Results 1 - 6 of 6
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12807 | ||
Is the Christian under Law? Dear Joe and Christiankl, God's design for our lives as Christians is to let Christ live His life thorugh us, not to keep the law. Please look at the Scriptures, brothers: Consider the church in Galatia. Paul had preached Christ crucified and risen again in their midst. This was a church of, as far as we can tell, believers in Christ who the Judaizers were trying to put back under the law and all it's requirements. Notice Paul's admonitions: Galatians 2:19 - Paul died to the Law so that he could live to God 3:10 - If you're under law, you're under it's curse - if you sin, you die 3:13 - Christ redeemed us from this curse 3:19 - The Law was added UNTIL the seed (Christ) would come 3:23 - Before faith in Christ came, we were under law's custody 3:24 - Law leads us to Christ so we can be justified by faith 3:25 - Now that faith in Christ is reality, we are no longer under the tutor (the Law) Romans 6:14 - we are not under the law but under grace 6:15 - again, we are under grace 7:4 - we were made to die to the Law so that we can be joined to Christ 7:6 - We have been released from the Law so that we can serve in the newness of the Spirit NOT according to the letter (law) Brothers, are these Scriptures not clear? If you were married to a woman you loved (see Paul's analogy in Roman's 7) and she died, as horrible as that would be, what relationship would you have with her? She would be dead and all the duties you had to her would be null and void. Would that mean you were against her or hated her? No. You would still, in fact, love her. But, you would no longer be in a relationship with her. The relationship is over. She would be dead. Now, Paul says that we were made to die to the Law through Christ's death (Rom 7:4) so that we could be joined to Christ. The first relationship has to end before the next can be binding. But the Law didn't die. We did. We are free of ANY relationship to it, not because there is something wrong with it, but because it has fulfilled it's purpose. It showed us exceedingly sinful so that we could come to Christ. And our relationship with Him will lead us to go places that the Law could never touch. The Law buried us under sin, as Christ did in the gospels (...the Law says...but I tell you...) so we would see our need to be justified by His death and saved by His life. So, obviously, I have a contention with your 3 conclusions: 1. The Holy Spirit now convicts the believer of sin and points us to Christ as sufficient - not the Law. 2. God doesn't want a moral people. The Pharisees were very moral. God wants a people who have Christ living through them. This goes beyond morality to miraculous. We don't need to eat from the morality Tree (of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, right and wrong), we need to eat from the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ. 3. We live out our sanctification. We do nothing to obtain it. Our spirits are 100 percent sanctified at conversion and we have the privelege of seeing that 'worked out' through our souls and bodies as we trust in Christ as our sufficiency and grow in His love. See Titus 2:11 - God's GRACE, not the Law, teaches us to live righteously and godly lives. As you said, God, through Christ, has met all His own moral demands. We, on our own, never could. We have been made holy not by our actions, but by His. We have HIS righteousness, not our own. And we have the joyful experience of living it out. We don't live holy, godly lives to gain sanctification. We live holy, godly lives because 'by this will (New Covenant) we have been sanctified through the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL. For by one offering He has perfected for ALL TIME those who are sanctified.' - Hebrews 10:10,14 What do you think? In Christ, Bill Mc In Christ |
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2 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Searcher56 | 12827 | ||
Bill Mc, Answer these questions 1. The Holy Spirit now convicts the believer of sin and points us to Christ as sufficient - not the Law. ... so if I did not have Scripture the Holy Spirit would convict? 2. God doesn't want a moral people. ... then what does He want? The Pharisees were very moral. ... in the Sermon on the Mount, He said that we need to exceed their righteous AND that not one letter of the Law will pass until heaven and earth has pass away. Has this been accoomplished? Are you equating Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil with the Law? ... Didn't people, like Enoch, Noah, Abraham and others know right from wrong? 3. We live out our sanctification. I agree. You misinterpet Titus 2:11-read it again. Then read what the Law does (Rom 2:20, 5:20, 6:14, 7:12). Steve PS Which OT laws don't you like? Do you know what is said about it in the NT? |
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3 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12845 | ||
Dear Steve, Here are your answers (in brief): 1. See John 16:8-11. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgement. But notice what the sin is in vs. 9 - the world doesn't believe in Christ. This is why people go to hell. Because they don't accept Christ. 2. I already stated what God wants. He desires a people that have Himself living in them as Adam and Eve did. God has made man in such a way that we are design to 'run on God.' He wants to be our source for life and everything we need and are. And, brother, look at Matthew 5:18, ALL OF IT, Christ says, "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law UNTIL all is accomplished." Did Christ accomplish the fulfillment of the law? If He did, if it is truly "finished" as He said, then He had every right to bring in the New Covenant and make the Law obsolete. As far as the Law goes, Christ did fulfill it. He was not saying that the Law would pass away until heaven and earth do. He was saying that the Law would not pass away until He fulfilled it - until the Law was accomplished. He said, "I did not come to abolish (destroy) the Law, but to fulfill it." Steve, did Christ do it? If He did, and He is our righteousness, then why are you trying to fulfill it? Do you honestly believe that you can? Yes, I am equating the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil with the Law. And, yes, the Old Testament saints you mention did know right from wrong. However, I miss the point of your question. 3. As for Rom 2:20, Paul is using sarcasm on the Jews who felt they were righteous by holding the Law above everything else, including Christ. He says in vs. 17: They rely upon the Law (not Christ) and boast in God saying, "WE know His will, WE are the ones who approve what's essential because the Law taught us. WE are a guide to the blind, WE are a light to those in darkness. WE are the correctors of the foolish, teachers of the immature. WE have the Law, which is the entire embodiment of knowledge and truth." How ludicrous. Christ is the embodiment of all knowledge and truth, is He not? These were the claims of the self-righteous Pharisees, the keepers of the Law. They felt that they had (and kept) the Law so they required nothing else. These were not Paul's claims. Paul said that if he boasted, it would be in Christ alone. Rom 5:20 - The Law did make transgressions increase. Paul solidifies this in Rom 7:7-9. Rom 6:14 - Again, brother, "you are not under law but under grace." Rom 7:12 - I agree 150 percent, the Law is holy, and righteous, and good. But it has done it's job in my life. It showed me as being utterly sinful and that I could never keep it. It showed me my need for Christ. But I no longer need it. I have something better than commandments written on stone. I have Christ in my heart. I need Christ and Him alone. In closing, let me say that I've enjoyed this discourse. But, I have to wonder, did you even read my last post? What do you do with all those Scriptures from Galatians and Romans that say we are not under the Law? Do you dismiss them? What about the marriage analogy Paul uses? Perhaps you misunderstand me. I am not anti-Law. It's not a matter of what OT laws I like or don't like. It's a matter of the fact that I am joined, not to the Law, but to Christ. If I died tomorrow, what bearing would the laws of the United States have on me? None. I would be dead and no longer bound by the laws. It's the same for the Christian. Christ has, through His death and our union with Him in it, caused us to be dead to the law. It's not that I don't like the Law. Indeed, I am thankful for the Law. I agree with what Paul says in Romans 7:7 - I wouldn't have known what sin was without the Law. Steve, the sinner, the unbeliever needs the Law to show him his need for Christ. What I am saying is that, once we except Christ, we no longer need the Law as a tutor. I have shown you numerous Scriptures to support this statement. I'm not making it up. I tried to 'keep the Law' as a Christian for 30 years of my life. And, no matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough. Their was always some area of my life where I didn't measure up, where I fell short. But, then, as a Christian, I came to Jesus for HIS life, not my own. Christ is now my life. Do I still sin? Yes, when I walk after my flesh. But I stand before a holy, righteous God not in my own efforts. I stand by faith in Christ and Him alone. Dear brother, I pray that you will search again the Scriptures that I have shared with you and rest in what your wonderful Lord has done. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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4 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Risen | 12888 | ||
Dear Bill Mc, Absolute truth brother! We are under His new covenant. We receive His righteousness by faith! In Him,(Christ), we have been made holy, righteous, blameless and perfect. In Him we have eternal life, we are complete in Him. We are no longer under the law. When the Bible says that we aren't under the law any more, it doesn't mean that we are left without standards. We are actually under a higher standard, called in the Scripture "the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2) and "the law of liberty" (James 1:25 NASB). Under grace, God says to us throught the apostle Paul: You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command; "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Galatians 5:13,14). This is our standard, and it is indeed a higher standard than outward conformity to rules. Romans 13:10 sums it up: "Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.: It was Christ who said in Matthew 5:17... "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17). And He did fulfill the law; not by what He...did not do, but by what He... did do - He lived a life of perfect love. He laid His life down for us while we were His enemies, while we were still dead in our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ said, "All men will know you that are My disciples if you love one another...(John 13:35) Love fullfills all the law. Let us love, accept, and forgive one another. Just as Christ loves, accepts, and has forgiven us...totally and completely! Let us remember, as this world grows darker and darker, we who are indwelt by the living resurrected God and Savior Jesus Christ, will shine brighter and brighter. Now we see in part, but when He returns, we shall be like Him! Your Brother In Christ |
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5 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12898 | ||
Dear Risen, you explained it better than I! Thank you! In Christ, Bill Mc | ||||||
6 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | CoolRob | 12899 | ||
Man.. this is my first time to this site, and you brothers are on it! Hebrews 8 is a wonderfull chapter for this thread. Amen! (I am glad I found this site!) | ||||||