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21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26 it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.

 

Happy Reformation Day! With that I would guess this is a good time to have this text, which in all honesty is confusing. It is full of churchy words like righteousness, justified, atonement, and redemption that we do not use on a daily basis.

As Lutherans, we live in this tension between law and gospel. The law is all the ‘rules’ we read about in the Bible of what it takes to follow God. The Old Testament is brimming with the Ten Commandments and hundreds of other rules on what it takes to be in a right relationship with God and man (think of these as defining what is sin). But we also have the Good News of the gospel that by Jesus’ death and resurrection alone, we are freed from sin and death.

So, does this mean we can go about our happy-go-lucky lives without worry? Kind of. Yes, we have been freed by grace and can rejoice in the power of our baptismal waters that renew us each day. BUT, we want to live in all our relationships as God desires us to live, right? That law outlines for us how we do that. And here is the beautiful part – Jesus has freed us to live into God’s Will without fear of failing. Sin and death no longer should keep us from walking boldly into God’s desire for us to love Him and our neighbors. Our response to God’s gift is to seek to follow His Way every day.

Jesus, Thank you for your grace and mercy. Guide me to follow our Father’s Words so I can love all my neighbors and You. Amen

 

Chad Ryberg

Cryberg@livinglord.org

 

Prayer Concern: That faith bind us and not drive us apart