Are Christians free from obligations to follow the moral law?

[Xeno.of.athens]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

 

[RDKirk]

Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

If that were true, why did the apostles continue to admonish Christians to avoid sin?

Paul even raised the bar: Act only in ways that are positively beneficial and edifying, do nothing that is not positively beneficial and edifying.

 

[Mark Quayle]

No. Nobody is.

But for the born again, the new nature within them does not want to be free from what God commands.

Psalm 119:159
Consider how I love Your precepts, O LORD; give me life according to Your loving devotion.

Psalms 16:6
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

If that were true, why did the apostles continue to admonish Christians to avoid sin?

Paul even raised the bar: Act only in ways that are positively beneficial and edifying, do nothing that is not positively beneficial and edifying.

I left some words out of the OP, I have added them now, in [].

 

[Maria Billingsley]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

The moral law is now written in the hearts of believers through His Holy Spirit. Those who are in Him have no desire to be immoral. Grace provides freedom from the law written on stone.
Blessings

 

[RandyPNW]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

Definitely not! Moral Law existed in the form of "God created Man in His own image and likeness." That was a call for Man to obey God's Word.

Putting Man in the garden of Eden and being told to "keep the garden" and to "avoid the tree of knowledge" again suggests a moral law was present from the beginning of Man's creation. The Law of Moses carried this Moral Law within it, but was not its exact equivalent. The Law, rather, was a specialized Covenant, designed to keep God and Israel in relationship until final redemption was accomplished.

So the Law has been fulfilled in Christ's death and resurrection, but the Moral Law is still there. It is in Christ's Law, as well, which we understand involves loving God and loving our neighbor. It also requires us to believe in him as our Savior. And if we accept him as our Savior, we accept that our righteousness comes from following his Word throughout our lives.

 

[ViaCrucis]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

Not at all.

The Lutheran Confessions go into painstaking detail about the importance of the Law in the life of the Christian. We speak of the "Three Uses of the Law" as a way to talk about how the Law talks to us and what it means. Not only does the Law serve to put us to death for our sin, but the Law establishes for us what kind of life we ought to live out of the new obedience we have in Christ.

Though Lutherans make a huge point that our obedience to the Law is a Coram Hominibus/Coram Mundo context; not a Coram Deo context. I am not reckoned righteous before God by obedience to the Law; though I am condemned under the Law when I trespass its commandments. Thus obedience to the Law is not righteous before God, but righteousness toward others, e.g. Galatians 5:14, James 2:8. And this is pleasing to God, and is what good works are about (Ephesians 2:10)

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Not at all.

The Lutheran Confessions go into painstaking detail about the importance of the Law in the life of the Christian. We speak of the "Three Uses of the Law" as a way to talk about how the Law talks to us and what it means. Not only does the Law serve to put us to death for our sin, but the Law establishes for us what kind of life we ought to live out of the new obedience we have in Christ.

Though Lutherans make a huge point that our obedience to the Law is a Coram Hominibus/Coram Mundo context; not a Coram Deo context. I am not reckoned righteous before God by obedience to the Law; though I am condemned under the Law when I trespass its commandments. Thus obedience to the Law is not righteous before God, but righteousness toward others, e.g. Galatians 5:14, James 2:8.

-CryptoLutheran

Interesting; the idea that Christians are, by grace, set free from the moral law is ancient heresy of antinomianism.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Interesting; the idea that Christians are, by grace, set free from the moral law is ancient heresy of antinomianism.

Right. Lutherans, in following the ancient teaching of the Church, consider Antinomianism a heresy.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[eleos1954]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

No ... it is by God's grace that He helps us to keep the Law ... Through His grace He helps us overcome sin (transgression of the law)

“Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; see for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong — then guide me on the road to eternal life.” (Psalm 139:23-24 )

Through the work of the Holy Spirit we are guided away from sin. We will indeed mess up here and there ... but our lives should be turning away from sin .... not turning towards it. The guiding of the Holy Spirit continues throughout our earthly life by the grace of God.

 

[Soyeong]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

No, that would be depriving us grace. God is gracious to us by teaching us to obey His law (Psalms 119:29-30, Exodus 33:13, Genesis 6:8-9, Romans 1:5, Titus 2:11-13.

 

[eleos1954]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

No .... it's by grace that God helps us to overcome our sin (transgression of the law) through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Hawkins]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

That question boils down to what quality of humans are required for a Heaven to be built by God. Eden is more of a pre-modeled place where Adam sinned due to the lack of 1) faith, and 2) obedience. These are the two very quality required in order for a Heaven to be built where humans and angels can live with a sin-incompatible God eternally.

Law is designed for the assessment of obedience. However humans failed such an assessment that no one can pass the Final Judgment of Law. Humans need Jesus Christ to be saved, which at the end is about an assessment of faith.

In summary, the two most crucial quality humans need to be in Heaven are,
1) obedience
2) faith

We however failed the assessment of obedience that now we are subject to the assessment of faith. Even though our obedience is no longer lawfully/legally assessed by means of Law, it be no means says that we shall give up obedience as a quality required in order to live in Heaven with God who is completely sin-incompatible.

 

[Guojing]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

Well, if you murder, in some places there is still death penalty.

It all boils down to how you relate to the moral law. Do you believe that God is more likely to be pleased with you if you do, or some other reason?

 

[Athanasius377]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

No. That is called antinomianism.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

[Do you believe that] Christians are freed by grace from obligations of any moral law?

The existence of the moral law is there to show us that we can't follow it. In other words, it shows us that we have sinned and we need Jesus Christ to be our Saviour to enable us to escape the condemnation that results in not following God's moral law perfectly. If we could follow the moral law perfectly, our own righteousness would be enough to be accepted by God, and so in order to be accepted as a child of God we need another righteousness, a perfect one, and the only one available to us is the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself. Therefore Christ has been made sin on our behalf so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. He took the penalty for our sin, and gave us His righteousness in return so that we are able to call ourselves the children of God.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

The existence of the moral law is there to show us that we can't follow it.

Matthew 5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, with what will it be salted? It is no longer useful at all, except to be cast out and trampled under by men. (14) You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. (15) And they do not light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that it may shine to all who are in the house. (16) So then, let your light shine in the sight of men, so that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father, who is in heaven.

The former instructions Jesus Christ gave to the multitude. Now he addresses his apostles, styling them the salt of the earth, meant to preserve men from the corruption of sin, and to make them relish the truths of salvation. He tells them not to suffer their faith or their charity to slacken, in which all their power consists, lest they come to be rejected by God, and despised by man. (Calmet) ---

I send you, says Jesus Christ, not to two, ten, or twenty cities, not to one single nation, as the prophets were sent, but to the whole world, a world oppressed with numberless iniquities. It is not the property of salt to restore what is already corrupted, but to preserve from corruption. Therefore the virtue of the merits of Christ delivers us from the corruption of sin; but the care and labour of the apostles preserves us from again returning to it. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xv.) ---

It appears from Luke xiv. 34, that this comparison is taken from agriculture. We observe these properties of salt in the different manures that fertilize the soil, but suffer the salts to evaporate, and all their virtue is lost. (Haydock)​

 

[Soyeong]

That question boils down to what quality of humans are required for a Heaven to be built by God. Eden is more of a pre-modeled place where Adam sinned due to the lack of 1) faith, and 2) obedience. These are the two very quality required in order for a Heaven to be built where humans and angels can live with a sin-incompatible God eternally.

Law is designed for the assessment of obedience. However humans failed such an assessment that no one can pass the Final Judgment of Law. Humans need Jesus Christ to be saved, which at the end is about an assessment of faith.

In summary, the two most crucial quality humans need to be in Heaven are,
1) obedience
2) faith

We however failed the assessment of obedience that now we are subject to the assessment of faith. Even though our obedience is no longer lawfully/legally assessed by means of Law, it be no means says that we shall give up obedience as a quality required in order to live in Heaven with God who is completely sin-incompatible.

In Deuteronomy 30:11-20, it says that the Mosaic Law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! So it was presented as a possibility and as a choice, not as an assessment that no one can pass. Moreover, Romans 10:5-8 references Deuteronomy 30:11-20 as the word of faith that we proclaim, so faith is not an alternative assessment that we can fall back on if we fail the assessment of obedience, but rather being a doer of the Mosaic Law is the way to have the assessment of faith, which is why Jesus said in Matthew 23:23 that faith is one of the weightier matters of the Mosaic Law.

 

[Soyeong]

The existence of the moral law is there to show us that we can't follow it. In other words, it shows us that we have sinned and we need Jesus Christ to be our Saviour to enable us to escape the condemnation that results in not following God's moral law perfectly. If we could follow the moral law perfectly, our own righteousness would be enough to be accepted by God, and so in order to be accepted as a child of God we need another righteousness, a perfect one, and the only one available to us is the perfect righteousness of Christ Himself. Therefore Christ has been made sin on our behalf so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. He took the penalty for our sin, and gave us His righteousness in return so that we are able to call ourselves the children of God.

Not even earthly parents give rules to their children in order to show them that they can’t follow them, but rather they give them rules for their own good in order to teach them how to rightly live, and this is that much more true of our Heavenly Father (Deuteronomy 6:24, 10:12-13). Nowhere does the refer to the moral law or state that any of God’s laws were given to show us that we can’t follow them, but rather Deuteronomy 30:11-20 says that God’s law is not to difficult for us to follow, that obedience to it brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! Moreover, Romans 10:5-8 references Deuteronomy 30:11-20 as the word of faith that we proclaim.

God’s law itself came with instructions for what to do when Hid people sinned, so it never required people to have perfect obedience. Repentance doesn’t change the fact that we have already sinned and can no longer have perfect obedience, so the fact that we can repent after we have not had perfect obedience again demonstrates that that is not a requirement for us. In Romans 3:21-22, it does not say that the Law and the Prophets testify that the righteousness of God comes through perfect obedience, but rather the only way to become righteous that is testified about in the Law and the Prophets is through faith in Christ for all who believe. This means that even if someone managed to have perfect obedience, then they still wouldn’t earn their righteousness as a wage (Romans 4:1-5), so that was never the goal of why we should obey God’s law.

Our salvation from sin would be incomplete if Jesus only saved us from the penalty if our sin while we continued to live in sin, so our salvation from sin must also include Jesus saving us from continuing to live in sin by teaching us to live in obedience to God’s law. This is why Titus 2:14 not not just say that Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness, but also in order to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works.