58 - More on THE Pilgrimage - LAW - (6)

Much of the contrast of Law and Covenant comes to us in two sections - Galatians 3-5 and Romans 3-5. Obviously there are "principle statement verses" here and there which help - so when we study a subject, we must not violate the principle statements. For instance, when Paul told the Ephesians that "salvation/redemption is NOT OF OURSELVES, it is the GIFT of God" we cannot violate that plain principle statement. When Paul writes that we are "not under law" Romans 6:14; Galatians 3:25; 5:18; but we ARE under grace - what does that mean?

Remember two things Jesus said - "The Sabbath is FOR MAN - not man for the Sabbath"Mark 2:27. He used that phrase to help Pharisees and others realize that commands are supposed to SERVE MAN - not rule over man. Many who try to keep the Sabbath in our day do not receive this teaching of Jesus. The BIGGER concept is that one of NOT being under law - so we don't serve it - but it always serves us - strange concept to many. Sometimes we might say - "Make it PRACTICAL" - which has the idea of "show me how that works in everyday life" - and that is our concept. WE are not under law - law is under us. LAW doesn't rule over us - it serves under us. Traditions, especially in Christ's day, made all laws into a bigger RULER OVER US - and Jesus taught that to be wrong - even before Calvary - and HE used their greatest command RULER - the Sabbath, to illustrate the concept. AND - number two - Jesus taught us that HE desired for US to be UNDER HIM - "as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings" so we see the concept of protection from HIM - by HIS protection and we can easily see the concept of Covenant and our hiding UNDER Him for protection from all enemies. (I include having His identity in that as well.)

What about UNDER GRACE? Well - no difference really - we have come under His power and identity for our protection - and it is a grace/gift. So - we do need to STAY UNDER (remember-those of Jerusalem WOULD NOT come under His protection) - or we need to allow Jesus to BE Savior and Lord. Most Christians realize that if we stay UNDER Jesus - then we harmonize those verses about not being under LAW - because as we have mentioned, law was intended to bring us TO CHRIST (Galatians 3:19-25). Do you realize what Paul used to explain that? In Galatians 3:26, he wrote "FOR - in Christ Jesus we are all SONS" - that's the goal of coming to Christ - and sons are not related by being UNDER SOME LAW - but by relationship - by DNA. NT didn't have that concept exactly - but it is expressed in the idea of "receiving someone's spirit" or even "partaking in the Divine nature". Romans 8:9 - 17 explains that if we have God's spirit we are SONS - if not - we are not.

What about law? Well - it is UNDER us now - we still fulfill all Law by "loving God and loving neighbor"( Romans 13:9-10 and an application in 15:2) because Jesus said that that concept was the focus of all Law and Prophets, Matthew 22:40. We do then have a structure for order in our world - and we do NOT forget that law is under us - so we don't serve law - but we do need order - just like a Prince doesn't need a law to keep to make him a prince - but even "the Royals" have principles which are part of their human decorum to serve them in reference to each other and humankind in general. If WE don't see that concept, we have to ignore many scriptures - most of which were included in this discussion.

LAW - our servant - so Paul had to ask the question - does that mean we sin as a lifestyle? Answer - we already died to that lifestyle - so that would be foolish to live that way. That seems to be a principle statement - so if we don't understand that principle, we'll misunderstand how to live. So - under grace, how does that lifestyle look like? Well - "led by The Spirit" is the short answer - more about that - next