Passage Read: Galatians 5-6
Meditation Verse: 5:3
Thought
If you believe you must obey certain parts of the Law to be saved, then you must obey all of it in order to be saved. The problem from the beginning of time is selective obedience: We obey what we want, what we deem easy, and ignore the rest. If I think I must obey certain parts of the Law in order for God to accept me, then I'm obligated to obey all of it, because God never said He'd accept people who obeyed part of His Law, but all of it. Until Christ came and He offered a righteousness apart from the Law. But if I want to receive this righteousness apart from the Law, then I need to be careful not to go back and fill in the Law gaps. Paul even says in the next chapter that those who are circumcised do not obey the Law. They're just looking for a shortcut to righteousness, one they don't have to work for, but the Law was all about how to work to attain righteousness before God. If you didn't keep all of it, none of it had any benefit to you; instead, the unfulfilled parts condemned you in spite of the parts you kept.
Application
I do need to stop following my sinful nature, since that's what Christ died to save me from, but He has also made me wholly righteous, even as I need to train myself to walk in that righteousness, not to gain righteousness, but because I have been made new to walk in righteousness. The whole Old Testament gives me insight into what God considers holy and righteous behavior, and there are many details against which man today rebels, so I can't just depend on my own understanding of "love your neighbor as yourself." I need to know what God considers to be love for self so I know how to love my neighbor. Perhaps more then ever, I need help from all of God's Word to understand what is the righteousness I have been newly created to walk in.
