The God of the New

You better hope you are are right. Because if, by chance, you are wrong - then this post will be very uncomfortable to hear read out before the Father and His angels on Judgement Day. How will you justify teaching against what the Messiah taught in Matthew 5:19? Will you claim a tenuous understanding of Paul's words or a teacher you once heard as your defence? Do you think it will stand?

As for me and my house, rather than listen to your advice, we'll listen to that of King David, a man after God's own heart...

"The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward."
Psalm 19:7-11

Repent, whilst there is still time, and reassess the matter once again with an open mind.

Aussie Pete said:

For decades, the battleship ruled the seas. The idea of a near unsinkable vessel carrying massive guns was very appealing to anyone who could afford it. The development of aircraft put paid to that idea. Japan proved it by sinking two of the Royal Navy's best, by air assaults that neither ship could beat off.

In an ironic twist, Japan built the largest battleships. They too were sunk by aircraft. So ended the era of the battleship. As mighty and as impressive as they were, they were obsolete. Some hung around for a while as floating artillery. No longer did they rule the ocean.

Some Christians seem to be nostalgic for the old. They have a "battleship" mentality. The reality is that the old is now as obsolete as the battleship.

Hebrews 8:12 & 13
"'For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more'.” By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

The covenant of Law still has a role to play. 1 Timothy 1 7-9

"They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers…"

and Galatians 3:23 - 25

"Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.…"

The Law becomes redundant when a person come to Christ. It is obsolete. It has one purpose and those who are born again are no longer subject to the Law.

God is God of the new."New life" and "newness of life" is a theme running right through the NT. Why? Because all people are born dead in trespass and sin, no matter how nice, good, noble or law abiding they may be. Lord Jesus said, "I come that they might have life". Why? Because without Christ, there is no life.

We should be naturally spiritual. By that I mean that we come to realise that we are new (that word again) creations in Christ and that the old has passed away. This is not some kind of metaphysical concept or allegory. It is not a metaphor for life. Christians really are different by nature. A cat is a cat because it has the nature of a cat, cat life if you will. A dog is not a cat and can never be a cat. A Christian has the nature of Christ within. So there is no point in striving to change to be like Christ. We are already partakers of the divine nature, we already have all that we need to be godly, the old has already passed away and the new has indeed come.

God did not save us so that we could go back into the chains of the Law. We have the Law of the Spirit of Life, we live according to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. The Law has done its job, unless you are not really saved, just religious and still deluded that you can somehow please God.

Brethren, it's NEW! Satan is the Serpent of old. Don't fall for his lies and deceptions. Lot's wife learned the hard way (unintentional pun) that looking back is not a good idea.

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Aussie Pete said:

We have the Law of the Spirit of Life

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And what is the Law of the Spirit of Life?

The Law leads us to Christ ... and then after we receive Him as Lord and Savior He leads us back to the Law and helps us through the Holy Spirit to overcome sin (which IS transgression of the Law)

Aussie Pete said:

Just wrong. Seriously, do you think the One who gave the Law in the first place, declared it obsolete and gave us the law of life wants to put us back under an obsolete law? The old covenant is just that. Old. It's been replaced. Does a bird need help to be a bird? Does a dog have to try to be a dog? A Christian needs no help. What he needs is knowledge of what God has already done for him in Christ. He needs to come to a place where he quits trying to be what God has already made him to be. If you knew how insulting it is to God, you'd hang your head in shame. You and most other Christians who are blind to what God has done for us in His Son. I won't say too much. I was just as ignorant and blind until God opened my eyes.

Overcoming sin is just the very minimum that God grants us through Christ. It's nothing special. What God wants is Kingdom people whom will live in the Victory that He gives us through the Lord Jesus. Self is a far bigger problem than sin. Pleasing self means not serving God. Not sinning is just standing still. We are supposed to be walking in the Spirit.
Do you not know what that means either? I suggest that you ask God to show you.

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He saves us FROM our sin not IN our sin. The Law is good. Without the Law we would not know what sin is. Because of our precious Lord Jesus we will not be condemned by the law .... but that is not to say there is no Law.

ok .... tell me (since you claim to know) ... what you think walking in the Spirit is?

Aussie Pete said:

Just wrong. Seriously, do you think the One who gave the Law in the first place, declared it obsolete and gave us the law of life wants to put us back under an obsolete law? The old covenant is just that. Old. It's been replaced. Does a bird need help to be a bird? Does a dog have to try to be a dog? A Christian needs no help. What he needs is knowledge of what God has already done for him in Christ. He needs to come to a place where he quits trying to be what God has already made him to be. If you knew how insulting it is to God, you'd hang your head in shame. You and most other Christians who are blind to what God has done for us in His Son. I won't say too much. I was just as ignorant and blind until God opened my eyes.

Overcoming sin is just the very minimum that God grants us through Christ. It's nothing special. What God wants is Kingdom people whom will live in the Victory that He gives us through the Lord Jesus. Self is a far bigger problem than sin. Pleasing self means not serving God. Not sinning is just standing still. We are supposed to be walking in the Spirit.
Do you not know what that means either? I suggest that you ask God to show you.

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When did God declare the Law obsolete? I must have missed it. Was Jesus just kidding when he said the following?

KJ21
For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.

Aussie Pete said:

Spare me. Who wrote Psalm 119? Most likely King David. What use was it to him when it mattered? None. He committed adultery and murdered to cover up his sin. He knew God's Law. He agreed with it, admired it and praised it. And broke it twice. Adultery is bad enough but murder? And God's grace and mercy prevailed to permit David to live, instead of being stoned to death as the Law required.

I reject your religious condemnation. If you think that you can obey the Law, fine. Just tell me which of the 600 plus apply to you and then boast how well you are keeping them. Break just one, just once and you are condemned. Good luck with that.

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There is a difference between believing that one is forgiven for one's sin because God is gracious and merciful to those that repent of their sin and accept God's Grace, and contending that the Law is obsolete. If the Law were truly declared obsolete then no one would need forgiveness and Grace would be unnecessary. What is the LAW? Jesus summed it up as "Love God with all your heart and Soul and Love your neighbor as yourself.". That is has not been declared obsolete as far as I know.

Aussie Pete said:

Guess what. It's been fulfilled, at least by some. It is fulfilled when a person is convicted of sin and comes to Christ. Does anyone believe God's word anymore? I know some do, but boy the level of ignorance here baffles me. Hebrews 8:13 since you can't be bothered to check it yourself.

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Guess what the heaven's and the earth have not passed away. So it is not altogether fulfilled in the context that Jesus placed fulfillment in the words he gave us.

Aussie Pete said:

The Law becomes redundant when a person come to Christ. It is obsolete. It has one purpose and those who are born again are no longer subject to the Law.

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I get what you're driving at in your OP and, mostly, I agree with you. Possibly, though, some clarification, or the making of distinctions, is in order. Above is one example where this might be so.

Romans 8:2-4
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

As people with a new spiritual nature (2 Corinthians 5:17), we live according to the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," not according to the letter of the old Mosaic laws of separation and ceremony. In doing so, we fulfill the requirement of the OT law, the righteousness and God-centered spirit of it, and not all the various particular stipulations of it (men wear beards, no mixed fabrics, no eating shellfish, etc.)

Romans 7:5-6
5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

The New Covenant under which we live as born-again disciples of Jesus frees us from the letter of the Mosaic Law, as Paul explained exhaustively to the Galatian church, but the New Covenant does not negate the universal Moral Law described in both Old and New Testaments. Born-again believers don't have to fuss with the minutiae of sacrifice and ceremony common to the OT Israelite way of life, nor do they have to observe the multitude of rules separating the Israelites out as a nation from all others, but born-again children of God are still bound under God's Moral Law prohibiting sexual sin, lying, murder, idolatry, and so on.

Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Aussie Pete said:

Because all people are born dead in trespass and sin, no matter how nice, good, noble or law abiding they may be. Lord Jesus said, "I come that they might have life". Why? Because without Christ, there is no life.

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I used to think this meant, as Sproul, MacArthur, Piper and others teach, that "dead in trespasses and sins" described an utter incapacity to respond positively to God's truth. But this isn't actually what Scripture ever says. Instead, it indicates that, without spiritual regeneration occurring first, there were people who lived in God-pleasing, God-honoring ways. Cornelius is a good example:

Acts 10:1-2
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort,
2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

This is recorded of Cornelius as an unbeliever, as one not spiritually-regenerated. But if being unregenerate means being totally unable to respond to God, how was Cornelius, a stranger to the Gospel and to the apostles of Christ, able to live as an unregenerate but devout, prayerful, God-fearing, generous man? He was "dead in trespasses and sins," wasn't he?

For more: www.soteriology101.com

You are entirely correct, however, in your statement: "Without Christ, there is no life." Amen. (Philippians 1:21; Colossians 3:4; John 14:6)

Aussie Pete said:

We should be naturally spiritual. By that I mean that we come to realise that we are new (that word again) creations in Christ and that the old has passed away. This is not some kind of metaphysical concept or allegory. It is not a metaphor for life. Christians really are different by nature.

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Again, amen. But, you know, it is possible to be a new creation but live in the former life of the flesh. As one preacher has said, "The me I see is the me I'll be." I've met many Christians who did not know what it meant to be a "new creature in Christ." They had no idea of the truths of Romans 6, for example. And they lived according to their stunted view of who they were as born-again children of God.

Aussie Pete said:

A Christian has the nature of Christ within. So there is no point in striving to change to be like Christ. We are already partakers of the divine nature, we already have all that we need to be godly, the old has already passed away and the new has indeed come.

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Oh? Hmmm. If this is so, why did Paul go to such lengths in his letters to Early Church believers, explaining to them who they were in Christ and how to live as "new creations" in him? Why Romans 6, 7 and 8? Or his letter to the Galatians? Or the massively corrective first letter that he wrote to the Corinthians?

Aussie Pete said:

Those who are born again have a new spirit. It is not God, but it is given by God to replace the dead spirit that we inherited from Adam. Lord Jesus/God dwells in the new spirit and reveals the will of God there. The born again spirit includes conscience and intuition. Conscience tells us what not to do. Intuition tells us what we should do. That is directly from God, not according to a set of of rules. God not only leads us but empowers us. God will never expect us to do something that He does not enable us to do.

We choose how to respond. We either go by logic, reason, natural wisdom to do what pleases ourselves or we go by the spirit. So what is the Bible for? It's to enable us to check that we are really hearing from God. God will not contradict His Word. We need a good knowledge of the written word to enable us to be sure that we are hearing from the "Living Word", the Lord Jesus.

A simple example. The OT requires a tithe, 10%, and various other offerings. There is no tithe in the NT. It's each according to his ability to each according to their need. Now what if God wants you to go further and give a lot more than the basic principle? If you stick with 10%, you will be legalistically correct, but you will be disobeying God. I know people who have given way more than the required amount. I also know that God blesses those people far more than He is legalistically required to. Law is shallow and just a shadow of what God wants for us. We are supposed to be family.

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Good Post!

God does indeed have laws ... and they are GOOD. They are laws/commandments of Love. When kept perfectly (only the Lord Jesus did) they produce perfect harmony with God and mankind.

The laws that were done away with at the cross .... were those associated with the sanctuary system .... the 10 commandments are eternal laws. Everything Jesus taught is related to them in one way or another. Jesus is our High Priest and ministers from
the sanctuary in heaven (the true one) ... therefore no need for a earthly sanctuary system. The earthly sanctuary systems was pointing to Messiah to come .... the plan of salvation is symbolized/revealed within it.

Not sure why you brought up tithing .... it is neither law nor a commandment.

Tithing is the practice of setting aside 10% of your increase or profits to support the work of God. The first real mention of tithe in the Bible is found in Genesis 14:20 where Abraham gives a tithe to Melchizedek.

God’s promise in Malachi 3:10,
“‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,
Says the Lord of hosts,
‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.”

God in the OT and NT are the same .... it is Jesus throughout and God never changes. As time goes on .... more is revealed .... we are extremely blessed to have His Word.

Matthew 23:23 says, “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."

Leviticus 27:30 says, “A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord: it is holy to the Lord.” These gifts were a reminder that everything belonged to God and a portion was given back to God to thank him for what they had received.

It is about motive (in our heart/minds .... everything one does is to be done out of Love and for no other reasons ..... otherwise it is works and our works are filthy rags.

Sin is transgression of the Law ... with the help of the Holy Spirit we receive power to overcome sin (transgression of the Law). When that happens .... praise God for His work in us! We can not refrain from sin (transgression of the law) without His help.

Some put forth the law was done away with ... not so .... Jesus wants us to overcome sin (transgression of the Law) and helps us to do so. The law is written in our hearts and yes we are conscience of it.
We stumble around a lot at times but He is always there to help us pick up our bed and walk.

Walking in the spirit ...

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Deuteronomy 5:33
You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Galatians 5:16
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Walking by the Spirit
(Ezekiel 36:16–38; Romans 8:9–11)

16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; 20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25Since we live by the Spirit (of Love), let us walk in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another.

The motive is to be Love. His commandments produce Love.

God's motive is love. Love is the driving force behind everything He does.

1st Corinthians 13

Love

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. 6Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. 12Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

37Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’e 38This is the first and greatest commandment*. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’f 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Deuteronomy 6

5And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

John 14

18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

21Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”

It's all about love and Jesus IS love.

1 John 4:16
God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

The Law leads us to Jesus (makes us conscience of sin) and then when one receives Christ He Helps them to become obedient/overcome sin (transgression of the Law, (over the course of their earthly life) which produces Love and in Love there is no need for laws.

The Law is somewhat of a paradox to many ;o) when in reality it is not.

Aussie Pete said:

The biggest problem for Christians is ignorance. Since (in my 50 years experience) few pastors know who they are in Christ, even fewer of their congregation know the truth either.

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Yup. Couldn't agree more.

Aussie Pete said:

We also have the enemy of our souls hounding us constantly, trying to keep Christians in a "Romans 7" experience. We should live lives of victorious overcoming. But old habits die hard. The deep rooted pride, rebellion and independence of the soul-life resists the influence of the Holy Spirit. Until God deals with the natural man of the soul, Christians are at war, the old against the new, the Spirit against the natural.

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Which, to the surprise (and confusion) of many Christians, God has already done, crucifying them with Christ 2000 years ago. (Romans 6) All that remains is to know it, live by faith in it, and remain in constant submission to God, His "slave to righteousness" (Romans 6:18-22), by the Holy Spirit transformed and reflecting his work in our living. (Philippians 2:12-23)

Aussie Pete said:

God speaks to the inner man. One day Satan will be interred in the lake of fire, the self of the soul will be terminated and there will be no hindrance to hearing from God. For now, it is not always clear. We need to test everything and hold fast to what is good. How can we know? We check it against God's word.

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Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Aussie Pete said:

For decades, the battleship ruled the seas. The idea of a near unsinkable vessel carrying massive guns was very appealing to anyone who could afford it. The development of aircraft put paid to that idea. Japan proved it by sinking two of the Royal Navy's best, by air assaults that neither ship could beat off.

In an ironic twist, Japan built the largest battleships. They too were sunk by aircraft. So ended the era of the battleship. As mighty and as impressive as they were, they were obsolete. Some hung around for a while as floating artillery. No longer did they rule the ocean.

Some Christians seem to be nostalgic for the old. They have a "battleship" mentality. The reality is that the old is now as obsolete as the battleship.

Hebrews 8:12 & 13
"'For I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more'.” By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

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The way to do what is righteous or sinful is based on what is in accordance or against God's righteousness, not based on any particular covenant, and God's righteousness is eternal, so any laws that God has ever given for how to do that are eternally valid regardless of which covenant someone is under. For example, it was a sin to commit adultery in Genesis 39:9 long before the Mosaic Covenant was made, during it, and it remains sinful after it has become obsolete, so there is nothing about any number of covenants being made or become obsolete that changes which actions are righteous or sinful. In Hebrews 8:10, the New Covenant involves following God's law, so while the Mosaic Covenant has become obsolete, God's law did not become obsolete along with it.

The covenant of Law still has a role to play. 1 Timothy 1 7-9

"They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert. Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers…"

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Saying that the law is good if one uses it legitimately should not be used to argue against the law being good for us to obey, but only against illegitimate uses of the law.

and Galatians 3:23 - 25

"Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.…"

The Law becomes redundant when a person come to Christ. It is obsolete. It has one purpose and those who are born again are no longer subject to the Law.

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If God's laws are not arbitrarily given, then there are reason for why God chose to give the laws that He did which teach us about the nature of who He is, and if that is the case, then the only way that any of God's laws could become obsolete is if what they teach us about the nature of God is no longer true, however, God's nature is eternal, so anything He teaches us about His nature is eternally valid. Likewise, Jesus is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), which he expressed through His actions by living in sinless obedience to the Mosaic Law, so the Mosaic Law teaches about the nature of Christ, and the only way for it to become obsolete is if Christ also becomes obsolete. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so expressing Christ's nature through our obedience to the Mosaic Law is the way to experientially know Christ, and sadly your post is seeking to turn people away from having knowledge of Christ. The Mosaic Law leads us to Christ because it was given for the purpose of teaching us how to have a relationship with him, but does not lead us to Christ so that we can refuse to follow him and go back to living in sin.

God is God of the new."New life" and "newness of life" is a theme running right through the NT. Why? Because all people are born dead in trespass and sin, no matter how nice, good, noble or law abiding they may be. Lord Jesus said, "I come that they might have life". Why? Because without Christ, there is no life.

We should be naturally spiritual. By that I mean that we come to realise that we are new (that word again) creations in Christ and that the old has passed away. This is not some kind of metaphysical concept or allegory. It is not a metaphor for life. Christians really are different by nature. A cat is a cat because it has the nature of a cat, cat life if you will. A dog is not a cat and can never be a cat. A Christian has the nature of Christ within. So there is no point in striving to change to be like Christ. We are already partakers of the divine nature, we already have all that we need to be godly, the old has already passed away and the new has indeed come.

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In Ephesians 2:10, we have been made new creations in Christ to do good works, not in order to reject God's laws for how to do good works. The old passing away is living in disobedience to God, not living in obedience to Him. Again, Christ expressed his nature through walking in obedience to the Mosaic Law, so that is also the way for us to Christ within, which is way those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6).

God did not save us so that we could go back into the chains of the Law. We have the Law of the Spirit of Life, we live according to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. The Law has done its job, unless you are not really saved, just religious and still deluded that you can somehow please God.

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Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so living in the freedom of obedience to God's law is precisely the reason why Jesus gave us to gift of saving us from living in chains to sin in transgression of God's law. God is not in disagreement with Himself about which laws we should obey, so the Law of Christ is the same as the Law of the Spirit and the Law of the Father, which was given to Moses. In Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey the Mosaic Law.

Brethren, it's NEW! Satan is the Serpent of old. Don't fall for his lies and deceptions. Lot's wife learned the hard way (unintentional pun) that looking back is not a good idea.

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The Mosaic Law is truth (Psalms 119:142), so if trust in the Lord with all our heart rather than leaning on our own understanding, then we will allow the Mosaic Law to divide between truth and lies. Satan does not have the role of leading us to obey what God has commanded in accordance with the example Christ set for us to follow.

Aussie Pete said:

Just wrong. Seriously, do you think the One who gave the Law in the first place, declared it obsolete and gave us the law of life wants to put us back under an obsolete law? The old covenant is just that. Old. It's been replaced. Does a bird need help to be a bird? Does a dog have to try to be a dog? A Christian needs no help. What he needs is knowledge of what God has already done for him in Christ. He needs to come to a place where he quits trying to be what God has already made him to be. If you knew how insulting it is to God, you'd hang your head in shame. You and most other Christians who are blind to what God has done for us in His Son. I won't say too much. I was just as ignorant and blind until God opened my eyes.

Overcoming sin is just the very minimum that God grants us through Christ. It's nothing special. What God wants is Kingdom people whom will live in the Victory that He gives us through the Lord Jesus. Self is a far bigger problem than sin. Pleasing self means not serving God. Not sinning is just standing still. We are supposed to be walking in the Spirit.
Do you not know what that means either? I suggest that you ask God to show you.

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In Deuteronomy 30:11-20, the Mosaic Law is not too difficult to obey and obedience brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! In Deuteronomy 32:47, it is our very life. In Proverbs 3:18, she is a tree of life for all who take hold of her. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that the way to enter eternal life is by obey God's commandments, so it is the law of life and is part of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:10). Obedience to God's law has never been about trying to become something other than who were are, but is acting in accordance with who God has created us to be.

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, so God graciously teaching us to obey His law for us to do that is itself part of the content of His gift of salvation, and obedience to them is not just about refraining from sin, but also doing what is godly, righteous, and good. Furthermore, in Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so becoming zealous for doing good works is what it means to believe in what God has done for us in His Son (Acts 21:20), while returning to the lawlessness that he gave himself to redeem us from us what would be turning a blind eye to it.

In Romans 8:4-7, those who walk in the Spirit are contrasted with those who have minds set on the flesh who refuse to submit to the Law of God, and the Law of Moses is referred to as the Law of God in a number of verses like Nehemiah 8:1-8, Ezra 7:6-12, and Luke 2:22-23. Every kingdom has laws that govern the conduct of its citizens and the Law of God is straightforwardly the law of God's Kingdom, which is why Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message calling for people to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 4:17-23). However, even if obedience to the Law of Moses were just about refraining from sin and we are called to do more than that, then it would at the very least be inclusive of being called to obey the Law of Moses.

Those who are born again have a new spirit. It is not God, but it is given by God to replace the dead spirit that we inherited from Adam. Lord Jesus/God dwells in the new spirit and reveals the will of God there. The born again spirit includes conscience and intuition. Conscience tells us what not to do. Intuition tells us what we should do. That is directly from God, not according to a set of of rules. God not only leads us but empowers us. God will never expect us to do something that He does not enable us to do.

We choose how to respond. We either go by logic, reason, natural wisdom to do what pleases ourselves or we go by the spirit. So what is the Bible for? It's to enable us to check that we are really hearing from God. God will not contradict His Word. We need a good knowledge of the written word to enable us to be sure that we are hearing from the "Living Word", the Lord Jesus.

A simple example. The OT requires a tithe, 10%, and various other offerings. There is no tithe in the NT. It's each according to his ability to each according to their need. Now what if God wants you to go further and give a lot more than the basic principle? If you stick with 10%, you will be legalistically correct, but you will be disobeying God. I know people who have given way more than the required amount. I also know that God blesses those people far more than He is legalistically required to. Law is shallow and just a shadow of what God wants for us. We are supposed to be family.

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God has made His will known through the Mosaic Law (Psalms 40:8). A chip off the old block is someone who has the same nature or character as their father, and Jesus is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), which he expressed through walking in sinless of obedience to the Mosaic Law, so this is the sense that he is the Son of God, and the sense that we are born again as sons of God through partaking in the divine nature, which is also expressed through our obedience to the Mosaic Law. Our conscience needs to be informed by the Mosaic Law in order to function properly. The Mosaic Law is God's word (Deuteronomy 5:31-33), so your thread is fundamentally opposed to the position that God will never contradict His word.

Nowhere does the NT speak against tithing. The Bible never suggests that the tithe is a cap on how much people should give, but rather people's donations were in addition to the tithe.

Aussie Pete said:

Spare me. Who wrote Psalm 119? Most likely King David. What use was it to him when it mattered? None. He committed adultery and murdered to cover up his sin. He knew God's Law. He agreed with it, admired it and praised it. And broke it twice. Adultery is bad enough but murder? And God's grace and mercy prevailed to permit David to live, instead of being stoned to death as the Law required.

I reject your religious condemnation. If you think that you can obey the Law, fine. Just tell me which of the 600 plus apply to you and then boast how well you are keeping them. Break just one, just once and you are condemned. Good luck with that.

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The fact that David sinned does not make what he said in the Psalms any less true. Thinking that we can keep the law is about putting faith in what God said in Deuteronomy 30:11-14, not about boasting. In James 2:1-11, he was speaking to people who had already sinned by showing favoritism, so his point was not that they were now condemned, nor was he discouraging them from trying to keep the law, but rather he was encouraging them to repent and to do a better job of obeying it more consistently.

Lord Jesus made it clear that the law of Moses was inadequate (sermon on the mount). You seem to forget that the covenant of Laws was God's second best, given because Israel refused to come to God as He called them. (Exodus 20)

Galatians 3:19 "Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator."

Do you believe that "the seed" has arrived? Or are you still waiting? I have a relationship with the Living God, through the risen Christ. No one can relate to a couple of stones. No, I much prefer the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. I've tried it the legalistic, "try harder" way. It does not work. Paul describes it perfectly in Romans 7. I went onto Romans 8.

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Everything that Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount was rooted in the OT, so it has nothing with saying that the Law of Moses was inadequate. Jesus is one with the Father, so he should not be interpreted as undermining what the Father commanded. While God gave the Law of Moses in lieu of the people being directly taught how to obey it by hearing God's voice, that does not diminish what it instructs us to do. Jesus did not go around telling people that the law had ended and that they needed to stop repenting, but just the opposite, so Galatians 3:19 should not be interpreted in order to undermine what is recorded about what Jesus actually did. The seed came to bless us by turning us from our wickedness (Acts 3:25-26), not in order to end law that prohibited wickedness. It is not legalistic to think that followers of God should follow what God has commanded in accordance with Christ's example, but rather it is a sin not to. In Romans 8:4-7, those who walk in the Spirit are contrasted with those who have minds set on the flesh who refuse to submit to God's law.

Aussie Pete said:

What I've said is in God's word. If you reject that, it's your responsibility. You entirely miss my point. I can do nothing about that.

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A house divided against itself can't stand. I do not reject God's word, but only your misinterpretation of it because God's word should not be interpreted as speaking against following God's word.