Bible Studies

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"Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" 1 Timothy 1:5


Here, Paul tells us the purpose or end for which the law was given, namely, THAT WE MIGHT LOVE out of a pure heart. The law was designed that we might love our enemies and do good to those that hate us. Matthew 5:44 Christians show and prove their love by keeping God's commandments. Jesus said "If ye love me keep my commandments." Jonn 14:15

Those do err who think the law was abolished when Jesus came to earth for he said clearly, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Matthew 5:17

But the question is how can anybody keep the law or meet its terms?

Only the saints who are washed from their sins and who have been given a new heart can keep the commandments of God and that not perfectly. Christ intercedes on their behalf if they should sin. (1 John 2:1)

No sinner can keep the law as a means of justification for we read in Romans 5:1 "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God." Nowhere does it say sinners are justified by keeping the law. That was never the purpose of the law but rather that we might eventually love when once we are found in the love of Jesus Christ who came and met all the law's demands. This is one of the sanctifying aspects of the law word made possible by being in Christ.

Jesus said, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." John 17:17

All believers are sanctified by the written word and the Living word. The letter of the law or word can not sanctify apart from the Spirit of Christ which abides in the believer. Jesus said, "for without me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) A man might as well try to stand on the point of a pencil or pen as to keep the law of God apart from the faith of Jesus Christ which worketh in all believers by love. (Galatians 5:6)

The blessed beauty of the believer is that he is found in Jesus Christ who is made unto him "Wisdom, righteousnes and SANCTIFICATION, and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30


The Weakness of the Law


"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Romans 8:3

By nature mankind was under the law of sin and death and condemned by reason of the covenant of works made with Adam and all his posterity. "Wherefore, by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4

Notice the apostle reveals to us how this love in 1 Timothy 1:5 is put into motion and where it comes from: OUT OF A PURE HEART. True godly love comes out of a pure or true heart as opposed to an impure or false heart. Only when a person has a pure heart can they truly love.

So how do you get a pure heart you reply? All God's elect receive a pure heart by faith.

We are told in Acts 15:9 "And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." Now it is evident that not all men have this purifying or saving faith (2 Thess. 3:2) Faith is a gift that does not come from ourselves or else we would have cause to boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) This is why Paul describes this faith as an "unfeigned faith."

An unfeigned faith is a saving faith which declares the believer righteous before God. Let us examine ourselves continually that we be found having this kind of faith for there are many in the churches today who have a false or feigned faith. These are the many false converts who unless they be converted will perish because they have not believed on the Son of God. They do not obey God and so they do not love God. (John 14:15)

Notice what else results from this love besides a pure heart: A GOOD CONSCIENCE. This is in contrast to that conscience which is evil before conversion. "...having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." Hebrews 10:22

Many set themselves up as teachers over others affirming things about the law that they neither know nor understand. Both the anti-nomians and the legalists are in damnable error for the first sort say we are dead to the law and the law is dead to us. If any command is given to check their conscience they cry "legalism". They abolish the very law that Christ came to say He did not abolish. Whom should we believe? Christ or the anti-nomians?

The legalists make keeping the law necessary for our salvation. They put a yoke on people that even the strictest Jews like the Scribes and Pharisees could not keep. (Acts 15:10) But the true believers in Christ must say with the Peter and the other apostles "but we believe that THROUGH THE GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ WE SHALL BE SAVED." (Acts 15:11) Having affirmed that salvation is by grace we must also state emphatically that this grace DOES NOT lead us into sin. For this truth we would have you compare Titus 2:11-12

11. "For the GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGETH SALVATION hath appeared to all men,

12. Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world"

So you see brethren that God's grace never leads a person to sin or disobey the commandments but rather it teaches us to live in a way that pleases our heavenly Father.

All praise be to God that the end of the law or commandment is to love God and we can only love God out of a pure heart which has been purified by the faith of Jesus Christ having our once defiled conscience sprinkled or cleansed by the sanctifying power of our blessed Lord. It is after our cleansing that our sins are forgiven and by faith we lovingly embrace the precious Lord Jesus and repent from our sins. Our heart is purged from evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, stealing, lies and covetousness. These are what defile a person, not the breaking of man made rules (legalism)which have no basis in God's moral law. Ceremonies and rituals can never cleanse our hearts.

Only the love of God in Christ as the perfect sacrifice can atone for sinners breaking of the commandment. Christ having kept the law perfectly now frees the believer from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2) redeeming us by offering Himself upon the cross, shedding His blood and giving us power to walk in the Spirit so as to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Hereby we keep the law of God which is summed up by loving God and our neighbor as ourself. For on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)






Carlton Pruitt ministers the gospel to the Los Angeles area. Formerly a Hollywood actor (SAG member)and junk removal expert he now spends most of his time studying the scriptures, writing articles, hymns and poems and doing street preaching.

See his videos on http://www.youtube.com Type LAStreetPreacher in the search bar. CONTACT at Carlton2061@gmail.

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