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We often see the Law mentioned in the Psalms. In Psalm 119 we see constant reference to the law with such words as "commandments," "testimonies," "precepts," "word." As well as law.
Psalm 119:34-35 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.
So how does this apply to the one who belongs to Christ and is in the new covenant with no laws?
It is true that this Psalm and all the Psalms when referring to the law through various terms, is directly related to the Mosaic covenant law. There is a reason for that to be so and the reason is that they were under that covenant law. So they wrote accordingly. That was their relationship to God, through covenant, and this covenant was bilateral---that is, it was made by God, with Israel, and was a covenant of works. It had laws they must obey.
Was it strict obedience to these laws alone that the Psalmists are referring to? I think verse 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. makes it clear that it was not.
It was the things that God taught them through and in the law about Himself and about righteousness, and about their relationship and position with Him as King, the true and living God, the only God. Those things that Jesus pointed out again and again, particularly to the teachers of the law, as them being completely lacking in understanding and devoid of faith.
In that sense the law of God is just as necessary and valid for us today as it was in the days of the Mosaic covenant. Not in ordinances and laws, but for what it also teaches us of who God is and who we are in comparison. Hopeless, helpless, poor and needy without Him as our merciful covenant King. The difference is we don't come before Him with the blood of bulls and rams and the shadows of Christ, but in Christ Himself and His shed blood, the blood of the new covenant, with which we boldly come before His throne of grace. This is by grace through faith, just as it always has been. Faith in the old covenant was seeing and bowing down to what the law was teaching. About God, and where our allegiance lies.
Psalm 119:34-35 Give me understanding, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.
So how does this apply to the one who belongs to Christ and is in the new covenant with no laws?
It is true that this Psalm and all the Psalms when referring to the law through various terms, is directly related to the Mosaic covenant law. There is a reason for that to be so and the reason is that they were under that covenant law. So they wrote accordingly. That was their relationship to God, through covenant, and this covenant was bilateral---that is, it was made by God, with Israel, and was a covenant of works. It had laws they must obey.
Was it strict obedience to these laws alone that the Psalmists are referring to? I think verse 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. makes it clear that it was not.
It was the things that God taught them through and in the law about Himself and about righteousness, and about their relationship and position with Him as King, the true and living God, the only God. Those things that Jesus pointed out again and again, particularly to the teachers of the law, as them being completely lacking in understanding and devoid of faith.
In that sense the law of God is just as necessary and valid for us today as it was in the days of the Mosaic covenant. Not in ordinances and laws, but for what it also teaches us of who God is and who we are in comparison. Hopeless, helpless, poor and needy without Him as our merciful covenant King. The difference is we don't come before Him with the blood of bulls and rams and the shadows of Christ, but in Christ Himself and His shed blood, the blood of the new covenant, with which we boldly come before His throne of grace. This is by grace through faith, just as it always has been. Faith in the old covenant was seeing and bowing down to what the law was teaching. About God, and where our allegiance lies.