Amen
dirtdigginlady, The old testament must be taught in total. We can not have the new testament without the old. We are taught that, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 TIM 3;16
The law, again context. The law of God are written on our hearts, We must be listening, if we are saved where do we find the law of God, in the bible and written on our hearts. Correct me if I am wrong, but the law Paul is talking about were the laws handed to the jews by Moses and ritual sacrifice types of law. The 10 Commandments still stand, when we break them our debt has already been paid through the Lamb of God. All sin has to be paid for by blood. Our sins are covered by the blood of Christ and this we accept through faith.
Yes, we do not live "by the law". But if you want to know what God wants from us read the bible and it becomes written in our hearts and if it is written on our hearts we tend to read the bible so we can know more about God and what he wants from us. It is a real tough one for me to fully separate.
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
I think it works for me to think of it like this, we are fully separated from the law, but we still have rules to follow. We follow the rules because we want to, not because we have to. At the end of the day I know God loves me but I also want God to LIKE me. We are covered by His grace and mercy. When listening to the Holy Spirit we begin to lose the desire to sin which leaves us doing only the good things of God. It seems to be a very intertwined web.
I'll stop rambling.
Jeff