Just to be perfectly clear: this is not intended to point a finger at anyone. I have come to believe that the law of Moses has not passed away. That Christ did not take us out from under the law when he fulfilled it. Instead He came to FILL IT UP! The law never was able to bring salvation because we could not keep it, and it still cannot bring salvation. Salvation is through faith in Christ Jesus and accepting His sacrifice. But at Mount Sinai God said "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse—" -Deut. 11:26. I want the blessings!
I am not trying to accuse anyone by this, because honestly, Christians are keeping most of the Torah (God's instructions given to Moses for God's people). But I never really read the law because I believed it didn't apply anymore. I believe I have been making a terrible mistake. Maybe we could be more blessed by following more closely... maybe we are struggling as a direct result of not paying attention to His instructions. Just read these verses, and consider them. Do with it what you will. It can change everything. Just think about it.
I am not trying to accuse anyone by this, because honestly, Christians are keeping most of the Torah (God's instructions given to Moses for God's people). But I never really read the law because I believed it didn't apply anymore. I believe I have been making a terrible mistake. Maybe we could be more blessed by following more closely... maybe we are struggling as a direct result of not paying attention to His instructions. Just read these verses, and consider them. Do with it what you will. It can change everything. Just think about it.
- The person who sins breaks God’s law. Yes, sin is living against God’s law. You know that Christ came to take away sins and that there is no sin in Christ. So anyone who lives in Christ does not go on sinning. -1 John 3:4-6a (NCV) definition of sin? sin: breaking God's law
- So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace? No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin? -Romans 6:1-2 (NCV)
- The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death. Sin found a way to fool me by using the command to make me die. So the law is holy, and the command is holy and right and good. Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No! Sin used something that is good to bring death to me. This happened so that I could see what sin is really like; the command was used to show that sin is very evil. -Romans 7:10-13 (NCV)
- In my mind, I am happy with God’s law. But I see another law working in my body, which makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in my body is the law of sin, and it makes me its prisoner. What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin. -Romans 7:22-25 (NCV)
So when Paul says that we are not under the law, does he mean not under God's instructions that were intended to bring life? Or does he mean that we are not under the law of sin? Which is the penalty for breaking the law of God. The law of sin is the law that would say, "you are held accountable to pay the price when you break God's law." So I believe we are free from the law of sin and death, because Jesus paid our fine, we are not free from the law of God. - By sending his Son to be an offering for sin, God used a human life to destroy sin. He did this so that we could be the kind of people the law correctly wants us to be. Now we do not live following our sinful selves, but we live following the Spirit. -Romans 8:3-4 (NCV)
- If people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, there is death. But if their thinking is controlled by the Spirit, there is life and peace. When people’s thinking is controlled by the sinful self, they are against God, because they refuse to obey God’s law and really are not even able to obey God’s law. Those people who are ruled by their sinful selves cannot please God. -Romans 8:6-8 (NCV)
- “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the law of Moses or the teaching of the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to bring about what they said. I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happened. Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches other people not to obey that command will be the least important in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys the commands and teaches other people to obey them will be great in the kingdom of heaven. I tell you that if you are no more obedient than the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 5:17-20 (NCV)
- Do what God’s teaching says; when you only listen and do nothing, you are fooling yourselves. Those who hear God’s teaching and do nothing are like people who look at themselves in a mirror. They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they looked like. But the truly happy people are those who carefully study God’s perfect law that makes people free, and they continue to study it. They do not forget what they heard, but they obey what God’s teaching says. Those who do this will be made happy. -James 1:22-25 (NCV)
- Hearing the law does not make people right with God. It is those who obey the law who will be right with him. (Those who are not Jews do not have the law, but when they freely do what the law commands, they are the law for themselves. This is true even though they do not have the law. They show that in their hearts they know what is right and wrong, just as the law commands. -Romans 2:13-15 (NCV)
- So do we destroy the law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants. -Romans 3:31 (NCV)
- And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. -2 John 1:6a
- This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome-1 John 5:3
- Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. -Matthew 11:28-30
- In everything you say and do, remember that you will be judged by the law that makes people free. So you must show mercy to others, or God will not show mercy to you when he judges you. But the person who shows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment. -James 2:12-14
God judges us by His LAW? You betcha! But He also gives mercy and is able to do so by the sacrifice and blood of His Son, who NEVER BROKE THE LAW! Think about it! If Jesus broke the law of Moses He would be a sinner according to 1 John 3:4. And Hebrews 4:15 says, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknessess, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." And that point is crucial! If Christ was a sinner, He was not the perfect sacrifice and could not have paid the price for our sins, and certainly could not be the Messiah to ISRAEL, God's chosen people! How could God command His people to follow His commands only to send a Savior who would be a law breaker? That doesn't fit.
So okay, what if we believe that Christ kept the Law perfectly, but that now because of His sacrifice we now don't have to? But Christ himself said, "I have not come to destroy them but to bring about what they said. I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happened." And that leads me to where I will finish this for now..... - We can be sure that we know God if we obey his commands. Anyone who says, “I know God,” but does not obey God’s commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if someone obeys God’s teaching, then in that person God’s love has truly reached its goal. This is how we can be sure we are living in God: Whoever says that he lives in God must live as Jesus lived. -1 John 2:3-6 (NCV)