10 November 2006

the law

I know the way from Charlottesville to Washington like the back of my hand. I don't need the road signs, the path is built-in now (to my brain). So, its like this, once I needed the road signs to point the way. But now, as a follower of Jesus who has the Spirit of Christ in me, its like I now have a built in GPS. I no longer have to have the sign to get to my destination.
But as I'm travelin, I like to know how I'm doin... so I watch the signs, check the cruise control setting, etc. It's not that I need to learn the way. It's that I need to check myself... reading the Shema and the Decalogue each morning is the same... I need to remind myself of how I'm doing, and my daily need for the Gospel.

2 comments:

Arden Campbell Czaszewicz said...

Question came up in Bible study. How would u answer: Jesus said he would fulfill the whole law...how did He do that?

revtom said...

wow... great question... Jesus is quoted as saying "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." (Mat. 5.17, ESV) Paul says "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Rom 3.20)
We know the law cannot save. It is faith that saves (Gen 15.6). The law only points us to a knowledge of our need. Within the law are the sacrifices that looked forward to THE sacrifice of Jesus, the one True Sacrifice which was FINAL (Heb. 12.11-12). So how does Jesus fulfil the law? Becuase Jesus is that to which the law pointed. It is the work of Jesus: cross, burial and resurrection that the law depends on. For we cannot keep the law. The law is there to show us we need Jesus and can be reconcilled (as law breakers) with God (the law giver) through the work of Christ on the cross and out of the tomb - - - that's what I think based on what I understand from Scripture...