Those that use God’s Word as a legal instrument preach the law which has to do with punishment.
We use God’s Word to preach grace, which is God’s love, that is founded on
forgiveness.
This provides the opportunity to choose to be conformed to the likeness of Christ without worldly “fear” but with the reverent “fear of the Lord” that understands the penalty of disobedience would be eternal separation. The difference is one is based on the concept that we can (or sadly) have reached righteousness on our own merit which makes the work on the Cross non-essential. Our spiritual “poverty” is not evidence that we don’t have His righteousness imparted to our account – it is evidence that we live knowing we have it only by grace and not by merit
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