We rest from our own work to save (Eph 2:8-9)
Sister, happy Sabbath, starting this Friday, November 17, 2023 at 9:38 AM EST! The passage puts us to work not rest! It says God forgives our past sins as a gift to put us to "work" and not to give us rest from the "work" He planned for us long ago. The word "salvation" is not in the original Greek but was added by the translators in place of the "gift" of initial forgiveness, making the passage say we do not need to "work" when the original actually says He wants us to do the "work" God planned for us long ago. God forgives so that we can do the good "work" He planned for us long ago. He expects "work" and not to rest from us who have received the gift of initial forgiveness for past sins. The gift of crediting righteousness for having believed grants initial forgiveness for prior sins for having "believed". Faith requires at least one act of God's given works of righteousness and you get that first act as a gift when God credits your having believed, as your first act of "righteousness", completing your faith before doing any additional regular works of righteousness at the temple in the case of David.
God saved you by his grace when you believed (a gift). And you can’t take credit for this (gift); it is a gift from God. Salvation/this gift is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things/work (ergon) he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT fixed and overlaid with commentary)
and in Christ's work which saves (Sabbath rest of God, Heb 4:9-11).
Rest will not save you from your slavery to sin! Growing in obeying God through the practice gained through forgiveness gives mastery over sin that saves. God gives us mastery over sin in the new covenant by adding one more Eleventh Commandment to the previous Ten Commandments. Human beings have said Jesus replaced His Ten Commandments with an Eleventh Commandment when Jesus asks us to obey "all" His Eleven Commandments in the following passage where, having answered with the previous Ten Commandments, Jesus adds "one more thing you haven't done", bringing the total after Him of Eleven Commandments. The following passage tells us that Jesus has given us an Eleventh Commandment with the phrase "one thing you haven't done", after answering the question with: you know "the commandments"! Jesus' answer makes the "one thing you haven't done" an additional Eleventh Commandment. Consistent with us knowing the additional Eleventh Commandment in the new covenant of following Jesus' example. Paul says, Jesus is our model "Spirit" to follow. We are not to follow Judaism's human system of "law" that sabotaged the Ten Commandments to not remove sin in the resulting sons of Hagar, instead of God's will that we be sons of Sarah obeying His previous Ten Commandments as well as the new Eleventh Commandment.
Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: “Good Teacher,
what should I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “Only God is truly good. But to answer your question,
you know the commandments (entolé): ‘You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.’” The man replied, “
I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “
There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:18-22 NLT)
The new Eleventh Commandment above is found in the following passage, where to do "just as I have" is to "follow" His example by keeping a total of Eleven Commandments when Jesus adds one more to the previous Ten Commandments, saying above: "there is still one thing you haven't done".
As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. So now
I am giving you a new commandment (entolé): Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:31-35 NLT)
And we build (work) on that foundation, which is Jesus Christ, with either durable work (pure Christian doctrine and living), or
with worthless work (weak, spiritless) teaching and life, and on which work depends our reward, but not our salvation (1 Co 3:12-15).
Paul tells us the foundation is to do like Jesus who obeyed the Ten Commandments as our model "Spirit" to follow and not the wrongly understood Holy Spirit as an excuse to disobey the Ten Commandments Jesus wants obeyed in the above passage in Luke to "inherit eternal life". The difference Paul speaks of after Jesus than before Jesus is that God is no longer reliant on telling us what to do in the written Ten Commandments in stone that Judaism failed to obey. They failed to obey the instructions written in stone as one may fail to properly replace a window without being shown what to do, relying on a brief manual they fail to fully obey. God, recognizing the failure of the written Ten Commandments on the resulting sons of Hagar in Judaism, now offers instead the superior glory of Jesus showing us what to do through the model "Spirit" of Jesus to follow in God's original desire to have sons of Sarah and not sons of Hagar, made clear in the following passage. My example analogy following of replacing a window will show through our common experience how more complete it is to be shown instead of being told what to do. Now it is about obeying the previous Ten Commandments as Jesus obeyed them in the Eleventh Commandment, which includes the previous Ten Commandments, instead of us being told in stone, now shown through the model "Spirit" of Jesus, which people wrongly think is the Holy Spirit they are to follow when it is Jesus' exemplary life who is the model "Spirit" to follow made clear in the following passage from Paul. Critical to the proper understanding of this passage is that God is Spirit: Jesus being God is Spirit. What is compared is Jesus' example of obedience to the Ten Commandments as more complete than the written Ten Commandments. To understand this comparison I will use the analogy of replacing a broken window. No doubt it is more complete to follow a professional installer's example than partially follow the instructions in a brief manual. The reason the old written law ends in death for Judaism is that they sabotaged God's law to not remove sin that Paul protects against by focusing on sin rather than obeying human law as Judaism did. Judaism obeyed the commandment of not misusing God's name by not pronouncing His name at all. This incomplete obedience skipped the law's purpose to remove sin from our character. They would have learned to use God's name without sinning had they done what God asked instead of replacing what God asked with their own "human effort" to obey that did not remove the sin that doing what God asked would have removed.
We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ (as the model "Spirit" to follow). It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own (like excusing our disobedience of the Ten Commandments as coming from the Holy Spirit). Our qualification comes from God (sending us Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow). He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow).
This is a covenant not of the letter (Ten Commandments), but of the Spirit (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow and not the Holy Spirit used as an excuse to disobey the Ten Commandments when Jesus obeyed them). The letter ends in death (sabotaged by Judaism to not remove sin); but the Spirit (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow) gives life (the removal of sin). The old way (God's "order" by the prophet Moses), with
letters etched in stone (Ten Commandments), led to death (sabotaged by Judaism to not remove sin), though it began with such glory (leading to righteousness) that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God (which is His righteousness expressed in the Ten Commandments), even though the brightness was already fading away (Judaism's unwillingness to obey "all" the Ten Commandments). Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow), now that the
Holy (added by the translators) Spirit (not the Holy Spirit but Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow) gives life? If the old way (written letters etched in stone), which brings condemnation (Judaism not fully obeying "all" the Ten Commandments by replacing them with human "law"), was glorious (leading to righteousness), how much more glorious (leading to righteousness) is the new way (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow), which makes us right with God (removes sin)! In fact, that first glory (which led to righteousness) was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory (leading to righteousness) of the new way (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow). So if the old way (written letters etched in stone), which has been replaced, was glorious (led to righteousness), how much more glorious (leading to righteousness) is the new (Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow), which remains forever! Since this new way (of following the model "Spirit" of Jesus, rather than Judaism's human "law") gives us such confidence, we can be very bold (learning to use God's name properly, which Judaism does not). We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory (of God's righteousness), even though it was destined to fade away (by Judaism's unwillingness to obey all the Ten Commandments). But the people’s minds were hardened (to not obey all the Ten Commandments), and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth (of the failure of replacing God's Commandments with their own human law). And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ (as the model "Spirit" to follow). Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand (they failed to obey all of God's Ten Commandments by substituting them with human "law"). But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For
the Lord is the Spirit (Jesus is the model "Spirit" to follow who obeyed the Ten Commandments as our example and Paul is not referring to the Holy Spirit as an excuse to disobey the Ten Commandments), and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (from sin and not from God's Ten Commandments). So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord (in obeying the Ten Commandments). And
the Lord—who is the Spirit (Jesus is the model "Spirit" Paul is telling us to follow and not the Holy Spirit, whose job is to tell us things through prophets and remind us of Jesus as the model "Spirit" to follow)—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (
2 Corinthians 3:4-18 NLT fixed and overlaid with commentary)
United in our hope for the soon return of Jesus, Jorge
