Reading Galatians today was interesting. Paul spent so much time stressing to them that living by the Law made no sense to the Christ follower because that was what Christ rescued you from. Living by a ridged set of standards that didn't flex was what screwed us up in the first place. But in the same book he went from saying don't live by a pre-made right/wrong list to here's your new right/wrong list, the Christian standard.
What?
That was confusing.
Wouldn't the Christian standard be the same thing as another Law? That was something Stephen said when I brought it up to him. I thought it was an excellent way to phrase it because that is how it is viewed. It took me some time to figure out what Paul was trying to say, but I think good discussion with my wife and Stephen helped flesh it out. I think he was talking about motivation.
When talking about the Law in the first half of the epistle, the image was why are you living like that? Is that going to cause your acceptance before God? What is Christ for then? Doing something because you feel you have to shouldn't be the reason. The last part of Galatians spelled out a believer's lifestyle in a different way. They were called "fruits," i.e. what do you do. What deeds naturally come from you as a believer.
The motivation now becomes letting the Spirit in you act and do what's right, not forcing yourself to do the right thing. That is what shows the nature you have. And Paul says those fruits are obvious! Meaning you know what they are, you don't need to be taught to do good, have joy, use self-control, etc. And just as obvious are the bad fruits! Doing good is natural now because you are a new creation! The sinful nature is dead, live as a slave to Christ. And when you don't do good it's not because you have regained your sinful nature (I don't think anyway...more research required), but because you didn't listen to your new nature born of Christ. Working out your salvation, as Paul says, I think just means getting used to being a new creation.
And one of my favorite illustrations of all time is just as useful for this as for so many things. The circle with the dot in the middle. God is the dot. The circle is the line you don't want to cross. You should always be trying to get closer to the dot, not the line.
If your focus is on the line (how far can I go before i piss God off or before I'm not doing what's right), then you are either living by the Law ("I'm in the circle here and out of the circle here") or you're not living in the Spirit or you haven't accepted the gift, because you're trying to earn it by eying the line and staying inside. Instead, keep your eye on the dot/God/Christ and realize that:
when you accept the gift, the line is erased.
You can't cross back over unless you tell God that you just don't want any part of this line-less world of his and would rather live in a world where you can be better than someone else and be rewarded right now for playing the game of life right with your "good deeds." Because that is life without a relationship with God. Trying to impress others and getting your value from them rather than him. The fruits of those "good deeds" are also obvious.
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