Subject: Raven, do you want ALL the Law? |
Bible Note: 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! |