Sabbath School Questions 12 NOV 2011

Galatians

12 NOV 2011


1. Does the Law give us life? Does it give us righteousness? (Gal 3:21)

2. If the scripture has shut us all up under sin, then can the Law free us from sin?

3. Can the Law justify or vindicate us? Is the role of the Law to vindicate man before God or the universe?

4. If the purpose of scripture and the Law was to keep us in custody until faith was revealed so that the promise may bring us under Christ instead, then is the keeping of the Law our ultimate objective? Is it just a matter of means? Keeping the Law by our own means is death but keeping the Law by the means of Christ’s power is life? Does this relegate Christ to an instrument in the hands of a human sovereign will?

5. If “through the law [we] died to the law” (Gal 2:19) do we now live in Christ under the binding of the Law? Are we “being perfected by the flesh” (Gal 3:3)? Is the Law of faith (Gal 3:12)? Is righteousness based on Law (Gal 3:21)?

6. If the Law does not give us life, righteousness or vindication then is it able to be used to vindicate anything or anyone else?

7. If the Law is like a governess providing moral and intellectual knowledge yet does not impart life, righteousness or vindication then once we find what does (the Gospel- Jesus Christ) should we go back to it?

8. Can we have both the Law and Christ? Can we have both 1) the knowledge of Good and Evil with a sovereign will to execute judgment and 2) the Surrender of the human will? Can we be saved by the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit? “Having begun by the Spirit, are [we] now being perfected by the flesh?” Gal 3:3)

9. If the existence of the Gospel is contingent upon the Law and the Law is eternal then isn’t Grace too contingent upon the Law? If so, then if there is no transgression then there is no need for the Gospel or Grace. If there is no transgression, is there a need for faith? Which is eternal: the Gospel or the Law?

10. If the Law does not impart life, righteousness or vindication then how could the Law sustain life? Is it the Gospel that imparts life, or the Law? Which was at the creation and in Eden: The Gospel or the Law? Is the Tree of Life the Gospel or the Law? Is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil the Gospel or the Law?

11. Did Adam and Eve bring the need for the Law into our existence when they chose to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and separate themselves from God?

12. God forbade access to the Tree of Life after humanity embraced sin. Do we have access to the Tree of Life through the Law or through the Gospel?