Lesson for February 3, 2019
The Doctrine of Christian Royalty
Doctrine of the Royal Law
The Royal Law is found in James 2:1,8,“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of favoritism. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”
The Royal Law is found in three dispensations: 1) the Old Testament dispensation of Israel (Leviticus 19:18) 2) the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union (Matthew 19:19) and the dispensation of the Church Age (James 2:8). The Royal Law was not called “the Royal Law” until the Church Age, but it is mentioned as a divine principle in Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”
Loving yourself has to do with spiritual growth. The command to love your neighbor as you love yourself meant that Old Testament believers were to learn God’s Word and use the Faith-Rest Drill to exhibit impersonal love and to solve problems. To love your neighbor as yourself is a statement of impersonal love. In the dispensation of Israel, the Jewish believers did not have the filling of the Holy Spirit, nor did they have the doctrine related to the Church Age spiritual life, but they did have the Faith-Rest Drill. There was no filling of the Holy Spirit until the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Royal Law in the Old Testament was strictly a matter of using the Faith-Rest Drill. It was a matter of having faith in a doctrine. But the perfect fulfillment of this Royal Law occurred in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union by Jesus Christ.
The Royal Law is named after the royal Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was God’s intent that the Royal Law be revealed in the dispensation of Israel, be fulfilled perfectly by Christ in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, but not be completely understood as a royal law until Jesus Christ went to the Cross, received the imputation of every sin, was resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father and received His third royal title of King of kings and Lord of lords. The Royal Law could not be perfectly fulfilled until Jesus Christ came and fulfilled it in His humanity. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ is the highest Person of royalty Who has ever existed or ever will exist in all of human history.
The Royal Law of impersonal love is a Problem-Solving Device. The Royal Law solves the problem of dealing with others when a believer has been mistreated in any way. Very few people are loved or treated in the way they want to be loved or treated. When people are not loved or treated the way they want to be loved or treated, they can become frustrated, become bitter, exhibit self-pity, hold grudges, be spiteful or be full of malice, which often leads to revenge. It also leads to the function of the arrogance skills: self-justification, self-deception, and self-absorption.
If you exhibit impersonal love to another, and that person disappoints you to the point of becoming disillusioned about the Royal Law, you are in danger of failing to properly execute the Christian Way of Life. Reaction to disillusionment always includes self-justification which says that whether a person is right or wrong, they were right when they reacted. Reaction to disillusionment sometimes includes self-deception. Self-deception always says you are right even when you are wrong. Reaction to disillusionment can also include self-absorption, which means a person has made themselves the issue and they completely fail in the application of the Royal Law.
Jesus was born into the royal family of Israel under an eternal unconditional covenant, called the Davidic Covenant found in II Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37; II Chronicles 21:7. Jesus Christ is descended through David and Bathsheba, the ancestor of Mary cited in the genealogy of Luke 3:23-38. Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus, is descended through Solomon, cited in Matthew 1:1-17.
II Corinthians 5:14, “For the love of Christ motivates us, having reached this conclusion, namely that one died as a substitute for all, therefore all died [spiritual death at birth]; in fact He died as a substitute for everyone, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died as a substitute for them and rose again.”
The love of Christ is the highest motivation that can exist and is the basis for the Royal Law. It was personal love for God the Father and the filling of the Holy Spirit that gave Jesus His power to go to the Cross and remain there until the sins of the world were completely paid for. It is that same personal love for God the Father and the filling of the Holy Spirit that is available to us.
The Royal Law in the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union
Jesus quoted the Royal Law in the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union in Matthew 19:19, “Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”And again, in Matthew 22:36-39, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest of all commandments. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” In these two great commandments we have exactly what occurred on the Cross — Christ’s personal love for God the Father and His impersonal love for all mankind. Jesus made it clear that your neighbor is every member of the human race. Jesus Christ did not seek revenge or bear a grudge.
The Cross was the greatest demonstration of virtue-love on the part of both the Father and the Son. God the Father imputed our sins in perfect love to the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ. So, when anyone rejects Jesus Christ, they are rejecting the perfect love of God the Father and God the Son. Rejection of the love of God is rejection of the righteousness of God, which God credits to every believer at salvation. Rejecting the love of God means rejecting Jesus Christ as Savior, which results in eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire.
The doctrine of impersonal love is a Royal Law passed down to the Royal Family of God by Jesus Christ. Galatians 5:14, “For the entire Law is fulfilled in one doctrine, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” The Royal Law for the royal family of God is a command, not a suggestion. Application of the Royal Law means that you will never feel threatened by anything that is done to you unjustly. Romans 13:8, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love (Royal Law) one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the [royal] law [impersonal love for all mankind].” Fulfilling the Royal Law is impersonal love for all.
Paul describes the Royal Law in Romans 12:17-21, Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
James describes impersonal love as the Royal Law of the Church in James 2:8, “If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.” “Neighbor” applies to the entire human race since Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the entire human race on the Cross. (I John 2:2) Motivated by personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind, the Church Age believer fulfills the Royal Law when executing the Protocol Plan of God. Paul recognized this royal law in Galatians 5:14 when he wrote, “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Impersonal love (The Royal Law) is a major Problem-Solving Device of the spiritual life. When a person tries to solve a problem with a sin (like vengeance), they end up out of fellowship with God, and are in for greater divine discipline than the person who sinned against them. Instead of meeting a sin against you with a sin contrary to the Royal Law, impersonal love meets a sin with a divine solution, which is exactly what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Royal Law as no one else in history.
Impersonal love cannot function as a Problem-Solving Device unless a believer has first attained personal love for God. For the application of the Royal Law, a believer must have learned the doctrine of impersonal love, stored it in his stream of consciousness as spiritual vocabulary and a doctrinal category, and then use it as a mechanic of the spiritual life in relationship to people and problems.
Learning Bible doctrine must always exceed the rate of forgetting doctrine. You cannot apply what you do not know. Furthermore, you cannot apply doctrine you have forgotten and that is buried under the scar tissue of the soul. We have a unique spiritual life and this spiritual life is based on the fact we are royalty since the day we became believers. As spiritual royalty we have the most fantastic privileges and opportunities that have ever existed. We have the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit for the execution of our spiritual life, which was the same power used by Jesus Christ during His life on earth. Those who use the Royal Law will have the most fantastic blessings on earth and for all eternity.
The “A Fortiori” Fulfillment of the Royal Law on the Cross
“A Fortiori” is a Latin term that means “with stronger reason.” “A Fortiori” as a spiritual concept is a recognized fact of doctrine which is inferred as being a more certain conclusion. Paul illustrated the “a fortiori” concept in Romans 5:8-9, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us. Much more therefore (“a fortiori”), having now been justified by His blood, we shall be delivered from the wrath of God through Him.”It is much easier for God to deliver a believer from the wrath of the last judgment of Revelation 20:11-15, than it was for God to impute all sins of the human race to the impeccable humanity of His Son Jesus Christ on the Cross.By application therefore: If God accomplished the greatest difficulty on the Cross, it is concluded, “a fortiori,” that God can accomplish the lesser difficulty of a believer’s spiritual life and the fulfillment of the Royal Law in the life of a believer.
Romans 8:31-32, The Amplified Bible, “What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be [successful] against us? He who did not spare [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”