Led by the Law?
We love to say that Christianity isn’t a religion it’s a relationship. Yet it depends what you mean: If ‘religion’ is earning your way to heaven by keeping the rules, then it’s true that Christianity ISN’T that!
Yet, there ARE rules in the Bible, so what are they for?
Last Sunday morning we saw the apostle Paul explain what the rules are for to the Christians in Galatia in chapter 3 of his letter, who had heard a whole variety of false information.
“We were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal 3:23,24)
The rules, which Paul calls the ‘Law’ from the Old Testament, wasn’t there to make anyone good enough for God. We know from experience that we can’t keep it perfectly anyway!
Rather, the Law was given to people who had already been given God’s promise of a rescuer in the Lord Jesus. He explained that it ‘guards’ us from going too far off track and ‘guides’ us to the Lord Jesus as we become increasingly aware of our need for a Saviour!
What that means is that as you and I read the Old Testament Law (the 10 commandments, etc), we aren’t to dismiss or ignore it as irrelevant. Instead, we should recognise how clearly it reveals to us God’s design for how people should behave. Then we can start to understand how far short we fall from that ideal and how perfectly Jesus fulfilled it.
Once we recognise our need for Him, only then we can start to behave accordingly. Open your Bible today and ask Him to show you…
Spencer Shaw