|
What
Is Christianity Explained Information?
What
Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
Who
or What Is God?
What Is
Christianity?
What
Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
Can
I Understand the Bible?
What
Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who
Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why
Are There So Many World Religions?
Why
Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What
Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
The
Ten Commandments
What's
All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't
the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation:
How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
How
Do I Identify a Cult?
Who
or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Why
Are We Here?
Where
Do We Go When We Die?
Didn't
Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's
the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian
E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete
Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
|
How Does
"the Law" Relate to Me, as a Christian?
There's a great deal of confusion over the
relationship between the law and Christians.
Although Christianity is based on
Judaism and Judaism is "ruled" by the law, many Christians claim that
the Jews were "under the law" but Christians are "under grace"
rather than "under the law". They take part of a verse out of
context, but when you study it in context, you suddenly see what was
really being taught.
| Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal
body, that you should obey it in its lusts. |
| And do not present your members as instruments
of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. |
| For sin shall not have dominion over you, for
you are not under law but under grace. |
Scripture defines sin:
| 1Jo
3:4 |
Whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the
transgression of the law. |
The Jews sinned and then went to the temple,
slaughtered an innocent animal, and were forgiven. This is the same as
sinning and going to your priest for forgiveness and sinning all over
again the next week.
Those who misrepresent the words "you are not
under the law, but under grace" think we don't have to "keep" the law,
but Paul and John repeatedly tell us that we shouldn't sin. If the law
was done away with at the cross, and sin is the transgression of the
law, then sin would also have been done away with at the
cross.
What the scripture actually means is
we are not under the law because sacrificing
animals will not help us—not because the
law is no longer in effect. The grace of
God that culminated in the sacrifice
of Christ is what saves
us. Therefore, our gratitude to God for our salvation should cause us
to keep his law.
Here's why.
Christ claimed to be the fulfillment of the law
and the prophets, but at the same time he said the law was not made
null and void by his coming. (Italic emphasis supplied by me.)
| "Do
not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I
did not come to destroy but to fulfill. |
| "For assuredly,
I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away,
one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till
all is fulfilled. |
| "Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments,
and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever does and teaches them, he
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. |
Christ expected some to be faithful to his
teachings and some to ignore them. God rewards those who are
faithful to his ten commandments (not
the ceremonial law—statutes, etc.).
Nor did the disciples deny that the law is a
valid means of discovering what we need to ask forgiveness from.
| For if anyone is
a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his
natural face in a mirror; |
| for he observes
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. |
| But he who looks
into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a
forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in
what he does. |
The law of liberty
is the law that makes us free from
the power of sin over us . . . if we abide by it. Of course, no one can
abide by it perfectly, so we need God's mercy in the the form of the
salvation that comes through faith in his Son's payment for our sins.
The fact is that the law defines sin. If there
were no law that says you should not steal, you would steal without
regret, not knowing you were sinning. God gave us the law to point out
our sins to us so that we could know that we need forgiveness and ask
for it. Once we ask for it, he can give us the forgiveness we need to
live with him in eternity.
| If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. |
God wants
us to share his character of love so we will be happy with him in
eternity. Through the law and our requests for forgiveness, he can
build our characters.
Moses and The Law
Commonly called the Pentateuch, the first five
books of the Bible are generally attributed to Moses, though there are
those who have tried to advance a theory that editors late in
Israel's history wove together oral and written documents into
Exodus. Since there has been a Bible, there have been those
who try to discredit it any way they can so they can deny God's claims
on themselves or those loved ones they fear may be lost.
However, the early church as well as
Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century AD, accepted
Moses' authorship as did the Jerusalem Talmud.
Most important to Christians: Jesus
never mentioned anyone but Moses in association with "the Law and the
Prophets". If Jesus was the son of God,
surely he knew who wrote the Scriptures.
"The Law" was given in the Pentateuch. As a
matter of fact, many laws were given in the Pentateuch, and the
question arises, Is there a difference between
the "laws of Moses" and the "Laws of God"?
Most definitely!
How can I be so sure?
Moses said so!
| "So He declared
to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten
Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. |
| "And the Lord
commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you
might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. |
And both God and Moses differentiated
between the tablets of stone, on which were
written God's testimony by his own finger, and the
ceremonial laws, written in a "book" (in those
days one or more scrolls) by Moses as he was inspired
by God.
| "And you shall
put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you. |
| He took the
Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings
of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. |
| 'And I will
write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which
you broke; and you shall put them in the ark.' |
| "Take this Book
of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your
God, that it may be there as a witness against you; |
| which had the
golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with
gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that
budded, and the tablets of the covenant; |
It is apparent from scripture
that the tablets of the law were God's law, his testimony, a part of
his character, written in stone so as not to be changed by any man
and sealed within his mercy seat, his throne, the place from
which judgment is pronounced.
All the laws God gave to Moses
were part of the Covenant of the giving of a homeland to the
Jews, but the Ten Commandment Law came straight from the mouth of God
to those who would be his people, while the statutes and judgements
were an outworking of that law that would be helpful to remind them of
their circumstances in regard to being delivered from bondage and
assuming the role of a people whom God had chosen to
demonstrate the wisdom of the Lord to the rest of
the world until the Messiah should come. It is also
said that much that was contained in the ordinances and sanctuary
furnishings and rites pointed forward to the Messiah. Some were
fulfilled in the Lord's first advent and others point to what is
happening in heaven now, while still others point to the second advent
of our saviour. But that's another study.
There are many references to "the law of
Moses", and here are a few.
| "And keep the
charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes,
His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written
in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and
wherever you turn; |
| But the children of the murderers he did not
execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses,
in which the Lord commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not be put to death
for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their
fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin." |
| "Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I
commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. |
Most passages dealing with this describe the
laws as being given to Moses by God, so logically they would be God's
laws as well. On the other hand, since Moses was the leader of
a specific group of people, were these laws for only that
specific group?
Some were, but others weren't!
The Laws in the History of God's Dealing With
Man Before There Were Jews
In the Garden of Eden, everything was perfect.
There was no need for commandments against sins that no one would have
a reason to commit. Logically, there would have been only two
commandments.
Commandment #1:
| And on the
seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the
seventh day from all His work which He had done. |
| Then God
blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from
all His work which God had created and made. |
Now, some will argue that the seventh-day
Sabbath was not a law. Yet the only one of the Ten
Commandments that says "Remember" is the one on keeping the
Sabbath. God himself blessed and sanctified it
before man ever sinned, let alone before he chose
Abraham or rescued the Israelites from Egypt.
Commandment #2:
| And out of the ground the Lord God made every
tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of
life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. |
| And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of
every tree of the garden you may freely eat; |
| "but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day
that you eat of it you shall surely die." |
This, of course is pretty plainly a law.
Now, I'm guessing that the the first
commandment (You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart . .
., etc.) was also in effect. God had just created these
beings, so it is likely in giving them instructions on their dominion
over the other living creatures, he would have explained himself to
them as well as their relationship to him. However, that's
not spelled out as clearly as the two laws I noted above.
Now, when Eve chose to believe Satan over God
and Adam chose to follow his wife into death rather than have faith
that God could adequately console him and even
provide another wife if necessary, they could no longer stay
in the Garden and be allowed to eat from the tree of life and
live forever. Since they had eaten from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, they had introduced sin into God's perfect
world. They had broken the first commandment, and with the introduction
of sin God would have taught the other Commandments.
We know that God did not leave Adam and Eve
completely on their own, else how would Cain and Able have known about
sacrificing and how could God have spoken to Cain? No, God was right
there instructing them as sinful elements entered their lives—the knowledge
by experience of good and evil was offset by God's teachings.
It is fairly clear to me that Adam and Eve
learned, at their fall, that they should not allow anything to
influence them more than God does. They should believe God and do their
very best to stay close to him and not hold anything higher than him.
They should not believe that anything else can save them nor give
dominion over themselves to anything or anyone else. They should not
serve anyone or anything other than the God that created them. After
all, they once had a personal relationship with God, since he came to
them in the garden in the evenings.
Also, they already knew that the Sabbath day
was holy to God, for they were there when he sanctified the seventh day
and set it apart. He had celebrated that
first day of rest with them!
Surely God taught them many things as
they walked together in the evenings. What father doesn't teach his
child? However, the Commandments would be taught by
the Lord as the need was experienced by his children. Adam and Eve's
children would be taught to honor their parents, even though they had
gotten the entire race into this mess. When Cain slew Able, the
admonition against murder came onto the books. Etc., etc.
It's just a matter of common sense to me, but
if it isn't to you, think of it this way.
God never changes. What was true for him eons
before he created the earth was true for him in his dealings with the
Jews, is true for him today, and will be true for him through all
eternity to come.
| "For I am the Lord, I do not change; |
God has not changed. God has always loved his
children. Through the ages he has told his children what they
need to know to survive. Whether or not they follow his lead is their
choice, but they're still his children. He works with them as the need
indicates. You don't tell your four-year-old not to commit adultery,
but you do tell him/her not to get into a car with a stranger. It can
be assumed that God taught the same way.
Jesus' teachings concerning the Law:
The fifth chapter of Matthew begins with Jesus'
blessings on the mount. Most of us are familiar with the Beatitudes, as
they are called:
| Then He opened
His mouth and taught them, saying: |
| "Blessed are the
poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. |
| Blessed are
those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. |
| Blessed are the
meek, For they shall inherit the earth. |
| Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. |
| Blessed are the
merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. |
| Blessed are the
pure in heart, For they shall see God. |
| Blessed are the
peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. |
| Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. |
| "Blessed are you
when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against
you falsely for My sake. |
| "Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they
persecuted the prophets who were before you. |
Such a message of encouragement!
But before his listeners
can settle into their smug, self-satisfied attitudes about how
wonderful they are, he reminds them that no matter how good
they think they are, they don't measure up to God's righteousness.
He tells us that he did not come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill it. And then he goes on to elaborate on the law to
show us that even those who think that they fulfill the letter of the
law aren't keeping the spirit of the law—which is more
important to God.
| "Do not think
that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to
destroy but to fulfill. |
| "For assuredly,
I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle
will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. |
|
[You'll notice he didn't say till I am
sacrificed or till I ascend to heaven!] |
| "Whoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches
men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven. |
| "For I say to
you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. |
| "You have heard
that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever
murders will be in danger of the judgment.' |
| "But I say to
you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in
danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall
be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in
danger of hell fire. |
| "You have heard
that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' |
| "But I say to
you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart. |
| "If your right
eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is
more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your
whole body to be cast into hell. |
| "And if your
right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it
is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for
your whole body to be cast into hell. |
| "Furthermore it
has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a
certificate of divorce.' |
| "But I say to
you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual
immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman
who is divorced commits adultery. |
| "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your
Father in heaven is perfect. |
Now, that's a pretty tall order. But while he
seems to add to the Ten Commandment laws, expanding on the spirit of
the law, he brings relief from the burdensome interpretation of the
Sabbath laws:
| At that time
Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples
were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. |
| And when the
Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing
what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" |
| But He said to them, "Have you not read what
David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: |
| "how he entered the house of God and ate the
showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were
with him, but only for the priests? |
| "Or have you not
read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane
the Sabbath, and are blameless? [See John 7:22, 23 below. Profane here
means to not keep the Sabbath holy by doing work on it.] |
| "Yet I say to
you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. |
| "But if you had
known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' [Hosea 6:6]
you would not have condemned the guiltless. |
| "For the Son of
Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." |
| Now when He had
departed from there, He went into their synagogue. |
| And behold,
there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying,
"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"-that they might accuse Him. |
| Then He said to
them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls
into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? |
| "Of how much
more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do
good on the Sabbath." |
| "Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not
that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man
on the Sabbath. |
| "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath,
so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me
because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? |
Remember "The Golden Rule"? "Do unto others as
you would have others do unto you."
That's one of Jesus' commandments:
| "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you,
do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. |
And he teaches that those who practice
"lawlessness" will be lost forever:
| "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' |
| "The Son of Man will send out His angels, and
they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those
who practice lawlessness, |
| "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the
weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you
ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. |
| "Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and
swallow a camel! |
| "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are
full of extortion and self-indulgence. |
| "Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of
the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. |
| "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. |
| "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to
men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. |
Doesn't sound like he nailed the Ten
Commandments to the cross to me. It sounds like he simply explained
them.
What he nailed to the cross were the laws of
sacrificial ceremonies that pointed forward to the sacrifice of the
Lamb that God would provide because none of us can measure up to that
tall order Jesus put before us.
Now those who don't care to be under the
Lordship of Jesus and his father will argue that Jesus was preaching to
the Jews; however, in the light of the following, wasn't he preaching
to everyone who claims to follow God? How can you claim to follow God
if you don't abide by God's rules?
| To the law and to the testimony! If they do not
speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. |
| "For I am the Lord, I do not change; . . . |
| "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and
they follow Me. |
| "And I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. |
| "My Father, who has given them to Me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's
hand. |
| "I and My Father are one." |
| Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today, and forever. |
| "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and
done many wonders in Your name?' |
| "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' |
| And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men.' " |
| "If you
love Me, keep My commandments. |
| "I am the
vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears
much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. |
| "If
anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is
withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they
are burned. |
| "If you
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire,
and it shall be done for you. |
| "By this
My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My
disciples. |
| "As the
Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. |
| "If you
keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My
Father's commandments and abide in His love. |
| "These
things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that
your joy may be full. |
| "This is
My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. |
| "Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. |
| "You are
My friends if you do whatever I command you. |
God does not change. Jesus and God are one. The
Law was given by God (Jesus). Those who follow Jesus, obey his laws,
for those who practice lawlessness (i.e., don't keep the law) will not
be included in the Kingdom of God. Even though they think they are
worshipping Jesus, those who worship "in my own way" while ignoring
Jesus' commandments are worshiping in vain!
The Ten
Commandments tell us how to live if
we love God and love our fellow humans. They
are a transcript of the unchanging precepts necessary for a
joyous, peaceful existence.
But concerning the ceremonial laws, Jesus told
his disciples,
| "Whatever city you enter, and they receive you,
eat such things as are set before you. |
Though you notice he says "they set before
you", not what you choose to eat yourself. It is still true that you
are what you eat. If you eat high-cholesterol foods, you will have high
cholesterol; if you eat foods high in sodium, you may reap high blood
pressure, etc. (I checked the nutrition label on fresh, boneless,
trimmed center-cut pork chops the other day. Saturated fat 20% of your
daily allowance, Cholesterol 45% of your daily allowance, and Sodium
17% of your daily allowance in one 8-ounce pork chop—but that's
another study)
When confronted by the
Pharaisees about the eating and drinking habits
of his disciples, Christ reacted in this way . . .
| And their scribes and the Pharisees complained
against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?" |
| Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are
well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. |
| "I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance." |
| Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of
John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees,
but Yours eat and drink?" |
| And He said to them, "Can you make the friends
of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? |
| "But the days will come when the bridegroom
will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days." |
Paul's teachings concerning the
ceremonial law:
| If any of those who do not believe invites you
to dinner, and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking
no question for conscience' sake. |
| Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. |
| Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the
Greeks or to the church of God, |
| just as I also please all men in all things,
not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be
saved. |
His point was that we are to get along with
others as much as possible, attempting not to offend them.
Their love for God is more important than what they eat or
drink. God has the power to protect us from what we eat, as long as we
don't presume to do whatever we want, regardless of God's
laws.
| Ga
6:7 |
Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he
will also reap. |
What about those who sin over and over and go
to confession over and over?
According to Paul,
| Moreover the law entered that the offense might
abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, |
| so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace
might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. |
That's where Romans 5 leaves off, but look at
how Romans 6 begins! And remember, there were no
chapter and verse divisions in the original languages.
| What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? |
| Certainly not!
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? |
| Or do you not
know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death? |
| Therefore we
were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. |
| For if we have
been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, |
| knowing this,
that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. |
| Likewise you
also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in
Christ Jesus our Lord. |
| Therefore do not
let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. |
| And do not
present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but
present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your
members as instruments of righteousness to God. |
| For sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. |
| What then? Shall
we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! |
| Do you not know
that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's
slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience
leading to righteousness? |
| But God be
thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. |
| And having been
set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. |
| I speak in human
terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented
your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to
more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of
righteousness for holiness. |
| For when you
were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. |
| What fruit did
you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end
of those things is death. |
| But now having
been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your
fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. |
| For the wages of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord. |
As far as Paul was concerned many years after
Christ's resurrection, the wages of sin are still death. The
reaction of true believers is real repentence of sin; that is, a
turning away from sinful habits. It doesn't happen overnight,
but it is the trend of a lifetime called sanctification. We are
justified, or pardoned by the blood of Christ, but we are sanctified by
listening to the Holy Spirit and letting him guide us out of
sin.
Praise God for his Gift of eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord. And Jesus said
we are abiding "in him" if we keep his commandments. Love of God and
Love of our fellow humans are Jesus' Commandments and the Ten
Commandments show us how to love both God and our neighbors.
It should be so
simple. Unfortunately, human character being selfish, our
carnal natures struggle against those ten simple precepts and in the
final analysis, it is the forgiveness we receive by the grace of God
that saves us—if
we ask for it (but therein lies yet another study).
|
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in the Heart
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The Truth About Mary Magdalene
Prophecy Speaks Seminar
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More Valuable
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Scriptures:
Within
Text:
Romans 6: 12-14 Matthew 5:17-19
James 1:23-25
I John 3:4
I John 1:9
Deuteronomy 4:13-14
Exodus 25:10-22
Exodus 40:20
Deuteronomy 10:2-5
Deuteronomy 31:26
Hebrews 9:4
I Kings 2:3
II Kings 14:6
Malachi 4:4
Genesis 2:2-3
Genesis 2:9, 16-17
Malachi 3:6
Matthew 5:2-12
Matthew 5:17-22
Matthew 5:27-32
Matthew 5:48
Matthew 12:1-12
John 7:22-23
Matthew 7:12
Matthew 7:22-23
Matthew 13:41
Matthew 23:23-28
Isaiah 8:20
John 10:27-30
Hebrews 13:8
Matthew 15:9
Mark 7:7
Luke 10:8
Luke 5:30-35
I Corinthians 10:27
I Corinthians 10:31-33
Romans 5:20-21
Romans 6:1-6
Romans 6: 11-23
Further Study
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