Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitlePostive and Negative Fulfilled
Bible TextRomans 6:23
Date09-Oct-2017
Article Type Article
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
 

POSTIVE AND NEGATIVE FULFILLED

 

Matthew 22: 37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38: This is the first and great commandment. 39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death;

 

The positive fulfillment of the law is to love God and to love thy neighbor as thyself.  The negative fulfillment of the law is death which is the wage the just law of God must pay for sin.  The only one to ever fulfill the law is Christ.  Christ fulfilled the positive side of the law toward God and toward his people by fulfilling the negative side of the law for God and for his people.

 

    First, as God’s righteous servant, he fulfilled the positive law of love to God by fulfilling the negative law for God by dying under the justice of God. This was love to God because he did it to manifest how God is both just and the Justifier of all who believe on him. It was love to God because by pouring out justice upon Christ unto death, God’s righteousness  was manifest in that he executed all who he will save to the full satisfaction of justice.  Therefore, God can show his people mercy without doing harm to his justice.

 

    Also, as his people’s righteous Head, Christ fulfilled the positive law of love to his people by fulfilling the negative law for his people by dying in our place and justifying us from all our sins.  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15: 13) This should shut every sinner’s mouth from boasting that we have ever loved another as ourselves.

 

     Christ fulfilling the negative side of the law for God and for his people is the fulfilling of the positive because it is the perfect act of selfless love.  This is why God is satisfied with none but his Son and those who believe on his Son.  And this why every believer is satisfied with none but his Son. Christ is the LORD our Righteousness.