All scripture is profitable, some is not binding on man. Jesus fulfilled all of the laws of the old covenant, so they are not binding on man today.
This is your religious philosophy Bob, it was also the religious philosophy of the Pharisees. But not the philosophy of the Jesus of the bible.
Matt. 23:
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Or of Paul;
2 Tim. 3:
15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, (Law and Prophets were the only Scriptures which existed in Timothy's Childhood, this is simply a fact.) which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Zacharias and Simeon obeyed the instructions of the God of the Bible, and as a result, were "wise unto Salvation".
Luke 1:
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
There is not one LAW which is Binding on man on it's own. Loving and Honoring the God of Abraham is a voluntary offering. Jesus has cleared the way for you to "Yield Yourself" to God. To "cling to Him" as opposed to the religions of the land we are born into. WE are to "bind our self to God", and the Lord's Christ gave His Life for us to have another chance at doing so.
Paul understood this perfectly, but the mainstream religions of the land of his time did not, just as they don't today.
Rom. 12:
1 I beseech (BEG) you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: (Or more importantly, it's religions) but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
God doesn't force you, or bind you to HIS Good, Just, Perfect, Holy and Spiritual instructions. You are a servant to whom ever you "Yield yourself to obey".
It's really simple actually, just like with Eve. We either believe in the God inspired Scriptures, or the "other voice" in the garden.
2 Cor. 11:
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Matt 5 tells us this and if you don't believe He did then you are subject to all of those laws. "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."
Jesus said to not even "Think" HE came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. And yet there are "many" on this forum who "Think" just that. What does it mean to "Fulfill" ? In this context it is the exact opposite of destroy. Many have been convinced Fulfill and Destroy are the same thing. But what else does Jesus say about the Holy Scriptures, other than HE didn't come to destroy them?
Matt. 4:
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
So is this Christ's Truth only until HIS Death, as some preach? Let's ask Paul.
1 Cor. 10:
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our (New Covenant Believers) examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
But wait Bob, aren't to preaching the Law and Prophets have already been "Fulfilled" and are no longer relevant to a Christian's life?
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our (New Covenant Believers) admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
So Bob, you think you stand, yes? So the Law and Prophets then, according to Paul, were written
specifically for you.
If this is true then, of course Jesus didn't come to "destroy" the Law or Prophets, they were written specifically for us. Why would HE destroy what God had specially written for our admonition? The truth is HE wouldn't, and didn't.
Is there more evidence that God Had the Law and Prophets written for us?
1 Cor. 9:
8 Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our (New Covenant Believers) sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
So Bob, according to the Holy Scriptures, even the Law which appears to be about feeding oxen was written Specifically for "
our (New Covenant Believers)
Sake's" no doubt.
Are you bound to them, or are they "Binding to you"? Only if you "Yield yourself" to obey the God who created them for you. As Paul also teaches.
Romans 6:
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
The big question is did Jesus do what He came to do? Some do not believe He did because they continue to keep the laws of the old covenant. Paul believed He did because his writings are full of the fact that Jesus did what He came to do.
Well we know HE didn't come to destroy, erase or make irrelevant the very instructions and examples God had written specifically for those who would "Yield themselves to God".
Jesus said why HE was Sent, if a man believes in Him.
Matt. 15:
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Why were they lost?
Jer. 50:
6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.
The Mainstream Preachers of that time were teaching falsehoods. They were "teaching for doctrines the Commandments of men", not the Law and Prophets. They had created their own LAWS as Prophesied in the Law and Prophets. They "Transgressed the Commandments of God by their own religious traditions". At least this is what the Jesus of the Bible teaches, if one believes in Him.
There are fraudsters, like the other "voice in the garden", who falsely preach the New Covenant was about the elimination of God's Laws. This deception is very prevalent in the religions of the land I was born into. But if a person closes their ears to these other voices, and read the Christ's own definition of HIS Own New Covenant, they can easily see this modern religious philosophy is a lie.
The only thing that changed in the New Covenant is the Levitical Priesthood. In other words, only 2 things changed.
#1. The Manner in which God's Laws are administered. No longer is it the exclusive duty of a Levite Priest to read from the Book of the Law, we all have access to the Oracles of God in our own home, in our own mind, on our own lips. We just need to believe what is written, which is called Faith. AS HE says "For I will write MY Laws on their inward parts" (Mind)
#2. The Manner in which sins are forgiven. No Longer is it the exclusive duty of the Levite Priest to perform sacrificial "Works" of the Law of atonement given by Covenant to Levi on Israel's behalf after they Sinned the great Sin, (Golden calf) "Til the Seed should Come". "for I will forgive their sins"
The teaching that the New Covenant is the destruction of instructions and examples God had specifically written for our admonition is an insidious falsehood. But a falsehood believed by "many" just the same, as prophesied.
Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
What Law was "ADDED" because of Transgressions? What was the Law "ADDED" to? What was Transgressed?
Bob, you are preaching that the "LAW" that was ADDED 430 years after Abraham obeyed, was the 2 greatest commandments and all that hangs on them, in other words, all of God's Laws Statutes, Judgments and Commandments given to Moses to give specifically to us as Paul tells us. But this is untrue. Paul is speaking to what the Jews were still promoting. They didn't believe Jesus forgave their sins, they were still requiring the Levitical Priesthood sacrificial "works of the Law" God "ADDED" to His Commandments, Judgments and Statutes of God that Abraham and Noah, and Caleb, and Zacharias, to name a few, "Yielded themselves to obey".
God didn't "ADD" HIS Laws, Commandments, Statutes and Judgments "Because of Transgressions" till the Seed should come". He Added the "LAW of Works" for Atonement because of transgressions "Till the Seed should come". This LAW was to lead them to Christ, the Lamb of God, for atonement. And did for many as the examples of Caleb,Zacharias, and every example of Faith shows us.
I will continue in another post.