Gentiles are told to refrain from sin (Romans 6:15) and sin is disobedience to God's law (1 John 3:4).
God's law was given at Sinai to the Hebrew people who had just been rescued by the Lord from Egypt. I was not one of them, neither were any of my ancestors.
I have been rescued by sin and death by Jesus. I am in him and trust in him.
There is no sense in a Gentile wanting to become part of a holy nation while wanting nothing to do with following God's instructions for how to live as part of a holy nation.
We are made a royal priesthood and holy nation by Jesus, who has called us from darkness - sin, unbelief and death - into his light, 1 Peter 2:9-10.
In Psalms 119:29, David wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law and in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the law. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and again sin is disobedience to God's law, so being taught by grace to live in obedience to God's law through faith is what being saved from slavery to sin looks like.
So are you saying that you keep God's law as written in Exodus and Leviticus? ALL of it?
Do you offer animal sacrifices to God? Leviticus 1-6 gives detailed instructions about how to offer these sacrifices, and when.
Do you consider women to be unclean after childbirth and at certain times of the month?
Do you leave your land unploughed every 7th year so that the poor may gather food from it, Exodus 23:10-11. Ditto with your vineyard and olive grove.
Do you keep the 3 major Jewish festivals, Exodus 23:14-17?
Do you wear clothes made from only one fabric, Leviticus 19:19?
How do you obey all the instructions about how to treat a slave, considering that slavery has been abolished?
Even the Jews were unable to keep God's law and honour their covenant with him. That's why they ended up in exile in Babylon and God said that he was going to lake a NEW Covenant.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, those who are in Christ are new creations who are reconciled to God and in 1 John 2:6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked, which was in obedience to the Mosaic Law.
That "walking as Jesus did" means putting yourself under the law which he came to fulfil, is assumption and interpretation. Jesus never taught that.
Paul says that if someone wants to keep the law then it means that Christ died for nothing, and the book of Hebrews says that the law is obsolete Hebrews 8:13, and that Jesus is High Priest of a new, and better, covenant, Hebrews 8:7.
"To fulfill the law" means "to cause God's will as made known in His law to be obeyed as it should be
That's your definition; Jesus did not say that, nor teach Gentiles to obey God's law as given to the Jews.
All of the laws that God has give are examples of what it looks like to correctly love Him and our neighbor,
Not trimming your beard or the hair at the sides of your head, Leviticus 19:27, is loving your neighbour?
Putting to death people who commit adultery, Leviticus 20:10 is loving your neighbour?
Putting to death anyone who does not keep the Sabbath, Exodus 33:2 is loving your neighbour?
So there would be no difference between someone who obeys the greatest two commandments and someone who obeys the Mosaic Law because they would both look like the same example that Jesus set for us to follow.
Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbour as ourselves. This was how he summed up the 10 commandments; love God = the first 5 commandments, love your neighbour = the last 5 commandments.
At no time did he say "Gentiles can only prove that they love their neighbour by keeping the entire Jewish law."
In Mark 7:1-5, Jesus was asked why he disciples didn't follow a tradition of the elders by eating with unwashed hands and in Mark 7:6-13, Jesus responded by criticizing them as being hypocrites for setting aside the commands of God in order to establish their own tradition, so Mark 7:14-23 should be interpreted as continuing to speak against that man-made tradition rather than turning around even more hypocritically doing what he just finished criticizing the Pharisees for doing,
What??
And why should it be interpreted that way?
In Deuteronomy 4:2, it is a sin to add to or subtract from the law, so if Jesus had done that, then he would have sinned and disqualified himself from being our Savior.
Jesus never sinned.
But he did touch unclean people - Jairus' daughter and lepers - and taught and healed on the Sabbath.
According to Jewish law, this was forbidden. But Jesus put compassion for people before the letter of the law.
His critics would have for once had a legitimate reason to stone him
They believed they had a legitimate reason to stone him anyway - blasphemy; claiming to be God, John 8:58-59, John 10:33.
John 8:1-12 is an example of Jesus acting in accordance with the Law requires. There was no judge to pronounce a sentence (
Deuteronomy 19:17-21),
There didn't need to be. Anyone caught committing adultery was to be put to death, Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22. There is no suggestion of a trial; if they were caught, they were stoned.
Deuteronomy 19:17-21 is talking about a man who is accused of a crime - there must be 2 or 3 witnesses and the accused men must stand before the judges, who must investigate.
there was no man accused (
Leviticus 20:10),
There was a woman who was accused.
Leviticus 20:10 is about a man sleeping with his aunt; not relevant.
, he didn't have any witnesses to examine (
Numbers 35:30,
Deuteronomy 19:15),
Again, the law said that anyone committing adultery should be stoned - no mention of a trial with witnesses and a judge. And this woman had been caught - which rather suggests that they were spying on her/peering through her windows.
They weren't bringing the woman before Jesus because they recognised Jesus was a judge; they wanted to see what he would do. If he let the woman go, they would have accused him of breaking the law; if he had said 'go ahead and stone her', he would not have been showing the compassion and mercy that he taught. Besides, the law clearly said that the woman AND the man should be stoned, and there is no mention of the man in this incident.
and he did not have a confession, so if he had condemned her, then he would have acted in violation of the Law. Just a few verses later Jesus said that he judged no one (
John 8:15) and he also said that he came not to judge (
John 12:47), so he did not exercise authority as a magistrate
He wasn't there to exercise authority as a magistrate; he wan't one.
His critics knew that and wanted to see what he would do. I suspect they weren't concerned about the woman at all, they just wanted to trap Jesus. But if they had got into a discussion about the law, THEY were breaking it, because the law clearly says that both parties should be put to death not just the woman.
It has always been lawful to heal on the Sabbath, which is why Jesus said it was lawful to do that.
But as far as they were concerned, he was working and breaking the law.
Similarly when the disciples walked though a field on the Sabbath, picking wheat and rubbing it in their hands - actions which would have counted as reaping and threshing.
I'm not saying Jesus was a law breaker and therefore sinner - but that's how the Pharisees saw it.
In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that if we want to enter eternal life, then obey the commandments.
10 commandments, yes.
Entire Jewish food and hygiene laws; no.
In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the law, so only those who have faith in Christ will obey the law and will be justified by that same faith,
We are justified by faith in Christ, not faith in the law.
The law cannot save, and never could - witness years of the Jews trying to keep it and failing.
which is why Paul said in Romans 2:13 that only doers of the law will be justified, but did not say that we earn our justification by obeying the law.
We do not EARN justification, salvation, God's love or anything.
What we believe is expressed through our actions, which is why James 2:17-18 says that faith without works is dead and that he would show his faith by his works,
Yes.
so obedience to God's law is what faith looks like.
What law?
The commandment to love God and our neighbour? Yes.
The keeping of the entire Jewish food and hygiene laws? No.
In 1 John 3:10, those who do not practice righteousness in obedience to God's law are not children of God.
Jesus makes us righteous, 2 Corinthians 5:21; not God's law
He is also making us into someone who expresses His holiness and righteousness through our actions in obedience to His instructions for how to do that found in His law.
He is transforming us into Jesus' image and likeness - through his Holy Spirit, not through the law, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
