Owen

Becca Mae Owen

Cota
MIN-330
11 September 2016
Grace and Law Theological Reflection
Explain Jesus relationship to the law and the Christian believers relationship to the law.
Jesus is the Son of God, also known as the new Adam and sometimes the new
Moses. He grew up on earth just as any other Jew of the time by learning, studying, and
practicing the Mosaic Law set forth from Mt. Sinai. Jesus, being the Son of God, brings fruition
to the entire Old Testament. He is the goal of the Mosaic Law and also the termination of it (Rom
10:4). He became the ultimate sacrificial lamb that would satisfy the demand of the law by
atoning for the sins of literally everyone. Jesus fulfilled the law by obeying it. He did not try to
subvert the law, but instead usually kept its requirements (Lk 23:41). He showed that many parts
of the law were used to set Gods chosen people apart from other nations. One example of this
was their dietary restriction from pork and shellfish. Jesus then declared all foods clean (Mk
7:19) even before the cross. Jesus actively fulfills the Old Testament before our very eyes in
explaining how it is morally significant for the entire new covenant community. He is our
example of supreme godlikeness.
The Christian believers relationship to the law is best shown by Paul in Romans 5 8.
Through Jesus teachings he finds the motive for holy living but also recognizes that where we
fail as sinful beings of the flesh we are even still brought to new life through faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 7:7-25, Paul speaks from the perspective of a Jew living under the law. No matter how
hard he, or any of us, try we still always have sin controlling our hearts and minds. Because of

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this we continually fall from Gods plans for us. But the Christian, as Paul says in Romans 8:2
the Christian is no longer under the law of sin. The difference between the person in Romans 7
and the Christian is that the Christian has self-awareness about their daily struggle with sin but
engages in daily habits of obedience, service, trust, and love to become more like Christ.

Explain the relationship between the indicative and the imperative in biblical ethics.
For the Christian, being precedes doing. In Ephsesians 4:1, Paul implores us to walk in a
manner worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called. This a simple cause and effect,
meaning that because our position is in Christ that means we must therefore practice what we
believe in. The indicative is something scholars have used to describe the accomplished fact that
we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Some verses exemplifying the facts we have come to
know include Rom 6:14, Rom 6:18, and Col 3:1-3. These verses say that sin shall not be our
master any longer, we are now slaves to righteousness, and that our old selves have died and we
have been raised in new life with Christ. On the other hand, the imperative is the command that
goes along with the accomplished fact, the indicative. While we are being we must therefore
begin doing. Some scripture that shows some imperatives are Rom 6:12, Rom 6:19, and Col 3:5.
These verses tell us that we should not let sin reign in us, present ourselves as slaves to
righteousness, and that we should consider members of our earthly body as dead. These
imperatives are very action based.
The Corinthians were very good at recognizing the indicative. They knew they were
saved. They took pride in their spirituality, wisdom, and knowledge so much so that they
assumed immoral living with a tolerance for it. These Corinthians were so aware that Jesus
Christ had forgiven them that they forgot they were still meant to become more like him. So Paul

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wrote to them to warn against spiritual pride and exhorts them on obedience and humility ( 1 Cor
1:18-31; 5:6; 15:31). On the other hand the Galatians were stuck in the imperative. They were
constantly frustrated in trying to be like Jesus so often and failing that it that it was hurting them.
So Paul wrote what we know as Galatians to them to remind them of the indicative, the good
news of what Jesus did for them.

Explain what legalism does and does not mean.

Legalism is a term often used to describe how people, Christians, will follow the rules
of the bible so closely and harshly while condemning others for not doing so. Legalism
emphasizes following exactly how the bible says to act and that if you do not then you are not
pleasing God. Legalism does not mean doing acts of service and loving others out of the love
you have for Christ and the want you have to become more like him. Instead legalism says we
should do these things simply because we should. Legalism produces a fear of consequence and
guilt within those who never get to hear and understand that God wants us to pursue his heart and
the character of Christ so that we may feel what it is like to love out of the love we actually feel
and not from fear of what might happen if we do not.
Legalism has tendencies to show that obedience to the law is a means of salvation or
status before God. There is no adding to what Jesus has already given us. Quoting a pastor
from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Chandler, AZ, Salvation is Jesus plus nothing. We
do not have to do anything more than put our faith in him and what he has done. Becoming more
Christ-like in our character formation by the Spirit should be something that naturally occurs the
more disciplined we become in our faith, obedience, and pursuit of Christ. Legalism also
sometimes make us feel as though we must bear the guilt for something the savior has already

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borne, that somehow what Christ did was not sufficient enough. Opposing legalism does mean
opposing all the laws written in the bible, but rather opposing the obligation to do it out of fear or
guilt. Instead we should do it because he first loved us. The more men push the law onto other
men in a legalistic fashion, the less likely they are to do it genuinely, if at all. This is why we
must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

Explain, in the subject of Christian ethics, the theological relationship between Gods grace
and Gods law.
The most basic description of this relationship is that God is more concerned with
character than commands, more concerned with love than law. But, actually, Gods law is a
spelling out of how love will behave. Gods commands are for our good always and for our
survival (Deut 6:24). In fact, Gods laws are a gracious gift through which we have a guide on
how to love better and what someone who truly loves does not do. The obedience we have for
our Lord is not some frightening obligation with serious consequences, but instead a reflection of
what his love already accomplished for us on the cross. The law was never meant to bring
salvation to Gods children; rather it was faith in the God who promises and ultimately faith in
what his one and only son did. It is this theme that Paul really pushes for in Galatians and
Romans. The divine laws and commands of God are intermingled with his love and grace, and
we are meant to bound them up with a life of discipleship and faith. It is the weightier matters
of the law (Mt 23:23) that we are to apply to this new covenant community for even some of the
fluffier and lighter things are not necessarily endorsed any longer. Such as Jesus declared all
foods clean (Mk 7:19). Jesus embodied the entirety of the Mosaic Law and affirmed it authority,
then declared it was fulfilled in him. It is no longer what it was for the Jew what it is for the

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Christian. The law is no longer our direct and immediate source of guidance from God. That
became Jesus. This not mean we are to ignore the law, but recognized what even the other New
Testament writers have expressed as a moral continuity.