That's a great point. And worth some discussion.
This will help you to better understabd where I am coming from.
We may be closer to agreement than you realize.
I'll take this further if you want to discuss it in more detail.
But let's start with this.
I see a difference between "the law" and "God's law". And so does the Apostle Paul.
In the scripture below he uses the terms "the law", "God's law", and "Christ's law".
Defining what he means in the parenthetical statements.
He says:
- I myself am not under the law (not under)
- I am not free from God’s law (different than the law)
- but am under Christ’s law (under)
1 Corinthians 9:20-22
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
This will help you to better understabd where I am coming from.
We may be closer to agreement than you realize.
I'll take this further if you want to discuss it in more detail.
But let's start with this.
I see a difference between "the law" and "God's law". And so does the Apostle Paul.
In the scripture below he uses the terms "the law", "God's law", and "Christ's law".
Defining what he means in the parenthetical statements.
He says:
- I myself am not under the law (not under)
- I am not free from God’s law (different than the law)
- but am under Christ’s law (under)
1 Corinthians 9:20-22
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Paul taught that mechanical law obedience was out, obedience must be from understanding law through God's eyes.
The men who wrote down what they heard from God lived and thought with the way things were at the time of Christ. In order to get the meaning of how they put things we would need to study writings of that time. That phrase "under the law" has been misunderstood by today's people, perfectly understood if you lived in Jerusalem in the first century. We can know that God inspired scripture so any idea in scripture must agree with any other idea for God is unchangeable and eternal. God gave law and said it was good in a majority of scripture. Here we think that God is changing it to say that you can forget it all, doesn't apply to us. Something does not add up.
So think it through. If we are not under law yet the law applies to us so we should use it to guide us at the same time, it must mean that we have grace for salvation. That is what scripture tells us from Genesis to Rev. God does not ask us to earn our salvation through what we do, law is given to us for other reasons. So we listen to law for those other reasons, but we don't listen to it for salvation.