Cursed! (DT 27:15-26)

"'Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'" (Deuteronomy 27:26)

The law is transactional, if you do A then you get B. If you obey the law then you get its blessings. If you don't obey then you receive its curse. The law instituted by God through Moses was a contract between God and man. It stipulated how the Israelites were to live and how God would, in turn, behave towards them. At the heart of the law was its curse; its curse for disobedience. While the law itself was good and holy, mankind was whole unable to keep the law and thus all mankind fell under the curse of the law. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)

However, though the law be transactional, God's grace towards us is exactly the opposite. Instead of saying, "If you do A you will get B", the grace of God says, "Since you have B then do A". The grace of God says, since we have received the blessings and favor of God, then we should should to walk in a manor that pleases Him. Paul put it this way,

"Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Paul did not say that we should walk in a certain way that we might become worthy, rather since we have already become worthy and received a holy calling from God then we should walk in a manor that is consistent with what we have received. We no longer keep the law to become acceptable to God, rather because we have already become acceptable we seek to do what He commands; out of a response to His goodness rather than out of fear of punishment.

Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." (John 14:15) He did not say that if we keep His commandments then He would love us, for He loves us whether or not we do what He asks. Rather, He desires that having received His love and choosing to love Him in return, that our response would be obedience to the things He ask and commands us to do. This is a new way of living, not out of fear of the curse of the law but out of the response of a loving heart to the blessings and grace He has so freely bestowed upon us.

David Robison

grace, law, commandments, Jesus, David Robison, Book of Deuteronomy, The Robe

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