This episode takes the central theme of Psalm 119, "oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes," and applies it to Christian sanctification. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit conforming us into the image of Christ: He gradually conforms our condition with our perfect position in Christ. With respect to the believer's attitude and obedience to the Law, the Holy Spirit cultivates the inner delight of God's law in the inner man (Romans 7:22), making it the governing disposition of the soul, where we love God (and His Law) with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Psalm 119 describes affliction as one of the means God uses to force the issue of holistic delight in God's Law. Similarly, the Holy Spirit orchestrates affliction to push the urgency of sanctification, hopefully leading to a more exhaustive embrace of God and His Law. God intends that affliction graduate the believer from simply parroting God's Law into apprehending the "why" of God's Law, leading to delight.
Obey the Law through the Power of Christ
This episode takes many of themes of psalm 119 and applies them to Christian living. "The law is given as a tutor to lead us to Christ." (Gal. 3:24) While Christians should always rely on Christ and His merit as the basis for justification, they should nevertheless seek to honor God by fulfilling the Law, which is summed up in the Great Commandments. And, just as faith in Christ is the basis of our justification, faith in Christ is also the basis for all subsequent sanctification. Christ aids us in fulfilling the Law, while He delivers us from the power of sin. In essence, Christians are to keep the moral law THROUGH the power and grace of Christ. Many of the themes of dependence on God's grace are sprinkled throughout Psalm 119, the psalmist noting that he need God's grace to keep the Law. The episode is a needful reminder to the Christian Church to reject the Marcionite false dichotomy of our day which bogusly asserts that the Old Testament was all law and the New Testament all grace.
Have you Really Changed Your Mind?
This episode states that the purpose of putting on the helmet of salvation is thinking and acting like Christ. This holistic description of salvation helps distinguish its purpose from that of the breastplate of righteousness, which primarily deals with positional righteousness, the gift of imputed righteousness to every believer. The helmet of salvation builds on the double transfer of 2 Cor. 5:21 (Christ took on our sin while we take on His righteousness), with a view to addressing the believer's actual condition, one in which believers still struggle with sin. This struggle is the theme of Romans 7:21-25, which presents the challenge of thinking and acting like Christ in light of residual evil. The solution, which amounts to taking up the helmet of salvation (thinking and acting like Christ), is Romans 8:2: "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." Coupled with the subsequent passage, "the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace", both supply the means by which all believers can substantially have the mind of Christ. Donning the helmet of salvation is radically life-changing.
Faith in God Culminates with Seeing God
This initial episode defines the beatific vision as the direct apprehension of God Himself. While believers cannot have it in this life, believers are called to fix all of their hope in God. Very interestingly, the passage that most explicitly describes the beatific vision, 1 John 3:2-3, strongly suggests that the prerequisite for seeing God face to face, is looking like Him. Anticipating that many would lose hope based on their present condition, Christians are nevertheless exhorted to place all their hope on Christ and His transforming power. The episode notes the difference between our position in Christ (perfection) and our condition. We aren't only justified by faith in Christ, we are also sanctified by faith in Christ.