I too love the law Gerry in that it is holy, just and good. It reveals much of God's righteousness, but not all. There is nothing wrong with the law, except that sinful man under it is unable to keep it.

That is the same for believers as well as unbelievers as believers still have the flesh.

But the believer is not under the law, he is under grace. He fulfils the requirements of the law by faith, not by law. He is not under the law's yoke, but is yoked to Christ, whose yoke is easy.

This is exactly what Huntington teaches and I thought from some of your other posts that you liked Huntington's writings?

"Law" in Psalm 119 really refers to the Books of the Law, the books of Moses, or in other words the Word of God, as it was at the time. We all love the Word of God (Mosaic Law included) but that doesn't mean that we are under the law. We are under grace.

My exegesis of the verses you mention won't exclude the righteousness as described by the law Gerry. It is never right to steal, to commit adultery, to worship idols, to murder. That isn't the point. The point is how we fulfil such a righteous walk - by law, or by faith? I answer by faith, yoked to Christ, as led by the Spirit.

In fact I have already said enough about similar verses to those for you to understand. I have said that Christ's commandments are to believe in Him and to love Him and one another. Well, that's the fulfilling of the law isn't it? To love God and our neighbour? But that isn't the same as being bound to the law in order to achieve that. This is love which springs from the heart of the new man of grace, as a fruit of the Spirit within us, which causes us to fulfil what the law demands. But if we go to the law as an outward rule of life to TELL us to do that (rather than keeping our gaze by faith upon Christ) the result is the opposite. We actually end up breaking the very law which we strive to keep, because it stirs up the sin in our flesh. The end 'objective' is the same you see (righteousness) but there are two ways of trying to get there, one is by faith, and one is by the works of the law. The latter never achieves it, but faith does. Faith worketh by love. This is the work of God within us, which produces fruit. It's something of a mystery, a paradox perhaps, but God's children come to learn these things by experience. Believe me - I know by bitter experience what it is like to fail miserably under the law until all it became to me was condemnation, the good that I would I could not do. But God delivered me from this body of death and sin by crucifying my flesh with Christ, and raising me up in newness of life with him. And now I walk in the Spirit and actually fulfill the demands of the law, not by the law, but by faith in Christ, and by the Spirit's leading.

I don't wish to court controversy, so I am happy to leave this topic to yourselves to debate for a while. If you have any further questions of me I will be happy to answer them.

Last edited by Ian_Potts; Thu Feb 12, 2004 10:41 AM.