Chapter 6:1

We cannot enter into the force of this expression, obedience in the Lord or according to the Lord, unless we take our place before the Lord with spiritual understanding. Christ, when He was with His mother and Joseph, had the power of the relationship in Himself; this power of judging good and evil led Him to obey. It is in like manner with us: we ought to obey as to that which regards our relationships in this world. We must understand our position in Christ, in order to be able to obey. God formed these relationships from the beginning; natural relationships are of God, but sin has corrupted all. Now this is what the Lord does: He does not bring in a remedy for this state of ruin, but He introduces a new man, having given himself without sin in order to take away sin; and this new man is Christ. It is evident then that this new man recognizes what God has done in establishing these natural relationships; but in a manner superior to these very relationships. So when Christ began His ministry, He recognized nothing in this world; but He submitted to all, as an individual, perfect in the midst of this evil. When He came into this world, He said: " Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business."
Nevertheless, He submitted to those who stood to Him in the relationship of parents, until God called Him to His own proper service. He acted as from God, as superior to the obligation. The Christian, in like manner, by his union with Christ is superior to his obligations, inasmuch as he has with God a new relationship beyond nature; but he recognizes this obligation according to the intelligence which this new relationship gives to him, and the consequence is that He is infinitely more obedient, because He obeys as from God. But it is impossible that I do evil as from God, or that I prefer anything before the authority of Christ. I am made more subject according to the perfection of God in Christ; and likewise by the introduction of the new man, the strength of the obligation is maintained, but according to God. In order to act as Christ did in the world, we need spiritual discernment; God cannot deny the obligations which He has created; but if I act in these relationships, as being from above and not from below, I shall obey with all my heart; but in a superior position, which does not allow of the evil into which I might be drawn by those with whom I am in this relationship, because I could not do evil " in the Lord": it is a most simple principle.