If it's no longer law, it doesn't mean anything! Just as you demote the Sabbath. You just finished telling me we are no longer under law, yet you uphold the sanctity of God's name. If it's no longer law, it's no longer holy...just like the Sabbath. Some would say the tongue of this thinking is split.
What do you think it means to use the Lord's name in vain?
Are you telling me that prior to Christ uttering the words of "love one another" it was not part of the "Christian" walk to love one another? Are you saying that because of the law, no one felt love? Yet we hear from David how the ROD and STAFF comforted him and Love would follow him all his days. (Psalm 23) David says he delights in God's commands and loves them. God's love fills the earth and His law a delight, commands are trustworthy, David loves God's law, the commands make him wiser, the law is righteous, (Psalm 119) This Psalm is full of love from God and love for God's law.
When Christ said those words, the Law was still in place. The disciples had no "Christian walk." They followed the Law until it was nailed to the Cross, at which time, they were placed under Christ's Law.
Anyone that upholds one or another of God's hand-written law but puts one down as insignificant is as David says here...double-minded. Read through Psalm 119. It's an amazing Psalm consdering David was a man after God's own heart.(Acts 13:22)
Yes, when the Law was in effect. The one who tries to keep the Mosaic Law while claiming grace, which cannot be of Law, is doubleminded.
Now you'll probably tell me that prior to the Cross people were saved by law...LOL...when we know the NT affirms that righteouness was credited to them...just like it is credited to us. They were declared righteous by the promise of a coming Redeemer. We are declared righteous because of Christ, the Redeemer that came. Both are declared righteous in the same manner.
What in the heck makes you think that I believe that people in the OT were saved by Law? That's beyond ignorance. I've stated the opposite so many times on this board it is beyond obvious. Salvation has always been through faith and not Law. Gen 15:6 makes that clear. Don't you have the first understanding of my theology? Apparently not. On what basis, then, do you critique?
If God does not change (Malachi 3:6), then neither do His words. The law, then, is eternal...just as David writes
non sequitor. You are simply wrong. I'm not saying the Law changed. I'm saying nothing more than Paul did: that it was done away with. It is and was kept by Christ. I am not under it. Besides, whatever gives you the idea that the Mosaic Law was univesal in scope, anyway? Am I, a US citizen, under French law? Of course not. I am under Ameican law. And if I move to France and make my residence there, am I under US law? No, I am under French law.
The Mosaic Law was for Israel. It doesn't apply to me or you. Further, it was nailed to the Cross by Christ, as Paul says.
The interesting thing here is that the "expert in the law" understood already about LOVE being central to the law...Christ affirms this.
Of course. I've said no different. Christ said that the whole Law was based on the command to love others and God. Where have I said differently? Just because you remove the Law doesn't mean that one cannot be placed in its stead this case, the Law of Christ, which is only this: love one another. You want to reject His law and put yourself under the Mosaic Law.
Let's revisit our USA/France analogy. Both have a law not to murder, so neither your nor I do it. But suppose I declare myself, here in the US, under French law, and proceed to NOT MURDER, because that law says so. Does that mean that the US law not to murder is invalid? Or suppose France collapses into chaos and loses its law. Does that mean YOU don't have to murder because they had that in common? Of course not. But even more to the point, if I did such a thing, I would be rebelling against my own country,
which is precisely what you are doing. The author of Hebrews says that you have "trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace."
I'm sorry for you that grace isn't enough. You are the one insulting God.
While you may interpret Paul's words as cancelling the law as the rod or staff of the Shepherd, Christ/God is the originator of the Law (the 10) and God's word is eternal. If you affirm that murder is wrong (and so do I) then you are proving your own point wrong and are being "double-minded". I don't live under an "old, dead law" as a means TO righteousness, but rather out of love for God's word and His work FOR me. It is a natural response to want to live as God wants us to live. If love is the basis of God's law, as all of the 10 "hang" on it...then ALL of the law is good and righteous. To do the opposite or to disregard one as "old and dead" is sin against God's own finger/word.
I've already demonstrated the fallacy of this thinking. But lets look at your motivation. You don't live under an old dead law to become righteous. I never said you did. You live under an old dead law because you love God, which I don't doubt. You are like the Pharisees of old who "are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."
You have the best of intentions in putting yourself under the Law. You think you honor God. But you dishonor Him. You call Him a liar when He said that the Law has passed away with Christ, and worse, you put others under the same bondage. You reject grace.
*giggle* Isn't it Christ/God that made those pesky 10 in the first place? God does not change, therefore neither does His word.
Already showed the fallacy in this thinking. The OT Law is still the OT Law. We just aren't under it. What has changed is not the Law. What has changed is who is under what Law. We are no longer under the Mosic Law. We are under Christ's Law as given in John 15.
Again, I refer you to Paul:
- You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
So long as you reject the sufficiency of faith and continue to keep the Mosaic Law, you are bewitched, foolish, insult the Spirit of Grace, consider the Blood of Christ a common thing, and reject the Gospel.
What does that say about your salvation? Nothing whatsoever. You tell me you've trusted Christ alone for your salvation, and that is enough for me. What I am saying is that you are not abiding in His word, for while you may accept what He did on the Cross for your jusitification, you reject what He did on the Cross for your sanctification. You are abiding in your works, not His word.
The day you come out of that, you'll experience a freedom that can't be explained. I only hope you get to experience it someday.
God really does want you to be free, Bav. He really, really does. What do you think God wants from you? Apparently, it includes keeping the Sabbath day based on some motivation of loving Him. I'm telling you you are wrong. That's not what God wants. God wants to set you free of EVERY law, EVERY regulation, EVERY ceremony. He wants to free you of ALL law so that you can be free to do one thing and one thing only: just love people. Just love them, Bav. THAT is all God asks of you.
