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 Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 2:52 pm
This is a Bible study I did on Myspace, I loved it, so I am putting it up here for debate, comments, questions, etc. Before I begin, let me just say that I believe that the law is obsolete, and I give my reasoning for such in this study. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy.
The law's origins are well known, it was given to man on top of Mt. Sinai, given through a man named Moses, who saw God.
Though the law was given to man from God, it had to go through an imperfect man, Moses, who was a mediator between man and God as Galatians 3:19-20 says. "Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham." God gave the law through a mediator, which means that man had their say on it. It was not God's righteous decree to His people, it was man's foolish attempt to try and earn their way into heaven.
This is also shown in Galatians 4:21-31, which says, "Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God's own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God's two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother. As Isaiah said, "Rejoice, O childless woman,you who have never given birth! Break into a joyful shout,you who have never been in labor! For the desolate woman now has more children than the woman who lives with her husband!" And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac. But you are now being persecuted by those who want you to keep the law, just as Ishmael, the child born by human effort, persecuted Isaac, the child born by the power of the Spirit. But what do the Scriptures say about that? "Get rid of the slave and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the free woman's son." So, dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman." That says that we are not under the law of sin, but under the law of faith. The law was again, man's foolish attempts to earn their way into heaven, but like the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6, "our righteousness is like filthy rags." But what does God himself say about the truly righteous?
Galatians 3:11 says, "Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." So, faith is the only way to be justified before God. No matter how many laws you keep, you're righteousness is still as filthy rags, for there is still something wrong between you and God. So that is why faith came, so we could be made righteous in the sight of God apart from the law. We are no longer under the law's supervision, but we are under grace. John 1:17, "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Jesus gave us the very word of God, for He was God's word, and he was God. So we know now that faith in Jesus produces God's standard of living in us. What is that standard of living though? It is like I said in another study, loving others as Jesus loved you. And my final scripture for this is Galatians 5:6, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." So faith expressing itself through love is the only thing that count's in the sight of God. Faith alone is enough to earn us a one way ticket to heaven, but faith alone does not give us a blessed life here on this Earth. It must be expressed through love.
So, to wrap this all up, let's review. The law was from God through a mediator, meaning that is was not God's holy decree, but a deal made between God and man. Both sides were represented, and yet man gave himself a bad deal, because all God asks for is your faith. So in a sense, the law is obselete, but only for believers, since we are guided by the spirit of God, but it is in full affect towards those who foolishly stay under the law. When Jesus set's you free, you are free indeed! Stop going under the bondage of the law, for it keeps you away from faith, the only way to please God. And last but not least, live this faith out by showing the love of Jesus to everyone, no matter how "bad" they seem to you
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:03 pm
How do you reconcile this where Jesus explicitly states in Matthew 5:17-18 that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it?
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:19 pm
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:07 pm
Mike, I'm gonna need a bit of help with that. What do you mean?
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:12 pm
When someone reads that they only focus on the first statement. "not to abolish the law." and usually don't give much thought for the second one. What do you believe fulfilling the law means?
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Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 3:24 am
While abolishing the law and fulfilling the law ultimately come down to the same thing, they are two completely different concepts, which is why Jesus had to clarify what his purpose was.
The law existed because humans, as sinners, could not approach God. When we sinned, we had to do penance in the form of animal sacrifice. However, even with this, there was still a chasm of sin between God and man. Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for every sin in the law, so that that chasm might be bridged. This is why Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Light, why nobody can get to the Father but through Him; he is the bridge, he has FULFILLED the penance for breaking the law.
Once the need for sacrifice was removed, the law, while still in effect, lost all its power. While the portions of it accepted as moral law are still in effect, breaking them will not deny one entrance into heaven, provided they are repentant. The ceremonial laws, which separated the Israelites from the Gentiles, are removed or reinterpreted for two reasons. The first is that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The second is that following the same ceremonial laws the Israelites followed would not keep the spirit of those laws; the culture of the world has changed, and we must keep separate from it in different ways, and these ways are now more spiritual than appearance-based. The religious laws, finally, were removed altogether, because they had served their purpose. Once Jesus was here, we didn't need to have layers of barriers between us and God.
That's everything for now.
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 11:00 am
Ahhh, a pretty good post. Decent, I might add. Answer some question anyone? (if anyone comes here at all) pirate pirate
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:44 pm
Shiroi Kokoro no Mendori While abolishing the law and fulfilling the law ultimately come down to the same thing, they are two completely different concepts, which is why Jesus had to clarify what his purpose was. The law existed because humans, as sinners, could not approach God. When we sinned, we had to do penance in the form of animal sacrifice. However, even with this, there was still a chasm of sin between God and man. Jesus came as the ultimate sacrifice for every sin in the law, so that that chasm might be bridged. This is why Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Light, why nobody can get to the Father but through Him; he is the bridge, he has FULFILLED the penance for breaking the law. Once the need for sacrifice was removed, the law, while still in effect, lost all its power. While the portions of it accepted as moral law are still in effect, breaking them will not deny one entrance into heaven, provided they are repentant. The ceremonial laws, which separated the Israelites from the Gentiles, are removed or reinterpreted for two reasons. The first is that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The second is that following the same ceremonial laws the Israelites followed would not keep the spirit of those laws; the culture of the world has changed, and we must keep separate from it in different ways, and these ways are now more spiritual than appearance-based. The religious laws, finally, were removed altogether, because they had served their purpose. Once Jesus was here, we didn't need to have layers of barriers between us and God. That's everything for now.
The Law is still being fulfilled, and still needs to be referred to as it is still the Word of God. Jesus' sacrifice more than makes up for our inability to follow the Law, and just because our sin is taken away by Jesus doesn't mean that it is no longer sin.
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