Driver

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. -- Galatians 5:18

Like everybody else my age or older, I learned to do arithmetic systematically, adding and subtracting and “carrying” a number over to the next column or borrowing from the next column.  There is a difference between methods, techniques, or tactics for getting a correct answer and the underlying “laws” of arithmetic.  When I was nine and was asked to subtract 37 from 110, I followed the rules and worked out the answer.  Half a century on, I can give you the answer without going through the same process even mentally because I understand the reasons behind the rules.  I have developed my own way of getting the correct answer by, you might say, following the “deeper” laws of arithmetic. 

In Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expounds on the law with a template, repeating, “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you ….”  Behind the letter of the law is the Spirit of the law.  We are all born with an innate or embedded copy of the moral law, just as we are all born with an ability to count.  We have to learn the consensus on what we call the numbers, but most any small child with four pieces of candy and three friends can figure everybody ought to get one.  It only becomes a problem when somebody wants two, or all four. 

God gave us explicit written laws as a help.  The most perfect copy of His law, His approved methodology, we might say, is in the Law of Moses, but humans in tribes, clans, cultures and nations throughout history have had their versions adhering, more or less, to the general outline.  That there are knock-offs and imitations serves to reinforce the value and validity of the genuine version. 

The Lord wrote His Commandments on stone, but His desire has always been for them to be inculcated in the hearts of humanity, not as something superficial, but in understanding (see Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:26-27, among others).  He found, though, that our hearts are stony and hard.  We are most likely to look after our own interests and be less concerned about the effects of our decisions and actions upon others.  The law written on stone with its penalties, punishments, and curses helps to keep us from running completely wild, but we are always looking for loopholes, wondering how far we can stretch things and how much we can get away with.

In Christ, through the Cross, our hearts are replaced with His, just as the Lord said would happen.  Now the written law is only a reminder for the Holy Spirit indwells us and encodes true righteousness and love, the principles that underlie the commandments, into our new hearts.  The law has gone from being our jailer to our mentor to our chauffeur.