Walking by the Spirit

I may have posted on this before, but I would like to do it again.

I mentioned to Jamie when I was with her and Ryan, that it's quite ironic when the teachers of the law accuse us grace guys as being the licentious ones. They insist that we are empowering people to sin by giving them a license. But the reality is that the Scripture speaks of the power of sin being the law (1 Corinthians 15:56). So is the law bad? No. It's indwelling sin that is the problem. Take a gander at Romans chapter 7 for further clarification on the subject.

So while they (those who insist we live by the law) think that we (those who insist we live by the Spirit) are the licentious ones, they are the ones empowering sin in their own lives, and in the lives of others, to whom they put in bondage to the written code, not understanding that circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit. In this New Covenant in Jesus' death on the cross, His burial and His resurrection, the law is written on our hearts, not tablets of stone (2nd Corinthians 3:3). This is by the Spirit whom God gave to us freely when we believed His message of grace through the risen Christ.

Am I speaking evil of the law of God? Of course not! I am simply saying the law of God, rather than being on the outside of us, written on tablets of stone is now written, by the Holy Spirit, on our very hearts. So now obedience no longer comes from an outward obedience, but it springs forth from within - from the heart. And that is exactly why that accusing us 'grace guys' of teaching licentiousness is ridiculous. How can I, who has the law of God written on my very heart, live in sin? I am a slave to righteousness, being made alive from the dead.

"Neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." (Galatians 6:15-16)