Law and Gospel: Underlying Assumptions

There are certain truths relating to the Law that I am absolutely certain of, so I want to lay these out briefly, for my own good and also to dispell any notions that I might be wandering into any kind of works-righteousness territory. The Scripture references given are only a minute sample of abounding evidences for the following truths. You can tell I was mainly paging through Romans as I wrote this:

1. Keeping the Law is not the source of our righteousness. (Romans 3:20)

2. We are justified before God by grace alone by faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. (Romans 3:22-25; Ephesians 2:8,9)

3. The Law serves to bring conviction of sin and show us our need for Christ's atoning sacrifice because it is impossible for any human (other than Jesus) to live up to its standards and carry it out perfectly. (Romans3:19,20; 5:20,21)

4. As a believer, I am no longer condemned by the law. (Romans 8:1,2)

5. God's grace does not excuse us from obedience, but rather motivates us toward greater obedience. (Romans 6)

I'm positive there are more things that I'm sure of, but they're not coming to me right now. Those are at least the basics. So my main questions concerning the law and it's relationship to the believer are things along the lines of how much of the Mosaic Law is relevant to gospel-motivated obedience in the Christian life. Obviously anything repeated and expanded by Christ in the gospel accounts or by any of the Spirit-inspired New Testament writers stands. But what about all the other commands of the law? Are they merely for anthropological enthusiasts, or should we regard them as ageless wisdom given by our omnipotent Creator? More thoughts later...

I'd like to take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to announce that Susanna hit a record score of four successful trips to the potty today! (Frankly, two would have been a record:-)) I'm not counting any unhatched chickens, but I'd like to think that means we're making some headway in the potty-training department.

Law and Gospel: Introduction

In all our recent thinking about healthy eating, I came across information from a few different sources on the potential risks of eating pork and other scavenger animals, which got me to thinking about Old Testament law and its relevance for the New Testament believer. I began to realize that my understanding of how a Christian should view the Law is severely underdeveloped. I’ve grown up under the assumption that the Ten Commandments and some other OT laws (like capital punishment) still apply, but others, like laws about animal slaughter and tearing moldy bits out of garments, don’t. But why I would believe this I could never tell you… I’ve often had questions, when the issue of capital punishment comes up, as to why we think that’s good but don’t follow all the rest of the Law… But it seemed too complicated an issue to really think about, so I let it go.

Lately, however, I am beginning to see just how relevant the question of law and gospel really is to everyday living, and besides that, any theological issue that I am willing to ignore because of potential complications just shows how little I care about what God’s Word really says. I should be desiring to grow deeper in understanding in all areas of doctrine, especially those I don’t understand well or have firm convictions on! So I’ve resolved to begin some study in the area of law and gospel, which, for the time being, consists of reading through the “Law” (Exodus through Deuteronomy, plus some parts of Genesis) during my devotional time in the morning, and reading Five Views on Law and Gospel for some academic treatment of the various views on the subject. As I am doing this study, which is likely to last some months, I will be posting thoughts, observations, convictions and conclusions periodically on this blog… a series of sorts. Feel free to comment with your own meditations! Later today (assuming the day goes at least partially according to plan;-)): Underlying Assumptions. Stay tuned!

Here's a recipe we enjoy for breakfast or light dinner.

Nutty Whole Grain Waffles

These are adapted from Cooking & Baking with Fresh Ground Flour...

1. The night before, mix:
1 c. whole wheat flour (I use white wheat flour, but regular red wheat will work)
2 1/2 c. rolled cereal grains*
2 c. milk
2 T. honey
Cover and let sit overnight.

2. In the morning, mix in:
1/2 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. orange juice (or apple juice)
1 egg, beaten

3. Sift over batter and whisk in:
2 t. baking powder**

4. Fold in:
1/2 - 1 c. chopped walnuts

5. Spread batter on waffle iron and bake until brown.

Serve with maple syrup and sour cream/plain yogurt, or other desired topping (I also like unsweetened applesauce).

The recipe makes 4-5 large waffles, and they are pretty filling. If doing them for dinner, I start the process in the morning, let it sit all day and then do steps 2-5 at dinner time.

*oats work fine... I prefer a rye/barley/wheat/oat mix, which you can buy at health food stores or roll yourself
**add this right before cooking, as baking powder becomes active when it gets wet

Those desiring more specifics on the grain mill can visit the comments section of my previous post, seeing as I wrote a post-length comment there.

Okay, now that I've had several people ask me where I'm going to find time to mill all our grain with two kids running around, and where in the world I'm going to find a place for a mill in the house, I've realized that some explanation is in order... especially seeing as two months ago, I, too, would have entertained images of a stout old man in lederhosen handcranking a very large wheel for hours. This is our mill: it weighs all of 5 pounds, runs on an electric motor (so I just put the grain in and let it go for 5-30 minutes-- depending on the amount of grain I've added), and sits on our kitchen counter next to the coffee maker. It does come with a hand-crank (for power outages, which might be useful if we had a gas stove, but we don't), but my guess is that I'll only ever use it once, just to try it out:-)

It arrived last Wednesday, and I love it! We got a flaker attachment too, so we can make our own oatmeal and flaked wheat cereals. And yes, we now have 130 pounds of grain sitting in our kitchen. So go ahead and call us hippy health nuts:-)

Seriously though, we are feeling great and have so much more energy these days... and our blood sugar is a lot more stable all day long. And we've lost a couple pounds. These are the pleasant side effects of working at taking better care of the bodies God has given us, so that we will have the strength and energy we need to carry out our God-given roles and responsibilities.