Soyeong
Well-Known Member
- Mar 10, 2015
- 12,631
- 4,677
- Country
- United States
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- Messianic
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- Single
In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he might know Him and Israel too, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so knowing God and Jesus is the goal of the law, which is eternal life (John 17:3), so Philippians 3 should not be interpreted as saying that God's law is rubbish and we just need to focus on knowing Jesus instead. Rather, Paul has been keeping God's law without being focused on knowing Christ, so he had been missing the goal of the law, and that is what he counted as rubbish.
In Romans 9:30-10:4, the Israelites did not obtain righteousness because they misunderstood the goal of the law by pursuing it as through righteousness were the result of their works in an effort to establish their own instead of pursuing the law as through righteousness were by faith in Christ, for knowing Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith, and this was the same situation that Paul was in. The correct salutation to incorrectly obeying God's law is not to oppose the law, but to start obeying it correctly with the right focus on knowing Christ through acting in accordance with aspects of his nature. Likewise, in Matthew 23:23, Jesus was not opposing their obedience to God's law, but rather he was calling them to start obeying it correctly in accordance with weightier matters that are aspects of his nature.
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