The Law of God - Is It Still Valid?
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Law of God - Is it still valid?
Law of God - Is it still valid?
Illustration” Law without No Penalty
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5719 Law with No Penalty
5719 Law With No Penalty
When the State of Washington first passed a law taxing the retail sales of gasoline, the legislature slipped up on one very important detail: they forgot to attach a penalty to a violation of the law. At first dealers began collecting and paying the tax, a very small one comparatively, but when they discovered the error in the law they refused to comply. The legislature then had to be called back into special session in order to attach a penalty to a violation of the tax law and make it retroactive.
Is there a fault in Gods law?
When dealing with Gods law, there are those who suggest that Gods law was not perfect.
Was there an error in the Old Law?
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
When dealing with Gods law, there are those who suggest that Gods law is not perfect. That there was also an error in Gods law.
The Law is perfect
The Law is pure
Psalms 19:7-9
The law qualifies to bring people back
Answer: The law of God is perfect.
But didn’t Jesus abolish the law?
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Exegesis: Don’t even “believe” that I “arrived” to “demolish; break-up or put down the law, to make invalid” the “Torah” and the “Prophets”, I did not arrive here to do that, I arrived to bring it’s truest and “proper meaning, Provide the real significance”
Answer: No, Jesus came to full-fill it.
Aren’t we under the New Covenant now? A better one? Doesn’t that mean we are no longer under the law?
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 8:
H
Answer: Christ is that better
Which suggest and affirms that the Law of God is still perfect,
The imperfection came from the people.
The imperfection came from the people.
Link: How we walk as Christians effects how the Law is received.
There is neither Jew nor Greek
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater: After Jesus had died and Christianity started to spread and as the Greeks drifted from the Jewish roots they started to develop these misconceptions. The law was starting to become negative, especially to the Romans.
The battle between the law and not keeping the law
There is neither Conservative or Liberal.
One pushes the Law strongly
The other wants to do away with it.
TO BE A CONSERVATIVE OR A LIBERAL IS NOTHING OF WHICH TO BE PROUD. IT’S A MANIFESTATION OF OUR BENT, UNBALANCED, SINFUL HUMAN NATURE.- Ty Gibson
“There is in human nature a tendency to run to extremes and from one extreme to another entirely opposite. Many are fanatics. They are consumed by a fiery zeal which is mistaken for religion, but character is the true test of discipleship. Have they the meekness of Christ? Have they His humility and sweet benevolence? Is the soul-temple emptied of pride, arrogance, selfishness, and censoriousness? If not, they know not what manner of spirit they are of. They do not realize that true Christianity consists in bearing much fruit to the glory of God” (Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 305-306).
TO BE A CONSERVATIVE OR A LIBERAL IS NOTHING OF WHICH TO BE PROUD. IT’S A MANIFESTATION OF OUR BENT, UNBALANCED, SINFUL HUMAN NATURE.- Ty Gibson
Be weary of extreme theologies because it leads to a distortion of the Ways of God.
Two Extremes in School
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 6097 Two Extremes in School
6097 Two Extremes in School Page 1365
At one extreme is the popular writer who said recently that the only thing he learned at Yale was how to sleep sitting up. At the other extreme would be Harvard’s famous Chauceran scholar, George Lyman Kittridge. When asked why he did not study for a Ph.D., he replied, “There was no one around who knew enough to examine me.”
They both come out being foolish in character.
Point: The law was perfect, but the people were and are not. Just have look at the person next to you.
How will you know that you are not extreme in your beliefs?
So what is the law?
Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church The Goodness of the Law
To the Hebrew mind, the primary purpose of the Torah is to teach humanity how to hit the mark in life, as opposed to committing sin, to miss the mark.
The Character of Christ is seen in you.
By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Is it the 10 Commandments?
Answer: Yes but deeper and further back to just
Look back at the Law in (Sabbath) (Not loving and obeying God) (Not loving neighbour) ( Cain Covetous of Able) (Able Murdered)
etc So element of the 10 Commandments existed before before Mt Sinai.
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you. And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it. Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’
Deeper
Jesus reduces the 10 to 2
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:
Jesus reduces the 10 to 2
Paul and James agree with Jesus but point to a further reduction to 1
Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
Jesus would also agree that it is love.
Existed even before the fall
George Knight quotes mrs Ellen White and says;
I Used to Be Perfect: A Study of Sin and Salvation Law versus Laws
I’m going to repeat Ellen White’s quotation: “The principles of the ten commandments existed before the fall, and were of a character suited to the condition of a holy order of beings. After the fall, the principles of those precepts were not changed, but additional precepts were given to meet man in his fallen state.”3 Again she wrote, “The law of God existed before man was created. It was adapted to the condition of holy beings; even angels were governed by it. After the Fall, the principles of righteousness were unchanged.”4 But, Mrs. White penned in another connection, after Adam’s transgression the principles of the law “were definitely arranged and expressed to meet man in his fallen condition.”5
I Used to Be Perfect: A Study of Sin and Salvation Chapter Two: Adventists Neglect the Law
Even more astounding is the fact that the LAW is especially neglected by those who tend to emphasize the laws of God. I have found that those who have the most to say about the laws of God are all too often the ones most prone to neglect the LAW of God.
Had the people struggled with something else then they had the Law would have been there as a teacher to teach them how to in harmony with God.
The Law in words and rules may change, however, the principle of the Law is eternal.
How is it more than the 10 Commandments?
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
How did He full-fill the law?
What is the principle of the Law?
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew
By writing it now in peoples hearts Jesus hopes to internalise it so that people will love it.
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.
What does this mean?
God saved a group of people and gave them the laws to live out. They failed understand them because they created 613 laws out of the 10.
So Christ came to earth to
Halakah = Principle
Show how to live it out.
Write it on their hearts (Love) and mind (Truth).
Halakah = Principle = Love
Halakah = Principle = Love
Jesus Christ Challenges the religious leaders to think about principle of the Law and not rules. To make it a heart thing rather than a head thing.
Jesus had just finished healing a man with a withered hand and the Pharisees were upset and accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.
Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent.
So according to the 613 laws you couldn’t touch a sick person, or else you yourself become sick. Jesus not only touches this sick person but He also does it on the Sabbath day.
It is this Halakah principle.
So what is Halakah?
Halakah (hah-lah-kah´; from Heb. halak, “to walk, go, follow”), in Jewish tradition, the teaching one is to follow or the rules or statutes that are to guide a person’s life.
Answer: Halakah is a way of life. The principle of the Law is Christ (Love) and living it out (character) is Halakah.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church The Origin of the Term “Law”
This source book goes on to say that the people of God “obey Him (and thus the Law), not to earn salvation, but out of gratitude and love for him.”8
This idea of obeying the will of God by our obedience to the principles already laid down in the Law is evidenced in Paul’s teaching to the Romans in chapter 12. The Hebrew word halakhah comes from the root word for “walk” and stresses the idea of teaching believers how to walk with and before the Lord. With Paul’s frequent use of the concept of the believer’s walk with God, it is sad that Christians have been taught that the only manual Paul had for describing this walk has been abolished.
Exegetical version: I call you, my physical brothers, I am pleading with you by Gods grace, that you place your bodies as a sacrifice, not just by living, but one with vitality, clean (only through Christ) and well pleasing to God (only through Christ), which is what we must do.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
And do not be an echo ( not living according to your earlier passions) of the worlds ways, but be morphed by the renewing (doing things Christ ways not our ways) that you may experience and test to see what is that excellent, well pleasing and perfectly complete will of God.
The Laws of God is a way of life.
The Laws of God is a way of life.
The whole chapter 12 of Romans deals with the word Halakah.
Which
Halakah = How we live the law of God.
It is how it is in heaven
Paul is emphasising a lifestyle of a Christian who lives understanding the law in its essence. The purity of the Law is Love. The Character of Jesus Christ.
It is how His people live
it is what the devil will attack
it is how Gods people walk
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
God came down to walk and talk with Adam and Eve, however, sin has stopped their walk with God. Isn’t interesting that Law of God is to teach us how to walk with God again.
Living out the principles I conclude by suggest that the Law of love hopes to bring us to one day walk in the Garden with Him again.