Matthew 5:17-20 and Acts 15:5-29

1213

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But, the Mosaic law was abolished 2 Corinthians 3:13-16, Hebrews 8:6-7.
...

Sorry, I don’t think those can be interpret to mean that the law is abolished. I don’t think Paul is meaning that. I have understood his point is the same as Jesus has, obeying the law is not what saves. The law is not the condition for eternal life. Person must be righteous to get eternal life.


These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Mat. 25:46

But still, there is no bad commandment in the law. If one lives by them, he does well. Or what do you think, what commandment is not good?
 
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1213

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Deuteronomy 25:11-12? The commands to utterly destroy man, woman, and child in certain people groups? Also, Hebrews 8:6-13 says the Law is obsolete and has disappeared (by now).

The fault is that people broke it. That is why in the new Covenant the law is written in people’s heart so that they live by it.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live. Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. You shall return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and do all his commandments which I command you this day. Yahweh your God will make you plenteous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, for good: for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers;
Deuteronomy 30:6-9

I am not sure if I understood you correctly with this:


When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the secrets; then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12

In that the law is, when men “strive together”, don’t take “him by the secrets”. Is that not good law? The law also determines right judgements for certain situations, but the law is not about judging. There is no rule that people must judge, or else.

Also, not all have the right to judge and those who have, should also know the rules for judging, for example this:

Thus has Yahweh of Hosts spoken, saying, 'Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
Zechariah 7:9
 
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Ken Rank

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Ken you must know too that the original commandments equal 10. Then the nation rebelled, adding about 600 some odd new ones. It wasn’t the gentiles that were given those. God’s laws remain ... love God and fellow human.
The covenant is the 10 words, I don't argue that (Deut 4:13). The rest wasn't because of rebellion, the rest was because Israel was about to become a nation and that nation was truly "under God" and it was His laws, and not man's, that would govern the country. That is why judgments and the ability to prosecute were added as well.

ALL OF THE LAW (and prophets) hang on loving God and neighbor. What that means, in a true sense, is that we could place two large nails, side by side, in a wall. The one of the left stands for "love God" and the one on the right stands for "love neighbor." We can then go through every commandment, all 611 of them (as love God and love neighbor are not NT creations, both are in the law) and we can hang them on either love God or love neighbor. Those two sum up the rest.
 
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Ken Rank

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I'm not sure we can pin Ken down on his version of the gospel message. But it seems to me from what he has said that it is something along the lines of the following.
All you had to do was ask... not name call and treat me like a leper.

Belief in the Jewish messiah is but a starting point to be saved
Bravo... exactly.

I probably won't see your reply.
 
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Dkh587

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We are not lawless, we are under the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21), which I understand to be: love God, love neighbor, love the brethren. As for the entire Law of Moses being "done away with", I do not think it is abolished, I think it stands as our tutor to bring us to Christ. But we are not bound as Christians to keep it (Galatians 4:21-31; Acts 15:5-29; Romans 6-8). We are given the righteousness of God as a gift by grace thru faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Now we do not live by keeping the Law, but by obeying the Holy Spirit (Romans 8)

You say “love God”, but according to God, loving God means obeying His law/commandments.

You can’t love God if you’re not obeying His commandments.
 
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His student

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All you had to do was ask... not name call and treat me like a leper.
Bravo... exactly.
I probably won't see your reply.
Thanks for making it clear that you do indeed preach a false gospel.

I don't recall any name calling. But, since God considers one who preaches the kind of gospel you preach "cursed", treating you as a leper might be fairly appropriate.

However, if you are of mind to listen, I will address again your stance on the Acts 15 passage (being very careful to try to avoid offensive terms like "well duhhh") and lay out where you have gone wrong - both in your general stance and your original statements to me related to my comments about removing offenses being the main point of the story as it pertains to us now.

Since you seem to have engaged with me again - that seems a good thing to do. (I.e. start over as it were.):)
 
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Strong in Him

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You say “love God”, but according to God, loving God means obeying His law/commandments.

You can’t love God if you’re not obeying His commandments.

What are his commandments?

The 10 commandments were given to the Hebrew people whom God had rescued out of Egypt. However, because Jesus said they can be summed up in 2 commandments - love God and love your neighbour as yourself - they are important for us too. Other commands that were given to the Hebrew people were about how they had to make atonement for their sin (sacrifice) and how they were to live as God's holy - separate - people. That meant not intermarrying, not eating food that was deemed to be unclean or wearing clothes made with mixed fibres, not mixing with Gentiles who were outside of the covenant, worshipping ONE God and not many, as their neighbours did - being different and set apart from them.
But Jesus has fulfilled all that. HE is the sacrifice by which we are forgiven, cleansed and made right with God. HE makes us holy - we are set apart from the world if we belong to him and love God more than anything else. He told us that it is not food which goes into our mouths which makes us unclean, but the attitudes which come from our hearts. And he taught that God loves, heals and wants all people to know him - he spoke to a Samaritan women, travelled through Samaria and one of his most famous parables featured a Samaritan. He also healed a Syro-Phoenician woman and a Roman centurion's servant. He touched Gentiles, those with skin conditions, those who were bleeding and dead people - none of which tainted him or made him a sinner or lawbreaker, though the Pharisees clearly thought otherwise - and he healed on the Sabbath.
Jesus then gave us a NEW commandment; to love as he loves us. We cannot love with the pure, Agape, divine love that God has for us unless we have first received this love from him. John says, "we love because he first loved us", 1 John 4:19.
 
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~Zao~

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The covenant is the 10 words, I don't argue that (Deut 4:13). The rest wasn't because of rebellion, the rest was because Israel was about to become a nation and that nation was truly "under God" and it was His laws, and not man's, that would govern the country. That is why judgments and the ability to prosecute were added as well.

ALL OF THE LAW (and prophets) hang on loving God and neighbor. What that means, in a true sense, is that we could place two large nails, side by side, in a wall. The one of the left stands for "love God" and the one on the right stands for "love neighbor." We can then go through every commandment, all 611 of them (as love God and love neighbor are not NT creations, both are in the law) and we can hang them on either love God or love neighbor. Those two sum up the rest.
I have to differ with you there. At the delivery of the 10 commandments they were already worshipping false gods, so obviously telling them not to at that point was a lesson in futility.
But what do you think Peter meant by this statement?
Acts of the Apostles 15:11
11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
 
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jerry kelso

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I have no problem at all harmonizing this. I believe we are to follow the law or by definition we are lawless. We are warned, by Messiah, about a lawless generation. He wasn't talking about the American civil code... he was talking about God's law. And holding this position, I have no issue harmonizing anything you throw at me because every verse you can throw at me I have had answers for for about 15-20 years now. Just as ONE example... you quoted Hebrews 8 and "NEW" covenant. Did you know that in Hebrew (Jeremiah 31:31) the word for new is chadashah, which is the verb meaning "to renew" that is being used as an adjective to describe the covenant. It isn't "new covenant" it is the everlasting covenant (Psalm 105:8-10) renewed. When you go to the Greek (Hebrews 8:8) you find for the word "new" the Greek "kainos" which means "to make fresh, renew." The Greek word for "brand new" is nehos and that word isn't ever used to describe the covenant. In Hebrew or Greek it is renewed, not new. Again... that is just one example of a hundred I can give.

If we are without law, we are lawless. And, if we are without law there is no need for grace. God does not change.... if He was a God of law long ago He is now because He does not change. If He is a God of grace today, He always has been because He does not change.

kenrank,

1. Just because the law of Moses was abolished doesn’t mean we are not under law. We are under the law of Christ.

2. The New Covenant has similar things in it as the Old Covenant.
It also has different things in it that the Old Testament has.
There are similar things that have a different context than the former.
Covenants are much like a will, in the light that all these things I stated above are true and are two different documents.

3. People under the Mosaic Law had grace Romans 4:1-6.
People under this age of grace have law which is the law of Christ Galatians 6:2.
The Law of the Spirit Romans 8:2.
The Law of righteousness by faith Romans 4:13 etc.

4. Your renewed theory doesn’t hold water unless maybe you’re a Jew.
There is no renewed in Hebrews 8:6-7.
2 Corinthians 3:13 uses the word abolished which is about the Mosaic Law being abolished. Jerry Kelso
 
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jerry kelso

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Sorry, I don’t think those can be interpret to mean that the law is abolished. I don’t think Paul is meaning that. I have understood his point is the same as Jesus has, obeying the law is not what saves. The law is not the condition for eternal life. Person must be righteous to get eternal life.


These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Mat. 25:46

But still, there is no bad commandment in the law. If one lives by them, he does well. Or what do you think, what commandment is not good?

1213,

1. I’ve already said that the law could not save Romans 4:1-6.
All the law could say was Thou shalt not. The law was Holy and Good. Romans 7:12.
The law didn’t have the power to perform the commandment and the law of sin took advantage of this weakness of the law and made them live to the frailty of man Romans 7:15-20. So they sinned more than overcame.
Romans 8:2 says the law of sin and death was done away with by the law of the Spirit.

3. The law being abolished is what the context is in 2 Corinthians 3:13-16.
Moses had the veil over his face because Israel could not stand to see it e abolished.
Their whole life was performing the law and even today because of the law, Christ was s stumbling block to the nation, the stone which the builders rejected Matthew 21:42. Romans 11:25 says Jews are still blind 2 Corinthians 3:14 minds were blind and today they still are in the reading of the Old Testament which veil is done away in Christ which was at Calvary.

4. The Mosaic law was the best God gave to the Jews at that time.
The law was to stop every mouth and show how guilty the whole world before God.
The law came because of sin and till the seed should come to whom the promise was made...Galatians 3:19.

5. There was 630 laws they had to do to be blessed and holy before God.
If a child sassed their Father or Mother they were to be stoned.
This was God’s commandment and the law was Holy and Good.
However, you might be glad we don’t have to follow this commandment.
Yes we can learn much from the law of Moses but God gave us a better covenant with better promises.
Learn the differences between the covenants and learn why God gave them. Jerry Kelso
 
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Ken Rank

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kenrank,

1. Just because the law of Moses was abolished doesn’t mean we are not under law. We are under the law of Christ.

2. The New Covenant has similar things in it as the Old Covenant.
It also has different things in it that the Old Testament has.
There are similar things that have a different context than the former.
Covenants are much like a will, in the light that all these things I stated above are true and are two different documents.

3. People under the Mosaic Law had grace Romans 4:1-6.
People under this age of grace have law which is the law of Christ Galatians 6:2.
The Law of the Spirit Romans 8:2.
The Law of righteousness by faith Romans 4:13 etc.

4. Your renewed theory doesn’t hold water unless maybe you’re a Jew.
There is no renewed in Hebrews 8:6-7.
2 Corinthians 3:13 uses the word abolished which is about the Mosaic Law being abolished. Jerry Kelso
That which is passing away is the law on stone...being replaced with law on the mind and heart. Same law, though, Jerry. I can walk you through hundreds of verses to prove it...but at this point you won't receive it. So we can just leave it at that.

By the way, my user name is Ken Rank, not kenrank. Since it is my actual name, I prefer you spell it correctly or call me Ken. Thanks.
 
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Ken Rank

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1. Just because the law of Moses was abolished doesn’t mean we are not under law. We are under the law of Christ.
There are no verses saying the law was abolished. We read a few of them that way, but we are reading them from a modern cultural view. As one example (one example of many, Jerry) we see this in Col. 2:14, " having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Generally and almost always, this verse is one of the main verses used to declare an end to the law. But we don't think it through... first of all, an "end to the law" means God lied. And it means that because the covenant is the 10 words (Deut. 4:13) and the covenant is everlasting (Psalm 105:8-10). So if the old covenant is done, over... God isn't God. Second, what was against us (going back to the Col. 2:14 verse) isn't "do not steal," or "a man shouldn't lay with a man as he would a woman." That isn't against us... that is God's will. What is against us is the PENALTY for sin, death. And Yeshua nailed our guilty verdict to the cross... the death penalty for sin was nailed to the cross... and now, even if we taste a physical death, death itself has lost it's sting as we now have the promise of the resurrection through Christ's work.

2. The New Covenant has similar things in it as the Old Covenant. It also has different things in it that the Old Testament has.
There are similar things that have a different context than the former.
Covenants are much like a will, in the light that all these things I stated above are true and are two different documents.
In the OT, we had the law on stone and God commanding His people to keep those words on their own hearts. In the NT, it is understood that God's people failed at keeping those words on their own hearts and so God is writing those words there for us. What Christians miss, Jerry, is these are the same words.

3. People under the Mosaic Law had grace Romans 4:1-6.
People under this age of grace have law which is the law of Christ Galatians 6:2.
The Law of the Spirit Romans 8:2.
The Law of righteousness by faith Romans 4:13 etc.
Well said... and good (and rare today) that you recognized that the word "law" isn't always talking about Sinai. That is a big problem today... folks see "law" and make an assumption. Well done.

4. Your renewed theory doesn’t hold water unless maybe you’re a Jew.
There is no renewed in Hebrews 8:6-7.
2 Corinthians 3:13 uses the word abolished which is about the Mosaic Law being abolished. Jerry Kelso
The only problem is, it isn't a theory... I did not make the definitions of the word up. If you are really a student of the word, then take a couple of minutes and look at what I am looking at.

Jer 31:31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--

>> The word for new above is 85 חֲדָשָׁה (chadashah). This is the verb חדשׁ, chadash, that Strong's says, "from a primitive root; to be new; causatively to rebuild: - renew, repair." The difference between chadash and chadashah is only that the verb is being used as an adjective to describe the covenant. So the form changes from chadash to chadashah. But it is the same word, ask ANY HEBREW SCHOLAR and they will tell you this is true. So in Jeremiah 31:31, whether you like it or not, whether I like it or not (and I didn't at first because that information didn't harmonize with my understanding) it means what it means.

Heb 8:8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--

>> The word for new is kainos, here is what Strong's says of this word.

G2537 Of uncertain affinity; new (especially in freshness; while G3501 is properly so with respect to age): - new.

So kainos (G2537) means "new in regards to freshness." Another word, nehos (G3501, also spelled neos) is "new in respect to AGE."

So kainos is new in regards to freshness, being made fresh...renewed. Nehos is new in regards to AGE, i.e. something that is BRAND NEW. A new car is nehos, a restored classic is kainos. That is the language Jerry... not my bias. That is simply what the word means.

So... you want things harmonized. If the covenant made with Israel at Sinai is over... then Psalm 105:8-10 (especially 10) can NEVER be harmonized by you because God called that covenant EVERLASTING, WITHOUT END, FOREVER, TIMELESS. And your theology has an end to that, which simply can't be the case. But if the covenant as shown above, is renewed, then it stands in perfect harmony with the promise made by God in Psalm 105 as mentioned.

Don't make this about me... just because this is different than you have been raised to believe doesn't make it less true. The language is what it is and I didn't choose the words in the text... all I did was look them up and not accept any one translation as being perfect. What was perfect was the original letters and the intent of the authors. We don't have them here to question, and we have copies of copies translated across multiple languages at times. So... I go back to the earliest source and find the definitions of those words. Sometimes that strengthens what you already believe... what I was also raised to believe, and other times it opens doors to a slightly different understanding that, more times than not, answer more questions than it raises.
 
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jerry kelso

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That which is passing away is the law on stone...being replaced with law on the mind and heart. Same law, though, Jerry. I can walk you through hundreds of verses to prove it...but at this point you won't receive it. So we can just leave it at that.

By the way, my user name is Ken Rank, not kenrank. Since it is my actual name, I prefer you spell it correctly or call me Ken. Thanks.

Ken

1. Those two issues doesn’t dismiss the fact that the law of Moses and the New Covenant are two different covenants and cannot coincide together.

2. The law was added because of transgressions and was till the seed should come Galatians 3:19.

3. You can read superficially hundreds of scriptures but obviously you can’t come to the heart of the matter according to proper context.
I understand the Jewish aspect on this subject and that is why they are blinded to this day.
So you’ll have to do better than that and go a little deeper. Jerry Kelso
 
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Ken Rank

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I have to differ with you there. At the delivery of the 10 commandments they were already worshipping false gods, so obviously telling them not to at that point was a lesson in futility.
But what do you think Peter meant by this statement?
Acts of the Apostles 15:11
11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.”
Differing is fine. I will throw this out. 200 hundred years before Moses, Hammurabi put in writing the first legal code. Interestingly, many atheists see Moses as having plagiarized Hammurabi. They might have a case if God's law was only revealed at Sinai, but it wasn't... it was known before Sinai.. it was WRITTEN at Sinai. For example, in Genesis 26:5, we see that Abraham, "obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." This goes beyond, "Abraham, take up your tents and move to another country." (paraphrased) That is only one commandment (it's really a "charge" not a commandment)... this is all plural... commandments and statutes and laws.

I wrote an article 15 years ago about the law before Sinai. There was an understanding of clean and unclean, there were sacrifices, an understanding that a woman's period made her ritually unclean... even an understanding of a levirate marriage (and a score of other examples I can give). Hammurabi didn't invent a legal system, he wrote one down based on what was already understood throughout the lands. God had given His people instruction throughout the years, from Adam through Moses, and the "do's and don'ts" were basically understood. They were written at Sinai and judgments (punishments) and the ability to prosecute (a court system - the elders of the gates) were added so they could function as a NATION. God's law became Israel constitution, so to speak.

Again, the reason the law of God, His Torah (literally "instructions") were written down is so the people knew what was expected of them. See for yourself...

Deuteronomy 31:9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: 13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Every seven years, at Sukkot (Tabernacles), when all of Israel was gathered in one place.... the Torah was to be read to them SO THAT they would hear and learn and fear and obey.

So the idea that it was a lesson in futility to tell them what they already knew... is exactly what God commanded. Why? Because we (they) were not capable of doing one of the commandments... keeping the law on our own minds and hearts 24/7/365...

Deu 6:6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

On your heart and between your eyes... the forehead... the head... on the head and heart. But, Israel failed, and now as the mark of the new/renewed covenant, God is taking those words and writing them directly on our minds and hearts Himself.

Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 11:19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, (20) that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Which is all what Paul was talking about when he wrote of circumcising the heart... an act that wasn't new to his understanding:

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
 
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Ken Rank

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Thanks for making it clear that you do indeed preach a false gospel.

I don't recall any name calling. But, since God considers one who preaches the kind of gospel you preach "cursed", treating you as a leper might be fairly appropriate.

However, if you are of mind to listen, I will address again your stance on the Acts 15 passage (being very careful to try to avoid offensive terms like "well duhhh") and lay out where you have gone wrong - both in your general stance and your original statements to me related to my comments about removing offenses being the main point of the story as it pertains to us now.

Since you seem to have engaged with me again - that seems a good thing to do. (I.e. start over as it were.):)
Here is the problem. I don't hold grudges at all. I simply expect adults to act like adults and Christians to avoid strife and division among themselves because GOD HATES THAT! (See Proverbs 6:16-19... the weight on 19) So here you smile and say we get a fresh start, which I would be THRILLED to do... but in that same short post you claim I preach a false gospel when you have NO CLUE what my definition of the gospel is. So you make a false accusation without information (which runs the risk of bearing false witness) all after calling me an idiot using phrases like "this isn't rocket science" and "DUHHH!".

Are you capable of having a discussion with somebody who lives for the Lord (just in case there is any question, the Lord is Yeshua, Jesus, Yehoshua, Iesus, whatever you prefer) and serves Him as an elder in a congregation.... or are you going to attack my integrity and intelligence and heart... every time I say something that doesn't look, act, or sound like you and your understanding? Remember "His Student," you haven't been perfected yet... which by definition means you are imperfect. Just like me and everyone else that hasn't been perfected yet... which is everyone. So allow room for error seeing you, we, us all... are not perfect. I admit, freely... I could be wrong and I am ALWAYS listening and searching for connections that answer more questions than they create. Are you? Or... are you and your understanding the standard by which God judges the rest of us?
 
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You can read superficially hundreds of scriptures but obviously you can’t come to the heart of the matter according to proper context.
Jerry... do you know what verses I would share and how I would connect them? No... we don't know each other. You don't know my methods of study, who I learned from, for how long, nothing, you know nothing about me. And without hearing a deeper explanation, you have determined that any understanding I have lacks context and is superficial?

I should stop here and hope you see what you did in saying this... but instead I am going to go deeper. What is context anyway, Jerry? The verse before and after? The whole chapter? No... it is ANYTHING that has influence on the text. So for example... since you want "deeper".... Paul went to Beit Hillel (School of Hillel) which we know from two things. One, he was a Pharisee (of which there were two schools, so he had to go to one of them) and two.... his teacher is said to be Gamaliel which was Hillel's grandson. So Paul went to Beit Hillel where they taught the Spirit of the law. The other school, Beit Shammai, taught the letter of the law. And as an aside, now you have a little "context" for when Paul is talking about the spirit and the letter. But I digress.... one of the things that Paul learned at Beit Hillel were the exegetical method of interpretation known as "The 7 Rules of Hillel." These 'rules' weren't something Hillel created... he simply recognized God's use of them throughout the OT, the Tanach. These rules DIRECTLY AFFECT CONTEXT and yet I am willing to bet that you have, until now, not even heard of them and if you have, can't name one. Yet, Paul used them over 30 times in his letters. Which means, there are times in Paul's letters where he is using these methods and you not recognizing them, miss the context and his point. That, by the way, isn't an attack on you, Jerry. Nobody teaches them... we all miss it. This is why Peter said what he said about Paul being hard to understand. :)

HERE is a short article by a dear friend and mentor or sadly passed not long ago. If you really care about context, I strongly suggest you take a few minutes from your busy day and consider this. If this truly influences Paul's writings (and it does) then how can you not take some time and at least become familiar with what Paul is doing?
 
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food4thought

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You say “love God”, but according to God, loving God means obeying His law/commandments.

You can’t love God if you’re not obeying His commandments.

And what are the commandments of Jesus Christ? Love God, love neighbor, love the brethren.
 
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~Zao~

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Differing is fine. I will throw this out. 200 hundred years before Moses, Hammurabi put in writing the first legal code. Interestingly, many atheists see Moses as having plagiarized Hammurabi. They might have a case if God's law was only revealed at Sinai, but it wasn't... it was known before Sinai.. it was WRITTEN at Sinai. For example, in Genesis 26:5, we see that Abraham, "obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." This goes beyond, "Abraham, take up your tents and move to another country." (paraphrased) That is only one commandment (it's really a "charge" not a commandment)... this is all plural... commandments and statutes and laws.

I wrote an article 15 years ago about the law before Sinai. There was an understanding of clean and unclean, there were sacrifices, an understanding that a woman's period made her ritually unclean... even an understanding of a levirate marriage (and a score of other examples I can give). Hammurabi didn't invent a legal system, he wrote one down based on what was already understood throughout the lands. God had given His people instruction throughout the years, from Adam through Moses, and the "do's and don'ts" were basically understood. They were written at Sinai and judgments (punishments) and the ability to prosecute (a court system - the elders of the gates) were added so they could function as a NATION. God's law became Israel constitution, so to speak.

Again, the reason the law of God, His Torah (literally "instructions") were written down is so the people knew what was expected of them. See for yourself...

Deuteronomy 31:9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, 11 When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law: 13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Every seven years, at Sukkot (Tabernacles), when all of Israel was gathered in one place.... the Torah was to be read to them SO THAT they would hear and learn and fear and obey.

So the idea that it was a lesson in futility to tell them what they already knew... is exactly what God commanded. Why? Because we (they) were not capable of doing one of the commandments... keeping the law on our own minds and hearts 24/7/365...

Deu 6:6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

On your heart and between your eyes... the forehead... the head... on the head and heart. But, Israel failed, and now as the mark of the new/renewed covenant, God is taking those words and writing them directly on our minds and hearts Himself.

Jeremiah 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 11:19 Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, (20) that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Which is all what Paul was talking about when he wrote of circumcising the heart... an act that wasn't new to his understanding:

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
Romans 2:28-29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly: and circumcision is of the heart. … vs 28 outward practice is of no consequence as it’s the spiritual keeping of the law that is obedience to God.
Receiving a new heart and new spirit are new receptive organs. Not using them as intended produces hardness and death Ephesians 2:1, Ephesians 4:18 also 2 Corinthians 3:3 It’s His life within that revives them Colossians 2:13 to love Him in spirit and truth John 4:24 to produce a new life with Him Romans 8:9,16; 1 Corinthians 6:17


That which we receive is God’s love and the Spirit of God’s law within which is God’s nature. 2 Peter 1:4
Because of the new nature, which wasn’t available within until Christ’s death and resurrection, we’re able to keep the law of the Spirit by abiding in Him. Against those things there is no law.

But you didn’t answer the question about Peter’s words at the Jerusalem council which states plainly that all are saved in the same way, whether Jew, Gentile, etc.
 
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jerry kelso

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Jerry... do you know what verses I would share and how I would connect them? No... we don't know each other. You don't know my methods of study, who I learned from, for how long, nothing, you know nothing about me. And without hearing a deeper explanation, you have determined that any understanding I have lacks context and is superficial?

I should stop here and hope you see what you did in saying this... but instead I am going to go deeper. What is context anyway, Jerry? The verse before and after? The whole chapter? No... it is ANYTHING that has influence on the text. So for example... since you want "deeper".... Paul went to Beit Hillel (School of Hillel) which we know from two things. One, he was a Pharisee (of which there were two schools, so he had to go to one of them) and two.... his teacher is said to be Gamaliel which was Hillel's grandson. So Paul went to Beit Hillel where they taught the Spirit of the law. The other school, Beit Shammai, taught the letter of the law. And as an aside, now you have a little "context" for when Paul is talking about the spirit and the letter. But I digress.... one of the things that Paul learned at Beit Hillel were the exegetical method of interpretation known as "The 7 Rules of Hillel." These 'rules' weren't something Hillel created... he simply recognized God's use of them throughout the OT, the Tanach. These rules DIRECTLY AFFECT CONTEXT and yet I am willing to bet that you have, until now, not even heard of them and if you have, can't name one. Yet, Paul used them over 30 times in his letters. Which means, there are times in Paul's letters where he is using these methods and you not recognizing them, miss the context and his point. That, by the way, isn't an attack on you, Jerry. Nobody teaches them... we all miss it. This is why Peter said what he said about Paul being hard to understand. :)

HERE is a short article by a dear friend and mentor or sadly passed not long ago. If you really care about context, I strongly suggest you take a few minutes from your busy day and consider this. If this truly influences Paul's writings (and it does) then how can you not take some time and at least become familiar with what Paul is doing?


Ken,

1. Speaking of context, what about Psalm 105 8-10 in post 112# which you said dealt with the mosaic law not being abolished.
The context of that passage in verse 11 which has to do with Abraham’s covenant and the inheritance of the land forever.
This has nothing to do with the Mosaic law or it being abolished or not.
Jerry Kelso
 
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