How did Jesus end the law without abolishing it?

[Studyman]

Dear Brother,

I appreciate the depth of your reflection here and the way you’re keeping the conversation anchored in the Word. You’re right, Jesus’ own warning in Matthew 24:4-5 was not about false religions outside His name, but about those who would come in His name and still lead many astray. That’s why we must handle this question about the Law with great care, so we neither add to God’s Word nor subtract from it (Deuteronomy 4:2).

When Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17), He was showing us a divine transition not from righteousness to lawlessness, but from the shadow to the substance. The Law was like a tutor (Galatians 3:24), pointing us to Christ, and once He came, the purpose of the tutor was fulfilled.

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I understand your philosophy here, as it has been promoted by this world's religions since my youth. Before that as well, but I can only speak to it's influence on me, in my life. I don't believe the Bible, if all of it is considered, supports this popular religious doctrine. That is, that the entire Law of God, as given to men through Moses, "Was added" because of transgressions. The reason for my understanding is based on what is written in Scriptures that I reference below.

From the very beginning God created "LAW" and gave to His Human Creation before any transgression existed. In fact, if there is "No Law", then there is "No Transgression", as it is written.

So the popular doctrine that God's Laws which "Define" Sin, Righteousness, Holiness, Judgment, came "because" of Transgressions, is not true, according to Scriptures. But that there "WAS LAW" that was ADDED "Because of Transgressions" is evident, as it is written:

"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."

And that this "ADDED" Law wasn't given until 430 years after God said that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.", as it is also written"

"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, "the law", which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

Therefore, it seem incumbent upon those who have Joined themselves to the Lord, to study to find our exactly "What Law", that Abraham didn't have, that was ADDED because of Transgressions.

I believe it was the Priesthood Covenant "The Law" God made with Levi, AKA, the "Levitical Priesthood". It was through this "LAW" that the people received God's Laws that defined both the righteousness and the wrath of God. And it was through this "LAW" that the people received atonement for their Transgressions.

This "Law", that required men to bring an animal to a Levite Priest for their transgressions, wasn't given to Israel in the day God brought them out of Egypt. As it is also written;

Jer. 7: 21 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

23 But "this thing commanded I them", saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. (I believe God told Abraham the exact same thing)

I have found through study, that Paul was speaking to this Priesthood, that was Prophesied to be temporary from it's inception, that was added after the Golden Calf. There was "NO LAW" which existed before that, that instructed a man to take a calf or goat to a Levite Priest, and Kill it for their sins, prior to the Gold Calf Transgression. The Pharisees had created an entire business of selling animals for Salvation using a twisted and corrupted form of this Priesthood, and had led the people astray. This too is written.

Mal. 2: 4 And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him "for the fear wherewith he feared me", and was afraid before my name.

(I believe HE was referring to this event.
Ex. 32: 26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD'S side? let him come unto me. And all the "sons of Levi" gathered themselves together unto him. )

Malachi continued.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity. 7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye "have not kept my ways", but have been partial in the law.

This entire Priesthood LAW, was a Shadow of the Priesthood "After the Order of Melchizedek". This is the Law that led men to the true "Lamb of God".

This is the Covenant that was prophesied to change, according to the Scriptures.

Jer. 31: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

As you can see, God addressed 2 things in the change of Covenant.

#1. The manner in which God's Laws are received. (No more going to find a Levite Priest sitting in Moses Seat, to hear God's Laws. We have the Oracles of God in our own home, we now sit in Moses Seat)

#2. The manner in which sins are forgiven. (No more taking a goat to a Levite Priest and killing it before a Levite Priest)

So then, given these an many other Words of God, when Jesus said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." He came to fulfill the prophesies concerning the end of the Priesthood "After the Order of Aaron", and the beginning of the Priesthood "After the Order of Melchizedek".

God's Definition of Sin, Righteousness, Holiness and Judgment still remains the same.

I understand completely what this truth meant for the mainstream religions of Christ and Paul's Time, and how they rebelled against it, working to silence the teaching. I also understand what this means for the mainstream religions of our time, and have witnesses first hand how this world's religious system work to silence the same truth.

It's a fascinating study, one I hope you will consider, even though there is a cost to believing it, as Jesus also tells us.

 

[Studyman]

I appreciate your expressions. It shows you've spent your time in the Word.

Some interesting observations that maybe you'll profit from:

Satan transforms into an angel of light. Doesn't mean Satan IS an angel of light. What it does mean is that Satan occupies the same seat as mankind. Look at Satan speaking from Peter's lips and being rebuked by Jesus. Think of Satan entering Judas. What we see in these pictures is Satan and devils in mankind. Just as Jesus said is a fact in Mark 4:15. Satan "follows after" where the Word is sown. Just as sure as night follows day.

Free will is a great responsibility. With it must come a free will choice to limit or place boundaries on the free will. Even God, who clearly has free will, placed boundaries and Limitations on His Own free will. He is a Just, and Merciful God. No one makes Him be Just and Merciful, He places these Limitation of His Own free will because HE knows free will that is unchecked will destroy any kingdom, even His Own.

But we are not "God" with free will, we are mortal human beings with free will. We don't know enough to place limitation on our own free will, we must learn and be shown to freely accept limitations. This undeniable truth is clearly evident in the very creation. A Child has free will to desire, want, crave anything that catches it's attention. But by design, the child is under the instruction of the parent because if unchecked the child will use it's Free will to destroy or harm itself, or others around him. The parent teaches the child to accept limitations on their behavior, for their own safety and well being, and to learn to apply these limitations (Laws) to themselves, even when their parents are no around.

It isn't EVIL that God gave Adam and Eve free will. That is, the free will ability to choose to accept the limitations HE gave them. And also the free will ability to choose to reject the limitations HE gave them. Otherwise it wouldn't be free will.

Many, who profess to know God, claim that "Evil" defiled Eve "From without", not from within, because they say God created her perfect, with no evil. But these men imply in their philosophy that the "ability" to chose Evil, is evil itself. That isn't true. There is something truly Holy about a person denying the lusts of their free will desires, (AKA Lusts of the flesh) and choose instead to freely adopt the limitations the Father Gave them, even when they might not understand them. Eve was created a perfect being with free will, like her creator. She was created with the ability to choose to obey and to choose to disobey. A talking snake, a false teacher, these are just tests to see, as Paul teaches, "Who we yield ourselves to obey".

The desire of Eve to feed her own flesh, or choose her own judgment is as natural as a child wanting to eat dirt. God knew this and therefore God gave her His Limitations. "Do not eat". She already had within her the ability to obey or not obey. She chose the voice of another over the voice of God. Paul said this happened to her, for our admonition, that we might learn not to Lust, after disobedience that she lusted after.

When a man understands this, they understand why Jesus said that nothing form without can defile a man, only from within. And it isn't EVIL to have the ability to choose disobedience, it becomes Evil when we are drawn away by our free will desires, and "Choose" disobedience. The talking snake didn't make Eve choose his word over Gods. That is why God punished Eve, for Eves free will choice, and that because HE loved her.

 

[Clare73]

Free will is a great responsibility.

The human will is not completely free. . .can we choose to never sin? . . .we cannot.
Our "freedom" is limited.

With it must come a free will choice to limit or place boundaries on the free will. Even God, who clearly has free will, placed boundaries and Limitations on His Own free will. He is a Just, and Merciful God. No one makes Him be Just and Merciful, He places these Limitation of His Own free will because HE knows free will that is unchecked will destroy any kingdom, even His Own.

But we are not "God" with free will, we are mortal human beings with free will. We don't know enough to place limitation on our own free will, we must learn and be shown to freely accept limitations. This undeniable truth is clearly evident in the very creation. A Child has free will to desire, want, crave anything that catches it's attention. But by design, the child is under the instruction of the parent because if unchecked the child will use it's Free will to destroy or harm itself, or others around him. The parent teaches the child to accept limitations on their behavior, for their own safety and well being, and to learn to apply these limitations (Laws) to themselves, even when their parents are no around.

It isn't EVIL that God gave Adam and Eve free will. That is, the free will ability to choose to accept the limitations HE gave them. And also the free will ability to choose to reject the limitations HE gave them. Otherwise it wouldn't be free will.

Many, who profess to know God, claim that "Evil" defiled Eve "From without", not from within, because they say God created her perfect, with no evil. But these men imply in their philosophy that the "ability" to chose Evil, is evil itself. That isn't true. There is something truly Holy about a person denying the lusts of their free will desires, (AKA Lusts of the flesh) and choose instead to freely adopt the limitations the Father Gave them, even when they might not understand them. Eve was created a perfect being with free will, like her creator. She was created with the ability to choose to obey and to choose to disobey. A talking snake, a false teacher, these are just tests to see, as Paul teaches, "Who we yield ourselves to obey".

The desire of Eve to feed her own flesh, or choose her own judgment is as natural as a child wanting to eat dirt. God knew this and therefore God gave her His Limitations. "Do not eat". She already had within her the ability to obey or not obey. She chose the voice of another over the voice of God. Paul said this happened to her, for our admonition, that we might learn not to Lust, after disobedience that she lusted after.

When a man understands this, they understand why Jesus said that nothing form without can defile a man, only from within. And it isn't EVIL to have the ability to choose disobedience, it becomes Evil when we are drawn away by our free will desires, and "Choose" disobedience. The talking snake didn't make Eve choose his word over Gods. That is why God punished Eve, for Eves free will choice, and that because HE loved her.

 

[BelieveItOarKnot]

Dear Brother,

I truly appreciate the depth of your study and the careful weaving together of Scripture to show the reality of the tempter’s presence in mankind. You’re absolutely right, Paul did not shy away from acknowledging that “evil is present” with him whenever he desired to do good (Romans 7:21). This is why he could speak so honestly about the war between the flesh and the Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

But here’s the beauty of the Gospel: Jesus didn’t come just to expose the presence of sin and the tempter. He came to fulfill the Law, not abolish it (Matthew 5:17). How? By doing what the Law itself could never do condemn sin in the flesh through His own sinless life and sacrificial death (Romans 8:3-4).

The Law was perfect, but it could only reveal sin, not remove it (Romans 3:20). In Christ, the righteous requirement of the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That means, while the Law’s moral truth still stands, its condemning power is broken for those in Christ (Romans 6:14).

You touched on something vital when you spoke about the “same lump” being made into vessels of honor and dishonor (Romans 9:21). Under the Law, we were all vessels of dishonor because sin lived in us. Under grace, through Christ’s finished work, He cleanses us, fills us with His Spirit, and empowers us to live in a way the Law demanded but could never enable.

So in a way, Jesus didn’t “abolish” the Law. He satisfied its demands, removed its curse, and wrote its moral truth on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). That’s why Paul could say, “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). Not the end as in destruction, but the end as in completion like crossing the finish line.

And yes, the tempter still follows where the Word is sown (Mark 4:15), but now, instead of being powerless victims of his schemes, we stand in Christ’s victory, equipped with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). The Law showed us the battle grace empowers us to win it.

In short: Jesus didn’t throw the Law away. He wore its perfect robe, paid its debt in full, and then clothed us with His own righteousness so we could live free from its condemnation, but not free from its holy standard.

Blessings to you and your family!

I'm with you all the way, but will uphold the law as a rightful condemnation of sin/evil within everyone.

Cheering only on one side of the ledger is just unnecessary. I'm just as happy seeing evil and sin condemned because the end of those things is meant to come about by inflaming them to their eventual end.

Jesus can look any of us in the face and rebuke Satan, the tempter who plagues us all. There is never a cause to let up on that side of the ledgers just to make ourselves feel good. I don't want the tempter to feel good. You?

IF we are disciples we are directed to hate others and to hate our own life also, Luke 14:26. Even after doing all we are commanded to do we are again directed to call ourselves unprofitable servants.

In short, a feel good, all is only love, chocolate and cherries is just half a loaf.

There's bigger game to hunt

 

[Studyman]

The human will is not completely free. . .can we choose to never sin? . . .we cannot.
Our "freedom" is limited.

I have found through study that God placed me in a world in which other voices exist, just as HE did Eve. These "other voices" work to diminish God's Word, implying that God Lies to people, and that His Words can not be trusted. You can see this in the story of Eve. We see examples of men surrounded by these other voices, like Noah, and like righteous Lot who was vexed by them every day. Abraham was told by God to walk before Him and be perfect. But the "other voice" in the garden God placed me in, preaches that this same God withheld from Abraham and all men, the ability to do what God instructed him to do

Joshua and Caleb trusted God's Word, and encouraged all those other men around them, who professed to know God, to engage in the battles we face, and overcome, because if God is with us who can be against us. But these "other voices" moved to stone them to death for even considering such a thing. I could go on and on all through the Bible of examples God gave me of this "other voice". Even Jesus was placed in a world with voices, who professed to know God, but worked to convince as many as they could to reject God's Word in favor of theirs. Jesus speaks to this very thing.

Matt. 23: 13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

So I am full aware of the teaching of the religious voices of the religious system of this world that God placed me in. And I am fully aware that they, as they have since the beginning, will work to diminish the Words of God, as if HE gives a Command, then withholds from men the ability to obey the command, then punishes them when they can't obey.

The philosophy that God has given me free will to do "everything" evil, wicked and sinful, but has limited my free will by withholding from me the ability to choose HIS righteousness, might be popular among the many in this world who call Jesus Lord, Lord. But God's Word doesn't teach this philosophy at all. So I won't be "Yielding myself" to this voice.

I advocate that a man Trusts God's Word, over the "other voices" in the world God placed us in, like Paul did, and Abraham, and Caleb.

Phil. 3: 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: "but I follow after", if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but "this one thing I do", forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things "which are before",

14 I press toward the mark "for the prize of the high calling of God" (be perfect) (Which is) in Christ Jesus.

15 Let us therefore, "as many as be perfect", be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

 

[Clare73]

I have found through study that God placed me in a world in which other voices exist, just as HE did Eve. These "other voices" work to diminish God's Word, implying that God Lies to people, and that His Words can not be trusted. You can see this in the story of Eve. We see examples of men surrounded by these other voices, like Noah, and like righteous Lot who was vexed by them every day. Abraham was told by God to walk before Him and be perfect. But the "other voice" in the garden God placed me in, preaches that this same God withheld from Abraham and all men, the ability to do what God instructed him to do

Joshua and Caleb trusted God's Word, and encouraged all those other men around them, who professed to know God, to engage in the battles we face, and overcome, because if God is with us who can be against us. But these "other voices" moved to stone them to death for even considering such a thing. I could go on and on all through the Bible of examples God gave me of this "other voice". Even Jesus was placed in a world with voices, who professed to know God, but worked to convince as many as they could to reject God's Word in favor of theirs. Jesus speaks to this very thing.

Matt. 23: 13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

So I am full aware of the teaching of the religious voices of the religious system of this world that God placed me in. And I am fully aware that they, as they have since the beginning, will work to diminish the Words of God, as if HE gives a Command, then withholds from men the ability to obey the command, then punishes them when they can't obey.

God's command (i.e., faith) is savingly obeyed only by those to whom he has sovereignly (based on nothng but his will to do so, as unaccountable as the wind, Jn 3:6-8) given new birth (Jn 3:3-5).

 

[BelieveItOarKnot]

Free will is a great responsibility. With it must come a free will choice to limit or place boundaries on the free will. Even God, who clearly has free will, placed boundaries and Limitations on His Own free will. He is a Just, and Merciful God. No one makes Him be Just and Merciful, He places these Limitation of His Own free will because HE knows free will that is unchecked will destroy any kingdom, even His Own.

Freewill is technically a Godless position.

Are you claiming the Will of God does not work within you? How are you then free, O servant of Him?

You're not. NOR does God "need" your freewill decisions in order to reward you, as if He is beholden to pony up with whatever you think you are due for your decisions or actions. That's simply not a depiction of any so called god, yet alone The God of all creation.

Fact is, nothing transpires apart from the Will of God:

Psalm 145:14
The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

Hebrews 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

By Himself, PURGED our sins. Himself. No one else will get a single spittle of credit for purging their own sins by their own so called freewill.

There is more to say about this freewill fallacy. But this alone should make anyone think things through, OR harden them even further to "uphold themselves." You see God also grants us our DELUSIONS and puts our FEARS upon us all:

Isaiah 66:4
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

There is an interesting phenomena that transpires when we engage/read His Words. IF we are a freewiller, we'll see freewill things. When we are determinist, we see determinist things. The more interesting parts are that both positions hold some truths, BUT none of these postures are apart from the over riding WILL OF THE LORD.

Imagine what a Divine Juggling Act looks like. IF freewill gave us that much power, I actually wouldn;t want it. It's far too complicated for me.

In the final analysis, God is all there is. He will BE ALL in ALL. 1 Cor. 15:28

And why not? Who can complain when Total Eternal Perfection is in charge? Why have it any other way? It's pointless.

So, no. God is not impressed with the moral choices of anyone. Fact also is any "moral choices" are still made with evil present within us all anyway. It's simply a no win game that we play to justify the entirety of ourselves before our Maker when such justifications really don't even exist and aren't in the cards.

We're both good and evil because GOD Himself made us that way. No sense lying about it or deceiving ourselves about it. Even less, thinking some other people are better than others because they made "good choices." It's just baloney all the way though.

We don't know enough to place limitation on our own free will, we must learn and be shown to freely accept limitations. This undeniable truth

Your "undeniable truth" doesn't exist. There is simply zero people that have the same freewill as God. Therefore every and any other will is categorically LESS THAN that free.

So how free is LESS THAN FREE?

It's not.

Nor are such "wills" free of God's Will anyway.

There are so many imaginations and fantasies in this category of theology it's hard to keep track of them all.

Here is a realistic look: There is not a person who will ever stand before us without evil present within them and the will of the tempter in operations within them also.

There was no such person as Eve, alone. There was no such person as Adam, alone.

Both of them were infected with the entrance of Satan into their hearts to STEAL from them the moment after God blessed them, according to Jesus anyway. Mark 4:15

From that point on, it's always been the person and the tempter, walking in the same pair of shoes, other than God Himself in the flesh.

There is a very clear line drawn between The Creator and the creation. Let's not mistake ourselves for God. He gave us part of His own self, but none of us can handle the WHOLE ENCHILADA nor are we meant to. That will always be reserved for Him Alone.

Many, who profess to know God, claim that "Evil" defiled Eve "From without", not from within, because they say God created her perfect, with no evil. But these men imply in their philosophy that the "ability" to chose Evil, is evil itself. That isn't true. There is something truly Holy about a person denying the lusts of their free will desires, (AKA Lusts of the flesh) and choose instead to freely adopt the limitations the Father Gave them, even when they might not understand them. Eve was created a perfect being with free will, like her creator. She was created with the ability to choose to obey and to choose to disobey. A talking snake, a false teacher, these are just tests to see, as Paul teaches, "Who we yield ourselves to obey".

We never do only evil or only good. That is simply another freewill fairy tale.

Whatever good we do, we do so with the presence of evil, an evil conscience, still within us all. And the tempter also retains his sway over us, in the flesh regardless.

So God is never just engaging just a person. He engages both the child of God AND the tempter or his own, as Jesus showed us on nearly every page of the Gospels.

Nobody slips by this setup based on their so called "good choices."

A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces either no or bad fruit.

And everyone produces BOTH, if they are honest.

Dishonest religious people have a hard time owning up to this fact or they have conjured up various formulas to "get around" the hard line facts of their bad or evil fruit.

Another "fact" of scripture is that we all have evil thoughts that defile us, Mark 7:21-23

But of course no one wants to sit in a pew and really HEAR about the fact that they are defiled, do they?

No, they'll all run out the door holding their hands over their ears, and maybe even gnash a tooth or 2

 

[Studyman]

Freewill is technically a Godless position.

This is a popular religious philosophy of this world religions, "who come in Christ's Name". But I don't believe that God creating humans with the free will ability to choose God's Words or reject God's Words is Evil, or as you preach "Godless".

Are you claiming the Will of God does not work within you?

Of course, if I choose to reject God's Word, the Will of God is that my heart becomes darkened and I become a fool. If I choose to "Yield myself" to Gods Word, as Paul and Jesus Teach, the Will of God is that I be given to His Son, for cleansing.

So yes, the Will of God is always done in men, whether they yield themselves to God or not.

How are you then free, O servant of Him?

I am freed from the death that results in rejecting His Word, free to serve Him, trust HIM, rather that my own self. Why would I want to be free from God's instruction? Is God's instruction also "Godless" in your religion?

You're not. NOR does God "need" your freewill decisions in order to reward you,

He doesn't need men to choose Him, otherwise HE would make everyone choose Him. He "Seeks" men who will deny themselves and "Choose" Him". He "Wants" all men to choose Him, which is Life, not Reject Him, which is death. He gives men the choice.

Duet. 30: 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore "choose" life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

You, and others who "Come in Christ's Name" promote that this "Will of God" is evil, or as you said "Godless" that HE would give men the free will to choose or reject.

He has already shown you the rewards according to your deeds. At least, this is what the Bible teaches. A man either believes Him or they don't. It's a Free will choice HE gave to men.

If you can't believe in God's Words on such a fundamental Biblical Truth, how is it you are preaching to others??

 

[Soyeong]

Let’s look at how a legal contract works.

It is in accordance with God's righteousness to be a doer of charity, which is independently true of any legal contract, so while instructions to do that can be included as part of a legal contract, if someone's goal is to know God by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, then they will be a doer charity regardless of whether instructions to do that are part of any legal contract that they might be under.

Scenario 1: Offeror offers the offeree a contract. Offeree has fulfilled the contract. Offeror honour the contract by paying the offeree.

Scenario 2: Offeror offers the offeree a contract. Offeree has breached the contract. Offeree honour the contract by making reparation to the Offeror.

Nowhere does the Bible treat the Mosaic Covenant as being a legal contract where God wanted to Israelites to do a specific task, then the contract is over once they have accomplished it, but rather it states that the Mosaic Covenant is eternal (Exodus 31:14-17, Leviticus 24:8) and repeatedly says things like that this is a statute forever throughout your generations. God's righteousness is eternal (Psalms 119:142), so any instructions that God has given for how to be a doer of His righteousness are eternally valid (Psalms 119:160), which is true regardless of which contracts someone happens to be under. It is not the case that if love our neighbor by doing an act of charity one time, then we have fulfilled our obligation to that command and no longer need to love our neighbor, but rather that is an ongoing command that we need to keep fulfilling for the rest of our lives. The Mosaic Covenant is often spoken about in terms of being a marriage contract between God and Israel and when a husband is fulfilling his vows, then he is correctly meeting his obligations to his wife, not bringing his marriage contract to an end.

God has brought forth a new and better way (that is free of burdens of the law and consciousness of sin through grace by the leading of his Holy Spirit) for us to keep the law. Read Hebrews 8:7-13.

Hebrews 8:7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

Hebrews 8:13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

In Galatians 3:16-19, there is a principle that new covenants do not replace the promises of covenants that have already been ratified, so God's covenants are cumulatively valid. The Mosaic Covenant is eternal, so the only way that the New Covenant can replace it is if it is cumulative with it. One thing can only make another thing obsolete to the extent that it has cumulative functionality, so a computer makes as typewriter obsolete, but does not make a plow obsolete, which means that if the the New Covenant were something completely different that was not cumulative with the Mosaic Covenant, then it could not make it obsolete. Rather, the New Covenant is still made with the same God with the same character traits and therefore the same instructions for how to be a doer of His character traits (Jeremiah 31:33).

So the New Covenant still involves following God's law (Hebrews 8:10) plus it is cumulatively based on better promises and has a superior mediator (Hebrews 8:6). The fault that God found with the Mosaic Covenant was not with His law, but rather He found fault with the people for not continuing in their covenant (Hebrews 8:7-9), so the solution to the problem was not for God to do away with His law, but to do away with what was hindering us from obeying it. This is why the New Covenant involves God sending His Son to free us from sin so that we might be free to meet the righteous requirement of His law (Romans 8:3-4) and God taking away our hearts of stone, giving us hearts of flesh, and sending His Spirit to lead us in obedience to His law (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Jesus spent His ministry teaching his followers to obey God's law by word and by example and the reason why he established the New Covenant was not in order to nullify anything that he spent his ministry teaching or so that we could be free to continue to have the same lawlessness that caused the New Covenant to be needed in the first place, but rather the New Covenant involves God putting His law in our minds and writing it on our hearts so that we will obey it (Jeremiah 31:33).

The law of God is the same as a contract. If you can keep all the laws, you will have eternal life.

Matthew 19:16-17 A man came to Jesus and asked, “Good Teacher, what good work must I do to have life that lasts forever?” Jesus said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One Who is good. If you want to have life that lasts forever, you must obey the Laws.”

If you break the law, you will receive death.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins shall die.

If obeying the law can bring salvation and eternal life, why is everyone still dying? It is because the death sentence has been passed onto everyone when Adam disobeyed. Everyone is born according to Adam’s fallen image (Everyone is born sinner and all sinners must die).

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

Death reigns BEFORE the law.

Romans 5:12-14 This is what happened: Sin came into the world by one man, Adam. Sin brought death with it. Death spread to all men because all have sinned. Sin was in the world before the Law was given. But sin is not held against a person when there is no Law. And yet death had power over men from the time of Adam until the time of Moses. Even the power of death was over those who had not sinned in the same way Adam sinned.

We can all have eternal life in spite of the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so if we break the law, then we can repent and return to obedience through faith and still have eternal life.

The Hebrew word "yada" refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. God's way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of his household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven in contrast with saying that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the law is to teach us how to know God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life. The reason why our entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven requires us to be workers of lawfulness is not in order to earn it as the result of perfect obedience, but because that is the way to experience the gift of knowing God and Jesus.

The truth is that God has ended the law which is designed to be obey and uphold by the efforts of the flesh.


Romans 10:4 For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God.

Eternal instructions for how to be a doer of God's righteousness can't be ended without first ending God's eternal righteousness. In Romans 9:30-10:4, the Israelites had a zeal for God, but it was not based on knowing Him, so they failed to attain righteousness because they misunderstood the goal of the law by pursuing it as through righteousness were earned as the result of their works instead of pursuing it as through righteousness were by faith in Christ, for knowing Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith. In Romans 10:5-10, this faith refers to Deuteronomy 30 as the word of faith that we proclaim in regard to proclaiming that God's law is not too difficult for us to obey, that obedience to it brings life and a blessing, in regard to what we are agreeing to obey by confessing that Jesus is Lord, and in regard to the way to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead for salvation.

There are ignorant Christians who thinks Jesus died on the cross to bring them back into the law (from scenario 2 back into scenario 1 of the legal contract). They are saved by grace through faith but went back to keep the law with their flesh.

In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith. In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so doing those works in obedience to God's law has nothing to do with trying to earn our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of those works is part of His gift of salvation. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what Jesus spent this ministry teaching and in what he accomplished through the cross is by repenting and becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law (Acts 21:20).

Death reigns DURING the law.

Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the 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.”

Death reigns AFTER the law (For Christians who put themselves back under the law).

Galatians 3:2-3 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Death reigning for those who do not continue to do everything in the law is the opposite of it reigning during the law. According to Deuteronomy 27-30, relying on the Book of the Law is the way to be blessed while lawlessness is the way to be cursed, so Galatians 3:10 should not be interpreted as Paul quoting from that passage in order to support a point that is arguing the opposite of that passage, but rather the way to be cursed is by not relying on the Book of the Law, which is why all those who rely on "works of the law" instead come under that curse. In Romans 3:27, Paul contrasted a law of works with a law of faith, in Galatians 3:10-12, he contrasted the Book of the Law with "works of the law", and in Romans 3:31 and Galatians 3:10-12, he said that our faith upholds God's law in contrast with saying that "works of the law" are not of faith, so that phrase does not refer to God's law, which is why it is not of faith. It is the lawlessness that you are supporting where death reigns.

Important: God is NOT INTERESTED to see how well we can keep the law through the flesh.

God called for His children to repent and to return to obedience to His law all throughout the Bible and even Jesus began his ministry with that Gospel message, so God is certainly interested in us obeying it, so obeying it has nothing to do with God seeing how well we can keep it through the flesh.

Important: God wants to use the law to bring to our awareness that we are sinners who cannot save ourselves.

Important: Nowhere does the Bible say that. Jesus saves us from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so Jesus graciously teaching us to be a doer of it is intrinsically the way that He is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it and our obedience to it has nothing to do with trying to save ourselves. Something that we do by ourselves does not involve relying on anyone else, so it is contradictory to think that we are saving ourselves by relying on God's instructions, but rather God graciously teaching us to be doers of His law is the way that He is saving us.

Under the equivalent of a legal contract, everyone is fulfilling the contract as defaulters (sinners) who has breached the contract, making reparation for damages (death).

We are like mortgagor who took up a mortgage from the bank. Under the law of repayment (an example of the law), we need to make repayment (an example of death - just as everybody pays daily with their life as they age towards death) to the bank. But halfway through the repayment, someone comes along and help us make a one-time huge payment that clears the remaining amount and free us from the debt. That someone did not abolish the law of mortgage but fulfilled it and free us from it.

Jesus fulfilled the law by making full payment for our death through his death on the cross.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I (Jesus) have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I (Jesus) have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

In Titus 2:14, it doesn't say that Jess gave himself to free us from God's law, but in order to free us from all lawlessness. Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law in contrast with saying that he came not to abolish it and he warned against relaxing the least part of it, so you should not interpret fulfilling the law as meaning essentially the same thing as abolishing it or as relaxing the least part of it, rather Jesus fulfilled it by graciously teaching us how to correctly obey it.

 

[Soyeong]

Following the law isn't much of an issue in Christianity. Obviously as Christians we shouldn't have any other gods. Shouldn't worship idols. Shouldn't use the name of God in vain. Shouldn't murder. Shouldn't lie etc. What Christian is going to argue against keeping such laws?

The issue in Christianity is the small number who say Christians must keep the seventh day sabbath. Which really means going to church on Saturday instead of Sunday. And keeping to a kosher diet or a vegetarian kosher diet.

Then there's another small number who want to be Christian but also follow the law the same as Jews. Basically a Jew who changes nothing except for belief in Christ.

In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the Gentles, and God's law was how his audience knew what sin is (Romans 3:20), so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel message, which is not limited to just the Ten Commandments. Jesus also set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law, which included keeping the Sabbath holy and refraining from eating unclean animals, and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6). So Christ spent his ministry teaching his followers to obey God's law by word and by example and being a Christian is about being a follower of what Christ.

We embody what we believe to be true about God through our works, or in other words, the way to believe in God is by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits. For example, by being a doer of good works in obedience to God's law we are embodying God's goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him, and by embodying God's goodness we are also expressing the belief that God is good. Likewise, the way to believe that God is a doer of justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to His law, the way to believe that God is holy is by being a doer of His instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth. This is exactly the same as the way to believe in the Son, who is the radiant of God's glory and the exact likeness of His character (Hebrews 1:3), which he embodied through his works by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law.

In 1 Peter 1:16, we are told to be holy for God is holy, which is a quote from Leviticus where God was giving instructions for how to do that, which includes keeping His Sabbaths holy (Leviticus 19:2-3) and refraining from eating unclean animals (Leviticus 11:44-45). If God were to cease to be holy and that were to make no difference in the way that someone chooses to live, then they are choosing to live in a way that treats God as if He has ceased to be holy.

Usually when there's a debate regarding Christians and law keeping, the only law being debated is the 4th commandment. And not a revised or amended version of it, but the 4th commandment exactly as written in stone. I don't ever see debates over the other 9. Much less the other 612. When it comes to the Mosaic law, most Christians only know a small number of those commandments. But James tells us that if we break only one of them, we're guilty of breaking all of them, the entire law. Of course the issue with the law in the epistles of the New Testament is the matter of going from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. Which isn't a struggle for Gentile Christians, because they were not raised under the Old Covenant, nor were their parents. Although in the beginning there were judaizers (Jews who had converted to Christianity) telling the Gentiles they had to abide by the Old Covenant.

The reason why Jesus established the New Covenant was not in order to nullify anything that he spent his ministry teaching or so that we could be free to continue to have the same lawlessness that caused the New Covenant to be needed in the first place, but rather the New Covenant still involves following God's law (Jeremiah 31:33). The problem that they had with the Judaizers was not that they were teaching Gentiles how to follow what Christ taught, but that they were wanting to require Gentiles to become circumcised (convert to being Jews) in order to become saved.

 

[Soyeong]

God only made two covenants with mankind. The first covenant was with Adam, it was the covenant of the law. And the second was for everyone after Adam and it was the covenant of grace.

Adam was given the law and he broke it and died on the day he sinned. The rest of mankind, inherited death from Adam. The Bible confirms that we are all born dead in sin.

In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith, which means that the Mosaic Covenant is a covenant of grace and law. Likewise, in Jeremiah 31:33, the. New Covenant involves God putting His law in our minds and writing it on our hearts, so it is also a covenant of grace and law along with all of God's other covenants.

We are all born into slavery to sin and Satan, and no amount of keeping the law can ever justify us and make us righteous. As dead slaves, we can do precisely nothing to change our state. We are 100% dependant on God to make us alive, if He doesn't we will remain in our state of death and slavery for all eternity in hell.

Our best works (attempts to keep the law) are as filthy rags in Gods sight. So if our best works are filthy rags, how can we expect God to accept our obedience and best works when we already know that we are an abomination in His sight.

God's law was never given as instructions for how to justify ourselves or make ourselves, but that doesn't mean that we aren't obligated to obey it for the reasons for which it was given. In Isaiah 64:6, it is not God speaking about how He sees our works, but rather it is the people hyperbolically complaining about God not coming down and making His presence known. The reality is that God is not a commander of filthy rags, but rather the righteous deeds of the saints are like fine white linen (Revelation 19:8).

God made it perfectly clear that nobody will be saved by keeping the law or doing good works. The only way God saves, is by His grace and through the gift of faith He gives to those He saves.

The Bible is very clear that dead men cannot contribute anything to the work of salvation. God must do it all from the beginning to the end. God chose those He would save, before He created the world. He wrote down the name of each person who would be saved, in His book of life. Nobody can add or remove any names to His complete list.

In Titus 2:14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so doing those works has absolutely nothing to do with trying to contribute anything towards earning our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of those works is part of His gift of salvation. Jesus saves us from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so Jesus graciously teaching us to be a doer of it through faith is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it.

 

[Soyeong]

Rom_10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

When Jesus came salvation for Israel was to be found in faith in Jesus as Messiah. There was a degree of righteousness in law keeping, but now righteousness was to be found in faith for those that believed. This was not the end of the law, just the end of the law as a source of righteousness for those who have faith.

In a way faith was an implicit requirement previously in law keeping as the Pharisees who kept the law were told they already had their reward (the admiration of others). That they thought they were obtaining their own righteousness was manifest by the contempt they had for others.

Knowledge puffs up = pride = self-deception = distance from God
humility = access to truth = closeness to God

The law for Israel still continues and when a faithful remnant receive their King and his earthly kingdom after the tribulation, they will have the law written in their hearts.

While the only way for someone to attain a character trait is through faith what it means for someone to attain a character trait is for them to become a doer of that trait. For example, the only way for someone to become courageous is through faith apart from being required to have first done enough courageous works in order to earn it as the result, but it would be contradictory for someone to become courageous apart from becoming a doer of courageous works, and the same is true for righteousness and every other character trait. This is why the same faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works does not abolish our need to be a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:28-31). In other words, everyone who has faith will be declared righteous and everyone who has faith is a doer of God's law, which is how Paul can deny in Romans 4:1-5 that we can earn our righteousness as the result of our works while also affirming in Romans 2:13 that only the doers of the law will be declared righteous. We becoming someone who has faith, someone who will be declared righteous, and someone who is a doer of the law all at the same time and anyone is is not one of those is also not the others, but we do not earn our righteousness and the result of our obedience to God's law.

In Roman 9:30-10:4, they had a zeal for God but it was not based on knowing Him, so they failed to attain righteousness because they misunderstood the goal of the law by pursuing it as though righteousness were earning as the result of their works in order to establish their own instead of pursing it as though righteousness were by faith in Christ, for knowing Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith. God's law was never a source of righteousness, so it can't be ended for a purpose that it never had.

 

[ozso]

In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the Gentles, and God's law was how his audience knew what sin is (Romans 3:20), so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel message, which is not limited to just the Ten Commandments. Jesus also set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law, which included keeping the Sabbath holy and refraining from eating unclean animals, and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6). So Christ spent his ministry teaching his followers to obey God's law by word and by example and being a Christian is about being a follower of what Christ.

We embody what we believe to be true about God through our works, or in other words, the way to believe in God is by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits. For example, by being a doer of good works in obedience to God's law we are embodying God's goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him, and by embodying God's goodness we are also expressing the belief that God is good. Likewise, the way to believe that God is a doer of justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to His law, the way to believe that God is holy is by being a doer of His instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth. This is exactly the same as the way to believe in the Son, who is the radiant of God's glory and the exact likeness of His character (Hebrews 1:3), which he embodied through his works by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law.

In 1 Peter 1:16, we are told to be holy for God is holy, which is a quote from Leviticus where God was giving instructions for how to do that, which includes keeping His Sabbaths holy (Leviticus 19:2-3) and refraining from eating unclean animals (Leviticus 11:44-45). If God were to cease to be holy and that were to make no difference in the way that someone chooses to live, then they are choosing to live in a way that treats God as if He has ceased to be holy.


The reason why Jesus established the New Covenant was not in order to nullify anything that he spent his ministry teaching or so that we could be free to continue to have the same lawlessness that caused the New Covenant to be needed in the first place, but rather the New Covenant still involves following God's law (Jeremiah 31:33). The problem that they had with the Judaizers was not that they were teaching Gentiles how to follow what Christ taught, but that they were wanting to require Gentiles to become circumcised (convert to being Jews) in order to become saved.

That being the view of Messianic Judaism.

 

[Soyeong]

That being the view of Messianic Judaism.

Whether what I said is correct or not stands on its own merits.

 

[Soyeong]

The Law Was Holy, But It Was Never the Savior​

There is a direct connection between God's Word and God's Word made flesh insofar as he is the embodiment of God's Word expressed by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to it. God graciously saving us by teaching us to embody His Word is the same means of salvation as through God's word made flesh. Jesus saves us from from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so Jesus graciously teaching us to be a doer of God's law through faith is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it, so God's law does not just point to our need for a Savior but also teaches the way that he is saving us. In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith.

You referenced Matthew 5:17 and rightly so. Jesus fulfilled the law, meaning He lived it perfectly. He didn’t abolish it. He satisfied every demand of it. And in doing so, He opened the door to a new covenant.

According to Galatians 5:14, anyone who has ever loved their neighbor has fulfilled the entire law, so while Jesus living in perfect obedience to it is an instance of fulfilling it, we are to required to live in perfect obedience to it in order to fulfill it. There is nothing in the Bible that states that living in perfect obedience to God's law makes the way for the New Covenant.

And Hebrews 8:13 is clear:


We don’t go back to what was meant to lead us forward. To return to the law after receiving grace is like insisting on animal sacrifices when the Lamb of God has already been slain!

Grace Is Not a Loophole, It’s a Living Relationship,​

The Hebrew word "yada" refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that He and Israel might know (yada) Him. In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce dong what is ungodly, so doing those works in obedience to God's law has nothing to do with trying to earn our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of them is part of His gift of salvation. The people in the Bible wanted God to be gracious to them by teaching them to obey His law, but you seem to want God to be gracious to you instead of teaching you to obey it.

I sense a warning in your message to those who might treat grace lightly, and I share that concern. Romans 6:1-2 asks the rhetorical question,


But here’s the beauty: the Spirit doesn’t just forgive us. He transforms us.
Romans 8:3-4 says,

So yes, the law is fulfilled in us, not because we grind it out in the flesh but because the Spirit of Christ lives in us.

God has not commanded anything that is not in accordance with walking in the Spirit. In Acts 5:32, the Spirit has been given to those who obey God. In John 16:13, the Spirit has the role of leading us in truth, in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey God's law, and in Psalms 119:142, God's law is truth. In John 16:8, the Spirit has the role of convicting us of sin, and in 1 John 3:4, sin is the transgression of God's law. In Romans 8:4-7, Paul contrasted those who walk in the Spirit with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to God's law. In Galatians 5:16-23, Paul contrasted the desires of the flesh with the desires of the Spirit and everything that he listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against God's law while all of the fruits of the Spirit are aspects of God's character that God's law was given to teach us how to embody. In Romans 2:25-29, the way to recognize that a Gentile has a circumcised heart is by observing their obedience to God's law, which is the same way to tell for a Jew (Deuteronomy 30:6), and having a circumcised heart is a matter of the Spirit, which is in contrast with Acts 7:51-53, where those who have uncircumcised hearts resist the Spirit and do not obey God's law.

The Danger of Returning to the Law​

Paul was deeply concerned about believers who were saved by grace but tried to return to the law for sanctification. He called it foolish in Galatians 3:3:

In Romans 3:27, Paul contrast a law of works with a law of faith, in Galatians 3:10-12, he contrasted the Book of the Law with "works of the law", and in Romans 3:31 and Galatians 3:10-12, he said that our faith upholds God's law in contrast with saying that "works of the law" are not of faith, so that phrase does not refer to God's law. Christ spent his ministry teaching his followers to obey God's law by word and by example and the problem that Paul had in Galatians was not with those who were teaching Gentiles how to follow what Christ taught, but with those who were wanting to require Gentiles to obey works of the law in order to become justified.

If God had saved the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in order to put them under slavery to His law, then it would be for slavery that God sets us free, however, Galatians 5:1 says that it is for freedom that God sets us free. God's law is truth and in John 8:31-36, it is the transgression of God's law that puts us into slavery while the truth sets us free.

I don’t advocate for kosher diets or ritual law-keeping for Gentiles in the church (see Acts 15, Romans 14).

According to Deuteronomy 13, the way that God instructed His children to determine that someone is a false prophet who is not speaking for Him is if they speak against obeying His law, so it is either incorrect to interpret Acts 15 and Romans 14 as doing that (my position) or they were false prophets, but either way followers of Christ should follow his example of refraining from eating unclean animals.

Imagine being raised your whole life under the Law, only to find out that the Messiah came to fulfill it and you now walk by faith, not by adherence to a legal code.

Jesus fulfilled the law by teaching us how to correctly obey it. The Bible repeatedly connects walking by faith with walking in obedience to His law, such as with Revelation 14:12 where those who kept faith in Jesus are the same as those who kept God's commandments, and in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of God's law. We can't have faith in God to guide us in how to rightly live instead of following his guidance. It is contradictory to walk by faith in God's Word made flesh instead of walking by faith in God's Word.

They didn’t require circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, or ceremonial laws. Why? Because the New Covenant is not about law-keeping it's about heart transformation.

If Paul had been speaking against circumcision for any reason and not just against incorrect reasons, then according to Galatians 5:2, Paul caused Christ to be of no value to Timothy when he had him circumcised and Christ is of no value to roughly 80% of the men in the US. In Acts 15:1, men from Judea were wanting to require Gentiles to become circumcised in order to become saved, however, that was never the reason why God commanded circumcision, so the Jerusalem Council upheld God's law by correctly ruling against requiring circumcision for an incorrect reason. In Exodus 12:48, Gentiles who want to eat of the Passover lamb were required to become circumcised, so the Jerusalem, Council should not be interpreted as ruling against Gentiles correctly acting in accordance with what God has commanded as if they had the authority to countermand God.

The law to honor our parents written on stone has the same content as the law to honor our parents written on our hearts, so having a heart transformation does not involve something that is not in accordance with law keeping.

so that salvation is no longer about us trying and failing to earn righteousness through works, but about receiving His righteousness by faith.

We can't earn our righteousness even as the result of having perfect obedience to God's law (Romans 4:1-5), so that has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of the law. Righteousness has always been by faith (Genesis 15:6), so that is not something that changed.

The beauty you see in God’s Law even when it confronts us is exactly what drives us to Christ, the only One who fulfilled it perfectly on our behalf.

Nowhere does the Bible say that Jesus removed his give of salvation by fulfilling the law on our behalf.

The Law was like a tutor (Galatians 3:24), pointing us to Christ, and once He came, the purpose of the tutor was fulfilled.

Someone who disregard everything that their tutor taught them after the purpose of the tutor has been fulfilled would be missing the whole point of the purpose of a tutor.

So the Law ends in the sense that its role as a covenant binding Israel to God is completed in Christ (Romans 10:4),

The context of that verse is speaking about the Israelites missing the goal of the law and has nothing to do with Christ ending it. It doesn't even make sense to think that God's Word made flesh ended God's Word, but rather God's Word made flesh is the the goal of God's Word.

 

[pastorwaris]

There is a director connection between God's Word and God's Word made flesh insofar as he is the embodiment of God's Word expressed by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to it. God graciously saving us by teaching us to embody His Word is the same means of salvation as through God's word made flesh. Jesus saves us from from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so Jesus graciously teaching us to be a doer of God's law through faith is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it, so God's law does not just point to our need for a Savior but also teaches the way that he is saving us. In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith.

​

Dear Brother in Christ,
thank you for your thoughtful reflection. You are right in saying that the Word became flesh (John 1:14), and in Him we see God’s perfect obedience embodied. Truly, Jesus is the Torah in sandal, the living expression of God’s Word. But we must also hold this truth in the fuller light of the Gospel: Jesus did not come merely to teach us how to obey the Law, but to fulfill it for us and bring us into a new covenant relationship with God.

First Thing,
When Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them,” the word “fulfill” (Greek: plēroō) means to bring to completion, to fill to the full, to accomplish the intended goal. In other words, the Law was a shadow pointing toward the substance, and Christ Himself is that substance (Colossians 2:16–17). He is not just showing us obedience; He is giving us His obedience as our righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Second Thing,
You referenced Psalm 119, and rightly so. The psalmist longed for God to “put false ways far from me” (v.29). But here is the difference: the psalmist was under the Old Covenant, striving toward righteousness, whereas we are under the New Covenant, where God promises to write His law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10). This is not just external obedience but internal transformation by the Spirit. The Hebrew word torah means instruction, but its goal was always to drive us to Messiah. The Torah was never the Savior. It was the tutor (paidagōgos in Greek, Galatians 3:24), leading us to Christ.

Now, Dear Brother, regarding hamartia (Greek for sin, meaning “to miss the mark”), John tells us sin is “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Yes, Christ saves us from lawlessness, but not by making us law-keepers in the old way of the letter. Paul explains, “We serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6). This is how Jesus ended the Law without abolishing it. He took it into Himself, fulfilled its demands perfectly, bore its curse on the cross (Galatians 3:13), and rose to give us His Spirit, who empowers us to live out God’s righteousness from the inside out.

So, dear brother, while the Law shows us God’s holiness, only Christ gives us God’s righteousness. The Law pointed; Christ performed. The Law demanded; Christ supplied. The Law taught; Christ transforms. And in Him, we are not just learning to obey. We are being made new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).

That is the beauty of Grace: not law-keeping as a means of salvation, but salvation as the gift that produces Spirit-filled obedience. Jesus didn’t abolish the Law. He fulfilled it and lifted us into the life it was always pointing toward: union with Him.

My encouragement to you is this: let us keep honoring the Law as holy, but let us worship Jesus as the end (Greek: telos, Romans 10:4 the goal, the completion) of the Law for righteousness to all who believe.

Blessings

 

[pastorwaris]

According to Galatians 5:14, anyone who has ever loved their neighbor has fulfilled the entire law, so while Jesus living in perfect obedience to it is an instance of fulfilling it, we are to required to live in perfect obedience to it in order to fulfill it. There is nothing in the Bible that states that living in perfect obedience to God's law makes the way for the New Covenant.

Dear Brother, thank you for bringing Galatians 5:14 into the discussion. It’s such a beautiful verse: “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Paul here is not saying that we fulfill the Law by partial obedience or by occasional good deeds; rather, he is showing us the essence (plerōma, Greek for “fulfillment, completion”) of the Law as it is redefined in Christ. The Torah’s heartbeat was always love "ahavah" (Hebrew: love, covenant faithfulness) and Christ Himself said, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40).


But here’s the key:
Paul never taught that we fulfill the Law by human effort apart from Christ. Instead, he said in Romans 8:3–4, “For what the Law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Notice that it is Christ’s Spirit within us that fulfills the Law’s intent, not our independent obedience.

Now, when you say, “There is nothing in the Bible that states that living in perfect obedience to God’s law makes the way for the New Covenant,” you’re absolutely right and that’s precisely why the New Covenant had to come through Jesus’ obedience, not ours. Hebrews 8:6–7 makes it clear: “If the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.” The Greek word for “faultless” (amemptos) doesn’t mean God’s Law was defective, but that it could not produce the life it demanded. So Christ, by His perfect obedience (teleios complete, mature, lacking nothing), became the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6).


So how did Jesus end the Law without abolishing it? By fulfilling both its righteous demands and its prophetic purpose. His obedience wasn’t just an “instance” of fulfillment; it was the consummation (telos in Greek Romans 10:4) of the Law, bringing it to its intended goal. Through Him, we are no longer under the old written code (gramma), but under the new life of the Spirit (pneuma, Romans 7:6).

In short:

• Galatians 5:14 shows us the Law’s essence is love.
• Romans 8:4 shows us only the Spirit enables that love in us.
• Hebrews 8 shows us the New Covenant was established, not by our obedience, but by Christ’s perfect obedience.

That’s why we don’t just look at Jesus as our example of Law-keeping; we worship Him as the One who fulfilled it in our place, so that through faith, His life is lived out in us.

let’s not reduce Christ’s fulfillment to merely showing us how to obey, but let’s exalt Him as the One who completed the Law, opened the New Covenant, and now writes that love on our hearts by His Spirit.

 

[pastorwaris]

The Hebrew word "yada" refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that He and Israel might know (yada) Him. In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce dong what is ungodly, so doing those works in obedience to God's law has nothing to do with trying to earn our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of them is part of His gift of salvation. The people in the Bible wanted God to be gracious to them by teaching them to obey His law, but you seem to want God to be gracious to you instead of teaching you to obey it.

​

Dear Brother,
you raise an interesting point by bringing in the Hebrew word "yada" that deep, experiential knowing of God. You’re right that Moses longed for that kind of intimacy in Exodus 33:13. And in Christ, that is exactly what we receive but here’s the key difference: under the Old Covenant, yada was pursued through the framework of Torah obedience; under the New Covenant, yada is fulfilled in the living relationship we now have with Jesus Himself.
When Paul speaks in Titus 2:11–13, he shows that grace (charis in Greek) is not passive but active it “trains” (paideuousa, meaning to instruct like a teacher guiding a child). Grace does what the Law could never do: it doesn’t just command us, it empowers us from within. The Law said, “Do this and live,” but grace says, “Live in Christ, and now you can do this.” That’s why Paul calls the Law a paidagōgos (Galatians 3:24) a tutor meant to lead us to Messiah. But once Christ has come, we don’t go back to the tutor; we now live in union with the Teacher Himself.

Now, regarding your statement that “doing works in obedience to God’s Law has nothing to do with earning salvation, but is part of His gift of salvation” I agree in part. Yes, salvation produces fruit; obedience is the evidence, not the cause. But we must be careful not to confuse obedience to the Law of Moses with walking in the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). Jesus ended the Law without abolishing it by fulfilling its righteous requirements and carrying them forward into a new covenant reality. Hebrews 8:13 says the old covenant is “obsolete” (palaioō worn out, aging, passing away). Why? Because the yada we once sought through Torah is now fully revealed in Christ, who said, “This is eternal life, that they may know [ginōskō Greek for intimate knowledge] You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

So yes, God’s grace trains us. Yes, obedience flows from salvation. But it is not obedience to the old written code it is obedience empowered by the Spirit, flowing from relationship with Jesus. The Law pointed to intimacy, but Christ is intimacy. The Law taught righteousness, but Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30).

Dear B rother, let’s not miss the glory of the New Covenant by trying to rebuild the scaffolding of the old. Yada is no longer about striving under Torah. It’s about living in the Spirit, where the very love of God is poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5). That is how Jesus ended the Law without abolishing it: by fulfilling it and transforming it into life in Him.

Blessings

 

[pastorwaris]

God has not commanded anything that is not in accordance with walking in the Spirit. In Acts 5:32, the Spirit has been given to those who obey God. In John 16:13, the Spirit has the role of leading us in truth, in Ezekiel 36:26-27, the Spirit has the role of leading us to obey God's law, and in Psalms 119:142, God's law is truth. In John 16:8, the Spirit has the role of convicting us of sin, and in 1 John 3:4, sin is the transgression of God's law. In Romans 8:4-7, Paul contrasted those who walk in the Spirit with those who have minds set on the flesh who are enemies of God who refuse to submit to God's law. In Galatians 5:16-23, Paul contrasted the desires of the flesh with the desires of the Spirit and everything that he listed as works of the flesh that are against the Spirit are also against God's law while all of the fruits of the Spirit are aspects of God's character that God's law was given to teach us how to embody. In Romans 2:25-29, the way to recognize that a Gentile has a circumcised heart is by observing their obedience to God's law, which is the same way to tell for a Jew (Deuteronomy 30:6), and having a circumcised heart is a matter of the Spirit, which is in contrast with Acts 7:51-53, where those who have uncircumcised hearts resist the Spirit and do not obey God's law.

Brother, I appreciate the way you’ve connected so many Scriptures, because it shows a hunger to honor God’s truth. But here’s the heart of the matter: when we look at the full testimony of the Word, the Spirit’s role is not to chain us back to the old written code but to lead us into the new covenant life in Christ.

Yes, Acts 5:32 says the Spirit is given to those who obey but we must ask: obey what? The Greek word there for “obey” is peitharchousin it means to be persuaded under authority, not just to keep Torah ordinances. In context, Peter is speaking about obeying the call to believe in Jesus, not returning to Moses.

You mentioned Ezekiel 36:26–27, and that’s a vital passage. God promised to give a new heart and a new Spirit so His people could “walk in My statutes.” But notice how this prophecy is fulfilled in Jeremiah 31:31–34 the New Covenant. In the Hebrew, God says He will write His torah (instruction) on our hearts. In Hebrews 8:10, the Greek word used for “law” is nomos, but the point is not a re-inscription of Sinai’s code it is God’s truth internalized by the Spirit. That’s why Paul says in Romans 7:6, “We serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code (gramma).”

Now, Psalm 119:142 indeed calls God’s law “truth.” But in John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the truth.” The Hebrew emet (truth) and the Greek alētheia both find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ, not merely in tablets of stone. The Spirit doesn’t just point us back to Sinai. He points us to Jesus, the Living Torah, who fulfilled the law (Matthew 5:17) and is now its goal (telos, Romans 10:4).

You also pointed to Romans 2:25–29, but Paul’s point there is not that Gentiles fulfill Torah externally. it’s that true circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit (en pneumati), not by the letter (en grammati). This is the very contrast you see again in 2 Corinthians 3:6: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” That’s how Jesus ended the Law without abolishing it. He fulfilled its righteous demands and carried its essence into the Spirit-empowered life of the New Covenant.

So yes, the Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:8), and sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). But the solution is not simply “return to the Law,” but rather “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). The works of the flesh are against both the Spirit and the Law, but the fruit of the Spirit is not the result of Torah-keeping. It is the result of Christ living His life in us.

Dear Brother, the Spirit doesn’t resist the Law, nor does He merely reapply the old code. Instead, He writes Christ Himself on our hearts. That’s why Paul could say, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). That is the freedom and power of the New Covenant Jesus ended the Law without abolishing it by fulfilling it and transforming it into a Spirit-filled life.

 

[pastorwaris]

In Romans 3:27, Paul contrast a law of works with a law of faith, in Galatians 3:10-12, he contrasted the Book of the Law with "works of the law", and in Romans 3:31 and Galatians 3:10-12, he said that our faith upholds God's law in contrast with saying that "works of the law" are not of faith, so that phrase does not refer to God's law. Christ spent his ministry teaching his followers to obey God's law by word and by example and the problem that Paul had in Galatians was not with those who were teaching Gentiles how to follow what Christ taught, but with those who were wanting to require Gentiles to obey works of the law in order to become justified.

If God had saved the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in order to put them under slavery to His law, then it would be for slavery that God sets us free, however, Galatians 5:1 says that it is for freedom that God sets us free. God's law is truth and in John 8:31-36, it is the transgression of God's law that puts us into slavery while the truth sets us free.

Dear Brother, I appreciate the way you are digging into Romans and Galatians, but let’s look carefully at the language Paul uses. You referenced Romans 3:27 where Paul contrasts the law of works (nomos tōn ergōn) with the law of faith (nomos pisteōs). Notice, Paul is using nomos (law) in different senses sometimes referring to Torah, sometimes to principle, sometimes to covenantal framework. His point is not that there are two Torahs, but that the principle of faith completely excludes boasting in works.

Now, in Galatians 3:10–12, Paul says, “For all who rely on works of the law (ergōn nomou) are under a curse.” Historically, that phrase “works of the law” was used in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Hebrew: ma’ase ha-torah) to describe boundary-markers like circumcision, dietary laws, and calendar observances identity badges that separated Jew from Gentile. Paul’s problem was not simply with requiring Gentiles to obey these for justification, but with turning the Law itself into a system of righteousness apart from Christ. That’s why he adds in v.11, “The righteous shall live by faith” quoting Habakkuk 2:4 (tzaddik be’emunato yichyeh in Hebrew). Faith, not works, has always been the basis of covenant life.

You mentioned Romans 3:31 “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” The Greek word for “establish” here is histēmi to cause to stand. How? By showing that the Law’s ultimate purpose was to point to Christ (Romans 10:4: telos gar nomou Christos “Christ is the end/goal of the Law for righteousness to all who believe”). We uphold the Law, not by putting ourselves back under Sinai, but by trusting the One to whom it pointed.

Now, you brought up Galatians 5:1: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Exactly! If Christ freed Israel from Egypt only to enslave them again under Sinai, that would contradict God’s purpose. But Paul says freedom comes not through Torah-keeping but through the Spirit. Just a few verses later (Galatians 5:18), he says, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The Greek phrase is ou este hupo nomon“you are no longer under the jurisdiction of the Law.” That doesn’t mean lawlessness; it means we now walk in a higher reality the law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2).

As for John 8:31–36, when Jesus says, “The truth will set you free,” He identifies that truth not simply as Torah but as Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The Greek word alētheia (truth) is personified in Christ. Sin enslaves, yes, but freedom comes not through returning to Sinai, but through abiding in the Son: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).

So here’s the key: Jesus did not abolish the Law, but He brought it to fulfillment. The Torah was holy, but it could not make us holy. Christ fulfilled its demands, bore its curse, and gave us His Spirit so that we could walk in true freedom. The Law pointed forward; Christ brought it to completion. The Spirit now writes God’s will on our hearts, not on stone tablets.