Wednesday, September 19, 2012

God's law is over, ok?

  • Romans 4:15
    • The Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.
    • For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!) -NLT
       
  • Now before trust came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners until the coming trust would be revealed. Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by trust. But now that trust has come, we are no longer under a guardian (the law). (Galatians 3:23-25)
  • For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who trusts. (Romans 10:4)
    • For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him. (Rom 10:4, AMP)
  • Sin is not charged when there is no law (Romans 5:13).
     
  • He has made us competent as servants of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:6-11,17-18)
    • The Ten Commandments are called the ministry of death and condemnation. The word ministry means service. That means the Ten Commandments serve up death and condemnation. That is what they give you. But thanks be to God who through Christ brought a surpassingly glorious ministry that serves up freedom, transformation, and everlasting righteousness!
       
  • Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified (made right with God, made righteous) in His sight. Now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the Law (Romans 3:19-20).
    • We are not under the law. The law doesn't speak to us.
  • The law is good but it is not intended for those who receive the righteous nature of Jesus Christ (see 1 Timothy 1:8-11).
     
  • Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." (Galatians 3:13)
    • Praise God for His redemption but may we also be aware that the law curses and to put ourselves under it is bondage.
       
  • On the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:18-19)
    • I would much rather draw near to God than try to keep laws. Drawing near to God means we experience His love and thus we become more loving to others which ultimately fulfills the law anyway.
    • I don't live to keep commands. I live by trust in Christ. If our perspective is even "I must love" or "I must keep the law written on my heart" (which most assume to be the old testament law) I ignore God who lives in me and I serve death rather than life. We don't relate to law (as love or on our hearts), we relate to Christ & one another. Law is a thing. Christ is a person. If I try to serve a thing in order to serve a person I no longer serve that person, in practice I put something between us. It is drawing near to God to experience His love that is good for us, not putting up boundaries (laws) to make it harder to draw near to Him.

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