God's nature is the mark and sin is anything that misses that mark,
God is perfect and anyone who is less than perfect in thought, word or deed, sins.
so the actions that have been revealed to be sinful have always been and will always be sinful regardless of whom those instructions were given to.
No. It's not correct to assume that instructions and laws give to one group of people must apply to everyone else too.
God led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt - through Moses, but HE did that, HE was their Saviour.
God parted the Red Sea and saved them, again, from the Egyptians.
God led them to Mt Sinai where he gave them his commands and told them how they were to live as his people. They were to worship only one God, not many, like the neighbouring countries. They were given a sacrificial system for when they sinned. They were told to be holy, which means separate - they were not to marry people from other nations, they were not to eat certain foods, they were to wear clothes made from only one kind of fabric, they were not to use false measures or defraud their fellow countryman, they were to stone to death anyone who did not keep the Sabbath or who committed adultery. And they were also give a lot of minor rules, all found in the book of Leviticus, such as not trimming their beards, not touching people with skin conditions or women at certain times of the month.
They were given feasts to keep, most of which were based on the Passover or their time in the wilderness, so that they would remember what God had done for them. Many times in the OT we read "The Lord said to the people; 'I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt - keep the Covenant I made with you'."
These were God's people, given his Covenant.
Over ad over again in the NT they broke this covenant. It's a recurring theme; sin, get punished, repent, get restored, think that because you are doing ok God is pleased with you and sin again.
On God's part, he never broke his Covenant and he had intended it to be forever - but it was broken by the people.
Centuries later, Jeremiah told people that God would make a New covenant.
Then Jesus came.
Jesus, God on earth, showed people how to live, taught them what God wanted, showed them, by healing and restoring people, what the Kingdom of heaven would be like and challenging their religious ideas and ideas about what the Messiah would look like. He taught that the first would be last an the last first; and demonstrated it. He taught that God loved everyone, and showed it by healing, and teaching, Gentiles. He went to the feast of Tabernacles and told everyone that he was the Living Water, John 7:38. He taught that his blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins, Matthew 26:28 and that he would give his life as a sacrifice for many, Mark 10:45, John 10:11. He was declared by John the Baptist to be the Lamb of God, John 1:29, and also later by Paul and Peter, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 1 Peter 1:19-20. He said that he was the only way to the Father, John 14:6 and the giver of eternal life, John 3:16, John 3:36, John 6:40, John 6:53, John 10:10.
The early church had to work out what all this meant in light of what they had always been taught. But they taught that Jesus had died for sin and was the only Saviour, and took that Gospel to the Gentiles. They taught that Gentiles didn't need to be circumcised to be saved, and didn't even mention the food and hygiene laws. Paul said that food brings no one closer to God - and he taught that if someone is circumcised it means that Christ died for nothing.
I don't know about you but I am what the Jews would call a gentile. Neither I nor my ancestors were saved from Egypt, given God's law and told "if you keep this you are my people."
Instead I was taken to Sunday School, learned about Jesus, accepted, and later gave my life to, Jesus and am his follower. I am reconciled to God through Jesus, not animal sacrifices. I am made holy through Jesus, not wearing certain clothes and eating certain foods. He sent his Holy Spirit to live in me.
So to say to me "now that you are a follower of Jesus, who is the Jewish Messiah, you must go back and put yourself under laws which were part of a specific Covenant made with a certain group of people and which Jesus has fulfilled in any case"; makes no sense.
In 1 Peter 1:16, we are told to have a holy conduct for God is holy, which is a quote from Leviticus where God was giving instructions for how to have a holy conduct, which includes refraining from eating unclean animals (Leviticus 11:44-45),
God was giving instructions to a certain group of people and told them what holiness looked like to them.
Or should we have said "no, Jesus, don't send us your Holy Spirit to live in us. We will just give up bacon sandwiches and won't wear polyester mix clothes from M&S; that'll do it, that's what holiness is."?
If it your goal to live in a way that expresses God's nature and that testifies about who He is instead of bearing false witness against Him, then you will seek by faith to follow the instructions that God has given for how to do that regardless of whether you are a Jew or a Gentile.
God is love, 1 John 4:8. His nature is love. He sent Jesus to show us his love, 1 John 3:16.
Jesus commanded us to love each other as he loves us - and he showed his love by laying down his life for sinners.
In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Gentiles are included as part of God's chosen people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and a treasure of God's own possession,
Yes, because Jesus died for everyone - Jew and Gentile.
That doesn't mean that Gentiles have to put themselves under laws that were given to the Jews, which they themselves were incapable of keeping.
There is no point in a Gentile wanting to become part of a holy nation while wanting nothing to do with following God's instructions for how to live as part of a holy nation.
ALL believers are the church and ALL are a holy nation.
We don't need to say to God "right, we want to be part of a holy nation now. Oh, that was what Israel were called to be; I guess to be part of a holy nation we have to live like Israelites and keep all the laws that they were once given." Even Jews don't keep those laws now; they have no sacrificial system and no temple where they can keep the feasts.
Everything changed when Jesus came to earth - new Covenant, new way of being forgiven and reconciled to God, new way of talking to God (no longer through prophets but directly), new idea of holiness, new teaching about the temple (WE are God's temple.)
Jesus fulfilled the Mosaic Law by setting an example of how to walk in obedience to it,
No.
He never sinned, but he touched people who had skin conditions and who were bleeding, taught and healed on the Sabbath, let a woman go who had been found in the act of adultery and refused to condemn his disciples for not washing their hands or walking through a cornfield, picking and eating grain. The Scribes and Pharisees were unhappy with this and criticised and tried to condemn him.
Jesus never said to anyone "follow me and I will show you how to perfectly obey the law".
Paul still identified as a Pharisee in Acts 23:6, so he never ceased to be a devout Pharisee.
Possibly he still had that title, just as he was still Jewish.
But he wouldn't have been accepted as a Pharisee while he was teaching about a man they perceived to be a false Messiah.
While Paul said circumcision has no value, that what matters is obeying the commandments of God (1 Corinthians 7:19), he also said that circumcision has much value in every way (Romans 3:1-2),
What it stood for had value - God had made a covenant with Abraham that he would have many descendants, even though he was over 90. Abraham trusted God, and because of that trust - that he and Sarah would become parents, even though it was biologically impossible - God considered him to be righteous. Jewish converts were not to be ashamed that they had been circumcised or try to reverse it, if such a thing were even possible - but neither could they cling onto it, believe that it was what saved the and try to force it on others. Jesus said nothing at all about circumcision.
He certainly was not saying that obedience to the commandments of God no longer matters.
Certain commands, yes, he was; circumcision meant that Christ died for nothing and food brought no one closer to God.
At the Council of Jerusalem the letter written to Gentile converts mentioned only refraining from meat with blood in it, the meat of strangled animals and from food offered to idols. Even then, a few years later, Paul was teaching that an idol was nothing and as long as it did not offend another Christian, they could eat meat that had been offered to it.
None of the laws written in Leviticus were mentioned, or taught, to Gentiles. It seems to have simply been assumed that because the only way, years ago, the Israelites could show their holiness was by keeping the commands given to them by God, the only way we can be holy today is by doing the same. Not at all. The Holy Spirit who lives in us makes us holy and transforms us into Jesus' image and likeness, 2 Corinthian 3:18.
What Jesus was telling people to do when he quoted the greatest two commandments should not mean someone different than what God was telling the Israelites to do when He gave those commandments. All the commandments that God has given are examples of what it looks like to love God with all of heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves,
I have no problem at all with the 10 commandments.
I am talking about all the food and hygiene laws mentioned in Leviticus, some of which - as a woman - I cannot keep anyway.
If by "commandments of God" you mean the 10 commandments, I agree with you - Jesus never said we should break those, nor that they were irrelevant. They are still relevant because Jesus taught and affirmed them.
It's all the other detailed food and hygiene laws I'm talking about. Jesus never said that gentiles should believe in him, receive eternal life and then obey the food laws. Neither he, nor the 10 commandments, mention the food laws or circumcision.
