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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 | ChristLifer2001 | 45686 | ||
Joe, Actually, I did partially answer your question. The Law is made for the unrighteous not the righteous. It still has a purpose and a function. But believers are no longer under it as a moral constraint or under it's punishment for failure to obey it. Children need to be taught the Law so that they will see that they are indeed sinners and turn to Christ. This is the Law's purpose. 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. Hebrews 8:7 makes it clear that the Mosaic covenant was not perfect - it was "faulted." Why? Was there something wrong with the Law? No, of course not. There was something wrong with the ones who were supposed to keep it. So God has made a New Covenant and fulfills His righteous requirements in us through the Spirit instead of through external commandments. Galatians further does not call the Law "the law of liberty". To the contrary, Paul calls it a "yoke of slavery" - Gal 5:1. Paul even calls the Mosaic covenant the "ministry of death" in 2 Cor 3:7. Galatians demonstrates that we are no longer under the Mosaic covenant or the Mosaic Law. All the verses I listed from Galatians are quite clear with little room for "interpretation error." Now, does the Law reflection the moral character of God. Certainly. It thereby reflects the sinner's fallen nature also. But the Jews could never keep the Law, could they? Neither can we. In fact, apart from Christ Himself, we cannot measure up to God's actual moral character as reflected in the sermon on the mount and 1 Cor 13. But under the New Covenant, God has put His Spirit in us and we walk by faith in Him, trusting Him to lead and guide us as Christ lives through us. This will cause us to fulfill the law of Christ - loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. This is something that the OT Jew could never do because their hearts were not changed. So though we are no longer under the Mosaic Law for guidance or punishment, we have Christ's law fulfilled in us. As He does this, it will certainly look like the OT Law is being fulfilled, but it is from an internal motivation, Christ's love in our hearts - Rom 13:8; Rom 13:10; Gal 5:14. The Law could never cause the Jews to reflect God's moral character - they couldn't keep it. The Spirit of Christ in the believer does fulfill God's character and requirements - Rom 8:4. Hope this helps. ChristLifer2001 |
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2 | Raven, do you want ALL the Law? | Bible general Archive 1 | Reformer Joe | 45697 | ||
You wrote: "So God has made a New Covenant and fulfills His righteous requirements in us through the Spirit instead of through external commandments." Then why are there so many external commandments in the New Testament? Look at all of the epistles and the things that the Christian is told to DO. Why even open the Bible, with all of its "external commandments" in BOTH testaments, if the Holy Spirit works apart from the written moral will of God? "Galatians demonstrates that we are no longer under the Mosaic covenant or the Mosaic Law." No, Galatians demonstrates that the Gentile was NEVER under the Mosaic Covenant. God made that covenant with the physical descendants of Jacob, and I was never under that yoke of slavery in the first place. Paul is not encouraging the Gentiles to keep from RETURNING to the Mosaic Covenant; he is charging them never to put themselves under it in the first place! See Romans 2 for a more thorough examination of the difference between the Jew and Gentile with reference to the Mosaic Covenant." Now then, please show me how we please God without obeying the moral aspects of the Law, to which God not only holds Jews, but Gentiles as well. You wrote: " Now, does the Law reflection the moral character of God. Certainly. It thereby reflects the sinner's fallen nature also. But the Jews could never keep the Law, could they? Neither can we. In fact, apart from Christ Himself, we cannot measure up to God's actual moral character as reflected in the sermon on the mount and 1 Cor 13." Agreed, but that does not mean that the moral law of God is not useful to the believer's sanctification. You wrote: "But under the New Covenant, God has put His Spirit in us and we walk by faith in Him, trusting Him to lead and guide us as Christ lives through us. This will cause us to fulfill the law of Christ - loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves." Loving God with all our heart: Deuteronomy 6:5 -- the LAW. Loving our neighbors as ourselves: Leviticus 19:18 -- the LAW. The Father established the moral aspects of the law for all generations, revealing it in creation (Romans 1:20), in our consciences (Romans 2:5) and in the moral commandments given to the nation of Israel. Christ, born under the law, in His life met all the requirements of the moral law of God for all those who believe. Christ by His death paid the penalty of sin, freeing us from the curse that results from not following the law ourselves (and what law is that referring to, since the system of sacrifices was never part of any covenant I had with Him?). And the Holy Spirit enables us to love the moral aspects of the law as David did (Psalm 119) and see it as the blueprint for the outworking of our faith in Christ. --Joe! |
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