Lawkeeping, meet Galatians. Galatians, lawkeeping. I'll leave the two of you to get aquainted. But I'll warn you, lawkeeping, you won't like the relationship.
We as Christians know that we are not under the Mosaic Law, and thank God for that. There'd be blood everywhere, and our rurual neighbors would be wondering why we're burning carcasses in their backyards and sending our lepers to squat in their fields. No, it's grace from God through Jesus Christ that has brought reconciliation with God. Galatians 3:13 clearly states that "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law", meaning the punishment that was due for not following the (big-L) Law. The Law itself has passed away.
We know this further by continuing to read... and these are such huge, powerful verses that I'm compelled to quote them in their entirety.
"Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. "(Galatians 3:23-25)
How very very clear is it, then, that the Law does us no good. But how many of us, even though we'd never dream of following the old Jewish Law, create a law unto ourselves? "God, if you do this for me, I'll do (or won't do) that". We've said that a hundred times, easily. We make deals, sweeten the pot for God. Even though we know that we work out our salvation through faith and not works, we're still pretty well convinced we can trade favors with God.
The problem that I've only recently realized with that is not only does it not coincide with what has been promised to us, which is infinite love in God and Jesus Christ, but it also puts limits on what we believe God will do for us out of that love. Luke 11:13: "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” " The Holy Spirit, the outpouring of God's love and power, given to us! But how do we recieve it/him (I'll leave the it/him debate for another time)? Head back over to Galatians 3:2 to see how it was done: "I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?" Given that the entire chapter (and most of the book) is an admonition against relying on justification via the Law, I'd hope the answer would be obvious.
When we made deals and set conditions, what we're really doing is setting limits on the love and power of God in our lives. God works for the good of all those who exercise faith in Him, and we don't need any tit-for-tat measures to gain that good. We don't earn His love. All we do is turn ourselves to Him and open our hearts and minds to His will, and His love for us compells us to follow and be obedient. Faith and obedience isn't a condition of grace, it's a result of grace. No law, no matter its origin or details, connects us to our Heavenly Father. Only Christ does that. God sets up no barriers to the believer, so why should we?
