[From Dietrich Bonhoeffer – (The Psalms-) The Prayer Book of the Bible ‘Classification’]

“The Law”

“The three Psalms (1, 19, 119) that in a special way make the law of God the object of thanksgiving, praise, and petition, wish above all to make clear to us the blessing of the law. Under ‘law,’ then, is to be chiefly understood the entire redemptive act of God and direction for a new life in obedience. Joy in the law, in the commandments of God, fill us when God has given to our life the great transformation that comes through Jesus Christ. That God might sometimes hide God’s own command from me, (Ps. 119:19), that God might someday not let me recognise the divine will, is the deepest anxiety of the new life.

“Grace”

“It is grace to know God’s commands. They free us from self-made plans and conflicts. They make our steps certain and our way joyful. We are given God’s commands so that we may fulfill them, and ‘[God’s] commandments are not burdensome’ (I John 5:3) for those who have found all salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus himself was under the law and fulfilled it in total obedience to the Father. God’s will became his joy, his food. So in us he gives thanks for the grace of the law and grants us joy in its fulfillment.* Now we confess our love for the law. We affirm that we hold it dear, and we ask that we continue to be preserved blameless in it. We do not do this in our own power, but we pray it in the name of Jesus Christ, who is for us and in us.”

*In the Lord’s Prayer: “… Thy will be done….”