The Letter Kills ~ Instantly

[Nathan@work]

In Psalms 119:29, David wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him how to obey His law. In Genesis 6:8-9, Noah found grace in the eyes of God and was a righteous man, so God was gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law and he was righteous because he obeyed through faith, which is the same one and only means that everyone else is declared righteous.



God's law is His instructions for how to walk with Him (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Isaiah 2:2-3, Joshua 22:5, Psalms 103:7)



You are expressing a position that you are trying to inserted into the Bible, not a position that you can show has been derived from the Bible. Nowhere does the Bible say that there is a difference entering life and life entering us or that only Jesus entered life.



Agreed and God's laws are his instructions for how to express love through our actions.



It is loving someone to warn them that they are heading into danger, but that can be perceived as something other than love. Good works are the good that God has commanded.

It seems I must be done now.

You may or may not perceive this as love, but you are in danger.

You need to turn from your self righteousness and turn to Christ.

Jesus was crucified because you would never be righteous enough before God. He died so that you might have life.

Turn to Him and live.

 

[Soyeong]

It seems I must be done now.

You may or may not perceive this as love, but you are in danger.

You need to turn from your self righteousness and turn to Christ.

Jesus was crucified because you would never be righteous enough before God. He died so that you might have life.

Turn to Him and live.

If God's law were His instructions for how to become self-righteous, and God does not want us to become self-righteous, then it would follow that God therefore does not want to be obeyed, which is absurd, therefore God's law is not His instructions for how to become self-righteous, but rather God's law is His instructions for how to turn to Christ. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, in 1 John 2:4, those who say that they know Christ, but don't obey his commands are liars, and in 1 John 3:4-6, those who continue to practice sin in transgression of God's law have neither seen nor known him. Christ set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law, and as his followers 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 he walked (1 John 2:6), so again following Christ's example is the way to turn to Christ, not by rejecting his example. Obedience to God's law has never been about trying to become righteous enough before God. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments, so that is the way to turn to him and live.

 

[Nathan@work]

If God's law were His instructions for how to become self-righteous, and God does not want us to become self-righteous, then it would follow that God therefore does not want to be obeyed, which is absurd, therefore God's law is not His instructions for how to become self-righteous, but rather God's law is His instructions for how to turn to Christ. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, in 1 John 2:4, those who say that they know Christ, but don't obey his commands are liars, and in 1 John 3:4-6, those who continue to practice sin in transgression of God's law have neither seen nor known him. Christ set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law, and as his followers 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 he walked (1 John 2:6), so again following Christ's example is the way to turn to Christ, not by rejecting his example. Obedience to God's law has never been about trying to become righteous enough before God. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that the way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments, so that is the way to turn to him and live.

It might help you to understand that before the law was given at Horeb, many people had Faith in Christ.

The law is not how we come to Christ, it is what shows us our need for Christ.

We come to Christ through Faith, by Gods grace.

Once you experience Gods grace, you never thirst again.

 

[JAL]

Hello you and have you ever came across this scripture?

2 Corinthians 3:6 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.​

Hinges on efficacious grace. The new birth is instant holiness - the old is gone and the new is come (2Cor 5:17) - and therefore effortless and guaranteed holiness. (The new birth is an outpouring of the Spirit falling only on a small part of the heart, and sanctification is waiting upon God for incremental, reviving outpourings). Thus the Spirit provides Life by eradicating sin. Life is the opposite of death. Sin harms both self and others, and this destruction is summed up in Scripture as "death".

"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" (Rom 6:21)

Written Law - unless offset by the efficacious work of the Spirit - ALSO brings death because, for example, it stirs up sinful passions within us (Romans 7:5-11). It also makes us feel guilty and condemned by commanding us to do stuff without providing the efficacious grace (the strength) to accomplish it. This brings death because people who feel condemned tend to run even farther away from God rather than toward Him.

2Cor 3 actually affirms that the Spirit (efficacious grace) came to Israel along with the written law - originally. In the days of Moses, outpourings of the Spirit were provided, as shown by the Light of his face (verse 7). But in the aftermath of those awesome revivals - certainly by the time of Christ - the law was often championed without much Spirit and hence tended to be a source of death.

The same thing has been happening to the church for the last 2,000 years. Throughout history the church has championed the written Word more than the pursuit of revival (reviving outpourings). This was the mistake of the Galatian church incidentally.

To recap, it's all about efficacious grace.