Yes, but I still don't get how thats different from the tone of the Torah. Because yes that would make Jesus our Savior, and out of respect, we follow the rules, but how is that making Him our Lord?
If we are still doing our best to not sin, that's still justifying salvation by works, how is He truly ruling our lives? Salvation is not only recognizing that you're saved, but its also baptism of the Holy Spirit, denying ourselves, knowing that we ourselves have no capacity to not sin on our own, but only through Jesus and His word, we are presented righteous.And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is what gives us the strength and ability to overcome the very thing that we will still battle til the day we die, sin.That's making Jesus our Lord. We can't do our best to not sin, that's not making Jesus our Lord, and we don't have that capacity, we will always fall short on our own even after accepting salvation. That would make it no different than someone who is working to go to Heaven.
That's just it, you don't get it. There is no difference between the true gospel and the torah. They always conveyed the same message.
The only difference between the gospel and the torah, all throughout history, is the interpretation people have given them. A carnal mind, reads the torah and only sees death and destruction, a spiritual mind, sees life and grace. This is why, King David read the same exact torah that we have today (Torah = the first five books of our bible, and also the instruction portions of the last 4 books in the torah - Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) and instead of seeing the hatred and hopeless death that most people have seen all throughout history, he saw a forgiving and loving God, whose law was proof of His forgiveness and love, not burden and hopelessness.
There is one difference however. The outpouring of His Holy Spirit on the world. Before Jesus died, and gave the spirit to the world in the way He did, the only way people could come to God, was through God's chosen (Israel or Judah).
Israel was divorced, and therefore people couldn't come through them, and Judah built walls, forbidding any "gentile" from coming to Him, even though the Torah encourages it. They still do it today, they're where we get the term "jew" from.
Look at Israel for example. Out of Israel, all of them, aside from very few people people (Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Aaron, etc.) lacked faith. They all thought that their salvation, and justification was based in them fulfilling the law perfectly. Those I mentioned however, knew that they weren't justified by the law. Their humility, and love, fear and trust in God, was what justified them.
My point is, all throughout the bible, we see a vast majority, lacking the truth of God's mercy, but the great men of faith, understanding this. This is why, when King David reigned, and he sinned horribly - remember, he literally killed a man for the man's wife - yet
he was still forgiven. Why? Because, God's mercy always existed. Always, even before Jesus. It's why Abraham was justified by faith. It's why Moses, David, Aaron, and all of the Prophets were justified by faith, yet each person I mentioned, still kept and observed the law. Not for justification, not for salvation, but because it's what we're called to do. It's what God asks of us, and He in several ways, in several verses, continuously says, that His law isn't a burden, that it isn't too hard for us to do.
What was
hard for us to do, was the law of sin and death. This law however, isn't God's holy law. It's the law of God, coupled with hundreds of other man-made laws. Basically, it's like (this is an example) knowing that God forbids eating pork, so your fellowship group makes additional laws saying that actually. Not only are we not to eat pork, but to be safe, we can't even ever touch pigs, nor anything they step on or eat. So, it went from, simply not eating pig, to something infinitely much harder. They'd do this with
all of His laws, and it became impossible. Especially because when people would start doing well, they'd start to get high minded and think higher of themselves than they should have. Instead of 150-200 laws to follow like it is now, it became hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds upon... you get my point. It became the burden that God said it wasn't. That which was possible, because of man, became impossible. It's impossible for us to perfectly keep the law, yes, but we strive to keep it not
to be saved, but because the God that already has saved us, asks that we guard and keep it.
