Constantine created Christianity

yeshuaslavejeff said:

??
Regardless of the thought, idea or practice (whatever something may be),
held in tradition so long does not make it right, does it ?

Click to expand...

This belief is not the result of tradition. It's from God's own word.

Albion said:

I don't know. Does it?

I told you that I feel bound to go by what the Bible says, and you scorned that.

Click to expand...

No---did not. But I am bound--as are we all---to say what I believe, just as you do. This place is for debate, after all.

The Liturgist said:

Indeed, I have many Baptist friends an am a strong supporter of Dr. al Mohler, and none of them are into Landmarkism.

Click to expand...

"Last time we looked at the beliefs of the various groups that J.M. Carroll places in his “Trail of Blood.” Mostly, it was simply a collection of heretics. It would seem that Carroll’s only real criteria of if someone was Baptist or not is that the church in general did not accept them. I know that some who may be adherents of the book may claim that the heretical beliefs mentioned of these groups were mere slander against them from the Papists. The problem however, is that Carroll offers no defense of them or explanation; he never interacts with these groups or their beliefs."
Mopping Up the Trail of Blood: Part 3
Mopping Up the Trail of Blood: Part 1
" Cathari – This 12th century group isn’t one that any good Baptist would ever want to be associated with. They had similar beliefs to early Gnostics, with the battling of dualistic powers of good and evil. They also held that all matter was evil and created by the evil god of the Old Testament. Christ was not an actual human but a good spirit sent by the good god. Jesus didn’t die on a cross, but simply showed the way to live like an eastern guru. Shelley remarks, “To escape from the power of the flesh the true Cathar was supposed to avoid marriage, sexual intercourse, eating of meat, and material possessions.”[3] Does that sound like any Baptist that you have ever known?

Paulicians – From the mid-six hundreds and on, this is a really “fun” group. They had heavy Gnostic tendencies as well and were a resurgence of sorts from Manichaeism. While they rejected infant baptism, they also rejected communion, the goodness of physical material, the reality of Christ’s body and Christ’s redemptive work. “They distinguished between two gods, one good and the other evil, the latter being the ruler of the material world.”[4] Standard Gnostic faire, but they also added Adoptionism to their errors as well.
"
Mopping Up the Trail of Blood: Part 2
https://www.catholicconvert.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/TrailOfBlood.pdf

straykat said:

It's strange that people still debate something that was resolved in the First Council. This was no mere council of bishops either - but the apostles themselves. They stated explicitly what parts of the Torah for Gentiles to uphold and what they didn't have to. That is, to stay away from idols, eating animals not properly slain, and sexuality immorality. And if that wasn't enough, Paul constantly reiterated these points, when Judaizers kept trying to inflict people with diets, circumcision, and Sabbath. How stubborn can you be to keep on ignoring it?

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day." - Colosians 2:16

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of mere culture and things seen with the eyes and experienced through materialism. Rather, it's a Kingdom of the Spirit and eternity. And while the Jews were given the first revelations of God, and they should be honored for that, things have moved on in the Church. As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman:

“Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the father seeks. God is a Spirit and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” - John 4:21-24

Click to expand...

Acts 15:28-29 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)
28 We agree with the Holy Spirit that you should have no more burdens, except for these necessary things:

29 Don’t eat food that has been given to idols.

Don’t eat meat from animals that have been strangled or any meat that still has the blood in it.

Don’t be involved in sexual sin.

If you stay away from these, you will do well.

We say goodbye now.

Daniel Marsh said:

"Last time we looked at the beliefs of the various groups that J.M. Carroll places in his “Trail of Blood.” Mostly, it was simply a collection of heretics. It would seem that Carroll’s only real criteria of if someone was Baptist or not is that the church in general did not accept them.

Click to expand...

Exactimundo!! And in addition, there actually is no "trail" even though this theory is often presented as a sort of Apostolic Succession for Baptists.

These heretical and unrelated sects that you refer to were, in most cases, separated by many years from each other in addition to holding significantly different beliefs.

mmksparbud said:

It shows no such thing--not one verse says this was a day to worship God.

In the New Testament, there are well over 80+ references to the Seventh-Day Sabbath and only 8 references to the First Day of the week. In Acts chapter 18 alone, which was approximately 21 years AFTER the resurrection, you can find the day that Paul was accustomed to keeping holy eluded to 78 times! (see verses 4 & 11 and chapter 17:2 for Paul's customary day of worship).
In regard to the First-Day texts, here they are--Matthew 28:1 // Luke 23:50-56 through 24:1-3 // Mark 16:1-4 // Mark 16:9-11 // John 20:1 // John 20:19 // 1 Corinthians 16:1-3 // Acts 20:7-11. These are the ONLY references to the First-Day of the week. None of which have a commend for a change of the Holy Day, a command for worship, or anything of the sort.
Mark wrote his gospel anywhere from 10-30 years after the cross and mentions not a thing about any change. John's gospel was written about 60 years after Jesus was resurrected and was also silent about any sort of "Holy Day" change. He simply tells of the same event as the other gospel writers. If you notice, Mark 16:1-4 actually refers to both Marys waiting until the Sabbath had past to go anoint Jesus on the First-Day of the week.
Now, in reference to the other two verse sections, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3 & Acts 20:7-11, many different ideas are out there for what these verses really mean. Honestly, the truth is in the texts! In 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, some would say this is an offering being taken at a Sunday (First-Day) morning church service. But the text doesn’t say that. Notice this was an offering “for the saints” and not “of the saints.” Also take note that they were to “lay by him in store.” The actual Greek language reads, “Let each one of you put on one side and store up at home” (Weymouth); “store it up” (ESV); “put aside and save” (NASB). This was not a command to take offerings at church, but to store an offering up at home on Sunday. In other words, Paul was saying to store up an offering FIRST in the beginning of the week so when I (Paul) come, it will be ready for me to take with me. Why store up? 9. Read Acts 11:27-29. There was “great dearth”, or “famine” in Jerusalem. The disciples sent relief to help their “brethren” in Judaea. Also read Romans 15:25-28. This was a relief offering taken to help the Christians in Jerusalem who were experiencing a famine.
Now to Acts 20:7-11. This verse is one that some point to as evidence the disciples were worshiping on Sunday since they were "breaking bread and preaching". Let’s notice several things about this text.
First, preaching and breaking bread DOES NOT make a day holy. I, personally, have broken bread and listened to preaching on almost every day of the week. Breaking bread doesn’t mean they were celebrating a "communion service" at church. Look at Acts 2:46. They broke bread everyday and not just Sunday! In Acts 27:33-35, Paul broke bread with unbelievers. It meant they were simply eating together.
Secondly, this event actually takes place on Saturday night and not Sunday morning as many suppose. Notice Paul preached until midnight, there were "many lights" (it was dark outside), Eutychus fell asleep (it was late at night), and Paul preached until the "break of day" and then went on a trip. That is most likely why they were have food... to celebrate a possible last moment with Paul before he went on his journey.
Also, this was definitely the dark part of the first day of the week. Which would’ve actually been Saturday night (Genesis. 1:5, 8, "and Evening and Morning were the first day."). Paul preached Saturday night and left Sunday morning on a journey. He didn’t go to church on Sunday morning! This actually disproves Sunday keeping since Paul goes on a long journey on Sunday morning and doesn’t "keep it holy".
The Seventh-Day Sabbath was made Holy by God Himself in the creation week. He Rested, be Blessed it, and He Sanctified the Seventh-Day in the beginning. In Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8, the Bible says that God "does not change". Jesus Says "if you love Me, keep My commandments". In Isaiah 66:22 & 23, the LORD tells us that we will be worshiping Him "from one Sabbath to another" in heaven! It was also Jesus custom to worship, go to church, on the Seventh-Day Sabbath (Luke 4:16).
The Sabbath of the Bible was also given way before the first "Jew" existed. Refer to Exodus 16:25-30 to see that the Commandments of God and His Sabbath existed BEFORE Sinai.
So, if it was made Holy at the beginning, it was kept all throughout the Old Testament, Jesus kept it Holy, Paul kept it Holy, the Gentile converts kept it Holy, and the Lord says that we will worship Him on the Sabbath in Heaven, don't you think it is important to keep the Seventh-Day Holy now? After all, it is the 4th Commandment.
Finally, "Judaizing" is something that does not concern a Bible Christian. It was a phrase that originated in the council of Laodicea. It concerns the Roman church. If you want to be strictly a bible Christian, Jesus again says, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." That definitely includes His "Sign" of sanctification between Him and His people (Ezekiel 20:12).

Click to expand...

Before or after the cross and resurrection?

Hebrews 4:4Yes, somewhere in the Scriptures he talked about the seventh day of the week. He said, “So on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”

Hebrews 4:9This shows that the seventh-day rest for God’s people is still to come.

Revelation 10:7In the days when the seventh angel is ready to blow his trumpet, God’s secret plan will be completed—the Good News that God told to his servants, the prophets.”
BibleGateway - Keyword Search: sabbath

Those references to sabbath does not show christians on the day of worship.

yeshuaslavejeff said:

Likewise today ?
IF Yahuweh 'goes along', He may say "go in peace" to those going back someplace where their pagan boss worships a foreign god ?

Click to expand...

When you look at verse 18 it is hard to figure out why there is peace between God and him.

"Except this, and may Adonai forgive your servant for it: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon — when I bow down, may Adonai forgive your servant for this"

The way I see it there are some aspects within Christianity as a whole that are debatable. The problem is which ones are important towards the Gospel of salvation and which ones are not. Which ones are so Heavenly minded they're of no Earthly good and which one's have some merit when put to the test.

In the real world look at a very recent example within the Roman Catholic Church in China. Their Chinese Cardinal is telling them its' OK to "even renounce the sacraments but not the faith".

Meanwhile we're here and busy testing our assertions about the Sabbath. Our places of worship aren't being burned and torn down. There's no chance we'll be labelled a criminal, tossed in prison and involuntarily put on an live organ donor list. Or thrown into some re education camp.

Basically are we going to die for the Gospel or what day we're supposed to worship on?

Albion said:

Every day is a day on which to worship God, if you want to address that point. These verses make clear, however, that the Lord's Day had become the principle day of corporate worship for the church.

Click to expand...

read to post 281

Norbert L said:

There's no chance we'll be labelled a criminal, tossed in prison and involuntarily put on an live organ donor list. Or thrown into some re education camp.

Click to expand...

This is a possibility, a very real possibility, every day for many of us in many different countries, including the usa. In the USA, Christianity was declared an enemy of the state sometime around wwII I think. Persons have been assassinated or martyred for their faith. Seek and keep seeking only the truth, trusting the Father in heaven to accomplish salvation, as only He is able to.

Norbert L said:

When you look at verse 18 it is hard to figure out why there is peace between God and him.

Click to expand...

I never tried to "figure it out".
It is written.
God is right and good.
God is perfect in Wisdom and in Knowledge, always.
Most of what He does is not figured out, if anything.
Trust the Father in heaven to accomplish everything concerning our salvation, and it is done.
Why is there peace between God and idolators today? (OR is there? Is that written!?)
How can there be peace ?
It is written.
God is right and good.
God is perfect in Wisdom and in Knowledge, always.
We find out from Him, everything we know that is truth.
We repent of our sin, willingly, joyously, and always willingly and joyously seek to obey Him forever.

lismore said:

Philippians 3:20

Click to expand...

Still doesn't talk about it.

David Neos said:

Still doesn't talk about it.

Click to expand...

What's it talking about then?

lismore said:

Followers of Jesus Christ are called to a higher standard, to love their neighbours and their enemies, to bless and not curse. To pray for those who persecute them. We are to pray for, not persecute others.

I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:44)

Jesus said his Kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

Turning his gospel into a state religion very much of this world then persecuting and killing those who would not accept this state religion is a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ on the most basic level. All the brutality and evil of the Roman Empire being mixed with the gospel.

The statement by Constantine- read the vitriol and hatred for the Jews in it. Compare this to the Lord Jesus Christ who forgave those who crucified him.

God Bless You

Click to expand...

You're expecting the impossible of any group, especially ancient people with no notions of the modern liberal values you espouse. Yes we are called to a higher standard but no Christian has been free of judgement of others throughout all of our history or distinguishing between us and them. You yourself would distinguish between Christendom after Constantine and yourself. Also Jesus himself was not above criticism of his kinsmen or anyone for that matter. I find the idea of the Jews being held on a pedestal to be wrong theologically and as a matter of Christian policy. They are people, as flawed and self interested as any of us.

I will correct you on a few technicalities. Constantine only legalized Christianity, he did not make it the official religion though he did obviously favour it. Yet I'm at loss to consider why this in the grand scheme of things was wrong. On both Constantine's part who legalized the faith or on Theodosius' part who made it the religion of the Empire.

If Christian growth was inevitable it was only going to be a matter of time before Christians came into owning secular power and few if any wield that power with a clean conscience. How it came about could have been a numerous amount of ways, but God knows this and uses it for his own advantage in the spreading of the faith and preservation of it to those small few who are truly faithful. I believe God, in the ultimate turnaround arranged things so that the once Pagan Empire would embrace the faith and leave a lasting legacy to later Chrisitan rulers and the world. God I believe is not above irony, in that the once pagan empire which hated our faith, embraced it and managed to persevere with it for a thousand years.

You seem to have a vision which is not actually possible. What were Christians to do? Rebuff Constantine? Tell him he was wrong for favouring Christianity? Tell him that his vision on the eve of the battle of the Milvian bridge was wrong? Are we as Christians supposed to make our lives as difficult as possible and not seek to have any influence in the political realm despite the moral risks?

This is the attitude of monastics, which I am not opposed to living out, but it is within the realm of monasticism these attitudes can only really be applied but not on a wider societal scale. To wield secular power means to wield violence as Paul says. Christians cannot escape this duty unless we wish to remains serfs and slaves to the whims of others. If we are going to label the past Church as basically apostatizing by it's acclimation with Rome what would you suggest should have been done that would have been as effective and been more moral?

mmksparbud said:

That's a ridiculous statement to .

Click to expand...

Friend, do you really want to keep all 613 laws in the Torah alone, not to take into account all the others in rest of the books?

The Full List of the Mitzvot
1. To know there is a G‑d—Exodus 20:2

2. Not to entertain thoughts of other gods besides Him—Exodus 20:3

3. To know that He is one—Deuteronomy 6:4

4. To love Him—Deuteronomy 6:5

5. To fear Him—Deuteronomy 10:20

6. To sanctify His Name—Leviticus 22:32

7. Not to profane His Name—Leviticus 22:32

8. Not to destroy objects associated with His Name—Deuteronomy 12:4

9. To listen to the prophet speaking in His Name—Deuteronomy 18:15

10. Not to test the prophet unduly—Deuteronomy 6:16

11. To emulate His ways—Deuteronomy 28:9

12. To cleave to those who know Him—Deuteronomy 10:20

13. To love other Jews—Leviticus 19:18

14. To love converts—Deuteronomy 10:19

15. Not to hate fellow Jews—Leviticus 19:17

16. To reprove wrongdoers—Leviticus 19:17

17. Not to embarrass others—Leviticus 19:17

18. Not to oppress the weak—Exodus 22:21

19. Not to gossip about others—Leviticus 19:16

20. Not to take revenge—Leviticus 19:18

21. Not to bear a grudge—Leviticus 19:18

22. To learn Torah and teach it—Deuteronomy 6:7

23. To honor those who teach and know Torah—Leviticus 19:32

24. Not to inquire into idolatry—Leviticus 19:4

25. Not to follow the whims of your heart or what your eyes see—Numbers 15:39

26. Not to blaspheme—Exodus 22:27

27. Not to worship idols in the manner they are worshiped—Exodus 20:5

28. Not to bow down to idols—Exodus 20:5

29. Not to make an idol for yourself—Exodus 20:4

30. Not to make an idol for others—Leviticus 19:4

31. Not to make human forms even for decorative purposes—Exodus 20:20

32. Not to turn a city to idolatry—Exodus 23:13

33. To burn a city that has turned to idol worship—Deuteronomy 13:17

34. Not to rebuild it as a city—Deuteronomy 13:17

35. Not to derive benefit from it—Deuteronomy 13:18

36. Not to missionize an individual to idol worship—Deuteronomy 13:12

37. Not to love the missionary—Deuteronomy 13:9

38. Not to cease hating the missionary—Deuteronomy 13:9

39. Not to save the missionary—Deuteronomy 13:9

40. Not to say anything in his defense—Deuteronomy 13:9

41. Not to refrain from incriminating him—Deuteronomy 13:9

42. Not to prophesize in the name of idolatry—Deuteronomy 18:20

43. Not to listen to a false prophet—Deuteronomy 13:4

44. Not to prophesize falsely in the name of G‑d—Deuteronomy 18:20

45. Not to be afraid of killing the false prophet—Deuteronomy 18:22

46. Not to swear in the name of an idol—Exodus 23:13

47. Not to perform Ov (medium)--Leviticus 19:31

48. Not to perform Yidoni (magical seer)--Leviticus 19:31

49. Not to pass your children through the fire to Molech—Leviticus 18:21

50. Not to erect a column in a public place of worship—Deuteronomy 16:22

51. Not to bow down on smooth stone—Leviticus 26:1

52. Not to plant a tree in the Temple courtyard—Deuteronomy 16:21

53. To destroy idols and their accessories—Deuteronomy 12:2

54. Not to derive benefit from idols and their accessories—Deuteronomy 7:26

55. Not to derive benefit from ornaments of idols—Deuteronomy 7:25

56. Not to make a covenant with idolaters—Deuteronomy 7:2

57. Not to show favor to them—Deuteronomy 7:2

58. Not to let them dwell in our land—Exodus 23:33

59. Not to imitate them in customs and clothing—Leviticus 20:23

60. Not to be superstitious—Leviticus 19:26

61. Not to go into a trance to foresee events, etc.--Deuteronomy 18:10

62. Not to engage in astrology—Leviticus 19:26

63. Not to mutter incantations—Deuteronomy 18:11

64. Not to attempt to engage the dead in conversation—Deuteronomy 18:11

65. Not to consult the Ov—Deuteronomy 18:11

66. Not to consult the Yidoni—Deuteronomy 18:11

67. Not to perform acts of magic—Deuteronomy 18:10

68. Men must not shave the hair off the sides of their head—Leviticus 19:27

69. Men must not shave their beards with a razor—Leviticus 19:27

70. Men must not wear women's clothing—Deuteronomy 22:5

71. Women must not wear men's clothing—Deuteronomy 22:5

72. Not to tattoo the skin—Leviticus 19:28

73. Not to tear the skin in mourning—Deuteronomy 14:1

74. Not to make a bald spot in mourning—Deuteronomy 14:1

75. To repent and confess wrongdoings—Numbers 5:7

76. To say the Shema twice daily—Deuteronomy 6:7

77. To serve the Almighty with prayer daily—Exodus 23:25

78. The Kohanim must bless the Jewish nation daily—Numbers 6:23

79. To wear Tefillin on the head—Deuteronomy 6:8

80. To bind tefillin on the arm—Deuteronomy 6:8

81. To put a Mezuzah on each door post—Deuteronomy 6:9

82. To write a Sefer Torah—Deuteronomy 31:19

83. The king must have a separate Sefer Torah for himself—Deuteronomy 17:18

84. To have Tzitzit on four-cornered garments—Numbers 15:38

85. To bless the Almighty after eating—Deuteronomy 8:10

86. To circumcise all males on the eighth day after their birth—Leviticus 12:3

87. To rest on the seventh day—Exodus 23:12

88. Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day—Exodus 20:10

89. The court must not inflict punishment on Shabbat—Exodus 35:3

90. Not to walk more than 2000 cubits outside the city boundary on Shabbat—Exodus 16:29

91. To sanctify the day with Kiddush and Havdalah—Exodus 20:8

92. To rest from prohibited labor on Yom Kippur—Leviticus 23:32

93. Not to do prohibited labor on Yom Kippur—Leviticus 23:31

94. To afflict yourself on Yom Kippur—Leviticus 16:29

95. Not to eat or drink on Yom Kippur—Leviticus 23:29

96. To rest on the first day of Passover—Leviticus 23:8

97. Not to do prohibited labor on the first day of Passover—Leviticus 23:8

98. To rest on the seventh day of Passover—Leviticus 23:8

99. Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day of Passover—Leviticus 23:8

The 613 Commandments (Mitzvot)

mmksparbud said:

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Click to expand...

James 2:8-13 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
8-11 If you obey the royal law, expressed by the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’, all is well. But once you allow any invidious distinctions to creep in, you are sinning, you have broken God’s Law. Remember that a man who keeps the whole Law but for a single exception is none the less a law-breaker. The one who said, ‘Do not commit adultery’, also said, ‘Do not murder’. If you were to keep clear of adultery but were to murder a man you would have become a breaker of God’s whole Law.

12-13 Anyway, you should speak and act as men who will be judged by the law of freedom. The man who makes no allowances for others will find none made for him. It is still true that “mercy smiles in the face of judgment.”

Galatians 5 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
Do not lose your freedom by giving in to those who urge circumcision
5 Plant your feet firmly therefore within the freedom that Christ has won for us, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the shackles of slavery.

2-6 Listen! I, Paul, say this to you as solemnly as I can: if you consent to be circumcised then Christ will be of no use to you at all. I will say it again: every man who consents to be circumcised is bound to obey all the rest of the Law! If you try to be justified by the Law you automatically cut yourself off from the power of Christ, you put yourself outside the range of his grace. For it is by faith that we await in his Spirit the righteousness we hope to see. In Jesus Christ there is no validity in either circumcision or uncircumcision; it is a matter of faith, faith which expresses itself in love.

7-10 You were making splendid progress; who put you off the course you had set for the truth? That sort of “persuasion” does not come from the one who is calling you. Alas, it takes only a little leaven to affect the whole lump! I feel confident in the Lord that you will not take any fatal step. But whoever it is who is worrying you will have a serious charge to answer one day.

11-12 And as for me, my brothers, if I were still advocating circumcision (as some apparently allege!), why am I still suffering persecution? I suppose if only I would recommend this little rite all the hostility which the preaching of the cross provokes would disappear! I wish those who are so eager to cut your bodies would cut themselves off from you altogether!

13a It is to freedom that you have been called, my brothers. Only be careful that freedom does not become mere opportunity for your lower nature.

13b-14 You should be free to serve each other in love. For after all, the whole Law toward others is summed up by this one command, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’.

Galatians 1 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
1 1-5 I, Paul, who am appointed and commissioned a messenger not by man but by Jesus Christ and God the Father (who raised him from the dead), I and all the brothers with me send the churches in Galatia greeting. Grace and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to the Father’s plan gave himself for our sins and thereby rescued us from the present evil world-order. To him be glory for ever and ever!

The gospel is God’s truth: men must not dare to pervert it
6-7 I am amazed that you have so quickly transferred your allegiance from him who called you in the grace of Christ to another “Gospel”! Not, of course, that it is or ever could be another Gospel, but there are obviously men who are upsetting your faith with a travesty of the Gospel of Christ.

8-10 Yet I say that if I, or an angel from Heaven, were to preach to you any other Gospel than the one you have heard, may he be damned! You have heard me say it before and now I put it down in black and white—may anybody who preaches any other Gospel than the one you have already heard be a damned soul! (Does that make you think now that I am serving man’s interests or God’s? If I were trying to win human approval I should never be Christ’s servant.)

The gospel was given to me by Christ himself, and not by any human agency, as my story will show
11-12 The Gospel I preach to you is no human invention. No man gave it to me, no man taught it to me; it came to me as a direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

13-19 For you have heard of my past career in the Jewish religion, how I persecuted the Church of God with fanatical zeal and, in fact, did my best to destroy it. I was ahead of most of my contemporaries in the Jewish religion, and had a greater enthusiasm for the old traditions. But when the time came for God (who had chosen me from the moment of my birth, and then called me by his grace) to reveal his Son within me so that I might proclaim him to the non-Jewish world, I did not, as might have been expected, talk over the matter with any human being. I did not even go to Jerusalem to meet those who were God’s messengers before me—no, I went away to Arabia and later came back to Damascus. It was not until three years later that I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and I only stayed with him just over a fortnight. I did not meet any of the other messengers, except James, the Lord’s brother.

20-24 All this that I am telling you is, I assure you before God, the plain truth. Later, I visited districts in Syria and Cilicia, but I was still personally unknown to the churches of Judea. All they knew of me, in fact, was the saying: “The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they thanked God for what had happened to me.

Galatians 3 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
What has happened to your life of faith?
3 1-5 O you dear idiots of Galatia, who saw Jesus Christ the crucified so plainly, who has been casting a spell over you? I will ask you one simple question: did you receive the Spirit of God by trying to keep the Law or by believing the message of the Gospel? Surely you can’t be so idiotic as to think that a man begins his spiritual life in the Spirit and then completes it by reverting to outward observances? Has all your painful experience brought you nowhere? I simply cannot believe it of you! Does God, who gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you, do these things because you have obeyed the Law or because you have believed the Gospel? Ask yourselves that.

The futility of trying to be justified by the Law: the promises to men of faith
6 You can go right back to Abraham to see the principle of faith in God. He, we are told, ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’

7-8 Can you not see, then, that all those who “believe God” are the real “sons of Abraham”? The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles “by faith”, really proclaimed the Gospel centuries ago in the words spoken to Abraham, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’

9 All men of faith share the blessing of Abraham who “believed God”.

10 Everyone, however, who is involved in trying to keep the Law’s demands falls under a curse, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.’

11 It is made still plainer that no one is justified in God’s sight by obeying the Law, for: ‘The just shall live by faith.’

12 And the Law is not a matter of faith at all but of doing, as, for example, in the scripture: ‘The man who does them shall live by them.’

13 Now Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law’s condemnation, by himself becoming a curse for us when he was crucified. For the scripture is plain: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’

14 God’s purpose is therefore plain: that the blessing promised to Abraham might reach the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, and the Spirit might become available to us all by faith.

The Law cannot interfere with the original promise
15 Let me give you an everyday illustration, my brothers. Once a contract has been properly drawn up and signed, it is honoured by both parties, and can neither be disregarded nor modified by a third party.

16-18 Now a promise was made to Abraham and to his seed. (Note in passing that the scripture says not “and to seeds” but uses the singular ‘and to your seed’, meaning Christ.) I say then that the Law, which came into existence four hundred and thirty years later, cannot render null and void the original “contract” which God had made, and thus rob the promise of its value. For if the receiving of the promised blessing were now made to depend on the Law, that would amount to a cancellation of the original “contract” which God made with Abraham as a promise.

19-20 Where then lies the point of the Law? It was an addition made to underline the existence and extent of sin until the arrival of the “seed” to whom the promise referred. The Law was inaugurated in the presence of angels and by the hand of a human intermediary. The very fact that there was an intermediary is enough to show that this was not the fulfilling of the promise. For the promise of God needs neither angelic witness nor human intermediary but depends on him alone.

21-22 Is the Law then to be looked upon as a contradiction of the promise? Certainly not, for if there could have been a law which gave men spiritual life then law would have produced righteousness (which would have been, of course, in full harmony with the purpose of the promise). But, as things are, the scripture has all men “imprisoned”, because they are found guilty by the Law, that to men in such condition might come to release all who believe in Jesus Christ.

By faith we are rescued from the Law and become sons of God
23-25 Before the coming of faith we were all imprisoned under the power of the Law, with our only hope of deliverance the faith that was to be shown to us. Or, to change the metaphor, the Law was like a strict governess in charge of us until we went to the school of Christ and learned to be justified by faith in him. Once we had that faith we were completely free from the governess’s authority.

26-29 For now that you have faith in Christ you are all sons of God. All of you who were baptised “into” Christ have put on the family likeness of Christ. Gone is the distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female—you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, you are true descendants of Abraham, you are true heirs of his promise.

Jesus did not commit adultery.

Thus, by YOUR LOGIC, He SINNED !?

Romans 7 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
How to be free from the Law
7 1-3 You know very well, my brothers (for I am speaking to those well acquainted with the subject), that the Law can only exercise authority over a man so long as he is alive. A married woman, for example, is bound by law to her husband so long as he is alive. But if he dies, then his legal claim over her disappears. This means that, if she should give herself to another man while her husband is alive, she incurs the stigma of adultery. But if, after her husband’s death, she does exactly the same thing, no one could call her an adulteress, for the legal hold over her has been dissolved by her husband’s death.

4 There is, I think, a fair analogy here. The death of Christ on the cross had made you “dead” to the claims of the Law, and you are free to give yourselves in marriage, so to speak, to another, the one who was raised from the dead, that you may be productive for God.

5-6 While we were “in the flesh” the Law stimulated our sinful passions and so worked in our nature that we became productive—for death! But now that we stand clear of the Law, the claims which existed are dissolved by our “death”, and we are free to serve God not in the old obedience to the letter of the Law, but in a new way, in the spirit.