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NASB | James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of [breaking] all of it. |
Subject: Moral, Ceremonial, and Civil law |
Bible Note: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1 What yoke is he talking about? "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you." --Galatians 5:2 Ohhhh..he is talking about CIRCUMCISION. "And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law." --Galatians 5:3 Roger that. I won't be circumcized, and I won't be under the Law. Got it. "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." --Galatians 5:4 Good thing I am justified by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, then. "For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness." Galatians 5:5 Waiting for the HOPE of righteousness? I thought according to Bill we already WERE righteous... "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." --Galatians 5:6 Faith WORKING....hmmmm.... "You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?" The truth is something that they were OBEYING in faith, but now are being hindered. "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." --Galatians 5:13 Serving one another. Sounds like works. Using our freedom to SERVE is what Paul's writing about. "For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" --Galatians 5:14 Note: See Leviticus 19:18. That is in the LAW, for those allergic to the Old Testament. If Christ fulfilled the Law in every possible sens of the term, how are we still fulfilling it here by loving our neighbor? "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." --Galatians 5:24 Now what could this mean? Is the flesh dead now in our day-to-day lives? "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." --Galatians 5:16 So if we have crucified the flesh and it is completely a thing of the past, how could we possibly be able to live by its desires? "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." --Galatians 5:19-21 Wow...quite a list! So if we practice these things, we will not share in God's inheritance. Works again? Paul emphatically states here (as elsewhere) that those who are truly possessing saving faith will NOT practice these things. "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." --Galatians 5:25 Walking in the Spirit, the term Paul utilizes time and again for living what we say we believe. So there we have Galatians 5. Saved by a faith which produces works which are in obedience to and conformity with God's law. I am not running to be circumsized, since I have no desire to put myself under the Law to earn or maintain my salvation. Christ earned it for me, and the proof is in my walking in the Spirit and not fulfilling the desires of the flesh, which is a continuing work of the Holy Spirit in me (read: NOT my own power, as some have suggested). When I am in Heaven, I will be completely righteous, and I hope for that day just as Paul did. The problem isn't that I am desiring to be justified by the Law -- I see that I have to emphasize yet again that I am not. The problem is that you deny that law is good, even in the life of the believer. Every New Testament epistle writer disagrees, and I will continue to point it out every time you put forward antinomianism ("against Law"). There is a distinction between not being under the Law and being AGAINST the Law. You err by adhering to the latter view in your insistence that the Law is useless for the saints of God. --Joe! |