Wash Out

Exodus 40:29-38

 29 And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses. 30 He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, 31 with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the LORD commanded Moses. 33 And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys."

- I just read Exodus 40 tonight and finished the book in my daily Bible reading and prayer time with God. This is one of those chapters that some might consider "boring" because it goes into so much detail about the layout of the Tabernacle. (Spoiler alert- the last few chapters of Exodus detail A LOT of information about measurements and sewing and construction and all that was involved in setting up the Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting. Mathematicians and scientists and architects and artisans of the fashion variety might particularly enjoy these chapters. :-))
    It might seem overkill at times (but just wait- Leviticus is up next! :-))- but that's really the point. As I was thinking about the precautions I'm trying to take regarding washing and cleaning upon entering my home in regards to the current virus pandemic, the Holy Spirit brought to mind the comparisons here.
Think of all the rituals Aaron and Moses and the priests went through to dare enter into The Lord's holy presence! There is a much more insidious disease to deal with besides a virus that can only kill the physical body. We are stricken with the disease of sin that kills the eternal soul!
    As we draw closer to Easter, I find it appropriate that I'm reading the Pentateuch in The Bible and being reminded of all the things the Israelites were bound to doing just so that their sins might be covered by the scapegoat. I am thankful that on the other side of the Testaments, in the A.D. era, we have the Lamb of God who was sacrificed on our behalf to take away the sins of the world! The overkill of the Old Testament system of sacrifices is over because the final Passover Lamb was killed for you and me! And thank You, Lord Jesus, that You not only were killed and buried- You were also risen by God The Father. (Romans 10:9) To quote "Godspell", "Long live God!"- eternally long! And because He has risen and lives again, we can also- if we let Him take our sins away and put our faith in the Lamb's completed work. To quote another song-  "Are you washed in the soul-cleansing blood of The Lamb?"

Isaiah 1:18- Though our sins be like scarlet, The Lord can wash them whiter than snow. :-)

Season for the Reason: Old Testament Laws in New Testament times- Jesus is always Divine

Note: This is drawn from an online conversation I had and thus it's framed as such. I was trying to answer a multitude of questions and points raised by a skeptic. As the title says, it talks about the application of Old Testament Laws in New Testament times along with understanding the divinity of Jesus. I hope someone else may find this effort to help provide some answers to legitimate questions agnostics and/or atheists ask. As always, the best idea is to go to the Source- ask God Himself to reveal these things to you. As Jeremiah 29:13 says, you will seek Him and find Him when you seek Him with all your heart.
..............................................................................
 

      Hi! Thank you for your patience, sir. I knew this would likely be a long response and I wanted to have both wifi service and a computer keyboard available when I typed it. Let me say just a few things up front before I go any further. First of all, I wanted to note the limitations of this format for such conversations, as it does not allow for a real tet-a-tet where people can see each other face to face and observe facial expressions and tone of voice and so forth. And since this is someone else's Facebook wall, I don't want to bog down their wall with lengthy posts. I am happy to do my best to address your questions but I have absolutely no desire to argue or debate about them. Thus, I will do what I said I would do and try to cover each point one by one with a Biblical view. You are of course free to do whatever you want with that after that point. As you have already proved, the truth of 1 Corinthians 2:14 remains. If you're not in Christ, you will not understand the things that are discerned by the Spirit. Thus, the best way to really address your questions is to sincerely ask them to Creator God Himself- and the best way to do that is to sincerely put faith in Jesus and follow Him as Lord and Saviour. I certainly pray you might choose to do that but that is of course your choice to make. I respect everyone's right to their own religious choices. And every choice has consequences.         
       So- back to John 20:17. Jesus says to Mary in the garden that He's going back to her God and His God. You said you didn't question Jesus' use of the term "His Father and Mary's Father". Why's that? It seems Jesus answers your question in this same verse. He was clearly identifying His Father as God here. The grammar indicates He was talking about the same Person. Thus, His God is God the Father. The reason He can say this is because of the fact that He was fully God and fully man. Secondly- you asked about a proof text for that claim. There are a number of passages that speak about this but perhaps the best one I could point you to is Philippians 2. This passage notes that though Jesus was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God something to be grasped but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being born in the likeness of men. (Some translations say He made Himself nothing and took on the form of a slave.) The term "servant" is important though as this references back to the prophecies God made about the coming of His servant in Isaiah. Isaiah 52 and 53 speak about this servant and clearly paint a picture of Jesus the Messiah, who came in human form and humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. (The "even" part is important too- this refers back to Old Testament writings in the Law that proclaimed such a death to be a curse. Galatians 3 speaks about this. Deuteronomy 21:23 declared everyone hanged on a tree to be cursed. This is why Galatians 3 speaks of Jesus redeeming us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us. Because of Christ's obedience, Philippians 2 goes on to say that God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It's also worth noting on this question that Jesus repeatedly referred to Himself as both the Son of Man and the Son of God. (Matthew 16:13-17- He affirms both titles here. See also John 5:17-18)
       Third point- There wasn't a really question here, but I would say that you should reinsert the mysticism and set it back in front of you because it is important. Jesus has always existed. The fact that He came into the world for a period of time as a human via a mystical working of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb (see Matthew 1 and Luke 1) does not mean Jesus was created. Colossians 1 and John 8:58 both speak to Jesus' eternal existence. See also John 1:1, which says that in the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word was God. (John 1:14 goes on to clarify that The Word is Jesus.) God was not created- He has eternally existed and eternally exists and will eternally exist. Of course, this baffles the human mind and goes beyond our understanding. But that stands to reason- we shouldn't expect to understand God in totality; otherwise, He wouldn't be much of a God. Fourth point- I can show you a plethora of places in the synoptic Gospels where Jesus claimed divinity. For that, I will stop this post and post that separately. (See separate post-
http://wordapplelyspoken.blogspot.com/2017/03/season-for-reason-jesus-is-god-he-said.html?m=0)
       Fifth point- Again, not really a question here but as I said earlier, Leviticus 11:45 has everything to do with Jesus because Jesus quoted it in Matthew 5:48 and in Matthew 5:17 He stated that He came to fulfill that law and all the others. This is incredibly significant because none of us can keep that Law, which all humanity is held accountable to in the end. God did give this Law to the Hebrews first, but He gave it so that they could live in such a way to be set apart and be an example to the other nations of the truth of The Lord God. Romans 2 speaks of the Gentiles being a Law unto themselves as all of us have consciences as a remnant of being made in the image of God that instill in us the difference between right and wrong. Romans 1-6 speaks a lot to the tension between the Law and Grace. As John 1:17 says- "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Jesus also affirmed the truth of all Scriptures as God's Word in John 17 and He spoke to the dudes on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 about the numerous Scriptures throughout the Old Testament that speak directly of Him.
        Sixth point- The funny thing about the phrase "cherry picking" is that it makes perfect sense to speak of passages relevant to a point and not mention others that are not immediately relevant. That doesn't mean one ignores the other passages. I uphold the validity of all The Bible and I certainly believe in taking the full counsel of Scripture from all of God's Word. In cherry picking, I assume one would pick ripe cherries and not unripe ones; similarly, it makes sense to reference passages to support points while not mentioning ones that are not particularly relevant to those points. I previously addressed the question about Ezekiel 18, but to reiterate and clarify a bit more: that passage, along with all others, must be read in context to fully understand it. It's important to remember the people it was written to and the purpose it was written for and the time and language it was written in, as well as where it was written. This passage was written to the Jewish people at that time in history and its setting is within the Mosaic Law. The people were still under that Covenant and the only way they had of following The Lord was living by that Covenant and putting faith in the Messiah to come. God makes clear here that He will punish the the soul who sins with death. He later says in the same chapter that He will judge everyone according to his ways. And He exhorts Israel to turn from her wicked ways and repent! He asks them, "Why will you die?" As Ezekiel 18:32 says, God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone- so turn and live! As numerous other passages affirm, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23, Proverbs 20:9, Isaiah 64:6, Jeremiah 17:9, Psalms 14:1-3, Psalms 53:1-3) Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. The whole book of Hebrews explains that the Law cannot save us because none of us keep the Law perfectly. It also explains that through Jesus we are saved by faith in His sacrifice and resurrection. The shedding of Christ's blood is absolutely necessary for our salvation. He is the final Passover Lamb. Jesus said what He said in Mark 10:18 for a reason as well. First of all, it's worth noting that it's recorded slightly differently in Matthew's account. In Matthew 19:16-17, Jesus tells the rich young ruler, "Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments." (It's interesting to note here that Jesus steers him to the keeping of the commandments and shows the ruler that he still lacks because he is unwilling to sell all he has and give to the poor and follow Jesus. This leads into Jesus' famous statement about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven; it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Yet even though with man this is impossible, with God all things are possible. (Thus, rich people can enter God's kingdom through God's help but their earthly riches are certainly stumbling blocks for them.) Jesus doesn't say that He isn't the One who is good in this passage. I personally think He is questioning the rich young ruler as to why He addresses Jesus in that manner. The rich young ruler refers to Jesus as an authority on good deeds and the way to have eternal life. I think in saying this Jesus is getting the guy to recognize what he's saying and understand why he's coming to Jesus with this question- because he does recognize Jesus as good. (And if Jesus is truly good, then He is God because only God is truly good.) Jesus is getting the guy to realize His divinity because in effect, He's telling the guy, "So you realize you're equating Me with God? You recognize that I'm the authority on good because I am good and that's because God is good and He and I are the same." (Here is a good article that speaks more to this point.
http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=4832&fbclid=IwAR2bMDN8CLW9IrnhwDkQIe1J3mY-siEcTnKKaDifNQEIcn0LURmkVIjZV6Q)

         Seventh- You say you don't believe in Heaven or Hell, original sin or total depravity. I assure you that all those notions are sound, Biblically based doctrine and not merely church tradition. If you want to say they are invented to control the masses, I suppose that's true in some sense. But it's not Christians who invented them- it's God. And He does want to control the masses because He wants control of all of our lives. He is our Creator and He knows best how our lives should run. That is why He came in the form of a human being- Jesus the Christ, who was both fully man and fully God at the same time- who died and rose and then left us who believe in Him the Holy Spirit, so that we could have Him living in us. It's all part of the redemptive story of The Bible. God created the world and everything and everyone in it to be perfect but man has gone off in search of many schemes. People decided to sin and rebel against God. This brought a curse on the whole world and separated us from God. God towered above the Israelites in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night and only Moses and the high priest could get anywhere near Him and live! He told them He was going to send a Prophet- later dudes like Isaiah said He was going to send His Servant- and this Prophet and suffering Servant would come and know us in a way God had never done before. He became one of us! Jesus is rightly called Emmanuel- God with us! And Jesus was tempted in all things just as we are- yet was without sin. And because He was the perfect sacrifice, He could be the final Passover Lamb- the spotless Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And when Jesus died and rose and ascended, He didn't leave us as orphans but He sent the Holy Spirit. Now God draws closer still- He dwells inside our very bodies! The Holy Spirit lives in those who follow Christ and God uses His followers today to be a witness for Christ and show His love to the world and speak His truth to the world in love.             
       And in the end, we will be finally reunited with God face to face when Christ returns or whenever we die- whichever comes first. Those who know Christ as Saviour and Lord will be with Him in Heaven for eternity. Those who do not will be in Hell for eternity. And in the end, people get where they choose to be. Logically, one can either be with God or away from God in eternity. To be away from God is Hell and to be with God is Heaven. Jesus is Heaven because being with Him is what it's all about. It's getting back to our original design that was put in place in Eden and that we rebelled against. The devil and his demons long ago rebelled and made their choice and they love to take as many humans as they can with them to the lake of fire. Jesus wants everyone to be saved and come to Heaven with Him. (2 Peter 3:8-9) But He is not going to force anyone to come. People must make their own choice. That was the whole point of giving us free will- God wants us to choose to love and follow Him willingly and not by force. We understand that in the context of marriage. I don't think any husband wants to have a Stepford Wife who is robotically programmed to love him and do whatever he wants. In the end, the only love really worth having is the love that is freely given by choice and not by coercion. God could certainly make everyone love Him and follow Him- but He wants our love willingly given to Him. He loved us first and He wants us to love and follow Him in return. Everyone has their own choice on what to do with that.
       I'd rather people choose to follow Christ and be in Heaven instead of Hell and that's why I certainly exhort people to make that choice and pray that they will take that step of faith. I can't force them to do so though and I would never try. God is also not going to force anyone. Everyone must make their own choice. And people are welcome to believe as they want to believe. As I said before though, every choice has consequences. Jesus will return one day and the final judgement will take place for everyone. Whether that event happens in our lifetime or not, there is another day that we will all face and that is the day of death. One day we will all die. I believe there is an eternity we will face and only two options of where to spend it- in Heaven or in Hell. I also know the way to avoid Hell and to go to Heaven instead- and that's through faith in Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection on our behalf! It's trusting His perfection in living the life perfectly pleasing to God that we never could. And it's following Him because He loves us and wants us to be with Him. That's the reason I share this hope in Christ- because I know the truth of the eternal consequences of our choice on what to do with Christ and the only natural response to being enveloped by God's love is to share Him with everyone! I seek to do this in obedience to Jesus.
       If you knew a house was on fire and the people inside were asleep and were going to burn to death, would you do something about it and at least try to warn them or just walk on by and ignore it? What's the more loving thing to do? Certainly, it's more loving to rip someone out of their sleep and get them to safety out of the fire. Jude 1:22-23 says to have mercy on those who doubt and save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Of course, I can't do this in my own strength. All I can do is share what Jesus says and what He did and how much He loves us all and how we can all be saved if we'll let Him. And I can seek to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength and love my neighbour as myself. Jesus said those are the two most important commands. I seek to do those first and foremost and also obey Ephesians 4:15 and speak The Truth in Love.
         In any case, I hope that helps answer your questions. Of course, it may still not all make sense to you. All I can say is that I would urge you to keep seeking Creator God earnestly because He's already seeking you. Bring these questions and any others to Him in sincerity and listen for His answer. You might also like to try reading through The Bible again for the 61st. time and try it with a fresh approach. Throw out everything you already think about God and go in with an approach that is willing to take God at His Word and believe the best about Him and trust that He is really there and really true in all He says. You may like to try this just with the Gospels first. Contemplate this- what if Jesus really is God and really died and really rose again and will really return and I really will have to stand before Him and give an account for everything I've ever said, thought or done in my life? What will I say to Him for Him to let me into Heaven? I know what I will say. I don't deserve to be in His presence because I am a sinner who has chosen his own way so many times and failed God so many numerous times. But God loves me so much He came and took the punishment I deserve on the cross and rose again to save me and I trust Him and His righteousness alone for salvation. May God bless you as you seek Him and make your decision.

Season for the Reason: Free At Last (The Scriptures, Slavery and The Saviour)

       The Bible includes passages to govern a number of things that at first glance might seem weird and disconcerting to a modern sense of justice. One such scenario includes a number of Old Testament and New Testament verses where The Bible seems to endorse slavery. Read Exodus 21, Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15, 1 Corinthians 7 and others in The Bible and you will find a lot of verses that deal with this topic.  I admit that to a Western mode of thinking, specifically an American mode of thinking, some of those Bible verses might sound indeed like an endorsement of slavery. However, there are some things we should remember in reading those passages.

         First of all, there is this question to consider. Did God create slavery or did sin create slavery? In those verses and all the others in The Bible regarding slavery, I don't see any where God is commanding the institution of slavery as Americans know it from the very sad history of American colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade. However, The Lord God does lay out rules to the Israelites regulating how they must operate within the slavery system that already existed. Laying out rules to govern an institution is not the same as instituting it. (A good example for comparison here is when Israel decided they wanted to have a king like other nations, rather than the theocracy already in place with God as their King and Master. It was not God's desire to have this in place- He directly warned them what would happen with an earthly king, but they chose to do it anyway- and so He allowed them to have a king- and they got Saul. And then David and Solomon and then the kingdom split in two. [see 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel and 1 Kings and 2 Kings and 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles for the history on that.] God gave Saul instructions on what to do in his role as king, but this doesn't mean God initiated the kingship rule in Israel- He clearly gave that choice to the people.) Sin led the Israelites to reject God as their ultimate King and choose an earthly ruler instead just as sin led people to take others against their will into slavery.

        Secondly, there are Bible passages that condemn slavery. (see Exodus 21:16 and 1 Timothy 1:8-11 for some.) When we read The Bible, we must take the totality of Scripture into account. 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, correcting and rebuking. How does the view of God allowing slavery and even encouraging it square up with all the rest of Scripture where God clearly condemns slave-trading in some verses as I just mentioned and makes clear that we are to "Do unto others as we would have done unto us"? (Jesus says this in Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31) Remember also that God repeatedly reminds Israel how He brought them out of slavery in Egypt. Surely Israelites of all people would know the misery and horrible injustice of unjustly forced servitude and would not look to inflict such pain on someone else. That would go against the command to love our neighbors as ourselves, both those who are of our family and those who are strangers, as Leviticus 19:18 and Leviticus 19:33-34 show.

          Thirdly, we must also consider that The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic and it was written primarily to Jews. Thus, it's important to read The Bible in that context and read it in the mindset of Jewish people from thousands of years back. We need to understand the history, geography and culture of the people the Bible books were written to in contemplating its meaning. And it's important in this case to consider the customs of surrounding pagan nations as well. Israel was a stark contrast to the prevailing ideas and customs of its day in that time. What exactly is meant by the word "slave" in The Bible? The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament passages mentioned at the start of this piece is "eved ivri", which had two categories- a robber paying off his crimes and someone selling himself into slavery out of desperation and destitution.

          The reasons for slavery were different than ones Americans might readily think of, in regards to forced servitude against one's will for reasons of pure cruelty and sin. (Something The Bible condemns in Exodus 21:16) It is also significant to note that there is a continual theme in The Bible, moving from the Old Testament to the New Testament, in pushing for freedom from slavery; however, such movements don't happen overnight, but rather over the course of time. (See Leviticus 25, which outlines The Lord's commands for the Year of Jubilee, when slaves were set free in the seventh year of servitude. For a beautiful spiritual comparison, see Romans 6, which talks about being freed from being slaves to sin and becoming slaves to righteousness- slaves to Christ- instead. And then see the book of Philemon where these two concepts- physical and spiritual- come together in the person of Onesimus and Paul's pleadings to Philemon to accept him as a brother in The Lord and no longer as a bondservant- so that he might be both free spiritually and physically. And of course, as Galatians 3:28 tells us, there is no slave or free [or Jew or Greek or male or female]- but we are all one in Christ.)

        This redemptive story of setting physical slaves free reflects the heart of the Gospel in setting spiritual slaves free. We are either slaves to Jesus or slaves to sin. Jesus Christ Himself became as a slave for us, as Philippians 2 says. Though He was God He made Himself nothing and became a slave and humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death- even death on a cross! (It's significant to note this because Deuteronomy 21:22-23 and Galatians 3 both say that a hanged man on a tree is cursed. Christ became the curse of sin for us- see also 2 Corinthians 5:21.) For this reason, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the Name above all names that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God raised Jesus back up from the dead, as Romans 10:9 says. And by our faith in His completed work of righteousness, He saves us from all our sins and will raise us up from the dead as well to be forever with Him in Heaven instead of hell as we deserve. Praise God for His love! His love reaches to all and desires to save all us slaves from the hopelessness of our own sins and set us all free instead to be forever in His presence in eternal joy in Heaven praising Him! And, as John 8:36 says, He who the Son sets free is free indeed! :-)

(See also these excellent articles that I drew some of the above points from for this writing. This article offers a Jewish perspective on the topic of slavery in The Old Testament. It's from the "Jewish Bible Quarterly" and authored by Dr. Shimon Bakon, Editor Emeritus of the magazine.

Here is also a Christian perspective on this question from Andrew Schmidt, a writer for "The Bearing", a leading Australian evangelical publication for over 20 years from Matthias Media.)

Season for the Reason: Grace and Law- Of Sex, Marriage and Jesus' Word

Note: This blog post entry deals with some issues I've written on before, but takes on some things from different angles. They stem from real conversations I've had regarding the seeming inconsistency Christians have in following all of The Bible, including Old Testament laws that have since been rendered obsolete by the New Testament covenant of grace. (The entire book of Hebrews is a great read for this particular topic.) Thus, there are numerous issues being addressed here and again, it is in the context of a discussion on homosexual sin, regarding the upholding of the moral prohibition on that versus upholding dietary restrictions for the Israelites. To be clear, I don't regard simply having same-sex attractedness as a sin in itself; rather, I regard that as a byproduct of the fall of man, as I don't believe God made any of us to be that way originally. However, acting on lustful temptations (whether heterosexual or homosexual) is indeed a sin. Sex is relegated to a special act to happen between one man and the one woman he's married to for life. Any other occurence of this is sin. (1 Corinthians 7 deals with this, along with a number of other Scriptures.) Lust is sin- period. We must desire to serve Jesus above anything else and that means denying ourselves in the temptations that pull at us. (Luke 9:23)
     
      I see some have some interesting opinions of Paul, but that aside- but seeing as how Paul directly met with Jesus and was called The Lord's "chosen instrument to carry His Name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel." (see Acts 9)- I'd say Paul is trustworthy. (Especially considering that he suffered incredibly for Jesus' Name- including being hunted by the government, shipwrecked, bitten by a viper (and miraculously survived), even stoned- and all still kept alive by God, until he finally died a martyr's death by beheading. And all this is in keeping with God saying that Paul would find out how much he must suffer for God's Name. (Acts 9:16) It's also important to note Jesus' calling for Paul, as related in Acts 26:12-23- Jesus says he is appointed as a servant and witness to the things in which he has seen Christ and to those in which Jesus will appear to him- all for the purpose of opening the eyes of the Gentiles from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to the power of God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus.
      Another point to be remembered is that Christians regard the entire Bible (Genesis to Revelation) as the Word of God- as 2 Timothy 3:16 indicates that all of it is God-breathed. The whole Bible was written by people inspired by the Holy Spirit to record "the word of The Lord" (as the prophets often put it in their writings.) Jesus identifies Himself as having oneship with The Father in John 10:30. Another important aspect of Christian belief is belief in The Holy Trinity, a concept seen throughout the entire Bible. (all the way back to Genesis 1:26 this can be seen.) In John 1 and Colossians 1, for example, Jesus is identified as being God- and being there in Creation. All three Persons of the Trinity are in place at The Lord's baptism when we see God the Father speaking about His Son Jesus and the Spirit descending on Him in the form of a dove. (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit- Three in One- the Triune Godhead.)
       Thus, all of The Bible is Jesus' Word. And all the verses in Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1 all count as Jesus' Word. Of course, Jesus also said, while praying to God the Father, "Father, Thy Word is Truth." (John 17:17) Thus, Jesus validated all of God's Word. Of course, Jesus also prophesied that The Holy Spirit would come after He ascended back into Heaven and He would guide the disciples into all Truth. (see John 16) Jesus even said He had more to tell the disciples then, but they couldn't bear it right then. But He did say the Holy Spirit would come and tell them these things and He's only going to declare what He hears and He will declare the things that are to come. He will glorify Jesus, for He will take what is Jesus' and declare it to the disciples. (Thus, He will take Jesus' Word and speak it to the disciples after Jesus' ascension. How was that accomplished? The Spirit moved upon the hearts of people to write down God's Word via the New Testament letters of Luke, Paul, Peter, John, James, Jude and the dude who wrote down Hebrews (most scholars think it was Paul as well). Thus, the New Testament is also Jesus' Word, as much as the rest of The Bible is as well. (Jesus also speaks to the validity of the Old Testament as God's Word in Luke 24.)
      However, to go back to Jesus' Word in Matthew 19, it is true that He speaks about marriage in the context of answering a question about divorce. Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause? "He answered, 'Have you not read that He Who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man separate.' " In quoting Genesis 2:24 here, Jesus upheld God's created order and model for marriage. (It's important to note that this verse is before chapter 3- which is where the fall of man happens. This is before the sin of Adam and Eve that corrupts the entire world. In God's original perfect Eden, this is the model of marriage that God lays out. This is the model that Jesus upholds for marriage. Jesus even goes on to point out that it was only because of the hardness of our hearts that Moses allowed for men to divorce their wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
       There may be people today who have same sex attractions, but from the beginning it was not so. God made people upright, but we've gone off in search of many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:29)
Jesus states that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery. The disciples then say that if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. Then Jesus tells them that not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it." (Matthew 19:12)
(Here, in answering the disciples' shock and conclusion that it was better just to stay single and live a celibate life, Jesus refers to men who have been born with a birth defect [and thus wouldn't be able to marry, in keeping with Jewish law], some who have been castrated by others [and thus wouldn't be able to marry in keeping with Jewish law] and some who choose to castrate themselves and/or live a celibate life for God's kingdom (i.e. much like Catholic priests today.) (Paul also speaks of himself being in the last category in 1 Corinthians 7, where he speaks of his chosen celibacy in order to focus fully on preaching Christ. This is also an excellent passage to consider in thinking about marriage as The Bible defines it.)
       Since sex is only allowed within the bonds of holy matrimony (one man and one woman for life, as Jesus defines it in Matthew 19:4-6) [see Hebrews 13:4 as well], and sexual relations outside of marriage are condemned throughout the Old Testament and New Testament- including specifically by Jesus in His human form in this very passage- Jesus also thereby condemns any other sexual relationship as sin. (In John 8:11, Jesus identified adultery as sin again, when He told the woman caught in adultery to "go and sin no more." Jesus also called out the woman at the well in John 4 about her sexual relationships, asking her to call her husband to come there. She responds that she has no husband and Jesus agrees with her, saying that she's right to say that because the fact is that she's had 5 husbands and the man's she with now isn't her husband. Jesus had a habit of doing such things to call people out on their sin, as He did a similar deal with the rich young ruler when He told him, since he claimed he'd kept all the commandments since he was a kid, to go and sell all he had and give to the poor and follow Him. [This got to the heart of the matter, as the rich young ruler was unwilling to part with his wealth in order to get to eternal life in Christ.])
      It is true that Galatians 3:28 states, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Of course, verse 29 states, "And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise." What promise is that? The promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ- through faith in His substitutionary death and Resurrection for salvation and forgiveness of sins. Chapter 4 even goes on to berate the Galatians for observing "days and months and seasons and years". The chapter goes on to make the comparison between Abraham's sons (Isaac and Ishmael- Isaac being the one of promise and Ishmael the illegitimate one Abraham had from Hagar) allegorically as a comparison between being under the law and being under grace. All this leads up to a famous verse in Galatians 5:1, which says, "For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." When we keep reading, we find that Christ makes us righteous and that we should not use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love we must serve one another. We are commanded to walk by the Spirit so that we won't gratify the desires of the flesh. First among the desires of the flesh listed is sexual immorality. We are not to indulge the flesh, but rather we regard it as crucified with its passions and desires. 
Galatians 3:28 is indicating our status of oneship in Christ Jesus in metaphorical terms. Of course, race and gender and slave status still exist (the latter to this day in some places, unfortunately), but we don't let them separate us from being one in Christ. We are all Father Abraham's sons [and daughters], as the classic Sunday School song says. :-):-) This verse in the right context would not be indicating God's dismissal of gender and gender roles, but rather a symbolic picture of oneness in Christ.
        And Christ addressed the law as well in Matthew 5:17. But what exactly did He say? "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until Heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from The Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of Heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:17-20)
         Now Jesus was addressing His disciples and the crowds who had gathered to hear Him speak. Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount to address a number of laws given in the Old Testament and reaffirm and redefine them for us- expanding beyond the limited idea held of them previously. Jesus said that just getting angry with your brother makes you liable to judgment, insulting him makes you liable to the council and calling him a fool puts you in danger of the fires of hell. Jesus said that not committing adultery goes beyond just the physical act; even looking at a woman lustfully is committing adultery with her in your heart. Jesus addresses divorce and states that, rather than divorcing for any and every reason, if it's not done on the grounds of sexual immorality, the one who divorces his wife then makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Jesus goes on to address oath-taking, retaliation and treatment of enemies and more. It's clear that Jesus did not rescind any of the moral laws of the Old Testament, but rather reaffirmed them and expanded them beyond the original understanding.
         However, what did He say about dietary laws and civil laws for the Israelites? Well, the Pharisees called Him out about breaking some of these laws on various occasions. In Mark 7, the Pharisees bust Jesus' chops about His disciples not washing their hands before eating, thus being ceremonially defiled. Jesus points out that they ignore God's commandments in order to hold to the tradition of men. (Jesus gives the example of the command to honor your mother and father, yet the Pharisees would tell their folks that they couldn't give any money to help their parents because it's Corban (i.e. given to God). Thus, they were making the Word of God void by their traditions.)
Then Jesus goes on to state that whatever goes into a person is not what defiles him, but rather what comes out of his heart. "And He said to them, 'Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?' (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He said, 'What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.' " (Mark 7:18-23)
        Note that verse 19 explicitly states that Jesus declared all foods clean. Thus, He just rescinded all dietary laws for the Israelites, and He also in the same passage addressed ceremonial traditions as well. Also, in John 4, Jesus spoke of a time when true worshippers of God would worship the Father in spirit and truth, rather than on the mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem. (Thus, more rollback of laws regarding worship in the temple.) The entire book of Hebrews is also an excellent companion to reading the Old Testament in light of the new covenant in The New Testament. It explains that the old covenant is rendered obsolete by the new covenant. (see Hebrews 8:13, as well as all of chapters 8-10 particularly.) And the New Covenant of grace calls us to be led by the Spirit (as Galatians 5 tells us), which leads to bearing the fruit of the Spirit- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Goodness and self-control would certainly speak to maintaining sexual purity, among other things. Under the New Covenant of Grace, we are still called to uphold sexual purity (see 1 Corinthians 6 for a good discussion on this) along with other other morality commands (prohibitions against theft, murder, slander, etc.). 
        As Jesus summarizes for us in Matthew 22:34-40, the two greatest commandments are as follows, "You shall love The Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Loving God means obeying Him in all His commandments, as laid out for us in the New Covenant of grace in the New Testament. (Jesus Himself says that if we love Him, we will obey Him in John 14:15. [See also Luke 6:46 and Matthew 7 for even starker pictures.]) Of course, none of us can really keep all of God's commands on our own. (Jesus tells us to be perfect as our Heavenly father is perfect. [Matthew 5:48] This is the standard we must meet for entry into Heaven.) We all fall short on that. (Romans 3:23) Thankfully, God knows this and He sent Jesus to fulfill the Law for us. Jesus met the standard of perfection and kept the Law perfectly, as He stated He came to do in Matthew 5:17. In His meeting of the standard, we are set free from that burden through putting our faith in Jesus' death and Resurrection to pay for all our sins that we could never atone for on our own.
       And when we become part of God's family (John 1:12), we get Christ's righteousness imputed to us and God declares us righteous because of Christ's completed work. (basically the entire book of Romans.) And we are then set free to do the good works that God created in advance for us to do- not in an effort to earn the salvation He's already freely given us, but in a way of showing gratitude to God by seeking to grow to be more like Him in all we say and do. (see Ephesians 2:8-10 and 1 Corinthians 10:31)

Season for the Reason: A Corollary to Last Time's Blog

Note: Here is a follow up piece to my last blog entry. This is in reaction to a related article to the topic of the Old Testament Law versus the New Testament covenant of grace. This article was brought to my attention by two different friends at the same time and it is definitely interesting to consider. Thus, this entry here is based on this article from Patheos and serves as a further expounding on some of the points I was trying to establish in my last piece on this topic.
As always, there is plenty more that could be said on this topic, but I do hope this entry will be helpful in shedding some light on this tricky topic and ultimately be presented in a loving, Christ-like manner, always seeking to point people to The Light Himself, Jesus Christ. (John 8:12)

        This is an interesting piece- a nice and concise summary of some key Christian teachings and I like a lot of what it has to say. (And let me say from the outset that I do not intend this response to come across as just a criticism of the author and his writing. I do not wish to mar his work here, but rather use it as a springboard to point out some discrepancies I noticed and that come up at times in discussion on this topic of Old Testament law versus New Testament grace.)  However, I do have some observations on it. Was this in response to something that the author was reading? And while I gather that the author was offering his take on Jesus' statement about coming to fulfill the Law rather than abolish it (Matthew 5:17), I am not sure that I see exactly where he was going with his conclusions. I looked at the Bible passages mentioned as I read the article and it seems to me that they are all in agreement with the fact that Christians are no longer bound to the Old Testament Law as the Hebrews were. The overarching point I wish the author would have mentioned is that when the New Testament Scriptures speak of this fact, the context is generally in response to a bigger question that has been struggled over in the Christian church and that is the question of faith vs. works for salvation.
          (This can be a complex matter in itself, but essentially- The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone- see Ephesians 2:8-10. However, when you read verse 10, you will see that we are saved to do the good works God intended all along for us to do. The order of operations is very important here though. Because we are sinners by nature who have no good in us of ourselves, and even the good things we do are considered as filthy rags in comparison to God's perfection [Isaiah 64:6], we cannot do any good works to save ourselves. We must rely solely on Christ's righteousness and His death and Resurrection to save us. Of course, if we have truly put our faith in Christ's saving work on the cross, then we should be transformed by God's Spirit to obey His commands and do good works (such as loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbors as ourselves). James 2 makes it quite clear that faith without works is dead. [As I have mentioned before, this is one reason why Christ calls people to count the cost of following Him beforehand. Some people mistakenly get the idea that salvation is nothing more than asserting a mental belief in Christ as God and His death and Resurrection. Yet Jesus states that following Him involves a full surrender of the will and all rights to Him. [see Luke 9:23] Thus, the good works performed after putting faith in Christ are the sign of a living faith that is true. As Jesus Himself said, why do people call Him, 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what He says? (Luke 6:46) And in even starker terms, in Matthew 7, He clearly warned that many would call unto Him, 'Lord, Lord' at the judgment day that will not be admitted into Heaven but rather they will be sent away into Hell, because they did not do the will of God the Father. [i.e. While they may have made the mental assertion of Christ's divinity and even called upon His Name, their hearts were not truly changed and they did not truly seek after Christ or obey Him.] In the end, faith and works come together in tandem, but faith always leads the way and is foundational, whereas good works are just the fruit.)
          And all of that was mainly to say that if people are seeking to uphold the Old Testament Law (or the New Testament laws, for that matter) in an attempt to appease God and earn His favor, it is a misguided attempt that will never work. This is the whole reason for Christ- He came and did for us what we could never do on our own. He fulfilled all The Law and died to pay for our wrongs and rose again. So we don't look to the Law anymore for salvation, but rather the New Covenant of Grace that Jesus has established through His work at Calvary on the cross.
          And while I agree that we don't necessarily find the OT laws neatly divided into various categories as such, it is fairly easy to distinguish at least some dietary and ritual laws from moral laws. (In the Old Testament there would be no reason for there to be any such distinctions because all of it was The Law together- it was a moral reflection on the Israelites if they failed to keep any one part of it.) When we get to the New Testament, we find that God Himself has rescinded the dietary laws, when He gives Peter his vision of unclean animals upon a cloth and commands him to get up and eat. (See Acts 10). (There are other supporting passages for this too, of course- a number of which the author mentioned- such as Colossians 2:16-17.)
           Hebrews 10 is an excellent chapter to look to in reading as to why the ritualistic laws (of sacrifices and festivals and not wearing clothing made of more than one fabric, etc.) are no longer needed. As the author mentioned in the article, 1 Corinthians 8-9 are also good chapters for this topic, where Paul speaks of giving up his rights and conforming himself to the Law in places where it might make a brother or sister stumble from the Gospel if he did otherwise. (In the context, he is speaking of dietary laws and/or ritual laws- never the moral law as he states that he is under the law of Christ in 1 Corinthians 9:21). Also, in 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 (which I believe the author also mentioned), The Bible states that neither circumsion nor uncircumsion counts for anything, but rather-keeping the commandments of God. Thus, since circumsion would be a ritual law (as this is one of the things Israelites did to set themselves apart from the rest of the world), the ritual law is nullified, but the moral law is upheld. Galatians 4 and 5 also speak well to this point. Note that in Galatians 5, after Paul (under The Holy Spirit's inspiration) notes that anyone who accepts circumsion [as an effort of pleasing God] is obligated to keep the whole law. They are severed from Christ because they are seeking justification through keeping the law, rather than from grace. (This verse- Galatians 5:4- is actually where we get the phrase "fall away from grace".) But as we go on to read in 5:16, we must walk by the Spirit and then we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. And if we're led by The Spirit, we are not under the law. Verses 19-26 tell us a list of things that are the works of the flesh- a list of sins that we fall into- but, in contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control- against such things there is no law.
That is the New Covenant we live under- Christ's grace which compels and empowers us to live by the Spirit (as the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Christ) and the fruit of the Spirit are the results- some of the good works we are called to do after putting faith in Jesus.
While I appreciate the author's call for Christians to remember Christ's summary of the greatest Laws of the Old Testament for us to follow (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18) in Matthew 22:34-40, I am still not sure as to his purpose in this conclusion. If the goal is to say that it is no longer necessary for Christians to follow out the dietary and ritual laws of the Old Testament, I wholly agree. However, in telling us to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength first and foremost, Jesus certainly expected us to obey God's commands- His moral law, a point which Jesus makes very clear in passages like Matthew 7, Luke 6:46 and John 14:23-24 and 15:10-14, among others.
        In conclusion, the main thing I want to remind people of here is that as we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves. (As Jesus told us in Matthew 22:34-40). And as Ephesians 4:15 tells us, we must be speaking the Truth in Love. If we can keep these things in mind, it helps everything else fall in place. Jesus has kept all the Law for us- and we rely on His obedience to justify us for salvation. (And of course, as Philippians 2 tells us, His obedience took Him to the cross and to His glorious Resurrection, which brings us our salvation.) And after justification, Jesus continues to work in us to make us holy for our sanctification, which ultimately results in glorification in Heaven. (Philippians 1:6) In obedience to Christ, we seek to obey His commands out of gratitude to Him, but we never rely on our own deeds to obtain God's favor. It's all through Him- and even faith itself is His gift.

Season for the Reason: Picking Jesus, Not Cherries

Note: This is the first in what I hope will be a series of blog posts dealing with some common objections that are raised against Christianity, some of which even Christians get confused on at times. (I certainly get confused on them too.) However, I firmly believe, as Chris Rice once wrote, that God has "an exclamation point for every question mark." And I believe The Bible addresses every issue we face, whether directly or indirectly. While this certainly isn't comprehensive and won't be definitive, I hope these posts will be helpful in explaining why Christians believe some of the things that we do and that they will do so in a loving way that does not seek to denigrate other beliefs, put merely present the teaching of Christ in His Word. These are based on questions that have been personally raised to me and I thought it might be helpful to talk about these topics here, as they reflect concerns and questions that many seekers and agnostics as well as skeptics share. [And as I said earlier, Christians also wonder on these things at times too, I do believe. Or at least this Christian has at times.] Let me also state that I do not believe in arguing or convincing anyone into Heaven; only the Holy Spirit can change someone's heart and bring them saving faith in Jesus. So I don't expect to convince anyone with any brilliant logic here, especially since I know that I don't have that much of that. ;-) (If there is anything brilliant or good in here, it's from Jesus, not me.) But 2 Timothy 4:2 commands us to be prepared in season and out of season in preaching the Word and to correct, rebuke encourage- with great patience and careful instruction. And I do want to do that, as I seek to always have an answer for the reason that I have hope, as 1 Peter 3:15 says. :-)


          

For the first point raised, this is a common question that comes up that even many Christians get confused about as well, but it is one that is well addressed by The Bible. I will talk about ye olde problem of the seeming disconnect between Old Testament law and New Testament law and why it seems that Christians seem to cherry-pick which rules to follow at times. Since this objection is often raised as a counterpoint when the topic of homosexuality comes up and The Bible's prohibition against it, please note that this piece will focus on that topic as a backdrop for this question regarding the Old Testament and New Testament.  I will include a link for further reading if you’re interested, but I never like just posting a link without at least trying to address the issue some myself. (Otherwise I just feel like I’m shuttling people off because I don’t want to confront the topic myself and I never want to do that.) [Here is said link- http://thecripplegate.com/shellfish-mixed-fabrics-and-homosexuality-picking-and-choosing/]
            Jesus states in Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV)- “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
           

This is an important point here. It cannot be emphasized enough that Jesus upheld the Old Testament. What I should have explained further is the reason why Jesus upheld the Old Testament and its laws. The key word in verse 17 is “fulfill”. Jesus Christ fulfilled all the demands of the Old Testament laws. This gets to the crux of the matter of salvation in Christianity. It is coming to the point of realizing that we have done wrong and can never live up to God’s standard for living. (Which is absolute perfection- Leviticus 11:45- God states it here and Jesus reiterates this in Matthew 5:48- “Be perfect therefore as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”) Of course, as Psalms 14:1 and Romans 3:23 and a number of other verses state, there is none righteous. There is no one who has perfectly kept all of the law. Thus, we are all imperfect sinners and wrongdoers who fail to meet God’s standard. God says in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death- both physical death and spiritual death. (i.e. eternal punishment in hell.) However, the same verse also says that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God knows that no human being can meet His standard. And He also knows the consequence of this. And as one of the most famous verses in The Bible tells us- God loves us so much that He intervened and sent His Son Jesus to rescue us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17) And Romans 5:8 confirms that God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The very thing that I most celebrate as a follower of Christ- Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday- this is where the literal crux of Christianity lies- in Easter. Because Jesus died to pay for all the sins ever committed in the world and He rose again- He paid once for all the payment for sin- and in the process, He defeated death, sin, the devil and hell- and our sinful nature that we are all born with.
           

When we put our faith in Christ to forgive us of our sins and to submit to following Him as Lord and Savior, a metaphysical, supernatural transaction takes place. God The Father sees our plea for Jesus’ forgiveness and credits us with Christ’s righteousness. Though we ourselves are spiritually and morally bankrupt as Romans 5:12-14 states (the sin of Adam and Eve tainted the entire world), Jesus is perfect and He imputes that righteousness to us at the moment of conversion. Romans 5:15-21 goes on to talk further about this- how just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, one Man’s righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. As Romans 6:14 states, once we have received Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are no longer under the Law system anymore- but we are now under the New Covenant Jesus came to establish through His blood (as Christ mentions during The Lord’s Supper to His disciples)- and that is the New Covenant of grace. In the Old Covenant of the Law, the Israelites followed God by endeavoring to obey all the commandments- including the dietary laws and other ceremonial laws that were aimed specifically at them. However, there are other moral laws (which is where the prohibition against homosexuality falls) that were given to them and that are still in place in the New Covenant of grace.
          

Galatians 3 puts it this way- (starting in verse 19)- “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.” (That was verses 19-23). [My parenthetical here- indeed, as The Bible notes elsewhere, the law is what shows us just how much in the wrong we really are and how much we need a Savior because we can’t keep all of the law perfectly ourselves.]
        (resuming in verse 24)- “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
             The point I am trying to make here is that the Old Testament law served as our guardian until Jesus came. When He came and fulfilled the Law, we were no longer bound by the Law. We trust that He fulfilled all of the Law and put our faith in His righteousness to forgive us our sins and to make us presentable before God in Heaven. No one enters Heaven but by the righteousness of Christ, for as Isaiah 64:6 makes painfully clear- even the righteousness we think we have of our own account is nothing but filthy rags in comparison to the supreme holiness and righteousness of God Almighty.
      

Galatians 3:1-6 is also important to note in understanding this point. Here Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, berates the Galatians for abandoning their walk of faith by the power of the Holy Spirit and instead looking again to their own righteousness (i.e. the flesh) for perfection. The whole point of the Law is to show us just how futile our own efforts are and to show us our need for the Savior. Thus, in the Christian faith, we must always lean wholly on Jesus for all our righteousness.
                Hebrews 8 explains this point quite well. It calls Jesus the High Priest of a better Covenant- the New Covenant, which Jeremiah 31:31-34 prophesied would come. Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy. (See also Hebrews 9:11-14, which emphasizes the ceremonial system of sacrificing animals that the Israelites did is no longer necessary- this includes the prohibitions against eating shellfish and mixing fabrics, etc. However, the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from dead works (i.e. the flesh) to serve the living God. Again, we rely on Christ’s completed work and not any of our own.) (The whole book of Hebrews is an excellent New Testament companion book to read alongside Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It gives a lot of insight to how the Old Testament covenant of the Law compares to the New Testament covenant of grace in Jesus Christ- and it explains how we are no longer under the law, but under grace instead.) In fact, on this point, I have read Tim Keller has said that for a Christian to try to live out all of the Old Testament law is an insult to Jesus and a demonstration of a lack of faith. Because I have faith that Jesus has completed all that is necessary for salvation through His death and Resurrection and perfect upholding and completion of the law, I know that I don't have to try to keep all the Old Testament law- and in fact, I cannot. Jesus has done it for me and I trust His completed work for salvation. Of course, as James 2 points out, true saving faith is always accompanied by works AFTER faith has been put in Christ's redeeming work. And as Ephesians 2:8-10 makes clear, God intended for me to do good works all along anyway. After having been saved by grace through faith, I strive to do the good things that Jesus commands me to do out of love and gratitude and obedience to Him- not out of a misguided attempt to pay Him back or somehow earn something that has already been given to me for free. I can never earn it- I must only freely accept it. But when I do, as 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, it makes me a new person in Christ and God transforms me to be the person He made to be all along.
               

Now here is the caveat I want to make sure is clear. Part of following Christ is being molded more and more to His character. The Bible uses the image of a potter and clay many times, with God as the Potter and us as the clay. We are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27)- and of course, Adam and Eve’s sin tainted that image. God has provided for the restoration of that through Christ’s death and Resurrection. Through putting our faith in Jesus, we begin undergoing the process of sanctification, being made like Christ (the personification of perfection.) Romans 8:4 instructs us that now we must walk according to the Spirit (i.e. God the Holy Spirit) and no longer to the flesh. (i.e. our own sinful nature.) Romans 12:1-2 calls for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is our spiritual worship. We are to no longer be conformed to this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that by testing we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Again- we are reminded that God’s will for us is to be like Him- perfect. (Leviticus 11:45, Matthew 5:48). However, even as Christians we still fail and fall back into sin at times. And God promises in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thus for Christians, it’s an ongoing process of being made more holy each day- a process that ultimately reaches its culmination when we enter Heaven. (Philippians 1:6)
          

While the ceremonial laws of the Israelites no longer apply to us, the moral laws most certainly do. In the case of homosexuality, even if we were to put aside the prohibitions in Leviticus for the moment, we still have the prohibitions in Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:10. And those commands are all part of the New Testament covenant of grace that we are under- and that we are expected and commanded to follow. Part of the reason homosexual acts of any kind (no matter what the relationship status is) are condemned is because they fall outside of God’s revealed character. God is the One who created marriage and ordained it as an institution. This is a point where Jesus spoke to the issue of homosexuality in Matthew 19 when He upheld God’s standard for marriage- the union of one man and one woman for life. God has designed men and women to relate to each other in the context of marriage, which is symbolic of the relationship He desires to have with us. Just as the husband and wife become one flesh and become united, God desires to be united with us and indeed- Galatians 2:20 and Colossians 3:1-4 speak to this exact unity that we have with Christ- where I no longer live [my old life centered on just myself is dead]- my new life centered on Christ is my real life now. We ultimately enjoy that full unity with God when we are back in His presence again- in Heaven. And as I said before, God’s standard for entry into Heaven is absolute perfection- a standard only met by Jesus Christ. We can gain entry into Heaven (and thus an escape from our default sentence of punishment in hell because of the separation that comes with our sin) only through faith in Jesus. As Jesus Himself said in John 14:6 “I am The Way, The Truth and The Life. No man comes to The Father but by Me.” It is also worth noting that God uses the picture of marriage specifically to speak to His relationship with us- He extensively used this as an object lesson in the book of Hosea with Hosea and Gomer representing Himself and Israel (Hosea 2 is a beautiful picture of the love God has for us and His plan to redeem us and take us back as His own, even though we have rebelled against Him)- and the picture is also used in Revelation 21, which describes Christ as the bridegroom and His church as His bride.
  I know that was a rather lengthy explanation and even after typing it, I feel I still could say much more on it, but I hope that helps with the first point.
                A good example occurred to me that may help illustrate the point about the Israelites having ceremonial and dietary laws that pertained only to them that modern-day Christians no longer follow, though we do still hold up the moral laws as Israel did as well. Why is it that we restrict the sale of alcohol in America? It almost seems rather discriminatory that we forbid persons younger than 21 from consuming or purchasing alcohol. Society as a whole frowns upon it in general and we have a law on the books for that purpose. However, this seems a mere compromise in comparison to previous laws. Why is that we as Americans pick and choose when it comes to upholding the laws on our books? Doesn’t the 18^th. Amendment, ratified on January 16, 1919, prohibit the manufacture, sale, transportation within, importation or exportation of alcohol? Why do we not hold to that law anymore? Why is that we freely allow the manufacture, sale, transportation within, importation and exportation of alcohol now? Aren’t we picking and choosing which laws to follow? Of course, the answer to that is that we are not picking and choosing. We uphold all of the laws on the books- including the 21^st. Amendment (ratified December 5, 1933) which repealed the 18^th. Amendment. Thus, we are no longer bound by the 18^th. Amendment. However, even so, we still hold to a remnant of that law to some degree. We still hold to some of the spirit of the law in that we restrict the sale of alcohol to only those who are 21 and older.
         In the same manner, Christians are no longer bound to the Israelites’ dietary and ceremonial laws because the New Covenant of Grace repealed the Old Covenant of The Law. (See 2 Corinthians 3 for a great discussion of this point. The New Covenant is WAY, WAY better, by the way.) Thus, Christians are not bound to the dietary and ceremonial laws, even though there are still some general moral principles that the laws are based on that we do uphold. And we still strive to maintain the moral laws, but now it is not out of guilt or our own self-effort as a means of salvation- it is out of love and gratitude to our Savior Jesus Christ, as He works in us to shape more into His image of perfection. He has fulfilled all the laws for us and we rely on His perfection to get us into Heaven- not our own. We rely on the perfect completion He brought when He died and rose again to seal the deal for us. And that is why it is not a matter of picking and choosing. I pick and choose Christ and He picked all my sins off of me and chose to bear them on Calvary. Christ has set me free from the law and free to be a slave of grace.
 

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)