Results 1 - 4 of 4
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Raven, do you want ALL the Law? | Bible general Archive 1 | Reformer Joe | 45695 | ||
You wrote: "The law that James refers to is not the Mosaic Law (the 10 commandments), it is the law of Christ - love. James calls it the perfect law - the law of liberty" Let's take a look at the context of the "law of liberty": "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." --James 1:22-25 The "law of liberty" is equated here with the word of God (v. 22). Since the New Testament had not been completed, obviously the written word that a believer was to LOOK AT and ABIDE IN and DO was found in the Old Testament. Again, we will not fulfill the moral law of God perfectly, but we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to please God by following His moral commands. We are called here to DO something, and there is nothing that we can do to please God that is not already contained in the written moral code of the OT. Then we look at the following chapter: "If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.' --James 2:8 That is Leviticus 19:18...the LAW. The Scripture being referred to here is right in the middle of the Torah. "But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.' --James 2:9-12 Again, James equates the law of liberty with two of the Ten Commandments. He characterizes sin as a violation of God's law. How do you characterize sin? If there is no law (i.e. the moral will of God as shown in the Ten Commandments) for the Christian, how is it possible for us to sin? In other words, what are Christians sinning AGAINST when they sin? --Joe! |
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2 | Raven, do you want ALL the Law? | Bible general Archive 1 | ChristLifer2001 | 46225 | ||
Joe, My short answer is that there is law for Christians - the law of love found in Christ. Christ is God and therefore He is the purest reflection of God's moral character. If He is in us, yes, He will reflect God's character - it would be impossible for Him to do otherwise. Love fulfills all the law. My point is that the believer is no longer under any of the Mosaic Law. I believe you agree with that. As new creations in Christ, we should reflect His moral perfection. But it is a result of who we are in Him, not a striving to obtain something to make us acceptable. Therefore, when a Christian sins, he is going against the Spirit of Christ in him and against the new creation he is in Christ. But the Mosaic Law is not the answer. The Law was never given to make men perfect, it was given to show that God alone is perfect and, if we are going to be, we must be united with Him. The Mosaic Law is a negatively-based explanation of the royal, the perfect law of love. If I loved perfectly (as God does), I will worship God alone. If I love perfectly, I will not commit adultery. If I love perfectly, I will not lie. If I love perfectly, I will not steal from others, etc. But because we are not born with this capability to love, God had to state His character as a negative reflection of who His is. That Law, which Paul calls the ministry of death and condemnation, was given to show man his spiritual deadness (separation from the life and love of God) and his inability to be like God. This should force him to come to Christ so that Christ, through the law of love written on our new hearts, can manifest the character of God in us. So the Christian is under law - the law of love. But it is not the Law of Moses. Hope this helps, brother. ChristLifer2001 |
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3 | Raven, do you want ALL the Law? | Bible general Archive 1 | Reformer Joe | 46241 | ||
With all due respect, you just repeated what you wrote before without commenting at all on the things I brought up in my last post on the subject. I agree that most of the Mosaic Covenant has never been applicable to me, as a Gentile believer. However, as you state here, if I love perfectly, I will do the things found in the Ten Commandments, and fulfill them in spirit as well as in the letter. So that is the problem I have with people saying that the moral aspects of the Law of Moses are null and void. No one can show me how to please God without referring to something stated in the moral code given to Moses. Everything you stated in this post and in your previous one about what it is to follow "the law of Christ" are also things explicitly stated in the Law of Moses. The best way to look at it is that the moral law of God, his righteous demands of His creation, precede and transcend the Mosaic Covenant. They are included there, but they were never limited to one specific group of people at one specific time and place. Adam sinned because he broke God's law. Abraham, when he sinned, was breaking God's law. Gentiles today, when they sin, are breaking God's law. None of them were part of the specific covenant God made with the people of Israel, but God's moral law, reflected in aspects of the Law of Moses, are binding on everyone at all times as a standard of righteousness, even though they were never a path to justification for anyone (including the Israelites). --Joe! |
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4 | Raven, do you want ALL the Law? | Bible general Archive 1 | ChristLifer2001 | 46249 | ||
Joe, Actually, in the law of Christ, you're performance will surpass the moral code of the Mosaic Law and the 10 commandments, brother. Yes, love does fulfill the Law, but it also goes beyond it to exhibiting God's character. The Law says don't kill. The law of Christ leads you to love others unconditionally. The Law says don't commit adultery. The law of Christ says to love your wife as Christ does the church. The Law says not to steal. The law of Christ says to go to work with your hands so that you may give to those in need. So the love of Christ in us not only fulfills, but surpasses the moral code of the Law. The confusion lies in that people will look at the law of love being fulfilled in the believer and mistake it for the Law. From an external viewpoint, the performance looks much the same. But there is a fundamental difference. Under the Law System, man is always performing to achieve God's standard. Under the law of Christ, man has, in Christ, already achieved and therefore is free to perform. God has declared me to be holy, righteous, and blameless in His sight. By walking in the Spirit, I get to experience in the here and now what I have been declared. The commands of the Old Testament are a reflection of God's morality. But instead of looking at those demands as the things that stirs up sin in us, the Jews took them as rules to achieve. And they never could. The commands of the New Testament are reflection of what it looks like to live under the law of love, not goals to achieve. Will it look like we are under Law when we abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit? Yes, it will. But the motivation is now internal instead of external. Christ is us will still fulfill the royal law of love today as we abide in Him. God is pleased by faith in walking, not in the flesh(performance), but in walking in the Spirit and love. ChristLifer2001 |
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