General Law and the Law of God

This is a rather new and big insight. Man #5 level. To see it one needs to understand what the 'law' is in God's plan vis-a-vis the Gospel.

To value the Gospel a person has to 'die to the law' (as the apostle Paul says). That means, the law's work is to teach you that you can't do it. It is a curse. It alienates you from it and drives you to Christ (who could and did do all that the law commanded; for you).

I kept thinking that this 'dying to the law' was so similar to the experience of connecting with the Work. I.e. the process where you realize, by degree, over time, through experience, your own nothingness. Getting beaten down by the world, and getting disappointed in all that the world has to offer. And how that takes place in the face of the General Law. At first you are part of the General Law, then you are in conflict with it. Then you realize you can't be a part of it any longer. You have died to it. Then you connect with the Work teaching.

The Work teaching in this analogy is the Gospel. You're driven to the Work like the Law drives you to the Gospel.

These connections are seemingly, perhaps, not clear, yet they very much are real. It can't be denied. This subject in theology and biblical doctrine of 'law and gospel' is a difficult subject for even the most on-the-mark theologians and school of theology. Yet it is central.

If you know the Work and value it, and if you value the Bible, then you must - MUST - acquire The Pearl of Christian Comfort by Petrus Dathenus (written in the 1580s). Trust me on this. It's not a normal, average book recommendation. Trust me, trust me, trust me. Of course, you must have a good understanding of biblical doctrine to see what the subject is all about, but that is a given. It can be followed nevertheless. It's written in a dialogue between Dathenus and a real English woman of his day named Elizabeth. It's short and inexpensive too. It is powerful for understand, though. A must read.

This is a powerful insight, or connection. Seeing the General Law in the light of THE LAW.

This began for me when I began to see 'divine irony' in the Book of Leviticus and other books of the Pentateuch - in places - regarding some of the laws God was giving. "And, oh, by the way, don't mix different fabrics, and definitely don't do it on a thursday, but if you do, then wash yourself with running water, after shaving your head, outside the camp, and sacrifice a goat fourteen hours later." I'm not making fun of Scripture or God. I really see God manifesting 'divine irony' in these laws. The laws COULDN'T be followed. Not to the 'last letter' which is how they HAD to be followed to be effective for salvation. They existed (and exist) to drive a person to Christ. Which is to say, to drive a person from self-will to Real Will (or acting from God's Will). From Imaginary 'I' to Real I. In the General Law you realize 'man cannot do.' It teaches you this. So it drives you to that which 'can do.' In Work terms, Real Will and Real I. In reality: Christ. (The Bible and biblical doctrine actually gives the actual history and mechanics of it all via Covenant, or Federal Theology.)

Another reason I see this connection is because I have a real, stark experience of the history and process of being 'broken down' in terms of vanity, worldly pride, and self-will. Broken down by the world, to the point of finally being able to connect with a rare and higher teaching. But when I'd read in theological works about how it is the role of God's Law to perform this in a person I had to say I never experienced it that way. Yet if the General Law and God's Law are synonymous, in this sense, then it IS something I very much experienced. Insteast of seeing it as me 'seeing my sin' I 'saw my own nothingness' it is similar. And I arrived at the Gospel and the Work literally at the same time. I was being driven towards both at the same time.

So, when you see the Law of God as being similar or even synonymous with the General Law it (it has to be stated) forces you to see the Law of God in a new light. Of course, remember that the General Law is not all 'bad' in how everything works in the Ray of Creation, so nor is God's Law all bad. It plays its role, but once you 'die' to it you just do. (Remember, in Romans Paul was accused of being an antinomian by critics, i.e. someone who denied he had to follow the law any more and could do whatever he pleased - sex, drugs, rock and roll - and still have salvation. To truly understand the Gospel, as D. Martin Lloyd-Jones stated, you have to make yourself vulnerable to this accusation.)

This is getting too deep into theological nuance.

Suffice to say it is striking to see the Law of God in the same light as one has come to see the General Law. It forces new thinking. There is powerful understanding there as well.