paradoxum

It's not always easy to explain the relationship between the Law and the Gospel. In fact, I'm sure as some read my blog they think I pit them against one another far too often, and perhaps I do. I certainly don't intend to do that, but in emphasizing one, I can sometimes demean the other - and usually, it's "the law" that comes out the worse for wear. So, I've been thinking about that, and a friend of mine shared a verse with me that I think explains the Law/Gospel relationship perfectly.

"I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." Psalm 119:32

Before my heart was set free through the word of the Gospel, I did not "run" in God's commandments. In fact, I was quite unable to "run" in the commandments because I was so weighed down by the guilt the commandments produced!

Apart from the Gospel, the law, because it was holy and I was unholy, produced death in me through sin. But now that the word of the Gospel has come into my heart and the Spirit has made me alive in Christ, I am FREE to run in the way of God's commands. I do not despise the law of God, rather, I delight in it...even when I fail to obey it...for in the law I see the beauty of the person of God and in keeping it fully, Christ has fulfilled the righteous demands of the law for me.

I am free to run, not away from the law, but in it.