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Gatororeo7 (Gatororeo7)
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 7:55 am: |     |
The Word of God makes abundant use of a very helpful teaching tool - contrasts: light and darkness, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, life and death, lost and saved, just to name a few. And one very beautiful and educational contrast found throughout the Bible is law and grace.
Far from being a dull theological subject, law and grace is the very backbone of the gospel. The difference between the two is at the heart of how a person is saved and, equally important, how a person will live the Christian life. Law and grace is not a side issue, it winds its way into every nook and cranny of the Christian life.
Without a proper understanding of law and grace, a person will be "double minded, and unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). The Bible will be hopelessly contradictory for such a person and he will be unable to relate to God with confidence and thanksgiving.
However, those who have come to a fuller understanding of the grace under which we live have nearly felt "born again - again." They have regained the joy, freedom, and spontaneity of their earliest Christian experience. This is the truth that sets men free (John 8:32).
Let's take a closer look at law and grace.
Quote:John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- What was given through Moses?
- What came through Jesus Christ?
- Does this verse imply that there is a difference between what was given through Moses and what came through Jesus Christ?
Quote:Acts 15:1, 5
Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." ... Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."
- According to the men from Judea, what must one do to be saved?
- On whose customs did they base their teaching?
- The believers who were Pharisees said that the Gentiles must do two things to be saved. what were they?
Quote:Acts 15:7-11
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
- Who was the first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles?
- How did God show that He accepted the Gentiles?
- How were the hearts of the Gentiles cleansed?
- Did God make a distinction between Jew and Gentile concerning His gift of the Holy Spirit and the purifying of hearts?
- What did Peter say the Pharisees were doing by requiring the Gentiles to be circumcised and to observe the law of Moses?
- Is the yoke of the law something that any of us could bear?
- How does Peter conclude that we are saved?
- Are we saved by the law of Moses or by the grace of Jesus Christ?
Quote:Colossians 2:6
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,...
- According to this verse, is there a difference between how we received Christ (were saved) and how we are to live our Christian lives?
- How, then, would you conclude that we are to live our Christian lives - by the law of Moses or by the grace of Jesus Christ?
Quote:2 Corinthians 3:7-11
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
- How does Paul describe the law?
- How does Paul describe the ministry of Jesus Christ?
- Is there a difference between the two?
- How does the glory of the law compare to the glory of that which came through Jesus?
Quote:2 Corinthians 3:12-18
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- What did Moses have to do to hide he fact that the radiance of the law was fading away?
- What covers men's hearts when Moses is read today?
- When is this veil taken away?
- When a person turns to the Lord, what will he experience?
- Whose glory will he reflect?
- Into whose likeness will he be transformed?
- Could a person reflect the glory of the Lord, experience freedom, and be transformed into the likeness of the Lord through what was given by Moses - the law?
- Who is the source of these things?
Quote:2 Corinthians 3:6
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
- God made Paul a competent minister of what?
- Is this new covenant of the letter or of the Spirit?
- What does the letter do?
- What does the Spirit do?
- Why do you think it is important to know the difference between law and grace?
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Colleentinker (Colleentinker)
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 9:04 pm: | |
Great study, Joel!
Colleen |
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