In our study of how the resurrection, ascension and session of our Lord impacted the spiritual life of believers in the Church Age we are discussing the two opposite systems, the arrogance of the Cosmos empowered by the OSN and the Grace of the Royal Law that is empowered by God the Holy Spirit.

We left off last time with the idea that mastering the concepts of the royal law is what enables the believer to define the function and the mechanics of the spiritual life in their relationships with people.

Post-salvation renovation of the thinking demands that the rate of learning Bible doctrine exceed the rate of forgetting it. This is because believers cannot apply what they do not know or cannot recall.

Believers cannot apply doctrine that they have forgotten or that has been buried under the scar tissue of the soul through negative volition.

It is the believer's union with TLJC that establishes every believer in this eternal, spiritual royalty and provides this unique spiritual life that is available from the moment one is born again.

Everything is available at the point of salvation, but believers must learn about what they have been given in order to use it. The royal law is to become the basis for their function in their new identity as royalty.

As spiritual royalty we have the greatest options that have ever existed including the option of deploying the exact same spiritual life that Jesus used that results in the exact same endurance that was exhibited by our Lord when he willingly received the imputation and judgment for all sins on the Cross even though he was completely innocent.

Those who use the royal law to solve the problems in their life in time will receive the most fantastic things in eternity. Rom 8:18; 2Cor 4:17;

When TLJC fulfilled the Royal Law on the Cross an "A Fortiori" was established.

The Latin prepositional phrase " A Fortiori" means "with stronger reason." It is a system of logic related to comparison and inference.

A Fortiori is a conclusion or recognized fact that is inferred as being inescapable or more certain and more conclusive than an already recognized fact through the function of comparison and inference.

The "a fortiori" of deliverance from the last judgment illustrates the function of this system of logic as in Rom 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, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be delivered from the wrath of God through Him."

In this "a fortiori" we see that since God gave the greater benefit on the Cross, He will certainly not withhold the lesser benefit to the believer in Jesus Christ.

If the believer is benefited by the integrity of God in his perfect righteousness and justice, how much more will he be benefited through the love of God as expressed by the grace of God?

It is much easier for God to deliver the believer from the last judgment of Rev 20:11-15; than it was for God to impute all the sins of mankind to the impeccable human nature of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Rom 8:31-32; "To what conclusion are we forced? If God (is) for us (first class condition and he is), who (is) against us? God, who indeed did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over as a substitute for everyone of us, how will He not also with Him graciously give to us the all things?"

We are forced to this conclusion by the Royal Law. What the righteousness of God approves (grace blessing for the advancing believer plus even greater blessing for the mature believer), the justice of God executes through the love of God as expressed in the grace of God because the righteousness of God approves.

If God accomplished the greater difficulty on the Cross, it is obvious that God can accomplish the lesser difficulty of the operational spiritual life in the believer.

Peter refers to the Royal Law in 1Pet 2:18; "Servants, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are unreasonable or harsh."

"Servants" refers to anyone who is under authority in life. Legitimate systems of authority are mandated by the word of God. We begin by learning authority when we are children in the home. Authority is designed to protect our freedom. Authority is designed to protect the human race from self- destruction.

Human maturity is measured by on one's attitude toward authority. Regardless of what kind of a boss we have we are to our job as unto the Lord. If we reject authority in one part of our life, it will cascade into rejection of authority in another part of our life, and then on into another part.

We cannot be effective or oriented to life without recognition of authority because we cannot learn without proper orientation to authority.

Human authority is not always right, but authority is always necessary because freedom without authority is anarchy and God is not the source of anarchy. 1Cor 14:33; 1Cor 14:40;

Doctrinal authority in the word of God is always right and all legitimate authority is based in the word of God. People cannot think right without respect for authority. Without respect for the authority of God, there is no true spiritual life or true happiness in life.

Many people cannot accept authority once they think the authority is wrong and has mistreated them.

Paul says in Eph 5:22; that is not the issue because respect for authority is a system of love.

How do we love someone who is unfair? By first having personal love for God, and then impersonal or integrity love for those who are unjust, unreasonable, or harsh.

Royalty has to be self-disciplined far beyond what would normally be expected of others in order to be successful. To whom much is given, much is expected.

1Pet 2:19; "For this (is) grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God anyone bears up under the afflictions when suffering unjustly.

When we are under unjust authority, weather it is real or imagined, the first thing we should have is grace orientation. We endure alone; We do not seek help from other people. We do it alone because we have sufficient Bible doctrine in our own soul to deal with it. This is called spiritual autonomy.

We do not complain to others. We do not judge, malign, or criticize authority that we consider to be unjust we simply refer it to God because we know and believe that all authority is subject to God.

This is what Jesus Christ did on the Cross. He endured while suffering unjustly because of his Love for God the Father. This was the basis of His power to endure the suffering of the cross.

Jesus Christ did this so that we might share the happiness of God. There is a far greater happiness from enduring unjust treatment because of Love for God than from desire for revenge.

As royalty it is our job to do "what is right" as unto the Lord even when the authority is unjust. When the authority is wrong the divine solution is to put the matter in the Lord's hands. We are going to be tested in this way, so that we can grow up spiritually.

1Pet 2:20, "For what kind of credit (do you have with God), if, when you sin and suffer for doing wrong, and you endure it patiently? But when you do "what is right" and suffer for it, and you endure it patiently, this (is) grace associated with God."

This verse is a couplet of opposites because it contains two antithetical conditional sentences.

In 1Pet 2:19; a hypothesis is proposed as an explanation of the doctrine of the fulfillment of the royal law in the Church Age.

The first line in verse 20 is the false fulfillment of the hypothesis and the second line is the true fulfillment.

The first conditional sentence does not express the hypothesis related to the royal law, but the second sentence does.

The royal law has no credit in the first conditional sentence because the believer is under divine discipline and is enduring patiently with their own power.

The royal law has credit in the second sentence because in this case the believer is a victim of injustice and mistreatment and is following the mandate of the royal law.

When the believer is the victim of injustice and mistreatment and the believer endures it and through the function of the spiritual life the believer fulfills the royal law and glorifies God.

But there is no credit with God when the believer endures it and the power to endure is from the arrogance and self-justification from the OSN.

Human strength uses arrogance. Spiritual strength uses humility. The difference between the first and second line in the passage is the difference between arrogance and humility.

The human solution for the believer under the control of the OSN is being a tough person, being capable of great endurance in the energy of the flesh. This person can endure and is not easily broken. They are not easily influenced by adversity or pain of soul and body.

In my opinion, Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting portrays this.

In their arrogant stoicism they consider their own self-denial and self-justification to be more than compensation for the discipline they are receiving from God so they bear the adversity of divine discipline without recognizing it as sin and acknowledging it to God.

People often come under discipline for sin through illness or great pain or some other form of suffering, but there is no merit for simply toughing it out and enduring it in your own strength and failing to name and cite any known sin to God.

The believer in the first line of the couplet is sinning even though they may not recognize it and is enduring the discipline and continuing to sin, and as a result is coming under greater and greater pressure. That is the arrogant human solution that is really no solution.

Believers do not have to stay with the first line of the couplet because they can simply name and cite any known sin to God with the result that both known and unknown sins are forgiven.

Believers operating under the OSN glorify themselves. They never glorify God. There is no credit with God when believer's ability to endure comes from the arrogance of their OSN.

In this case emotional revolt of the soul is part of the strength of toughing it out and their emotion becomes their god.

They become so negative that they become totally thoughtless about anyone else and in their implacability and lust for revenge they will take others down with them.