Rom2:13 has been explained to you. I can give you twenty verses of Paul's if needed that all say the same thing, the believer has no righteousness of obeying the law.
And the whole gospel concept has been explained to you:
by the law no one will be justifed, but the
just will nonetheless be marked by obedience of the law
even if they've never heard it let alone are
under it. Justification, simply, is not only forgivness of sin but the taking away of sin and replacing it with justice/righteousness from on high, "the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith",
Phil 3:9. You've already ignored many, many passages that make that fact clear.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Gal2:21
Yes,
Yes,
YES!! Righteousness comes from God alone. That doesn't mean we don't need to have it. And that we can't still compromise it by opting for injustice, sin.
The point is, to be justified by obeying the TC requires obedience to the law
Yes,
and...so????? No one is justified by obeying the TC. Rather, one can obey the TC authentically by
being justified.
ou believe you must obey the TC to be righteous/inherit eternal life. There is no watered down version of those commands, only the true version
You must not make a god out of anything and put it before your Father in Heaven
You must not erect any graven image in your mind
You must never tell even a little fib about another
You must not desire anything of your neighbours whether material goods or a member of their household
You must not lust/'have sexual desire for anyone, unless it for your spouse
You must obey the law relating to the inner man, the law only you and God need know you break.
Thou shalt NOT, no wiggle room for error, perfectly obey those commands or stand guilty before them
Paul stated concerning the TC, they are the letter that kills, the ministry of death and condemnation
He stated believers must die to the law in order to bear fruit for God, they are released from it and serve in the new way of the spirit, not the old way of the written code/law
He gave an example of which law he was talking about, the example given was one of the TC.
Whether you realize it or not, you're saying that it's now totally ok for a
believer to engage and persist in adultery, murder, theft, lying, failing to love God and neighbor in general-you might as well be supporting what Isaiah condemns in Is 5:20. Because with your view there's no alternative or even difference between perfect obedience or none at all-and obedience/righteousness plays no role whatsoever anyway. But it's not what we do
before justification-that won't impress God in the least. It's what we do
after- with the gift received, the "gift of righteousness", as it's put in Romans and elsewhere, the gift of Himself, properly understood.
You're conflating and confusing two separate concepts: works of the law vs genuine obedience/righteousness -and deciding that
both are unnecessary.
Jesus stated the Pharisees cleaned the outside of the cup but on the inside were full of wickedness, hypocrisy and everything unclean
Why do you think the example Paul gave as to why he had to die to the law was coveting? Because it concerns what goes on, on the inside of man, his thoughts/desires, no outward action is needed to transgress the commandment.
Paul died to doing "works of the law": the mere external appearance of holiness that he and other Pharisees excelled at, so that he may now become clean on the inside by the power of God, having the real thing.
"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." Ex 36:25-27
Saul saw himself as faultless according to the
whole law, while Paul had learned better, much better, that he wasn't even close, but only had the outward appearance of such holiness. He knew that the mere removal of a little piece of flesh from the body or the mere observance of the moral law could never make one holy. He knew that his righteousness must-and now
can-surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matt 5:20). And this is easily done, actually, to the extent that we begin to love as God would have us love, and as only He can empower us to do, no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness that leads to holiness resulting in eternal life, Rom 6:22. That's
"the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith", Phil 3:9
