For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. (Gal. 2:19)
WHILE I AM A GREAT lover of the Old Testament, I am truly glad not to have to live under some of the Old Testament dietary laws. No lobster or shrimp or crab allowed. No ham or bacon!
And what about all the laws regarding clean and unclean situations? Women seem to have been unclean half their lives through the natural processes of their bodies! They couldn’t attend church for weeks after childbirth. Life was a long list of what you could or couldn’t do with your eating, touching blood, or anything dead.
What freedom to come to Galatians and read that we died to the law so that we might live for God. And that “the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (v. 20). We are to live holy lives in these bodies—but may do so with freedom to choose our own lifestyle of holiness. We died to the law as it was formerly given. Now God’s law is written in our hearts and we obey with gratitude and gladness at what Christ has done for us. Christ has set us free indeed!
Live out your life in holy freedom.
Kathy Bence lives in Idaho with her professor husband, Phil.
