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.
