Commands are no bad thing. They come from God and whatever place the law has now, Jesus gives the command to love each other. The gospel is to obeyed. Paul's letters are full of commands. But they could be abused...
- We could obey commands in order to be justified before God rather than because we are justified.
- We could obey commands in order to have merely external marks of holiness rather than seeking complete transformation from within.
- We could obey commands thinking they have the power to change us rather than having confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to form Christ in us.
None of these possibilities make commands bad, just things to watch out for.
When we fail to obey any command, we should be convicted of sin then led to Christ for forgiveness and power to obey.
2 comments:
Hey Matt, didn't know you were blogging! Welcome to the 'sphere :) I've tried to read Five Views on Law and Gospel several times, but the first ch. is rather hard to get through - he's an appalling representation of the trad reformed view, doesn't really make a point *roll eyes*... I'm told the other chs are better!
The other chapters do get better. Much of his view is also covered in the following chapter by the reformed theonomist view. I've read the first 4 chapters, will try to finish it this week and hopefully reach some conclusions!
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