Grace empowers us to obey. Mercy forgives us when we don't.
Grace grants us motivation to obey. Mercy removes the guilt of not wanting to.
Grace never validates any persons unwillingness to uphold God's laws, and mercy never takes effect without repentance.
Exactly. Grace is not unmerited favor as so many love to teach, like a license to sin. Grace is the power of God given us to become born again of the Spirit.
I'm going to break down the rest of your post. I know what you believe, because I was once you; but you haven't a clue as to what I believe, and your assumptions are funny.
Which brings us back to your contention that what you call the spirit of the law is to be obeyed and not the letter. So we rest in Christ and ignore the commandment. We refuse to lust for our neighbour, but have sexual relations with him,/her and remain guiltless. So long as we can find reason for our anger we are justified, but we can kill with impunity... Because the ten commandments are no longer valid right?
ROFL The spirit of the law is with a capital S. Does the Spirit of God sin? With God inside of you, are you going to sin? 1 John 3:9. So no it does not mean you don't do the deeper part of the law (lust), and go ahead and commit the surface law (adultery). It means if you cleanse the inner, the outer heals by itself. So if you love perfectly you will NOT murder, not dishonor your parents, not steal from your neighbor. Is that really so hard to grasp the true meaning of the Spirit of the Law.
Loving our neighbour means we must never lust, but adultery is acceptable. Loving our neighbour means we must never get angry without a cause, but once a cause is established, we can kill him in love. Reminds me of the inquisitors who burnt people at the stake to lovingly induce them to repent and be saved. So loving God means we cease from our own works, and lovingly deny God the right to exercise His authority over us through His commandments.
Same response. ROFL
And then we tell our own children that to obey parents is a reflection of their love, respect, and faithfulness to them, and that this is a godly trait.
But don't obey God, because His commandments are old. Or only for the Jews. Or mpossible to keep. Or legalistic. Or a human attempt to earn salvation. Or keep it.
You don't get it. Keeping the Old Covenant Commandments were easy to keep. It never was in my nature to want to kill someone or even an animal, etc. It is like kindergarten. They are the easy surface laws that don't go very deep to the real cause of sin. Iniquity in the heart. This is why the Ten Commandments were "weak" and only to guard us until Jesus came to completely undo the curse from Adam. The Ten Commandments could not make anyone holy, or even righteous. Why? The carnal nature we inherited from Adam's sin. This is why Jesus came to die for us, so we could die to sin, and no longer be sin's slave. We MUST be born again of the Holy Spirit.
As I recall, you already know this, and I agreed, so are just throwing rocks at me and accusing me falsely. Hmmm "bearing false witness"? Isn't there a commandment about that??? LOL
But obey God in all things because we love Him? Simply because He asks? Nah, that concept is far too difficult to even bother trying to comprehend... Far easier just to call them a cult and ignore them. Maybe they'll go away and we won't have to bother about their upholding God's laws... Now, let's get back to our dancing shall we?
Again, after respecting you, what are you doing to me??? I never called you a cult, but others have and when I see it, I correct them. But, if all you want to keep are the surface laws, and never learn love and respect and the fruit of the Spirit, Jesus will say "I never knew you."
I know you won't accept this, but John tells us what are the New Covenant commandments in a nutshell. Jesus gave the particulars in the Sermon on the Mount (and never said one thing about keeping the Sabbath, in fact, broke the Sabbath to show that He was Lord of the Sabbath.)
1 John 3:23-24
23 And these are His commandments: that we should
believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Believe in Jesus who is God - covers Commandments 1-4
Love neighbors from the heart - covers Commandments 5-10
John 15:10
10 If you keep
My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My
Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
cc:
@quietthinker