The Father and the Son come to dwell only in those who diligently, faithfully, consistently keep the ordinances written in the New Testament.

"If a man love me, he will keep my words."

"He will keep my words."

The fact that the Law hangs over us until the new man is formed in us is explained by James.

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. (James 2:8-12)

The royal law is that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are to keep looking toward this state of perfection and meanwhile do what we can to avoid sinning. The Law, our guardian, our guide, keeps on looking over our shoulder to see if we are coming to Christ.

Notice the following:

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24).

The Greek term translated "schoolmaster" refers to a slave who served as the guardian and guide of a boy from an upper class family. The slave supervised the life and morals of his charge and never left him until he came to maturity.

So it is with the Law of Moses. The Law, particularly the Ten Commandments, guards and guides us with the greatest care until we come to maturity in Christ and are able to keep the eternal moral law of God by our new nature.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (I John 3:9)

Notice that when Paul and James reminded us of the Law that oversees us they spoke of the moral injunctions of the Ten Commandments, not of the feast days or dietary laws—not even of the Sabbath day. This is because the moral commandments are part of the eternal moral law of God and never change. As we have said, the Sabbath and circumcision are covenants and have to do with the relationship of the elect to God. The moral injunctions, however, are the necessary guidelines for all of God's creatures that they may dwell with one another in love and harmony.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (Romans 7:7)

To be continued.