Compelling Love

Romans 8 describes “the Spirit’s law of life” for those who are in union with Yeshua the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Spirit’s law of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. By the power of the Spirit who lives in us, we can consistently obey God’s instructions, His Torah, better than we ever could before. This is part of the renewed covenant He has made with us through the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son.

Romans 8
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Yeshua, Jesus, fulfills the law, and helps his followers to do likewise. He declares in Matthew 5:17-18, “Don’t assume that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished.”

Romans 8 continues:

3 What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.
The Holy Spirit’s Ministries
12 So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
From Groans to Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

For believers in Jesus, Yeshua, the Day of Pentecost includes a celebration of the giving of the Spirit on Mount Zion after his death, resurrection and ascension. Historically, Pentecost – also known as “Shavuot” or the “Feast of Weeks” – is one of the three major feasts of the Lord (YHVH): Passover and Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Tabernacles. It is described in Leviticus 23:

The Feast of Weeks
Leviticus 23 (NKJV)
15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. 16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.

The Feast of Weeks, Shavuot, celebrates the giving of the commandments on Mount Sinai, and the receiving the first fruits of the land. Orthodox Jews read the Word all night long, especially the Book of Ruth, which is a picture of the Messiah as the Redeemer of the whole earth. Ruth, who was from the country of Moab, told Naomi her mother-in-law, “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16) God’s plan for redemption of the whole earth is also seen in Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

These are the key parallels between the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai and the giving of the Spirit at Mount Zion:

Hebrew 8:6 declares that the Messiah has come as the “Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” This is referring to the declaration of Jeremiah 31:33, repeated in Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16, “… this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

The Spirit’s Law of life sets us free to live as Yeshua promises in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, http://compellinglove.net, 5/12/2o13