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My commentary reminded me that “Paul wrote at a period in
history when the ages were overlapping.
The new covenant of grace had
come in, but the temple services were still being carried on.” The Corinthians and others found themselves
caught between these two factions. Those
teachers of the Law were trying desperately to hold onto the old, and they
wanted to impose it on those who’d never known
it.
The use of the
law, Paul had found, was to make people understand that it left them hopelessly
condemned. Living under it left one
feeling more and more guilty,
producing those feelings of hopelessness and rejection.
“The Law brought us to
Christ, but only grace can make us like Christ.” It finally comes down to why we obey – is it “legal obedience,
born of fear” or “filial obedience
born of love”? That obedience is not something we can
accomplish on our own. “It is God who makes us able to do all that we do,” Paul wrote.
Father, I’m glad that You made me tired of the guilt. I’m glad
that You got me to a point where I saw
that my own hope of obedience was impossible, and that my only hope was to throw myself on Your mercy and grace and give up,
allowing the Holy Spirit to enable me to obey You out of love and not out of
fear.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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