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bradfreeman

Questions your people have about the 10 commandments

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **6/18/16 8:00 am**

Questions about the Law:

You may say: "Won't God bless me if I keep the 10 Commandments?"

“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM."”
Galatians 3:10

The Law brings a curse...unless you keep "ALL THINGS" written there, all 600+ laws. You don't get to pick your 6 favorite commandments and just keep them.

So what brings a blessing?
“So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”
Galatians 3:9

Being a "believer". If you are "of faith" you "are blessed".

You may say: "What's the big deal if folks use the law to measure where they stand with God?"

“You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”
Galatians 5:4

Using the Law to measure where you stand with God severs you from Christ and causes you to fall from grace.

You may say: "Won't I show my faith by keeping the 10 commandments?"

“Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."”
Galatians 3:11-12

Paul said the "the Law is not of faith, on the contrary".

“For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”
Galatians 3:18

We don't show our faith by keeping old covenant laws, but by BELIEVING that God kept A PROMISE He made to Abraham when He sent His Son to bless the world"

“For, on the one hand, there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”
Hebrews 7:18-19

The Law was weak and useless and set aside.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
Romans 8:3

What the weak and useless Law could not do because of the frailty of our flesh (our strength, ability, willpower, moods and dedication) GOD DID!
He sent His Son to take our sin into His flesh, condemn it, remove it and make us clean through His work, not ours.

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:4

If you're a believer in Christ, your righteousness, blessing and life are secured and are no longer based on your ability to keep religious rules.

You may say: "Doesn't God do more stuff for me and give more stuff to me if I try to keep the 10 commandments?"

"The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? 4 Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. 5 Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” 7 so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham." Gal. 3:2-7

You don't get anything you get from God by "the works of the law".
You get everything you get from God by "believing what you heard".
_________________
I'm not saved because I'm good. I'm saved because He's good!

My website: www.bradfreeman.com
My blog: http://bradcfreeman.tumblr.com/

maqqebet

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **6/18/16 10:25 am**

For this, "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal you shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" - Romans 13:9

Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. - Romans 3:31

So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. - Romans 7:12

For we know the Law is spiritual...Romans 7:14

For we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully. - 1 Timothy 1:8

Here is but one example of using the Law appropriately:

For the Scriptures says, "You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing" [quoting] Deuteronomy 25:4] and "The laborer is worthy of his wages." (Based upon Leviticus 19:13 and Deuteronomy 24:15)

Here Paul obviously includes the Law when referring to "the Scriptures", and as part of the Scriptures, The Law is God-breathed and "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

So you see, there is good in The Law.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. Maybe that is what Jesus had in mind when he said to the Pharisees, "For judgment I came into the world, so that those who do not see may see, and those those who see may become blind." - John 9:29
_________________
The Hammer
Mi kamocah ba'elim Adonai
"Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?" (Exodus 15:11, CJB)

bradfreeman

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **6/19/16 6:40 am**

maqqebet

The Role of the Law for New Covenant Believers

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **6/19/16 9:24 am**

In a narrow sense The Law, or Torah, is defined chiefly by the Commandments, statues, and ordinances Yahweh provided to distinguish Israel from the surrounding pagan nations and their practices. As their witness to the one True God, Israel was expected to adhere to His Holiness Code. The Torah was given to preserve the fledgling nation, keeping it from being assimilated by the surrounding nations - had they persevered.

In a broader sense, Torah is a narrative that shaped the history and culture of a people God preserved because of a promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God knew the waywardness of their hearts, understood they could not keep the Torah perfectly, and this in part is why there was a temporary remedy for the sins of the people provided not only on the Day of Atonement but twice daily through sacrifices.

As a moral code, the Law provides concrete references defining sin, revealing God's standards rather than leaving morality to be defined by subjective truth and shifting cultural standards. One can point to specific examples to which moral and ethical attitudes can be compared and their consequences.

Torah foreshadows events to come, pointing to the coming Messiah, whose sacrifice can be compared to the prescribed redeeming and atoning sacrifices provided in the Passover and the Day of Atonement. In fact, each of the Feast Days established by God through Torah have a direct bearing upon what God has done up to the initial Christ event until His Return.

Torah shaped the world in which Jesus and Paul both emerged, albeit the religious and cultural values were unsettled as the Pharisees and Essenes struggled against the establishment, Sadducees/Priesthood, to represent true Israel and the true Priesthood. Their struggle is represented in the religious and moral standards established upon their traditions that exceeded what the Torah required but became their benchmark for righteousness. Knowing and understanding these things provide insights into Jesus thoughts, words, and actions as well as the Pharisee Paul.

Understanding these issues gives us something to which we can compare. What did Jesus mean when He referred to the Pharisees' traditions as doctrines of men? To what was Paul referring when he repudiated salvation by works and those who preferred to continue living under the Law.

Understanding Torah also gives us something to compare when we engage the concept of the New Covenant. Where the original was written on stone, the New is written on hearts.

Paul's negative remarks regarding the Torah in Romans, especially Romans 7 represent the struggle between one who could concur with the Law "in the inner man" yet struggle in the flesh to conform to its demands. The negativity is an expression of the struggle of the convicted soul, as it were, convicted by the Law because it defined both the nature of sin and the ultimate consequence of sin - death. Note Paul's address in Romans 7 was primarily addressed to "those who know the law" which would be the Jewish Believer and the Proselyte, either one of which would have understood the struggle Paul presents.

Where in his heart Paul recognized the Law was spiritual, holy, righteous, and good, in his flesh he operated under a conflicting law of sin and mind that resisted the Law because of the conviction. It was the flesh that proved to be the weakness of the Law and as Paul candidly admits it isn't the Law that is the cause of death for him, but sin.

Through faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us from from the law of sin and of death and through Jesus and the Holy Spirit the righteous requirements of the Law are fulfilled, if we walk according to the Sprit rather than the flesh.

So, it is not obtaining or maintaining Torah that I appreciate God's commands, statues, and judgments but by understanding them, placing them in context of Israel's history of struggle through uncircumcised hearts serving as examples for us, the foreshadowing of the coming of Messiah and the redemption He brings, and the ultimate salvation at His second appearing, the understanding of the cultural context of the Gospels and the world the Apostle Paul emerged, and the extraordinary wisdom, character, majesty, mercy, graciousness of Yahweh Torah reveals.

As part of the Scriptures inspired by God, and used appropriately, Torah is 'profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; sos that themas of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Just as the example regarding the ox and compensation for teaching elders is used to illustrate Paulï¿½s point, he does so elsewhere. Further, though not directly cited, there are principle of conduct Paul addresses that find their foundation in the Law.

So, while I may recoil from Torah because it defines sin and through the Spirit it brings conviction (not condemnation), I also realize Torah is indeed spiritual, holy, righteous, and good.
_________________
The Hammer
Mi kamocah ba'elim Adonai
"Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?" (Exodus 15:11, CJB)

bradfreeman

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **6/20/16 5:30 am**

Rom. 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

The Law was about Jesus. It pointed to Him. It foreshadowed Him. It prophesied of His arrival. It was never about attaining righteousness by works, but it was about arriving at Jesus.

Jesus arrived. Faith arrived. That which was foreshadowed has been realized.

Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor.

As the writer of Hebrews explained, all of the earlier voices have been surpassed by a more exact voice, the reality of the foreshadowing.

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. Heb. 1:1-4

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Heb. 10:1
_________________
I'm not saved because I'm good. I'm saved because He's good!

My website: www.bradfreeman.com
My blog: http://bradcfreeman.tumblr.com/

maqqebet

So, Brad you don't believe

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **6/20/16 6:56 am**

the Law has any intrinsic value for those "under' the New Covenant?
_________________
The Hammer
Mi kamocah ba'elim Adonai
"Who is like you, Adonai, among the mighty?" (Exodus 15:11, CJB)

Aaron Scott

A thought...

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6042 **6/20/16 7:21 am**

I do not consider the Ten Commandments "The Law." These were moral truths that were held to centuries before "The Law," and as such, they remain true. We even see that in Revelation 21, that "all liars...shall have their part in the Lake of Fire...."

It is the rest of "The Law" that seems to me nullified (in the sense that Paul meant). EVERYONE is expected to obey the Ten Commandments, but it seems only the Jews are to abide by the other elements of "The Law."

So, yes, you must obey the Ten Commandments or you will perish (again, Revelation 21), but we know that one does not have to be circumcised...or not eat shrimp...etc.

There are other "lawful" commands that are not found, per se, in the Ten Commandments. For instance, there is nothing mentioned about fornication or homosexuality in the 10 Commandments, but we still hold them to be "dealbreakers" in terms of our obedience to God.

What say you?

c6thplayer1

Re: So, Brad you don't believe

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6385 **6/20/16 10:20 am**

maqqebet

And Jesus Said...

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **6/20/16 12:16 pm**

Cojak

Re: A thought...

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24285 **6/20/16 9:25 pm**

maqqebet

The 10 Commandments & Love

Acts Enthusiast Posts: 1771 **6/21/16 4:43 am**

The 10 Commandments can be divided into "Two Tables" and the heading summarizes that which follows:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind/strength" - Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37

"You love your neighbor as yourself" - Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39

Regarding the latter, the Apostle Paul writes,

bradfreeman

Re: So, Brad you don't believe

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **6/21/16 5:40 am**