Jesus is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), which he expressed through his actions by living in obedience to the Mosaic Law, so follow his example is about participating in the divine nature through our obedience to the Mosaic Law.
It isn't - but if that's what you believe, that's what you must do.
The Israelites were given a number of the laws with the condition "when you enter the land..." while they were still wandering the wilderness for 40 years, so the laws did not go anywhere while that condition was not met. Likewise, when the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, the condition for their return to the land was to first return to obedience to the Mosaic Law, which required them to have access to the temple, which had been destroyed, so when there are laws that can't be obeyed, we should nevertheless be faithful to obey as much as we can. Laws in regard to temple practice were not followed again until the 2nd temple was built, so there is nothing about its destruction that means that those laws have gone anywhere.
I'm not an Israelite.
To the Jews, I'm a Gentile - outside of God's promises, not one of his chosen, unclean. The fact that I'm also a Christian might be even more of a problem for them; because Christians have persecuted, or at least looked down upon, Jews.
A chip off the old block is someone who has the same character or nature as their father, and this is the sense that Jesus is the Son of God in that he is again the exact expression of God's nature. So this is also the sense that we are children of God through partaking in the divine nature in obedience to God's law, which is why those who do not practice righteousness in obedience to it are not children of God (1 John 3:10).
Yes - we are made righteous through Jesus alone, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
All the laws and good deeds in the world cannot make us righteous or earn righteousness for us.
The existence of sin requires there to be a standard of what is and is not sin, and that standard is God's nature, which has been revealed through His law.
Sins is disobeying God's word.
God gave Adam a specific command - do not eat fruit from a certain tree; Adam disobeyed.
This was the only command he had. There was no law; through his disobedience to this command, sin came into the world.
The law does not reveal God's nature.
Adam knew who God was; God had created the whole universe, given him the task of naming all the animals, even created a woman for him so that he would not be alone. He knew that God was the Creator, and he knew that God cared about him - because God spoke to him directly. Even after Adam sinned, God continued to care for him - he made them both clothes from animal skins because he knew that they were ashamed of their nakedness.
Cain did not have God's law, as given through Moses - yet he knew he should bring sacrifices to God. He also knew it was wrong to murder Abel. Enoch, Methuselah, Noah etc did not have God's law, yet they knew who God was.
Jesus showed us exactly who God is.
He is personal, our Father, and wants a relationship with us. We can pray to him directly, and not have to go to a prophet or religious leader to tell us what God is saying. For the Jews, if there were 10 of them, that was a synagogue and they could read God's word etc; Jesus said "where 2 or 3 are gathered, I am with you". Jesus told us that God cares about ever detail of our lives, even the hairs on our heads, and not just the big stuff. He told us that all the commands are summed up in "Love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself." When asked "who is my neighbour?", he gave the parable of the Good Samaritan - everyone is our neighbour.
Jesus also told us to love as he loved us, and then he went to the cross to show us what that love was like - the kind of love which, when pagans are mocking you and even causing your physical agony, prays "Father, forgive."
Those who have never been under God's law have no need to refrain from sin, have no need of salvation, and have no need of Jesus to have given himself to redeem us from all lawlessness.
Nonsense.
People of other faiths - Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists - have never been under God's law; they don't even believe in the same God. Atheists claim to know that there is no God. But all are still sinners.
However, God is sovereign, so we are all under His law and are obligated to refrain from sin,
I refrain from sin, because Jesus died for my sin; sin destroys the relationship I have with God.
I am not perfect; I live in a sinful world, I am sometimes weak, sometimes listen to the world, the devil or my feelings. But wilful, deliberate, continual sin - putting me first and in the driving seat - is not an option. My sin cost Jesus his life.
Jesus taught fulfilled the Mosaic Law by teaching how to obey it by word and by example,
Jesus didn't teach people to obey the law. Jesus said "come to me and I will give you eternal life". He said that it is God's will that we believe in the Son and have eternal life, John 6:40, and that the work of God is that people will believe in the Son and have eternal life, John 6:29. He said that he had come so that people could have life - fulness of life, John 10:10. He also said that he is the only Way to the Father, John 14:6.
Nowhere did he say, "I have come so that you may know how to obey the law" or "if you obey the law I will give you eternal life", or "my Father's will is that you obey the law".
Jesus chose to be born as a Jew, so naturally he was brought up as a Jew, circumcised and kept the Jewish law. But he said that the Jewish law and prophets were fulfilled in HIM, and after his resurrection did not tell his disciples to go and teach the Mosaic food laws to Gentiles.
The apostles and early church opposed anyone who taught that unbelievers had to be circumcised/taught to obey the law before they could be saved.
In Genesis 18:19, God knew Abraham that he may teach his children and those of his household to walk in the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to him all the He has promised him, namely that through his children all of the nations of the earth would be blessed.
Yes - Abraham was credited with righteousness because of his faith. God said that he would give a 100 year old man and 90 year old woman many ancestors, and Abraham believed. It was biologically impossible for Sarah to have a child - she had one because God promised and caused it to happen; no other reason. God made the promise to Abraham and God made the covenant with him, to show that he was committed to keeping his promise.
God did this. Abraham did not have the law, only God's promise that he would bring this to pass.
In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by making known to him His ways that he might know Him, and Israel too.
Moses wanted assurance that God would go with them and be with him as he led the people. He said that unless God was with them there would be nothing to distinguish them from all the other nations, Exodus 33:16. The thing that would make this group of people different from any other nation on earth was that God himself - the One who had created them, rescued them, protected them and made promises to them - would be with them. No other nation had that - they had many gods and they had to sacrifice to those gods in the hope that the gods would not be angry with them, and would give them good crops etc. But no other nation knew that their God was with them.
In response to this, God showed Moses himself; his glory. Moses could not see his face, because no one could look at God and live, but he saw God's "back", Exodus 33:23. Even so, Moses is described as having talked with God "face to face". After he had done so, his face was so bright that he had to put a veil over it so that the people could look at him, Exodus 34:29-35.
Because of Jesus, not only are we reconciled to God and can know that he is with us always, we can be filled with his Holy Spirit; the Holy God himself can live IN us. The Spirit was poured out on the apostles at Pentecost, which we are celebrating today. After Pentecost, the Spirit came to, and filled, all believers and new believers who accepted Jesus. This is what Jesus promised. When the disciples, and others, looked at Jesus, they were looking at God.
In Psalms 119:1, blessed are those who walk in the way of the Lord, and in Psalms 119:29-30, David wanted to put false ways behind him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey the Mosaic Law, and to choose the way of faithfulness.
Of course he did; he was a Jew.
David prophesied about Jesus but he didn't know him.
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.
All Old Testament; old covenant.
I don't know about you, but I am living in the New Covenant, after the resurrection of the One who fulfilled the law and has reconciled me to God.
In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments,
Jesus told a rich young ruler, who was probably Jewish, that he needed to obey God's commands. When the man asked him "which ones?" Jesus replied "do not murder, commit adultery, steal" etc. He mentioned only the last of the 10 commandments which related to loving your neighbour, and the man said that he had kept all those.
But the first commandment is to love God. For the rich young ruler, his money stood between him and God; Jesus knew this, and that his money was preventing him from loving God, so he told him to give it all away. The man could not do this and went away sad - even though he kept (most of) the commandments, he did not put God first, nor was he willing to do so.
Keeping God's commands means putting him first, and doing his will. It is his will that we believe in his Son, John 6:40. When God himself was on earth he gave us other commands - to love as he loved us, to go into the world and make disciples and so on.
They were taking the position of salvation through faith, which the Jerusalem Council ruled in favor of in opposition to the group from Judea who were teaching that Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved in Acts 15:1,
Yes, the Apostles - the Jewish council - were opposed to the teaching that Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved.
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham. All males were circumcised after this. It was a sign that they were part of the promises that God made to Abraham, and were his people.
Moses himself was nearly killed by God because he was not circumcised, Exodus 4:24-25.
Yet the Apostles said that Gentiles could be saved, be God's children and have eternal life through Jesus alone - without the need for circumcision. That was a huge thing; former Pharisee Saul later taught that anyone who let themselves be circumcised was saying that Christ died for nothing.
In other words, Jesus is enough for salvation.
Every kingdom has laws that govern the conduct of its citizens and God's law is straightforwardly the law of God's Kingdom. Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand,
Yes. He told Jews who were under the Jewish law and obeying it, to repent.
He did not tell them to carry on keeping the law but make sure they did it perfectly. And he certainly didn't tell Gentiles to start obeying the Mosaic law.
Either there are correct and incorrect reasons for someone to become circumcised, and Paul only spoke against the incorrect reasons, or according to Galatians 5:2, Paul caused Christ to be of no value when he had him circumcised,
Presumably you are referring to Paul having Timothy circumcised? Paul did that so that the Jews would accept him and not accuse him of taking an uncircumcised man into the temple. He was not circumcising Timothy so that he would be saved.
Circumcision means nothing; abstaining from meat offered to idols means nothing. Paul was willing to do/not do those things if it would help someone else find faith and not make it difficult for others to hear the Gospel.
But circumcision was NOT necessary for salvation. Paul taught against that.
So the Jerusalem Council upheld the Mosaic Law by correcting ruling against that requirement, and a ruling against requiring something that God never commanded should not be mistaken as being a ruling against following what God has commanded or as being a ruling against following what Christ taught by word and by example.
If you consider that "following what Christ taught by word and example" means keeping the law, then you must do that.
