The Perfect Law of Liberty

“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17).

“One who looks intently at THE PERFECT LAW, THE LAW OF LIBERTY, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:25).

Perfect Law?  The Law of Liberty?  Yes, the perfect law of liberty (or perfect freedom).  From what?  Sin, of course, and naked human nature, not as obvious.  But more specifically, and in context with these verses of Scripture above cited, freedom from the fading glory of the Law and its ministration of condemnation.  Earlier in 2 Corinthians, Paul speaks of “letters of commendation” needed by some to substantiate their ministerial authority and ability, and in response to them, Paul provided irrefutable proof of the legitimacy of his apostleship in the form of “our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men” and “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us (Paul and his apostolic team), written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone (and not on paper or parchment for that matter), but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3).

And it is this indelible imprint of God’s Spirit on the human heart that is now the perfect law, the law of liberty.  No longer is humankind bound by external law, because God has fulfilled His promise to internalize law.  “I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33).  It is noteworthy that this promise from Jeremiah was made to Israel, and not simply to the Jews, or gentiles, or just anyone who wills (like so many salvation messages infer), because the true circumcision that creates a new creation goes beyond the initial salvation experience and into the matured experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the application of the cross, the TRUE circumcision that removes flesh from spirit and creates the new creation baby.  Paul differentiates between the natural or false circumcision and the spiritual or true circumcision when he says “beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:2-3).

Another way of getting at the concept of removing flesh from spirit in the human heart or spirit realm (the new creation formation), and not the natural realm of 8-day-old-male-baby circumcision, is to prove that natural circumcision is no longer of any consequence.  And Paul makes this perfectly clear when he says that “neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).  Then he says this extraordinarily revolutionary statement: “Those who...walk by this rule (the rule of the new creation nature), peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the [true] Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16).  Do you get it?  The new creation is the true Israel of God—and its godly nature—the new law, an internal rule of conduct.  The perfect law of liberty is God and man becoming one, and then after that marriage, simply obeying that human/divine nature.  In other words, this perfect law of liberty is perfect and free, not because of external policing, but because of the internal reality of God inside man: God’s divine nature interwoven with human nature.

“So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.  For Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:12-13).