Subject: How do we attain righteousness? |
Bible Note: Dear Lionstrong, Are you saying that Jesus cannot empower us to follow G*d's commandments? Who is Jesus talking about when in Matt. 9:13 He said "I didn't come to call the righteous, but the sinners!" Also in Luke 1:6 Zecharia and Elizabeth were called righteous, by observing all the ordinances of G*d blamelessly. James 5:16 talks about the prayers of a righteous person, Why would James refer to someone that does'nt exist? Being an ex-cop, I found that the "Law" did not have any bearing on the lives of those who followed the "law", it only impacted the lives of those who were lawless. Most if not all versions of todays English Version Bibles are off target concerning G*ds law, because the Greek word nomos does not mean "law" as we think of it, the Hebrew word that is mistranslated as law is Torah, which in the Hebrew mindset is "G*ds teaching and instruction". Notice in Psalm 37:30-31 it says, "The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue discourses justice. The Torah of G*d is in his heart". So in some of its aspects is the Torah 'not for a person whom G*d has declared righteous'. In its role as that which prescribes punishment and condemnation for offenses, shows people their sinfulness and guilt before G*d, and guides them away from trying to prove how good they are and toward trusting in Jesus(Yeshua)the Messiah the Torah is for those who are heedless of Torah in its role for the righteous. The Anglican Christian writer Brigid Younghughes has voiced the understanding I have come to concerning the passage in Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says "Don't think I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete".'"...I came not to destroy, but to fulfil." And surely "to fulfil' means to complete, in the sense of bringing to perfection, not as Christians have all too often interpreted it, to render obsolete; to fulfil in such a way as to perfect a foundation on which to build further"(Christianity's Jewish Heritage, West Sussex: Angel Press, 1988, p.8) the version of the Bible I study the most these days is the Complete Jewish Bible translated by David H. Stern . I cannot find anywhere any condemnation for following G*ds Torah out of love for G*d, only when one follows it out of legalistic obligation. I'm not exactly sure what I am trying to say by all of this except that as a Christian, G*d is drawing me closer toward his Torah every day. And every day I get a better understanding as to what the Church is missing out on. When I look at the Jews who have an understanding of Torah, but don't have the Holy Spirit of G*d, and look at the Christians who have the Holy Spirit of G*d but say the Torah is not for them, I think that something is amiss, and my mind turns to Ephesians 2:14, where it talks about Jesus creating a union with himself and the Jew and the Gentile a single new Humanity . In Yesuah's name Magnum |