This episode spells out the answer to the question raised in the previous broadcast: "Why do many REGENERATE believers have less appreciation for God's Law than the UNREGENERATE author of Psalm 119? The short answer is that many Christians' theology of sanctification is the pessimistic lens of Romans 7:14-25. Perpetual war between the flesh and the Spirit is the defining description of their sanctification experience and critically, their perspective hasn't been qualified by the clear promise of Romans 8:2: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." Paul set up his argument for Christian freedom in Romans 7, where Romans 8:2 is the optimistic conclusion. The key to growth and spiritual victory is verse 6, where the "mind set on the spirit is life and peace." Based on what Paul just declared in verse 2, the mind set on the spirit is stronger and more powerful than the mind set on the flesh. Christian failure to appropriate victory is sometimes a casualty of bad theology where the pessimistic lens of Romans 7:14-25 is divorced from the optimistic conclusion of Romans 8:2. With respect to appreciation of the Law, a pessimistic adoption of Romans 7:14-25 as the final word understandably colors one's view of the Law. A holistic love for God's Law is one of the many benefits believers should experience when their sanctification expectations are informed by Romans 8.
The Law Expresses the “Beauty of Holiness”
This episode is a recap of the previous week's teaching on Psalm 119, emphasizing the common threads of God's work in establishing our way, ultimately leading to a genuinely positive delight in God's law. Since the law is a reflection of God's character and beauty, love of God coupled with disdain for God's Law is inconceivable. While true believers would never seek to justify themselves by keeping God's Law, they nevertheless delight in that Law based on being born again. Romans 7:22 affirms that they "delight with the Law of God in the inner man." The episode closes with Jonathan Edwards' phraseology describing believers' delight in God's holiness described in the Law. Christians alone can apprehend the "beauty of holiness."