the "law" and Paul

[ThomasPeter]

ok, i have been running this over in my mind and have even studied it in High school/college classes. but what is the real diff. between the "law" Paul speeks of (speeks badly of), and our Church law? i know he is talking about the law of Moses and that we shoudl not "rely on the law for salvation" but how is taht diffrent from our relying on the laws of the Sacraments? or laws on how to preform a Holy Mass... confess... elect a Pope... or anything in Canon [i]law[/i]. in short, how is our law diffrent/better then the old law? maybe being a cradle-Catholic im looking at this in the worng light. anything you can offer will help, thanks!
Tom

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
10/15 - St. Teresa of Avila

ThomasPeter,

St. Paul says over and over again that the observance of the Law will not gain salvation for someone. What he means by this is that if one goes through life scrupulously adhering to the letter of the law without fulfilling the spirit of the law, that's not enough to gain salvation - and this holds for our time as well. Faithfully adhering to the Church's moral teachings won't gain salvation for someone - one must [i]live a life in Christ[/i] in order to gain salvation.

St. Paul also says in one of his letters that, for him, all things are legal and no law binds him. Does this mean that he's free to fornicate, drink too much and blaspheme? Of course not - it means that the desire to commit those sins is so far gone from him that he does not need the laws forbidding fornication, drunkenness and blasphemy.

It's kinda like this - do you have a deep desire to murder your second-grade teacher? Hopefully not - and if not, then the law that forbids the murdering of second-grade teachers does not apply to you [i]because you don't need it[/i]. Message me if I'm not being clear; hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono