"...and the truth will set you free" Meaning

Lord'sWarrior

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John 31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does mean? Does this mean that if we obey the commandments and the words in the sermon of the mount, someday, we will know what is the truth and then that truth will set us free?
 

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John 31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does mean? Does this mean that if we obey the commandments and the words in the sermon of the mount, someday, we will know what is the truth and then that truth will set us free?

It means that when the children are fed bread, they will be enlightened and be freed. You can see it here:

Acts of the apostles 4
33With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was on them all, 34since none of them needed anything, because everyone who had land or houses would sell them and bring the money received for the things sold 35and lay it at the apostles’ feet. Then it was distributed to anyone who needed it.
 
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timewerx

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We all are slaves to the lies of this world.

The lies that has been pulled over our eyes.

If you still love anything in this world, (do not deceive yourselves by denying this) then you still are a slave to the lies of this world and not been set free.

I'm not making this up, I got this from the Bible..... Start reading now if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
 
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Jeshu

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Jesus is the truth while we sinners are all overcome by lies. We believe lies about God, ourselves and others which keep us away from God's truth and make us feel miserable.

When Jesus comes into our lives then the lies are exposed by the truth and His loving truth sets us free from our lies.

When the Son shall set you free you shall be free indeed.
 
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Wordkeeper

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I believe that, then, we should check in ourselves whether we are being honest with ourselves, if we are abiding in truth, if there is any reoccurring sin in our lives, idols, thoughts... All these can be lies. Although the Son sets us free, we also should check within ourselves if we're living a righteous life. Do you agree?
The exposure to signs leads to freedom from worries and cares. That's why God kept doing miracles, even when Pharoah was left behind, kept feeding Israel " bread from heaven". That's how Joshua was freed. Don't be like the others, who even though they ate the same spiritual food did not benefit from it and their bones littered the wilderness. Or like the rich young ruler who went back to Egypt, where no more truth was available to "eat".
 
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Phil W

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John 31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does mean? Does this mean that if we obey the commandments and the words in the sermon of the mount, someday, we will know what is the truth and then that truth will set us free?
You should have just read the next verse Jesus spoke...
"Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (John 8:34)
The truth can free you from committing sin!
Jesus is the truth, and He can free you from service to sin.
 
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Soyeong

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John 31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does mean? Does this mean that if we obey the commandments and the words in the sermon of the mount, someday, we will know what is the truth and then that truth will set us free?

In order for the truth to set us free we need to be bound by deception. The Mosaic Law is truth (Psalm 119:142) and Jesus is the same truth (John 14:6), while it is sin in transgression of the Mosaic Law that puts us in bondage (John 8:34-36, 1 John 3:4).
 
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Wordkeeper

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In order for the truth to set us free we need to be bound by deception. The Mosaic Law is truth (Psalm 119:142) and Jesus is the same truth (John 14:6), while it is sin in transgression of the Mosaic Law that puts us in bondage (John 8:34-36, 1 John 3:4).
Romans 7
9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
 
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John 31 So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

What does mean? Does this mean that if we obey the commandments and the words in the sermon of the mount, someday, we will know what is the truth and then that truth will set us free?

I have understood it means, if you admit the truth, you are free, you don’t need to do all kind of things that are done to hide the truth. If for example person has committed a murder, and person confesses it, it will make his conscience clear and the burden is taken off. Obviously, it has been wrong thing and it doesn’t vanish, but it doesn’t cause same weight in mind as it takes when it is secret that person tries to hide.

Or maybe easier example is: if you are asked something and you don’t know the answer, just admit that you don’t know, instead of making up something not truthful. When you admit the truth, you don’t need to make excuses or bad explanations that could suck you even deeper into bad ideas and lies.
 
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Soyeong

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Romans 7
9Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

In Romans 7:12-13, Paul said that God's Law was holy, righteous, and good, and that he did not blame what was good for bringing death to him, so neither should you.
 
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In Romans 7:12-13, Paul said that God's Law was holy, righteous, and good, and that he did not blame what was good for bringing death to him, so neither should you.
Romans 4
13For it was not through the law that Abraham and his descendants were promised that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

And in Romans 4 we are taught that we will be saved through faith, so why depend on law.
 
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Soyeong

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Romans 4
13For it was not through the law that Abraham and his descendants were promised that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by the law are heirs, faith is useless and the promise is worthless,15because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law, there is no transgression.

16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may rest on grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.

And in Romans 4 we are taught that we will be saved through faith, so why depend on law.

God is trustworthy, so His Law is therefore also trustworthy (Psalms 19:7, Psalms 119:142, Nehemiah 9:13). Once we agree that we are not saved by obeying the Law and that we do not inherit the promise by obeying the Law because the Law was not given for either of those purposes, then next step should be to determine the correct purposes of obeying the Law. In Romans 3:31, Paul said that our faith does not abolish our need to obey God's Law, but rather our faith uphold it, so it is not as though the fact that we aren't saved by obeying God means that we don't need to obey God.

Obedience to any set of instructions is about putting our faith in the one who gave them to correctly guide us, which is why Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 that faith is one of the weightier matters of the Law. Living by faith is always associated with having a willingness to obey God's will, such as with the examples of faith listed in Hebrews 11, whereas disobedience to God is referred to as breaking faith, such as in Numbers 5:6. In James 2:17-18, he said that faith without works is dead and that he would show his faith by his works, so obedience to God's Law is what faith looks like, and in this way our faith uphold the Law.

While it is true that Abraham believed God, so he was justified, it is also true that Abraham believed God, so he obeyed God's command to offer Isaac, so the same faith by which he was justified was also expressed as obedience to God, so all those who will be justified are also doers of God's Law, which is why Paul said in Romans 2:13 that it is only the doers of Law who will be justified. In Romans 1:5, we have received grace in order to bring about the obedience of faith, so we are not saved by our obedience to God's Law, but rather the same grace and faith by which we are saved is also expressed as obedience.

In Ephesians 2:8-10, we have been saved by grace through faith, not by doing good works in obedience to God's Law, but rather we have been made new creations in Christ for the purpose of doing good works. In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, which is essentially what God's Law was given to instruct how to do. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is defined as the transgression of God's Law (1 John 3:4), so being trained by grace to live in obedience to God's Law through faith is what being saved from living in disobedience to God's Law looks like.
 
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In Romans 3:31, Paul said that our faith does not abolish our need to obey God's Law, but rather our faith uphold it, so it is not as though the fact that we aren't saved by obeying God means that we don't need to obey God.

Wrong. The law brings about the awareness of sin, and our inability to obey it as it should be obeyed. When followed in letter AND in spirit, it forces us to turn to God for forgiveness, so that we can we can access the blessings that forgiveness brings to God's people.
Obedience to any set of instructions is about putting our faith in the one who gave them to correctly guide us, which is why Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 that faith is one of the weightier matters of the Law.

Wrong. The weightier matters are Justice, mercy and godly thinking. Justice is when I am fair, not stealing from my neighbor. Mercy is when I forgive my neighbor who stole from me, when he was hungry. And godly living is when I give sacrificially, endangering my own welfare, to a hungry neighbor. When we are faithful, our righteousness exceeds the righteousness required by the law which the Pharisees recognised. Our standard is the Royal Law, God's Law, the law of liberty and love, which is more righteous than the law of the Pharisees.
 
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Soyeong

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Wrong. The law brings about the awareness of sin, and our inability to obey it as it should be obeyed. It forces us to turn to God for forgiveness, so that we can we can access the blessings that forgiveness brings to God's people.

If you agree that the Law was given to reveal what sin is and that we should refrain from doing what God has revealed to be sin, then you should therefore also agree that we should live in obedience to God's Law.

Nowhere does the Bible say that the Law was given to show us that we don't have the ability to keep it. On the contrary, in Deuteronomy 30:11-20, God said that His Law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so chose life! So it is presented as a possibility and as a choice. God is not an unloving Father or some sort of tyrant who gave the Law in order to curse His children for failing to meet an impossible standard, but rather He said that the Law was given for our own good in order to bless us (Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:12-13).

Wrong. The weightier matters are Justice, mercy and godly thinking. Justice is when I am fair, not stealing from my neighbor. Mercy is when I forgive my neighbor who stole from me, when he was hungry. And godly living is when I give sacrificially, endangering my own welfare, to a hungry neighbor. When we are faithful, our righteousness exceeds the righteousness required by the law which the Pharisees recognised. Our standard is the Royal Law, God's Law, the law of liberty and love, which is more righteous than the law of the Pharisees.

Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Almost every verse listed says "faith/faithfulness", not "godly thinking", though godly thinking would be inclusive of faith/faithfulness.

""Judgment, mercy, and faith" can be paraphrased to make them easier to understand. Judgment means "being fair and even-handed in judgment." Mercy means "being compassionate and kind in action," and faith means "being loyal to God in keeping His law." Justice is a more accurate, modern translation of "judgment," and "faith" might be better rendered faithfulness or trust. Thus, Jesus is speaking about justice, compassion, and faithfulness (or loyalty)."
----

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe the character of God as it does to describe the character of God's Law, which is straightforwardly because it is God's instructions for how to express His character traits, such as with justice, mercy, and faithfulness, or with with holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Romans 7:12), or other fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-22). Jesus expressed these character traits through his actions and what that looked like was complete obedience to the Mosaic Law, so that is what it should look like when we are in Christ and meeting our obligation to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6). Our sanctification is about being made to be more like Christ, to have an express the same character traits.

By expressing God's character traits through our actions we are testifying to the world about who God is, so our view of the Law matches our view of the Lawgiver. A Law that is holy, righteous, and good can only come from a God who is holy, righteous, and good, and again if God is trustworthy, then so is His Law. David repeatedly said throughout the Psalms that he loved God's Law and delighted in obeying it, which certainly matched his opinion of the Lawgiver, and Paul also delighted in obeying it (Romans 7:22), so he was on the same page as David. If we consider the Psalms to be Scripture and to therefore express a correct view of God's Law, the we will therefore share it, so to love God's Law is to love who God is and to want nothing to do with God's Law is to want nothing to do with who God is.

The way to act in accordance with God's righteousness is straightforwardly based on God's righteousness, not on a particular covenant, so if the way to do that were to change in the NT, then God's righteousness would not be eternal, but it is eternal (PSalm 119:142), so any instructions that God has ever given for how to do what is righteous or express any of His other character traits will always be valid regardless of which covenant we are under. As part of the New Covenant, we are told that those who do not follow those instructions are not children of God (1 John 3:10), so there has only ever been one standard of righteousness. In Psalm 119:45, the Mosaic Law is a law of liberty and in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus summarized it as being about how to love God and our neighbor, so it is the Law of liberty and love.
 
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If you agree that the Law was given to reveal what sin is and that we should refrain from doing what God has revealed to be sin, then you should therefore also agree that we should live in obedience to God's Law.

Nowhere does the Bible say that the Law was given to show us that we don't have the ability to keep it. On the contrary, in Deuteronomy 30:11-20, God said that His Law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so chose life! So it is presented as a possibility and as a choice. God is not an unloving Father or some sort of tyrant who gave the Law in order to curse His children for failing to meet an impossible standard, but rather He said that the Law was given for our own good in order to bless us (Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:12-13).




Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.


Almost every verse listed says "faith/faithfulness", not "godly thinking", though godly thinking would be inclusive of faith/faithfulness.


""Judgment, mercy, and faith" can be paraphrased to make them easier to understand. Judgment means "being fair and even-handed in judgment." Mercy means "being compassionate and kind in action," and faith means "being loyal to God in keeping His law." Justice is a more accurate, modern translation of "judgment," and "faith" might be better rendered faithfulness or trust. Thus, Jesus is speaking about justice, compassion, and faithfulness (or loyalty)."

----


The Bible often uses the same terms to describe the character of God as it does to describe the character of God's Law, which is straightforwardly because it is God's instructions for how to express His character traits, such as with justice, mercy, and faithfulness, or with with holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Romans 7:12), or other fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-22). Jesus expressed these character traits through his actions and what that looked like was complete obedience to the Mosaic Law, so that is what it should look like when we are in Christ and meeting our obligation to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6). Our sanctification is about being made to be more like Christ, to have an express the same character traits.


By expressing God's character traits through our actions we are testifying to the world about who God is, so our view of the Law matches our view of the Lawgiver. A Law that is holy, righteous, and good can only come from a God who is holy, righteous, and good, and again if God is trustworthy, then so is His Law. David repeatedly said throughout the Psalms that he loved God's Law and delighted in obeying it, which certainly matched his opinion of the Lawgiver, and Paul also delighted in obeying it (Romans 7:22), so he was on the same page as David. If we consider the Psalms to be Scripture and to therefore express a correct view of God's Law, the we will therefore share it, so to love God's Law is to love who God is and to want nothing to do with God's Law is to want nothing to do with who God is.


The way to act in accordance with God's righteousness is straightforwardly based on God's righteousness, not on a particular covenant, so if the way to do that were to change in the NT, then God's righteousness would not be eternal, but it is eternal (PSalm 119:142), so any instructions that God has ever given for how to do what is righteous or express any of His other character traits will always be valid regardless of which covenant we are under. As part of the New Covenant, we are told that those who do not follow those instructions are not children of God (1 John 3:10), so there has only ever been one standard of righteousness. In Psalm 119:45, the Mosaic Law is a law of liberty and in Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus summarized it as being about how to love God and our neighbor, so it is the Law of liberty and love.


Israel taught that the law was required to be followed for the following reasons:
  1. To become a Jew
  2. To become a blessing to the world.
But Paul said that becoming a Jew was through godly thinking. Abraham believed God and he became a member of the people of God. He didn't need the law.

Paul also taught that to become fulfilled, to receive what was promised to Abraham, what Jesus called " to be perfected", was by godly thinking, being one with God, not following the world in its ways, like thinking property could not be done without, but by following Jesus who did not even have a space to lay down his head. All the people who followed Peter in following Jesus, after Pentecost, believed this, and some even acted on it, and were indeed perfected.

The law was not what God wanted between Israel and Himself. He wanted love, a relationship that blessed, what families have between members, not terms and conditions, a contract that protected parties, what businesses have, between hirer and hired hands:

Jeremiah 7
22For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.23“But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25“Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. 26“Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

Businesses have contracts, with penalties for non delivery. The law of Moses had them too, cursings. But what made it easy was that it even had ways to delay, and then deal with penalties. So Israel had no excuse from not obeying the law, in both letter and in spirit, the lesser matters as well as the weightier.

What would Israel have achieved if she had "obeyed God's voice" instead of asking for a contract that protected(!) them from God?

If she had believed like Abraham, she would have been reckoned as a member of God's family (which is what to be found right means).

If she had believed like Joshua, she would have been perfected, been a blessing to the world, performed great signs, like defeating the Canaanites and the Amalekites at Hormah, and caused the world to follow God, like Rahab was caused to follow God.

Why was Joshua not able to lead Israel into " rest"?

What is "rest"?

For the next exciting episode of this narrative, tune in same time tomorrow, same channel!

...to be continued.
 
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Soyeong

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Israel taught that the law was required to be followed for the following reasons:
  1. To become a Jew
  2. To become a blessing to the world.
In Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Israel's obedience to the Mosaic Law was intended to cause the nations to marvel at how great and wise God is, so again by expressing God's character traits through their actions, they were testifying to the nations about who God is. In other words, the Law was intended to be used as a tool to evangelize the nations and to bless the nations by teaching them to turn from their wickedness and how to walk in God's ways (Acts 3:26).

But Paul said that becoming a Jew was through godly thinking. Abraham believed God and he became a member of the people of God. He didn't need the law.

Why do you insist on saying "godly thinking" instead of "faith" and what do you see as the difference in meaning between the two terms? Did Jesus express godly thinking by living in sinless obedience to the Mosaic Law?

In Genesis 26:5, it says that Abraham heard God's voice and kept His charge, His commandments, His statues, and His laws, so apparently God thought He needed the Law, and he knew what the Law was straightforwardly because he listened to God's voice.

Paul also taught that to become fulfilled, to receive what was promised to Abraham, what Jesus called " to be perfected", was by godly thinking, being one with God, not following the world in its ways, thinking money could not be done without, but by following Jesus who did not even have a space to lay down his head. All the people who followed Peter after Pentecost believed this, and some even acted on it, and were perfected.

The law was not what God wanted between Israel and Himself. He wanted love, a relationship, what families have between members, not terms and conditions, a contract, what businesses have, between hirer and hired hands:

Jeremiah 7
22For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.23“But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. 25“Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. 26“Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

There are many verses that describe the Mosaic Law as being instructions for how to walk in God's ways, such as Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Isaiah 2:2-3, Joshua 22:5, Psalms 103:7, and many others, so the Law was God instructions for how to express His character traits, which is what I would say is godly thinking. In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus summarized the Law as being instructions for how to love God and our neighbor, so it is God's instruction for how to love and grow in a relationship with Him. If the Law was not something that God wanted, then He wouldn't have given it.

Businesses have contracts, with penalties for non delivery. The law of Moses had them too, cursings. But what made it easy was that it even had ways to delay and then deal with penalties. So Israel had no excuse from not obeying the law, in both letter and in spirit.

What would Israel have achieved if she had "obeyed God's voice" instead of asking for a contact that protected them from God (!)

If she had believed like Abraham, she would have been reckoned as a member of God's family (which is what to be found right means).

If she had believed like Joshua, she would have been perfected, been a blessing to the world, performed great signs, defeated the Canaanites and the Amalekites at Hormah, and caused the world to follow God, like Rahab was caused to follow God.

There are many verses that describe the Mosaic Covenant as being a marriage between God and Israel, such as with God describing himself as her husband (Jeremiah 31:32) or with Israel's unfaithfulness being referred as as adultery, which eventually got so bad that God wrote the Northern Kingdom a certificate of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8), so they were entering into a marriage relationship with God and the Law was God's instructions for how to grow in that relationship with Him. So it was a bit like God rescuing His damsel in distress out of slavery in Egypt and proposing to her, and with her agreeing, but on her wedding day wanting to only interact with her husband through a mediator, which he nevertheless agreed to out of His love for her. In Deuteronomy 5:31-33, Moses was given additional instructions to right down in lieu of the people being directed in how to walk in God's ways through hearing His voice. So the certainly would have avoided some of the problems they faced if they had been listening to God's voice, but what is why the New Covenant removes the role of the mediator and is what the Mosaic Covenant was intended to be.

Why was Joshua not able to lead Israel into " rest"?

What is "rest"?

For the next exciting episode of this narrative, tune in same time tomorrow, same channel!

...to be continued.

Joshua was not able to lead Israel into rest because of their disobedience to God's Law. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus was inviting people to becoming his followers and to learn from him how to obey God's Law. By saying that we would find rest for our souls, he was remezing Jeremiah 6:16-19, where God's Law is described as the good way to find rest for our souls. This rest comes through having faith in God to guide us through obeying His Law.
 
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In Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Israel's obedience to the Mosaic Law was intended to cause the nations to marvel at how great and wise God is, so again by expressing God's character traits through their actions, they were testifying to the nations about who God is. In other words, the Law was intended to be used as a tool to evangelize the nations and to bless the nations by teaching them to turn from their wickedness and how to walk in God's ways (Acts 3:26).

Be specific, how does circumcision cause the nation's to marvel at how great and wise God is?

Why do you insist on saying "godly thinking" instead of "faith" and what do you see as the difference in meaning between the two terms? Did Jesus express godly thinking by living in sinless obedience to the Mosaic Law?

Because people can have faith and not act. Godly thinking is a better term because it accepts both the belief of Abraham as well as his works as righteous responses.

  1. God accepted Abraham's belief as godly thinking.
  2. God accepted Abraham's works as godly thinking.

Using the word " faith" doesn't convey the same meaning:

  1. God accepted Abraham's belief as faith.
  2. God accepted Abraham's works as faith.

Using the word "loyalty" is even better. But some people would get confused and insist belief isn't loyalty.

In Genesis 26:5, it says that Abraham heard God's voice and kept His charge, His commandments, His statues, and His laws, so apparently God thought He needed the Law, and he knew what the Law was straightforwardly because he listened to God's voice.

There was no Mosaic law at the time so Abraham was not obeying the Mosaic law.

There are many verses that describe the Mosaic Law as being instructions for how to walk in God's ways, such as Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Isaiah 2:2-3, Joshua 22:5, Psalms 103:7, and many others, so the Law was God instructions for how to express His character traits, which is what I would say is godly thinking. In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus summarized the Law as being instructions for how to love God and our neighbor, so it is God's instruction for how to love and grow in a relationship with Him. If the Law was not something that God wanted, then He wouldn't have given it.

Jeremiah 7:22 says God did not want a pre nup, which is a contract used to protect strangers(!) from each other. But Israel did not know God like her forefathers knew God, and wanted protection, even though God had already revealed His love for her and the patriarchs. The law was the result of bad faith.

There are many verses that describe the Mosaic Covenant as being a marriage between God and Israel, such as with God describing himself as her husband (Jeremiah 31:32) or with Israel's unfaithfulness being referred as as adultery, which eventually got so bad that God wrote the Northern Kingdom a certificate of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8), so they were entering into a marriage relationship with God and the Law was God's instructions for how to grow in that relationship with Him. So it was a bit like God rescuing His damsel in distress out of slavery in Egypt and proposing to her, and with her agreeing, but on her wedding day wanting to only interact with her husband through a mediator, which he nevertheless agreed to out of His love for her. In Deuteronomy 5:31-33, Moses was given additional instructions to right down in lieu of the people being directed in how to walk in God's ways through hearing His voice. So the certainly would have avoided some of the problems they faced if they had been listening to God's voice, but what is why the New Covenant removes the role of the mediator and is what the Mosaic Covenant was intended to be.

So let's drive the son of the bonds woman away. Remove the contract, so that the relationship has primacy.

Joshua was not able to lead Israel into rest because of their disobedience to God's Law. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus was inviting people to becoming his followers and to learn from him how to obey God's Law. By saying that we would find rest for our souls, he was remezing Jeremiah 6:16-19, where God's Law is described as the good way to find rest for our souls. This rest comes through having faith in God to guide us through obeying His Law.

The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses

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We may return to the same conclusion that we reached before: the sacrifice of animals is inadequate to achieve final cleansing, nor can it cleanse anything more than the copies of heavenly things. Then who will bring the definitive sacrifice? A man must do it. A similar point is made indirectly in Num. 35:33-34: “Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.” When a man had shed blood, the man must die. But there is one exception, when the blood of the death of the high priest releases a manslaughterer to return home (Num. 35:25-28). The blood of the high priest has special value. In agreement with this principle, Zech. 3 uses all the symbolism of a defiled human high priest Joshua and then speaks mysteriously of the Branch in connection with which “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” (Zech. 3:9).
 
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...Continued
John 8
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

To expand on what being free means, let's see the result in the old Testament and, then, in the new.

Israel left, came out of, Egypt and followed God through His servant Moses. The teaching they received was not to return to depending on Egypt for resources that amounted to nothing, but to depend on God for things that had substance, which carried over to the world to come, with whatever was needed in this world added to them. God taught this by showing them signs and wonders, producing results that were not dependent on effort on the part of Israel.

You can see a common theme in the life of Christ. He left dependence on earthly sources, followed the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, was exposed to the teachings of God the Father, was obedient, held to the teaching, and finally, was fruitful. Since He was obedient, He emptied Himself of His Godhood, and laboured as a man. We will see how He was the Seed, and what rest means in a subsequent post.

Compare this with Abraham, Moses, Peter, and the believers of the early church.

However, not all held to the teaching. Scripture says that even though all of Israel ate of the same spiritual bread, not all benefited, and with whom God was not pleased, and they left their bones littering the wilderness. Similarly, some held to the teaching of God and their faith was fulfilled, made perfect, shown by their giving up all dependence on earthly sources, when they laid them at the feet of Peter. Simon the Sorcerer believed that same teaching, that earthly treasure was not worth the effort, would perish, was even baptised into growing into the new mindset, but slipped back into his old ways, because he did not think it through, of the aspect of what power meant in the kingdom of God. A very common mistake, to believe the main principle, but not consider how it affects different aspects of a person's life.

Here, then, is a sequence, to trace again in the lives of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Peter, all freed men, and then Korah and Simon the Sorcerer, and Ananias and Sapphira, slaves to their old selves, working for selfish gains, that would perish and rust.

  1. Coming out of Egypt
  2. Receiving teaching
  3. Holding on to teaching (or not)
  4. Being freed from the cares of the world (or not)
  5. Being recognised by God as being born again (or not)
  6. Being a blessing to the world, the person responsible for in turn, rescuing another soul out of Egypt (Isaac, Joshua, Rahab, Peter) because God was with them, as seen in the works they did, and the knowledge they revealed.

This is a very profitable, enlightening, revealing exercise to embark on, to learn how God fulfilled His promise to Abraham.
 
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