How to keep God's Law

One of the thorniest theological issues any conscientious Bible reader faces is how to apply the law of God (His commands which are found both in the Old and New Testaments) as New Covenant believers who no longer live in the Old Covenant context of ancient Israel.  One helpful resource is Ernest Reisinger's book The Law and the Gospel.  In it he gives, among other things, the following advice:

Wrong Uses of the Law

1. We use it wrongly when we misinterpret it like the Scribes and Pharisees.

2. We use it wrongly when we oppose it to Christ, oppose it to grace or oppose it to the gospel.

3. We use it wrongly when we look to it for justification - seeking acceptance by God through keeping it.

4. We use it wrongly when we disconnect it from the gospel and use it to discourage brokenhearted sinners. 

5. We use it wrongly when we fail to use it to glorify God's grace and gospel through Christ.

6. We use it wrongly when we disconnect it from the work of the Holy Spirit, focusing harmfully on our own ability to do good works.

7. We use it wrongly when we use it as ammunition in unlawful and unprofitable disputes about secondary matters.  

Right Uses of the Law

1. We rightly use it when we use it to remember the nature and will of God.

2. We rightly use it to remember our duty to God and others.

3. We rightly use it to realize and remember our natural inability to keep it apart from the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. 

4. We rightly use it to remind ourselves of our sinful natures, hearts and lives, thus driving us to Christ for forgiveness.

5. We rightly use it to help others gain a clearer sight of their need of Christ His perfect fulfillment of it in their place.

6. We rightly use it to develop the principles for establishing a culture and society which maximally glorifies God and blesses us.