It is ironic that we can't work our way into heaven, but when we truly understand what Jesus did for us, we want to ceaselessly work in service to our Lord. The difference isn't the works, but the heart that motivates the works.
I'm not usually known for being concise. I'm more known for being thorough and writing posts so long that I get the "your post is too long for email" warning message. I guess God can speak through even the most unlikely source.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Feel free to share a bit more about what you mean by "the giving of the Law is an act of covenantal grace." I think I understand where you're coming from. I'm curious about which figures and traditions in church history might have put it that way.
If you look at the prologue to the Ten Commandments, God says “I am the Lord… who brought you out of the house of slavery.” The giving of the Law is predicated on redemption.
God’s Law is nothing more than His redemptive love given form to clothe His people. Augustine called this lex caritatis, and it is the ordering of our thoughts and deeds according to the Law of Love. Calvin and the Westminsterians also had their own ways of getting at the same idea. Possession of the Law marks us as under God’s protection as recipients of His grace and as adopted sons and daughters.
In drawing near to us through covenant (ie Sinai, the New Covenant, etc) God lavishes His love upon us and gives us a kind advisor who instructs us how to best love God and to love our neighbor. This law works to our good and the good of our neighbor. In this way the giving of the law is an act of covenantal grace.
Tenacity and resolve. (those who endure to the end will be saved) ⚜️ 🇪🇸 ✍🏼📚 Madre Saint Teresa of Jesus always valued and expected a "very determined determination" in her Nuns of the Shoeless Carmelite reformed houses. 🏰 💎 Of course, she was hauled before the Inquisition, twice!
It is ironic that we can't work our way into heaven, but when we truly understand what Jesus did for us, we want to ceaselessly work in service to our Lord. The difference isn't the works, but the heart that motivates the works.
Thanks! If I had put it that concisely myself, the post could have been a bit shorter!
I'm not usually known for being concise. I'm more known for being thorough and writing posts so long that I get the "your post is too long for email" warning message. I guess God can speak through even the most unlikely source.
Very few people realize that the intersect of Law and Grace is that the giving of the Law is an act of covenantal grace.
God’s Law, which is His expressed will for our lives, marks us as His people and prescribes a life which is good for us.
A life of grace divorced from law is a hellish life. A life of law divorced from grace is a life of condemnation
Thanks for reading and commenting. Feel free to share a bit more about what you mean by "the giving of the Law is an act of covenantal grace." I think I understand where you're coming from. I'm curious about which figures and traditions in church history might have put it that way.
If you look at the prologue to the Ten Commandments, God says “I am the Lord… who brought you out of the house of slavery.” The giving of the Law is predicated on redemption.
God’s Law is nothing more than His redemptive love given form to clothe His people. Augustine called this lex caritatis, and it is the ordering of our thoughts and deeds according to the Law of Love. Calvin and the Westminsterians also had their own ways of getting at the same idea. Possession of the Law marks us as under God’s protection as recipients of His grace and as adopted sons and daughters.
In drawing near to us through covenant (ie Sinai, the New Covenant, etc) God lavishes His love upon us and gives us a kind advisor who instructs us how to best love God and to love our neighbor. This law works to our good and the good of our neighbor. In this way the giving of the law is an act of covenantal grace.
Tenacity and resolve. (those who endure to the end will be saved) ⚜️ 🇪🇸 ✍🏼📚 Madre Saint Teresa of Jesus always valued and expected a "very determined determination" in her Nuns of the Shoeless Carmelite reformed houses. 🏰 💎 Of course, she was hauled before the Inquisition, twice!