The other evening, I called my son who was sitting in the living room while I was in the kitchen. I presumed he was idly watching TV when I summoned him. I was calling to tell him to sort through the laundry basket to find his clothes for the next day – something I have been desperately trying to get all my kids to be more proactive about. As I approached the living room, I was certain I would find him reclined on the sofa and gazing at his favorite show…but to my surprise, he was already engrossed in the very task I was going to command him to do. Incidentally, this was a rare occasion in which it was intuitive to him to do what was expected before I had the chance to ask! The entire incident reminded me of Martin Luther’s commentary on Galatians 5:23,
There is a law, of course, but it does not apply to those who bear these fruits of the Spirit. The Law is not given for the righteous man. A true Christian conducts himself in such a way that he does not need any law to warn or to restrain him. He obeys the Law without compulsion. The Law does not concern him. As far as he is concerned there would not have to be any Law…
Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians
The Law pursues the believer fully expecting to find us in violation of the Father’s expectations and ready to issue its unbearable demands…yet, in Christ, we are impervious to its threats and dead to its irrelevant directives. When the Law finds us, it finds us already doing what it demands…because we have been justified with the perfect record of the obedience of Christ! To take the metaphor a little further though, the Law ultimately doesn’t find us at all because it can’t…we are hidden from its sight, seated in heavenly places with Christ, where our laundry has already been folded…and our garments have been “washed… and made white in the blood of the Lamb“.
It Is Finished.
Law, Grace, & Daily Living 