In christianity we always talk about sin, and how we need Jesus to forgive us our sin and to lead us into sin's opposite: righteousness.
In this matter we struggle and have our issues, and I believe we are not even always clear about what sin really is.
Sin has to do with the absence of that which God desires on this world to be.
The jews defined it through their Torah, that sin was transgression of this law. However, as Paul explains to us, nobody can keep the Torah fully, and we can see in Jesus' life and teaching that He Himself had an even purer and more thorough understanding of righteousness. While the Torah spoke of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, Jesus preached that we should love our enemies even, not to damn anyone, to forgive infinitely and to get used to a life of goodness and love ESPECIALLY when others don't want to live such a life.
So basically Jesus took the Torah, fulfilled it by Himself being blameless as far as the Torah is concerned, nailing it to the cross and forgiving us there, and Jesus rose from the dead to confirm that He is now between us and God, and not this old mosaic code.
Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life. These are all things that the jews before Jesus tried to solve with the Torah. But now it's getting mystical really. How can Jesus be my truth? I thought my truth is that I live here, that I have the name my mother gave me, that I enjoy coffee and that I've got blonde hair. Well, that was my truth. Now as a christian, Jesus is my truth. And that means most of all that this Jesus loves me, and that He gives me righteousness - a righteousness I could never attain on my own, and that's why Jesus gives it to me as a gift.
And this righteousness is to have God in the way He desires it, and to love my neighbor like myself. Paul describes righteousness as that which is Jesus Himself and everything true about Him. Apostle John says God is love. Jesus is love, because He is God. So righteousness is all about having God and having love.
When Jesus replaced the Torah with Himself He of course didn't mean to say that many of the principles in the Torah are bad. Just that the Torah is way too small for Jesus, and too small for us if we have Jesus. So in Christ we must know, what is good for us in the Torah, and what is not good for us. We can reject the stoning of sinners, and instead remember Jesus' cross of forgiveness. We take the love commandments Jesus praised, and see like Jesus Himself how they are the truly greatest commandments. Is love compatible with stoning? I don't think so. True love like Jesus exemplifies it rather takes the stoning upon himself, if need be. Even though it prays, let this cup go past me if it is thy will, Father.
We need to know about love, and how Jesus loved. Because love is not just God's love, it is also something we can do to feel much better about ourselves. Love can become our love. But let us let Jesus give to us, and then keep it pure and give it to others too. Let us emulate Jesus. And thereby find out how Jesus really is, and what a wealth, what a realm of love that is not of this world is in Jesus!
Then we know that sin for us Beloved children of God is not a big issue anymore. The Torah always finds something, but we have Jesus now and His biggie is for us to love God and each other. We must only take care that we get enlightened and gifted by God about these things. That not only love to get someone to be nice to us, but that we love that the other person might feel blessed by God!
In this matter we struggle and have our issues, and I believe we are not even always clear about what sin really is.
Sin has to do with the absence of that which God desires on this world to be.
The jews defined it through their Torah, that sin was transgression of this law. However, as Paul explains to us, nobody can keep the Torah fully, and we can see in Jesus' life and teaching that He Himself had an even purer and more thorough understanding of righteousness. While the Torah spoke of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, Jesus preached that we should love our enemies even, not to damn anyone, to forgive infinitely and to get used to a life of goodness and love ESPECIALLY when others don't want to live such a life.
So basically Jesus took the Torah, fulfilled it by Himself being blameless as far as the Torah is concerned, nailing it to the cross and forgiving us there, and Jesus rose from the dead to confirm that He is now between us and God, and not this old mosaic code.
Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life. These are all things that the jews before Jesus tried to solve with the Torah. But now it's getting mystical really. How can Jesus be my truth? I thought my truth is that I live here, that I have the name my mother gave me, that I enjoy coffee and that I've got blonde hair. Well, that was my truth. Now as a christian, Jesus is my truth. And that means most of all that this Jesus loves me, and that He gives me righteousness - a righteousness I could never attain on my own, and that's why Jesus gives it to me as a gift.
And this righteousness is to have God in the way He desires it, and to love my neighbor like myself. Paul describes righteousness as that which is Jesus Himself and everything true about Him. Apostle John says God is love. Jesus is love, because He is God. So righteousness is all about having God and having love.
When Jesus replaced the Torah with Himself He of course didn't mean to say that many of the principles in the Torah are bad. Just that the Torah is way too small for Jesus, and too small for us if we have Jesus. So in Christ we must know, what is good for us in the Torah, and what is not good for us. We can reject the stoning of sinners, and instead remember Jesus' cross of forgiveness. We take the love commandments Jesus praised, and see like Jesus Himself how they are the truly greatest commandments. Is love compatible with stoning? I don't think so. True love like Jesus exemplifies it rather takes the stoning upon himself, if need be. Even though it prays, let this cup go past me if it is thy will, Father.
We need to know about love, and how Jesus loved. Because love is not just God's love, it is also something we can do to feel much better about ourselves. Love can become our love. But let us let Jesus give to us, and then keep it pure and give it to others too. Let us emulate Jesus. And thereby find out how Jesus really is, and what a wealth, what a realm of love that is not of this world is in Jesus!
Then we know that sin for us Beloved children of God is not a big issue anymore. The Torah always finds something, but we have Jesus now and His biggie is for us to love God and each other. We must only take care that we get enlightened and gifted by God about these things. That not only love to get someone to be nice to us, but that we love that the other person might feel blessed by God!
