Is Devotion to God's Law Legalism?

Episode Summary: In Psalm 119:97, David cries out, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” But Paul wrote to the Romans, “You are not under law but under grace,” (6:14) and to the Galatians, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (5:18). So, for Christians, which is it? Are we called to live free from the Law or devoted to the Law? As we continue our study of I Timothy we realize that the question of the place of the law for Christians was an issue that Timothy and other church leaders at Ephesus were wrestling with. This episode examines what Paul said to Timothy as well as what the rest of Scripture says about whether a believer should try to be righteous, i.e. keep the law.

For Further Prayerful Thought:

1. How would try to explain to a new believer that when Paul said that Christians don’t live “under the law” he was referring to how we are SAVED, not how we are TO LIVE.
2. What stood out to you about the three categories of biblical law?
3. Look back at the 8 texts and reasons that pursuing righteousness is NOT legalism. Which ones seemed most persuasive to you.
4. In David’s Psalm 119 cry, “O how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day” why might he associate loving God’s law with meditating on it?

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