to the laws of Moses. But they are in the wrong. Christ is the end of the law to all those who believe (Romans 10).
On One Level in Christ
Paul says in I Corinthians 6 that there is a fault among Christians who claim their rights, and that before unbelievers. He asks: "Is the wisdom of Christ not among you? Are you not able to admonish one another in love and patience? The simplest person among you should be able to do this if he is filled with the patience of Christ. But you go and quarrel before unbelievers!"
Brotherhood in Christ is patience and love. It functions without bosses or chiefs, and it needs no underlings. In this brotherhood, all are on one level in Christ. Where there are no chiefs, there can, in fact, be no underlings, yet all true Christians are under the control of the will of God in Christ. All Christians are under Christ because he set them free through his living power from the fear of the law—the law that stayed behind, with its sceptre and power structure, with the tribe of Judah into which Christ was born (Romans 1; Romans 9; Revelation 5; Hebrews 7).