The King's Proclamation

"I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep His commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power" (1 Tim. 6:13-16).

There are three points that I'd like to emphasize in this passage as we begin the fourth chapter of this study of authority. To make it easy, I've underlined these points above.

First of all, Jesus Christ is presently reigning as King. In fact, He is the King of kings; that is, He is the highest authority (except for God the Father, 1 Cor. 11:3). As I've stressed in previous chapters, Jesus is reigning from heaven over His spiritual kingdom (John 18:36-37), which is the church (Mt. 16:18-19; Acts 2:33, 47). 

Secondly, we are to honor Jesus as our King (1 Tim. 6:16). Christians are those who, through faith and obedience, have been granted citizenship in the kingdom (Phil. 3:20-21) and therefore have agreed to be in subjection to King Jesus. We must not only value Him as our Savior, we must honor and reverence Him as our King.

And finally, we honor King Jesus by "[keeping] His commandments without spot." In other words, we must comprehend, embrace and totally obey His law. Those who accept the fact that there are commands to be obeyed and yet who reject the notion that there is a law are mincing words. 

Having reviewed these basic points, the question that will be addressed in this chapter is: what is the law that King Jesus has bound upon us? By what medium or in what sense has this royal law been expressed tangibly to the citizens of the kingdom of Christ?

To put it simply, the law of Christ is expressed in the written words of the New Testament. But don't take my word for it. Let's show why this is true.

Throughout the three years of Jesus' ministry, He taught that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matthew 4:17). Of course, the establishment of His kingdom would necessitate a new covenant, or law. We see in the famous Sermon on the Mount that Jesus was instituting many changes. While they were accustomed to their own laws and traditions (including the Law of Moses), Jesus changed the expectations and raised the bar (Matthew 5-7). In John 12:48, He boldly asserted that the words of Moses would no longer be the standard. Specifically, He said, "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges Him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." 

After three years of preaching and teaching His law, Jesus took His apostles aside in what's often called the "Upper Room Discourse" (John 14-16). He spoke these last words to the apostles all the while trying to warn and prepare them for the changes that were coming. Notice the following two statements from this private conversation with the apostles:

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26).

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into ALL truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:12-13).

Jesus was going to be crucified and murdered for the sins of the world, and even though He would spend forty days with the apostles following His resurrection, their time together had basically come to an end. But they weren't going to be alone. Jesus was going to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles not only to comfort them in His absence, but to empower them (by inspiration) to know the complete will of Christ - not only the things He had taught while on earth, but additional teachings. Jesus put it succinctly when He said that they would be guided into "all truth."

But would the apostles, upon receiving this knowledge (i.e. law), squirrel it away and keep it to themselves? No! Through the apostles, the Holy Spirit would "convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:7-8). Just prior to His ascension, Jesus reminded them of this point: "...and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you (the apostles, ch) are witnesses of these things. Beyond, I send the Promise of My Father (the Holy Spirit) unto you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." We see the parallel account in Acts 1:4-8, and as I'm sure you know, this was fulfilled on Pentecost in Jerusalem when the apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) and empowered to preach "all truth" to the world, beginning with the Jews.

So beginning on Pentecost, the apostles "had" the Holy Spirit...why? For the purpose of inspiration and revelation as seen in John 14-16. Of course, we see throughout the book of Acts that the apostles SPOKE the will and word of God to countless churches and audiences.

But did the apostles only convey the Law of Christ orally? No! Notice the following statement in 2 Thessalonians 2:15: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions (teachings, ch) which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." An epistle is a letter. And so Paul affirmed that the Law of Christ was not only spoken, it was written (i.e. Scripture).

In fact, the apostles placed great emphasis on their writings in that they expected their writings to be the standard of Law. Pay close attention to Ephesians 3:3-5...

"...how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets."

First of all, we learn that it was God's plan for the apostles, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to record His will. In 2 Peter 1:20-21, we learn that these apostles wrote "as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." In other words, they penned exactly what the Lord wanted them to pen.

Secondly, we learn that these words were written for Christians to read and understand. These New Testament books were not written for recreational purposes, but for instructive purposes.

We weren't there to hear Jesus and/or the apostles preach, but we do have 27 books penned by these apostles and prophets who wrote by divine inspiration the words and will of God. These written words comprise the law of Christ to which Christians are bound...

"...that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other" (1 Cor. 4:6).

"If anyone things himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write are the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37).

"For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end" (2 Cor. 1:13). This proves that the apostolic writings were intended to serve as our guide until the return of Christ.

Also consider 2 Pet. 3:1; 1 John 1:4; 2:1; 2:7-8 and Revelation 1:11, 19.

In conclusion, the apostolic writings found in the New Testament constitute the divine law of King Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the apostles conveyed "all truth" to the world; it is by these inspired words that we will all be judged. These words were publically preached in the first century, but they were also recorded for us in the form of Scripture (the New Testament) that we might know the King's decrees, serve Him fully, and prepare ourselves for Judgment.

There are some additional questions that arise here. Lord willing, I'll address them in the next article in this series which can be accessed by clicking here.