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Ian Potts wrote:
Thanks for the article by Murray. I haven’t time to comment on that just now, but I would like to make some brief comments on what you say above.

“We do not keep the Law to be saved” you say, as though we are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law, yet for sanctification the law is a rule of life.

However the very verses which teach us that we are not justified by the law also demonstrate that we are no longer under it in an ongoing state. We are dead to the law, meaning not just for the purpose of justification but for sanctification – we are dead to it. We are married to another, Christ, and therefore to go back to our old husband, the law, would be to commit spiritual adultery – to break the very law you claim we are bound to! See Romans 7.

Mr. Potts, I would encourage you to read the Murry article I've provided for you in my reply because it may help you understand the purpose of the law especially as Paul deals with it in Romans 7. The law is not the problem sin is! The law reveals the will of God, it serves as a mirror for us to see our sins, and it also provides guidelines for living a life of gratitude. As Murray writes "the burden Paul bemoans is not the law but that which is its contradiction, the other law in his members warring against the law of his mind (Romans 7:23)."

You speak of being dead to the law. Well, when Paul wrote that quote in Galations he was making it clear that he had passed from under its power, in respect to non-justification or condemnation. He didn't discredit its usefulness as you do. What Paul was teaching in this Galations pasage is that he died with Christ and now lives a life of faith. This is true for every believer who can say with Paul, "It is no more I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

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Ian Potts wrote:
You go on to say “But rather, "by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him." (I John 2:3-5)”

Absolutely we do keep Christ’s commandments, and we keep His word. The word “Keep” here in the Greek fundamentally means to keep in our minds, to treasure, to store up, to lay hold of, not to forget. Obviously if so doing it will lead to obedience to Christ’s words, but obedience is the consequence of such keeping whereas ‘keep’ itself is the treasuring up, the remembrance, the belief of these words.

To keep His commandments means something more than to keep in our minds, to treasure, to store up, to lay hold of, not to forget. John is saying, if we know Him, we will obey Him! This means both in word and deed. Just as he wrote in the Gospel of John where he quotes Jesus saying, "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." For the believer who is in relationship with Christ there will be a hearty acceptance and willing subjection to God's whole revealed will. Faith will be demonstrated by love and obedience.

In verse 14. “all the law”— Greek, "the whole law," namely, the Mosaic law. Love to God is presupposed as the root from which love to our neighbor springs; and it is in this tense the latter precept (so "word" means here) is said to be the fulfilling of "all the law" ( Lev 19:18 ). Love is "the law of Christ" ( Gal 6:2 Mat 7:12 22:39, 40 Rom 13:9, 10 ).

“Is fulfilled”--Not as received text "is being fulfilled," but as the oldest manuscripts read, "has been fulfilled"; and so "receives its full perfection," as rudimentary teachings are fulfilled by the more perfect doctrine. The law only united Israelites together: the Gospel unites all men, and that in relation to God

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Ian Potts wrote:
So in summary, at the heart of Christ’s words, His ‘commandments’ are “That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment”.

Your summary here is good. Unfortunately you have changed the meanings of some of these terms along the way by your interpretation in this thread. Jesus said, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." This is a summary of the law. It has been fulfilled in Christ and should be evident in the lives of all his disciples.


Wes

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. - Isaac Watts