Living From the Inside Out

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:18 TNIV)

This is a powerful verse when you truly grasp the implications.  The Apostle Paul is saying that we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  Who is the “both?”  No matter how we might want to spin this, you cannot read the preceding verses without coming to the conclusion that Paul is speaking about Jews and Gentiles.  That is the “both” that Christ died to reconcile to the Father.  And Paul is making it quite clear that the only way for either of the two previous groups to come to the Father is via the Spirit of God – it is no longer by rules and regulations, which were the foreshadow of things to come.

Not to jump ahead of the story, but it does beg the question, well, if we don’t come to the Father by the law any longer, then is the law of no further value to us who believe?  Paul will deal masterfully with this question in Chapter 6 of this book, so I’ll save the argument for him, but I do want to drill down on one thought that might help us realize just how related our faith is to its Jewish roots.  In his letter to the Galatians, Paul sets out the difference of what a life looks like when it is ruled by the flesh versus one ruled by the Spirit and after the list of attributes that a Spirit-filled life produces, Paul adds – against such there is no law.

The thought here is that when we operate in the Spirit of God, we do not need the law.  No one every says, “No, don’t do that – you shouldn’t love so much or you’ll be arrested.”  Or, “You better stop being so patient with me or I’m calling the cops.”  The law was never intended to govern righteous behavior, only unrighteous behavior.  It was completely designed to show how far from righteousness we truly were and to deal with the acts of the flesh that are what come all too naturally for us as fallen human beings:

. . . For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Galatians 3:21, 24-25 NKJV).

As one born of God’s Spirit, I have the rare privilege and grace to live a lawful life from the inside out, not from the outside in.