Abby's Report on Law vs Grace
Mom's notes here - Abby was given an assignment to write a summary about the verses below. The following is her report in Q/A format, in her words on her terms. Classic Abby. Enjoy.
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Today on Abby's Report, Abby will write a report on the Bible. She will write a key thought on each verse she wrote down in a notebook. She will go through dilemma and stress. She will go through major hunger pains in her stomach. She will suffer from a dry throat. She will most likely get writer's block. Stay tuned for today's show.
Romans 7:1-14, 2:14-15, 8:1-4
2 Corinthians 3:17
2 Peter 3:10-12
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Romans 7:1-14, 2:14-15, 8:1-4
Do you not know, brothers- for I am speaking to those who know the law- that the law only has authority over those as long as they live? For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but when he dies, she is free.
= When I grow up I want to have Christian to be bound to.
So then, if she marries another man while her present husband is still alive, she is called an adultress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law, and even though if she marries again, she will not be called an adultress.
= No woman should marry two men, or more! It is against God's law!
So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ Jesus, that you might belong to one another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear the Fruit of the Spirit.
= Good statement. I might go to heaven because of Jesus' death and rise.
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore the Fruit of Death.
= Ooh, frightening. I sure hope I bear the righteous fruit. But I bet that I also have the other fruit. Ouch!
But now, by Jesus dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
= Go Jesus! I'm so proud of you!
What shall we say then?
= Go on.....
Is the law sin?
= You decide, Paul.
Certainly not!
= Well done, and hip, hip, hooray!
Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.
= Poor Paul, not knowing sin until his grown years!
For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had said, "Do not covet.".
= What is covet?
But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire.
= I don't get these 'covets'.
For apart from law, sin is dead.
= Yeah!
Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, I was dead.
= That's so sad.
I found that every commandment that was intended to bring life brought death.
= Ooh, that's a large 'ouch'.
For sin, taking the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and put me to death.
= It seems that the 'ouch' has doubled in size.
Indeed, the Gentiles, who don't have law, do nature things required by law, they are law themselves, even though they don't have law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written down on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, even defending them.
= Long, but the contents are amazing.
Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, because through him the law of the spirit set me free from the law of sin and death.
= I go for the first law.
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature God did by sending his son in the likeness of a man to be a sinful offering.
= A sinful offering? Poor him!
And so he condemned sin in a sinful man in order to that the righteous requirements of the law might fully meet in us, who don't live according to sin but to the Spirit.
= Good ol' God.
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2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
= Freedom from sin!
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2 Peter 3:10-12
But one day the Lord will come like a thief.
= God has never done sin! He can't rob!
The heavens will vanish in a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth will be laid bare.
= Does 'the heavens' mean the sky or heaven?
Since everything will be eradicated in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
= A loving, kind mother who cares for her children.
You ought to live a holy, godly lives as you await Jesus' arrival.
= Ah.
That day will bring the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the heat will melt the elements.
= I gladly await the day.