I assert that the entire Bible is still applicable in principle and concept, and that the concepts behind every single law are still in effect today. I also assert that because of Christ's death and Peter's vision in Acts, some laws are no longer in effect and are fulfilled by Christ's coming. Who will challenge this assertion, and on what grounds?
__________________
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NASB
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"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
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__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NASB
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"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Collossians 3:14-15 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I assert that the entire Bible is still applicable in principle and concept,
given that most of the bible is narrative.
and that the concepts behind every single law are still in effect today.
What do you mean by "concepts... are still in effect..." especially given:
I also assert that because of Christ's death and Peter's vision in Acts, some laws are no longer in effect and are fulfilled by Christ's coming.
and how does that relate to the first clause?
__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
Is it? Is that its sole purpose? The Bible has a number of laws and codes of conduct, correct? I assert that the morality of the Bible is largely conceptual, and is still applicable to today, in its entirety.
What do you mean by "concepts... are still in effect..." especially given:
and how does that relate to the first clause?
Um... it doesn't contradict the first clause at all. Concepts are not laws, and principles are not laws either. I'm sure you know the difference between a concept and a law...
__________________
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NASB
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"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Collossians 3:14-15 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Pretty much - virtually everything from Genesis to Job, Jonah and bits of the other prophets, the Gospels, Acts and Revelations are directly narrative. The rest all sits within implied narrative.
Is that its sole purpose?
I didn't comment on its purpose, but on what it is. What does it mean to say a narrative all applies now?
The Bible has a number of laws and codes of conduct, correct?
Within that narrative, yes.
I assert that the morality of the Bible is largely conceptual, and is still applicable to today, in its entirety.
What is this "morality of the bible" then, and in what sense is it "of the bible?"
Um... it doesn't contradict the first clause at all. Concepts are not laws, and principles are not laws either. I'm sure you know the difference between a concept and a law...
I'm trying to draw out what you mean, because the OP needs to be unpacked to mean anything.
__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
Pretty much - virtually everything from Genesis to Job, Jonah and bits of the other prophets, the Gospels, Acts and Revelations are directly narrative. The rest all sits within implied narrative.
I didn't comment on its purpose, but on what it is. What does it mean to say a narrative all applies now?
Within that narrative, yes.
What is this "morality of the bible" then, and in what sense is it "of the bible?"
I'm trying to draw out what you mean, because the OP needs to be unpacked to mean anything.
It needs no unpacking. Either you agree that the Bible's morality is conceptual or you do not, and if you do not, why not. Asking what the morality of the Bible is? Really? I mean, go read it. It's full of morality. Just because the Bible may be a narrative doesn't mean it's not applicable to today.
__________________
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NASB
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Collossians 3:14-15 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Since you do not specify as to whether you believe that keeping the modified Mosaic Law is necessary for our salvation, I will proceed on the assumption that you do believe it to be the case. But Torah is quite specific as to what the contract which God made with the Hebrew nation lists as their reward:
Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgements and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your forefathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle. And the Lord will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you." (Deuteronomy 7:12-15,NASB)
That's it; that is what God promised the Hebrew nation as a reward for keeping The Mosaic Law. It was a very pragmatic, here-and-now contract; they obeyed in this lifetime and were rewarded in this lifetime.
And what was the attitude of the Hebrew people concerning there being an afterlife? We have it in their own words, written down by Solomon:
I said to myself concerning the sons of men, "God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts." For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? And I have seen that nothing is better than that man should be happy in his activities, for that is his lot. For who will bring him to see what will occur after him? (Ecclesiastes 3:18-22,NASB)
To the keepers of the Mosaic Law death was the end, not the beginning of eternal life. We lived our lives and then we died, and there was nothing which we should expect to find beyond that point.
In the interim between the end of the recognized Old Testament and Christ's coming the belief in an afterlife started to spread among the Hebrew people. From that belief there spread the belief that if we obeyed the Mosaic Law we would earn points with God which we could use to enter into his presence. Jesus himself 'shot down' this attitude, replacing it with the attitude which we should have toward our own works:
"But which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'? But will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me until I have eaten and drunk; and afterward you will eat and drink'? He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, 'We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.' " (The Gospel of St. Luke 17:7-10,NASB)
Whatever we do on behalf of God's kingdom is to be seen by us as nothing more than what we were supposed to do. We perform the tasks set before us with the attitude that our only reward should be only the successful completion of the task itself.
But we are human beings, and as such we recognize that there are acts which we have done which we should not have done, and there are acts which we have not done which we should have done. In both ways we have fallen short of the mark. So if we are to be judged on our own merit then we are already condemned, because God overlooks nothing. There is no such level as 'good enough'; we are either perfect or we are not, and God will not tolerate imperfection.
But what for us is impossible is possible for God. He knew we could never 'measure up', so he provided the means himself that enables us to obtain salvation. But it is a salvation not earned by us, nor capable of being augmented by any works we do. It has been earned by God himself on our behalf, and all the credit is his:
"Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."
"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:19-26,NASB)
Our attaining eternal life with God has been assured, not by our actions, but by God's own actions on our behalf. We do what we are capable of doing on behalf of his kingdom, but we do it out of gratitude rather than fear. God is our king; he is also our best friend, for he has done for us what we could never accomplish.
We realize that our salvation was earned for us by Jesus Christ. He paid the price which was rightfully ours to pay. By his work, not our own, we have obtained this salvation. For this reason Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ, is the foundation of our faith. What he has done cannot be augmented, circumvented, or replaced. We put our entire trust in him and the efficacy of his sacrifice for us; there is no other way to attain or to keep our salvation except to put our trust in him.
Do not trust your own ability to hold on to God; instead trust God's ability to hold on to you.
It needs no unpacking. Either you agree that the Bible's morality is conceptual or you do not, and if you do not, why not.
Unless I understand what you mean by that how can I say whether I disgree or not?
Asking what the morality of the Bible is? Really? I mean, go read it. It's full of morality.
But you seem to be saying that "the morality of the bible" is not actually what I find in the text but the concept behind it. Is that what you mean?
Just because the Bible may be a narrative doesn't mean it's not applicable to today.
I didn't say it did, I asked what it means for a narrative to be applicable. That's a very important questions largely overlooked.
__________________ Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)
Unless I understand what you mean by that how can I say whether I disgree or not?
Either the Bible's a rulebook, or it's not. It's not that hard to figure out what conceptual means... Principles and concepts are not the same as laws.
But you seem to be saying that "the morality of the bible" is not actually what I find in the text but the concept behind it. Is that what you mean?
That's what a concept is. And the Bible's full of them. Read the context: the information regarding langauge, history, and culture.
I didn't say it did, I asked what it means for a narrative to be applicable. That's a very important questions largely overlooked.
Perhaps because we see applicable narratives all around: the tortoise and the hare, boy who cried wolf, Santa. No one questions how to apply them... why should we when it comes to the Bible?
__________________
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2, NASB
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful."
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Collossians 3:14-15 To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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