Hello 1stcenturylady.
Appreciate the reply.
No, I do not mean that Gentiles never had the law seeing as a Gentile is grafted into the natural olive tree.
The text actually states something different to what you said.
Romans 11:17
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted
in among them and became partaker with them of
the rich root of the olive tree.
A wild olive branch is an uncircumcised branch. The wild olive branch is not grafted into a cultivated olive branch (Israel) but into the rich root itself (Christ). We stand among them and yet we are still a grafted Gentile branch.
They must also walk by the Spirit and not succumb to the lusts of the flesh. Do you agree or not?
Agree of course.
Granted, this has nothing to do with the Sabbath, which we are not required to follow, nor circumcision, or dietary laws which even Jews are not required to follow under the New Covenant. I'm only speaking of the moral law, which is covered under loving our neighbor. If you hate your brother, what are you acting against if not the law?
Your still talking about old covenant law, Gentiles were not included into the old covenant. The text states that the old covenant was between God and Israel, not God and any Gentile nation.
In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
Cain did not love his brother.
It should be basic Christian doctrine, but not every Christian walks in the Spirit. The question is why not. Answer, they never turned away from their sin, only trusted that Jesus would save them no matter how they lived.
The flesh of man is utterly evil, we must die everyday to our desires and lusts. We have been baptized into death by Christ Himself, but we also crucify ourselves. Others come first in everything. The more you practice loving others the way Christ loved you, the less you will sin.
1 John 3:4-10
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.
John a Jew is addressing those under the law, hence, the word 'lawlessness'. When a Gentile reads this letter, we replace, 'lawlessness', with, 'deeds of the flesh'. So we have love with a pure heart after all.
The Gnostics were described in 1 John 4:1-3 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."
The Word humbled Himself and became one of us, so Jesus was a man.
It is known that the Gnostics did not believe Jesus came in the flesh, only in Spirit. Thus, only sins of the spirit were held against us, and sins of the flesh were not even sins. They could rape and say they had no sin as in 1 John 1:8. They believed they had fellowship with God, but were walking in great darkness. 1 John 1:6. This is also the sin of the Nicolaitans spoken about in Revelation 2 to the churches of Ephesus and Pergamos. They fought them in Ephesus, the church age of the 1st century, but held to their false doctrine by the time the church age of Pergamos came. The Nicolaitans deliberately sinned to receive the most grace. Many today do not believe their sins are held against them, agreeing with the perversion of the Gnostics, that grace abounds toward them. Therefore, as Paul says, shall we sin seeing as we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid!
Even though we are not under the law, we must rid ourselves of the deeds of the flesh.
Recently I was listening to different pastors teach on grace, and was sickened. One was saying God's love toward us is unconditional. Is it? “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." Do you see a condition, or is God's love unconditional?
Salvation is a free gift given to those who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gift of salvation is free, thus salvation is wholly unconditional. May I elaborate, when you have been released from prison you are expected to behave yourself. The reconciliation granted by Christ to us, is not something that we can initiate ourselves.
You are saved solely because of what Christ accomplished for us, not by works.
