Thursday: The Law and Sin
We often hear folk say that in the New Covenant the law has been abolished, and then they proceed to quote texts that they believe prove that point. The logic behind that statement, however, isn’t quite sound, nor is the theology.
Read 1 John 2:3-6, 1 John 3:4, and Romans 3:20. What do these texts tell us about the relationship between law and sin?
Image © Pacific Press Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com
A few hundred years ago, Irish writer Jonathan Swift wrote: “But will any man say that if the words drinking, cheating, lying, stealing, were by Act of Parliament ejected out of the English tongue and dictionaries, we should all awake next morning temperate, honest and just, and lovers of truth? Is this a fair consequence?”-Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal and Other Satires (New York: Prometheus Books, 1995), p. 205.
In the same way, if God’s law has been abolished, then why are lying, murder, and stealing still sinful or wrong? If God’s law has been changed, then the definition of sin must be changed, too. Or if God’s law was done away with, then sin must be, as well, and who believes that? (See also 1 John 1:7-10; James 1:14-15.)
In the New Testament, both the law and the gospel appear. The law shows what sin is; the gospel points to the remedy for that sin, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus. If there is no law, there is no sin, and so what are we saved from? Only in the context of the law, and its continued validity, does the gospel make sense.
We often hear that the Cross nullified the law. That’s rather ironic, because the Cross shows that the law can’t be abrogated or changed. If God didn’t abrogate or even change the law before Christ died on the cross, why do it after? Why not get rid of the law after humanity sinned and thus spare humanity the legal punishment that violation of the law brings? That way, Jesus never would have had to die. Jesus’ death shows that if the law could have been changed or abrogated, it should have been done before, not after, the Cross. Thus, nothing shows the continued validity of the law more than does the death of Jesus, a death that occurred precisely because the law couldn’t be changed. If the law could have been changed to meet us in our fallen condition, wouldn’t that have been a better solution to the problem of sin than Jesus having to die?
| If there were no divine law against adultery, would the act cause any less pain and hurt than it does now to those who are victims of it? How does your answer help you to understand why God’s law is still in effect? What has been your own experience with the consequences of violating God’s law? |
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In the history of creation and justification by faith, between the law and sin, which one came first?
I think it makes sense to say the law came first. A comment from the past few days presented that the law forms the fabric of reality and existence. The law is eternal while sin is temporal.
The Law defines and is in fact the Character of God therefore it is the law that came first. It was challenged for the first time as being arbitrary by Lucifer the covering Cherub ( Isa 14 & Job 1 ). It is the same argument then as it is today, we are independent and should run our own lives or we worship God and recognize we are totally dependent on His grace.
Good or Bad - runs throughout the Bible from Genesis' Tree of the Knowledge(experience) of Good & Evil to Jesus' statement at the end of Revelation "the good will remain good and the bad will remain bad. The issues we encounter are 1) who gets to decide what is good or bad, and 2) how is this decision communicated to the world, and 3) what are the consequences of choosing between the two.
1) As God is the Creator and Owner of all He gets to say what is good and what is bad; 2) Since creation God has chosen various means of communicating His decision like verbally, writing in stone, inspiration to prophets, coming Himself as Jesus to walk & talk to humanity; 3) if we chose good we will live with Jesus for ever, if we chose bad we will cease to exist.
The law points out sin. If I chose to separate myself from God, sin takes over and I am not free any longer, I am under the law. When I choose like David to set God before me, because He is always by my right side, I am no longer under the law. I am happy. Psalms 16:8-9.
When considering the law (and many other phenomena), in order to keep an accurate and balanced understanding of aspects of the law, it is worth keeping in mind the big picture of what the law actually is. (I overviewed such a big picture in my post on Sunday, so I won't repeat it here but please refer to it as the context for my following comment.)
As an oversimplification, the law can be thought of is somewhat like a coin - which side of it you see depends upon your orientation/relation to it. It is only when you are out of harmony with the law that it functions to point out sin. If you are in harmony with it, the law shows you the way to life - so to speak.
Technically, everyone is always 'under' the law because is the the law that makes reality possible. Without law, there would not nor cannot be order- only chaos. And chaos cannot support the existence of life. Conversely, when you are in harmony with the law, you are under the benefit of the law - which is abundant life. When you are out of harmony with it, you are under 'condemnation' in that you are on the path of non-life (ie death).
The main point is we are always 'under' the law - when we are in Christ and walking in harmony with the law, we are no longer under the condemnation of the law.
For Jesus to save us from sin, sin has to have a meaning. If sin has no meaning, neither has Jesus!
"Why not get rid of the law after humanity sinned and thus spare humanity the legal punishment that violation of the law brings?"
Rom 6:23 tells me that "the wages of sin is death".
Paul was very careful and precise in his word usage when he wrote his many writings. He uses the word wages here (and only 3 other times in his other writings). He did not use the word 'penalty' or 'punishment' - he used wages.
Can someone help me understand how "wages" has come to be understood as "the legal punishment the violation of the law brings"?
What an inspiring and informative Lesson on relationship between the law and my sin. Indeed, Jesus Christ died on the cross because of my sinful nature as a result of my disobedience to the law that could not and has not been replaced nor abolished. A painful death because of the continued validity of the law.
Paul categorizes the law into three major groups: Moral, Ceremonial and Civil. Not touching the Moral law, are there some ceremonial or civil laws that existed in the Old Testament but were nailed on the cross since they went against the Christ's teachings ?
If the answer is no, then what is the interpretation of what Paul says in Colossians 2:14 "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
our sins were nailed to the cross : "having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the (the record of our sins)"
Col 2:11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a true and perfect religious system that explicitly reveals the immutability of God's law. More often it seems as if sin is simply the violation of any of God's laws, including the Ten Commandments. Paul, however in preaching about the law puts this into a new perspective in Rom 3:20. Through the law we become conscious of sin.
On the eleventh of March 1890 Ellen White wrote in the Review and Herald - "“As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain (2 Sam 1:21). We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God." True to Ellen White's words the apostle Paul preaches Christ in the law. He does not preach the keeping of the law as a deterrent or an incentive. In all his writings, he places infront of the law the love of Christ to the fallen world. The love of Christ that says "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'' Rom 5:8 and the love for Christ that says "If ye love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15.
True faith is that our obedience to the law of God becomes even strong that before because we become conscious of our sinfulness when we look at the scene that unfolded on that day at Calvary. It was because man fell deep into sin and had to be saved because God created him for his glory. He wants to spend eternity with him. It is this unmeasurable love, mercy and grace that the apostle Paul preaches: "Christ in the law".
It is this immense love, mercy and grace that Ellen White says we must preach: "Christ in the law". The gospel of the new Testament should not be interpreted as giving freedom to men to live in continued rebellion against God by transgression his law. Christ died because God's law was broken. He is our hope and his righteousness is accounted to the obedient. If we disconnect the law and the gospel it means disconnecting the heavens and the earth exactly what the devil hoped for. The two go hand in hand.
Just a thought...
There have been many comments and arguments about "law" in recent lesson posts. I would suggest that Paul likely spent 99% of his time talking/preaching/thinking about Jesus and 1% or less about "law."
Perhaps we should consider doing the same.
The law describes what it means to be good, with Jesus in my heart I live out the law in my thoughts and actions.
The first question is whether today’s lesson is a good argument. The next question is whether winning arguments is the best way to influence people.
This argument even might “make sense” if the only biblical definition of the word, “sin”, were the transgression of the law.
On the other hand, If a person is interested in actually entering into dialogue with other people (instead of only winning arguments), it is helpful to understand how those other people understand and use the word, “sin”. (Many people in the United States don’t actually use the word because they don’t have any idea how to define it.)
First, there is the use of the word, “sin”, to refer to the “sin principle”--selfishness. Anything we do that is motivated by selfishness is sin, whether or not the act is specifically prohibited in the Decalogue. Each of us is a “sinner” in the sense of being born selfish--and this is true before we ever make a conscious decision about whether to be selfish and before we ever make a conscious decision about whether to act contrary to a precept of the Decalogue.
If they were asked to define sin, many people in our society would define it as violation of law but many of those same people would define sin as transgression of civil and criminal laws rather than as violation of divine precepts. Or they might think that murder and rape are sins but that speeding and jay-walking are not sins. Few of those people have ever been challenged to decide whether theft is or isn’t a “sin”.
If someone wants someone else to obey a specific law--the law against eating unclean foods, for example--is it better to try to persuade him that he has a moral obligation to do so? Or is it better to approach the subject by encouraging the second person to honor God in everything and then gradually offer evidence that he is honored by how we choose what to eat?
There are two ways in our journey of life. The way of life and the way of death. The law shows us which way we are traveling on moment by moment.
Christians, born from above, children of God are obligated to observe two laws - the laws of the land or one’s country and above that the Law of Christ. The Scripture tells us so.
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” (Rom 13:1) see also 1 Pt 2:13-17.
The Law of Christ:
Now Israel hated this law such that they killed Christ in order to “make to stand” their Law. But the Law itself prophesied about the Law of Christ: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers, you shall *listen* to Him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God… I will raise up a prophet from among your brothers like you, and I will put *My Words* in His mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command Him. It shall come about that WHOEVER will NOT LISTEN to My Words which He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.” (Dt 18:15-19) The prophets prophesied this Law (Jer 31:31-34; Ezk 36:25-27; Ps 40:8-11; Isa 51:4,5). It’s the only thing the prophets prophesied about. When Christ came on the scene proclaiming it no one rejoiced. When we really consider the Words (of the covenant) we understand why they preferred to abide by Moses and the Ten Commandments.
“Blessed are: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, the persecuted for righteousness, the insulted, persecuted, falsely accused.” These are to rejoice!?? Be glad??? about a *future* reward in heaven??
Most are more offended by these: “You have heard it said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”. It was He Christ who gave them that law for judging an offender of the Ten Commandments.(Lev 24:19-21; Ex 21:23-25; Dt 19:21). He had also said “I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.”(Ezk 21:25).
“But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone one wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” This is so because every encounter of the Christian is ordered by God Himself, since he/she is led by the Spirit.
“You have heard it said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he causes His sun to rise on the EVIL and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the UNRIGHTEOUS… Therefore you are to be *perfect*, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
“You have heard of old, “you shall not commit murder” and “whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court”. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable before the court… and whoever says “You fool” shall be liable to hell fire.” (Matt 5)
“God… in these last days has spoken to us in his Son, whom He appointed heir of all things… For this reason we must pay much closer attention to *what we have heard*, so that we do not drift away. For if the *word spoken through angels* proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which was first spoken through the Lord, then confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.
Kenny,
I am not really sure what your argument is here - the thread of your argument appears to take a diffuse track though the ideas. But if you are saying that God does not want law-keeping for law-keeping's sake, rather, he want a relationship with us which leads to us keeping the law, then I agree with you. In this discussion there is a lot of "obfurscation" (A technical term that we programmers sometimes use when we set out to make program code functional but unreadable). Salvation is not hard to understand.
God loves us, Our ancestors chose to rebel, by free choice. God wants us back. He has spent years drumming that into us. We can make the free choice to resume the relationship. When we make that choice we will obey the law, not because we have to, but because we want to.
I could quote quite a few texts to support that but we all know those texts. Essentially our responsibility now is to live that saved relationship in such a way that others will want the experience too.
Maurice,
Obfuscation! What is the lesson study about? I am sure this article is absolutely clear to everyone else. Jesus reveals in His teaching, His Law, the life of the saved. Doesn't the Ten Commandments reveal the quality of life of it's adherents, I hope. We have always taught that salvation is evidenced by obedience to especially the Ten Commandments. That is why we seek to convert other Christians. It's about salvation. Isn't it?
Aha! I must have pressed the right button. Thank you Kenny for a clear and precise statement. All I would add is that living the law is the fruit of our salvation.
Kenny allow me to quote you directly here.
"The Law of Christ:
Now Israel hated this law such that they killed Christ in order to “make to stand” their Law."
I am not show whether Christ taught anything new in the New Testament. The sermon on the mount was magnification of Isaiah 58. Almost everything you quoted to support your argument was in fact a broader explanation of the law of Moses. True the prophecy was, he would magnify the law and make it honourable. And indeed He magnified it and rescued it from dirty bins of traditional influences.
Again you said "We have always taught that salvation is evidenced by obedience to especially the Ten Commandments. That is why we seek to convert other Christians." This is not what the SDA teaches. But obedience according to the bible is the whole duty of a man. Righteousness is obedience attained by obedience to the law of God.We are made righteous on account of Christ's righteousness because he lived a sinless life. The bible says he was obedient 'even' unto death. That is the life we ought to live if we entertain any hope of eternal salvation. "The law of Christ" did not lower the great requirements of the OT. God requires perfect obedience even now.
Anele, I'm not quite sure I follow you when you write:
I do understand that "perfect obedience" is the standard of righteousness and it brings us into harmony with heaven so that we may live there eternally. The problem, as I see it that trying to render "perfect obedience" does not bring about perfect obedience, remembering that this includes our thoughts and motivations. That's why I appreciate this passage in Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, p. 18. It's something that I can understand:
Anele,
We live that life if we are saved, if we are His disciples; not to be saved. We have always tested ourselves and others more so by the Ten Commandments. That is so more amenable to us, especially the Sabbath. Christ declared himself the Sabbath when He said, "come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me... and you will find rest for your souls... Mat 11:28-30. He called Himself, "Lord of Sabbath"Luk 6:5 - the same word of the prophecy Ezk 20:12,20; Ex 31:15,17 The Sabbath of physical rest was a sign that they would know the Lord, their God. A sign in Scripture points away from itself to better things. He further labeled the Sabbath, *sacrifice* in the cornfield on the Sabbath: "But if you had known what this means, "I desire mercy, and not a sacrifice" you would not have condemned the innocent"Mat 12:7 Christ was faithful to His mission "I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill the Law."
There is something peculiar with the Decalogue dear Kenny.
Yes we class all the law as Sinai. But the Ten Commandments God himself spoke the law directly to each individual who was present at Sinai on that day. This alone means something. Why did He chose to do it that way he alone knows. On top of that He (God) wrote it down himself with his own hand this what the bible says. I am not neither adding nor subtracting anything. There must be a special reason for this act too.
Now the Sabbath. The Sabbath law has always been a law mercy, love and grace. All the Sabbath laws that followed after the Sabbath commandment are in line with this. That is why Christ declared he desired mercy than sacrifices after true worship had been replaced by a round of traditions eg fasting twice a week yet justice and mercy waxed cold.
Paul affirming the sacredness of the Sabbath to the Hebrews called it a "promise". He tells the new converts that, that "promise" still stands and affirms God's vow.
What the SDA is doing is simply stating the obvious bible truth without altering it. The "promise" still stands even nearly 2000 years after Paul wrote about it. And the "promise" according to Paul's language is nothing but Christ. If I am not mistaken this is the only law Paul explicitly clarified in detail. This also tells us something about the apostle's regard for the Sabbath.
Yes Christ is that "rest". The Sabbath commandment is about Him. We only partake(enter) in His "rest" by beholding it's sacredness.
Anele
God speaking the Ten Commandments then "writing" them has no greater significance than God speaking His command to Adam and Eve. There is nothing in Scripture to show that one set of words from God has any greater weight than any other. Man shall live by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth God. The "writing" was to create a mental imprint on the minds of the hard-headed, stubborn, slow-to-learn, wayward Israelites, and to be a basis for measuring their compliance. The Ten Commandments as they were pronounced and as they were practiced by Israel were purely external. Jesus expanded the Ten Commandments away from the external "thou shall nots" to the operational level of the heart and mind.
It is difficult for me to understand why we think the Ten Commandments are greater in significance and relevance than the word of God to Adam, Eve, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others. None of them had the written Ten Commandments, but God revealed and taught them His eternal law which encompasses the essence of the Ten Commandments, along with the full principles of righteousness.
About your Sabbath comments: please show me where Paul is "affirming the sacredness of the Sabbath" in Hebrews 3 or 4. The "rest" he is talking about is not the weekly cessation of work, because the Israelites did that every week (or else they would have been stoned) and still did not have the "rest."
Mind you I am not attacking your belief, I am just not seeing how your conclusions can be shown to have been derived from or supported by the premises you laid out.
Please, also speaking about the Sabbath, show me where "this is the only law Paul explicitly clarified in detail."
We have been having these "discussions" about the law now all quarter, and even during the last quarter on Galatians, and I do not know if anyone on this forum has changed his/her core beliefs on the issue of law. The basic word "law" is too loose for these discussions and can have different meanings in different posts.
I agree with the substance of what Kenny and a few of us have been saying on this topic for weeks now.
Essentially, in summary it is this:
• There is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments.
• However, there is a greater system of law that is from eternity past, from which the Ten Commandments were drawn. This eternal law (and not the Ten Commandments) is the foundation of God's character; has always existed and will always exist in eternity.
• We will not have the Ten Commandments in God's new order. We would not need or have a desire to do any of the things prohibited in the Ten Commandments, so there would be no need for discussion or cautions of the Ten Commandments, or even the remembrance of those elements.
• However the principles, from which the Ten Commandments were drawn, will always exist in God's heart and the hearts of the redeemed.
• The Ten Commandments do not cover all manner of sins. There are sins not mentioned therein. So it is not complete in terms of pointing us to salvation. They point us to Christ the source of our salvation.
• Part of Jesus' mission was to expand the minds of His hearers from the Ten Commandments to the greater principles clearly encompassed by, and are the embodiment of the eternal law.
• The work of the New Covenant is to write the principles of this eternal law, not the Ten Commandments,in our hearts.
• Before the Ten Commandments, and the remaining explanatory material from Exodus to Deuteronomy, also called the Law of God, were given, those eternal principles were known and practiced by the faithful.
• The Ten Commandments came about as a summary set of instructions to guide a slave-released people to know the God of their salvation, and to lead them to Christ.
• When we focus specifically on the Ten Commandments, we are limiting ourselves to the elementary principles, and not moving on to the greater principles of the Eternal Law and the work of the Godhead for our sustenance.
Numerous scriptures can be presented, which we really all know, but have sometimes interpreted them away to fit a particular dogma.
You wrote: When we focus specifically on the Ten Commandments, we are limiting ourselves to the elementary principles, and not moving on to the greater principles of the Eternal Law and the work of the Godhead for our sustenance.
Jesus made it clear that very often we have the wrong focus in our spiritual life. For example, he takes the Jews to task about their Bible study:
When we put the law above the relationship we have an essentially barren spiritual experience. We need to move beyoung the schoolroom of the law to the living relationship of Salvation. That does not negate the law but puts it into perspective.
Maurice
I absolutely agree. In a sense, we are saying the same thing, except for possibly the ambiguous use of the word "law."
You rightly pointed out that the Jews studied the Scriptures, looking for eternal life. Their Scriptures were primarily the Law and the Prophets. But for them eternal life and righteousness were based on "keeping the Law" - Rom 9:31-33.
I am not negating the law, but as you say, putting it into perspective. Jesus told the Jews, essentially, instead of focusing on law for guidance on daily living, look to Me the source and sustainer of life. In doing so, the requirements of the eternal law will follow naturally.
If every time we insert the word and the concept of law into the discussion, if we would replace it with Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, we will achieve the message of the goal Jesus was teaching the Jews.
we are blessed because of the promise of
justification.. assuming we were allowed to work for
our salvation other humans would be used as role
models according to their success instead of God who
we are meant to copy and live by his image thereby
sharing his glory. The last lesson said that "salvation is
not meant for those who deserve it rather those who
need it". we don't deserve salvation and that was the
problem of the Jews which might be the problem we
have today. we can never meet God's standard of
righteousness because they are like filthy rags. But we
should accept the promise and also try our best to
keep these laws because without the law, there will be
no sin, and no need for us to be saved from sin
God help us
Fred if "We have always taught that salvation is evidenced by obedience to especially the Ten Commandments. That is why we seek to convert other Christians" then we have wrong concept of the Ten Commandments. This is what Kenny wrote.
True we might spend a great deal of time missing the truth of the matter. The SDA I know doesn't teach such things. Let's admit, we don't understand what the SDA says about the law then.
Anele, I will say it plainly. Other Christians are open for conversion to SDAdventism because they don't keep the 10 Commandments, specifically, the Sabbath.
Your comment is an interesting one Kenny and raises a whole lot of issues that we should discuss.
Here are some ideas (in no particular order) to think about.
1) Should we be converting "other Christians" to Adventism? Or should we be sharing Jesus with them.
2) I know that the Sabbath is central to our identity but does our focus on the Sabbath sometimes obscure our vision of Jesus?
3) To another Christian, our Sabbath-keeping looks very similar to Sunday-keeping except for a 24 hour time difference. Is that all there is to Sabbath-keeping?
4) We sometimes have an attitude that "we have the truth!" The "other Christian's" are ignorant or misled and we need to tell them the truth. Is it possible that we can learn from other Christians as well and maybe should listen to them too?
5) If we fail to convince our "other Christian friends" about the Sabbath truth, even though we have prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide them, are they lost?
I understand this fundamental belief is what the SDA teaches universally about the law. Maybe I have missed those finer details. Someone please help!
19 Law Of God
The great principles of God’s law are embodied in the Ten Commandments and exemplified in the life of Christ. They express God’s love, will, and purposes concerning human conduct and relationships and are binding upon all people in every age. These precepts are the basis of God’s covenant with His people and the standard in God’s judgment. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit they point out sin and awaken a sense of need for a Saviour. Salvation is all of grace and not of works, but its fruitage is obedience to the Commandments. This obedience develops Christian character and results in a sense of well-being. It is an evidence of our love for the Lord and our concern for our fellow men. The obedience of faith demonstrates the power of Christ to transform lives, and therefore strengthens Christian witness.
(Exo. 20:1-17; Psa. 40:7, 8; Matt. 22:36-40; Deut. 28:1-14; Matt. 5:17-20; Heb. 8:8-10; John 15:7-10; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 John 5:3; Rom. 8:3, 4; Psa. 19:7-14.)
Anele
You said: " Through the agency of the Holy Spirit they [Ten Commandments] point out sin and awaken a sense of need for a Saviour. Salvation is all of grace and not of works, but its fruitage is obedience to the Commandments."
The fruitage of the agency of the Holy Spirit is not obedience to the Commandments. The fruitage is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. As the amplified Gal 5:23 points out, there is no law that can produce those characteristics. These are elements you would expect to see in one who is in Christ and walking in the Holy Spirit, and as such, we may mistakenly make the assumption that those elements are a result of keeping the law. But we have it reversed. Keeping the law does not produce righteousness or righteous behavior and thoughts. Being born again and walking in Jesus and resting in Jesus is what produces it. Then such an individual will not just be complying with the spirit of Ten Commandments, he/she will have the kind of living that can only come about from the out-working of God's Eternal Principles of Righteousness, without any mental regard to the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are profound in their simple comprehensiveness. They are so brief that even a child can quickly memorize them, yet so far-reaching that they cover every possible sin.
People cannot earn salvation by their good works. Obedience is the fruitage of salvation in Christ. Through His amazing grace, especially displayed at the cross, God has liberated His people from the penalty and curse of sin.
I now have some comments: the fruitage here is not the joy, long suffering, peace, kindness, love, charity, ... all the characteristics of God. Because that is talking about the fruitage of the Holy Spirit. Here we are talking about the fruitage of salvation in Christ, which is obedience. Salvation in Christ, what is that? I do believe that it is a relationship with Christ that leads to obedience, the type of obedience that is of our choice, out of our love, rather then coercion. Our hearts become melted with the knowledge of what Christ has done for us, by reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John every day.
One text I am thinking of, does not say, I will make my heart flesh out of stone by obeying. No, it says God will put in me a heart of flesh even though my heart has been as hard as stone. Ezekiel 36:26. With God all things are possible. How will He do it now that I have chosen Him, it is explained in the next verse, verse 27. I’ll put My Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. Our prayer should be: Live out Thy life within me oh Jesus King of Kings! Be thou Thyself the answer to all my questionings. Live out Thy life with in me, in all things have Thy way. I the transparent medium, Thy Glory to display.
A miracle within me, if you will. There is no mystery in the law of God, just the same, the transformation that has taken place in my life is a miracle, because I have allowed Him into my heart. I repeat what has already been said in todays blog? ''Salvation is not hard to understand. God loves us, our ancestors chose to rebel, by free choice. God wants us back. He has spent years drumming that into us. We can make the free choice to resume the relationship. When we make that choice we will obey the law, not because we have to, but because we want to." Out of love!
“If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.”
1 Corinthians 13:3-7.