Be Free!

Caution: the contents of the following may be hazardous to your ideas of Christian living!

Salvation is through faith -- sanctification is by grace -- our effort does not sanctify us therefore our exercises (devotions, church going, tithing) do not make us more Godly. Devotions are a great thing but they do not change us unless we allow God through his grace to sanctify us.

So what's the point of the law?
The law is our schoolmaster. Different from what you may believe this does not mean the law is a set of commands we must follow to the "T". Schoolmaster in the Greek is Paidagogos -- paid is Greek for, child go is Greek for, to lead. Therefore schoolmaster is , the child bringer/leader. Paul used this word to paint a mental picture in the minds of the Jews. In the days of Paul there were not public schools, per say, rather the rich children would learn from a private tutor. In the mornings a slave would take the child to the teacher/tutor. While the child was with the slave that child was under his authority (schoolmaster) Once the slave had given the child to the teacher the slave was no longer in authority of the child, now the teacher was the authority. This is a picture of the law, at one point the law (represented by the slave) was the schoolmaster but now we are no longer under the law but under grace (our new teacher). The law was given to show us our need for a perfect sacrifice (Jesus Christ) So, once you have accepted Christ through faith, you are no-longer under a schoolmaster but under grace.

So what does this matter?
Being under grace means that we are no longer bound by sin. It is through this statement that we can Be Free.