Psalm 119:165 Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. Obedience to His law causes peace. Knowing His law keeps me from messing up. It’s like knowing the speed limit on a street. If I know it, I’m less likely to go too fast and get a speeding ticket. Sure, I can know it and disregard it; however, if I LOVE it, I’m probably not going to knowingly ignore what it says. There is peace in knowing that I am walking in the right path and doing what God asks of me. Sometimes I wonder if, as long as I’m obedient to God’s law, He isn’t all that concerned about the other choices. In other words, my choices are all fine as long as they are in alignment with His law. I’m not going to make decisions that break His law if I love it. And there’s a peace in knowing that. Perhaps the focus should shift from making the right choice about something to obeying His laws and commands and then weighing what I do against that standard.
I keep running into the question of the Law vs. Salvation and how they are connected or not connected. Skip did a post about the link between Moses’ Law and Jesus’ Salvation. I was going to just put a link here, but I know that most of the time nobody ever follows the link…. So, the following is from Skip Moen’s website: For the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. (KJV) John 1:17 But – You won’t find the Greek word for this translation in Today’s Word index because there is no Greek word in the original text. The translation adds the word “but” to the sentence. That little addition changes everything. It’s not a slip. It’s deliberate. And it’s deliberate propaganda! About a month ago I got a letter from Boaz Michael. He mentioned this verse in his letter, pointing out that the addition of “but” created a terrible tragedy for believers. It is the tragedy of thinking that law and grace are opposed to each other; that Moses and Jesus don’t say the same thing. When the translators added “but” to the sentence, they implied that Christians and Jews have different gospels. They separated believers into two camps; those who lived under the Mosaic code and those who lived under the free grace of the Gospels. What a disaster for all of us! It’s hard to imagine that men took such steps to break the Word of God in two, but they did. They wanted an unbridgeable gap between the Older Testament and the Newer Testament, and for hundreds of years they have succeeded, convincing millions of God-fearing, humble followers that Jesus did not teach what Moses was given. All those followers struggled to find a clear path of obedience. Some succeeded. Many did not. God always uses what we are able to give, but we certainly made it much harder by believing what the “professionals” told us rather than looking for ourselves. They got away with theological murder – and we let them. The first principle of biblical interpretation is this: God does not contradict Himself. If He tells Moses that there are certain steps to be taken in obedience to Him that will insure our greatest usefulness in His purposes, you can be assured that Jesus did not say something different. This is even more that case when we realize and profess that Jesus is God. When it comes to salvation, God has not changed His mind. Salvation is by grace and grace alone. That was true for Moses and it’s true for us. That is exactly what Jesus taught. But usefulness comes through obedience and obedience is determined by a code of conduct revealed to Moses and endorsed by Jesus. That has also always been the case. Don’t let any translator slip that one past you. You do not serve two gods. You serve only One God and He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I know that many of us struggle with this truth. We have been hearing the gospel of grace and the evils of the Law so long that we are convinced that Jesus was a radical revisionary. Please look again. You have nothing to lose by asking yourself exactly what Jesus taught about the Mosaic code of conduct, but you have a great deal to lose if you just go on thinking that none of the “Law” applies to you. Don’t become a “yes-man” just because your favorite translation adds a word here or there. Insist on truth. Demand that those who know tell you what words are really in the text and what words aren’t. Pray that God will lead to you someone who will help you know what He said. God listens to those kinds of prayers. I know because I was blind myself before He heard my cry. This is a journey and we are traveling together. Just hold on to the one who is a step in front of you and ask a lot of questions. [1] This clears up a lot of questions for me, making a bit of the confusion clearer. And even if no one ever reads this post, at least some of my issues were sorted out and I have an easy reference next time I get confused again! [1] Moen, Skip. “Theological Propaganda.” Hebrew Word Study | Skip Moen . N.p., 7 Sept. 2008. Web. 7 May 2010. <http://skipmoen.com/2008/09/07/theological-propaganda/>.
Okay, this is a really cool post! It contains a link to the 613 laws the Jewish community is supposed to follow. Stop hyperventilating! A large portion of them deal with the temple (which was destroyed a long time ago), the Levites (which don’t exist in that capacity anymore), land in Israel (as gentiles we don’t own any), and the theocratic nation of Israel (which also doesn’t exist). And most of them are pretty common sense (like the rules on not committing incest, etc.). Check it out and let me know what you think. I’m only in the 100′s, but it’s pretty awesome.
Leviticus 11:2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: I think it’s fascinating that God would be so specific in His instructions, even down to what animals, birds, reptiles, etc. could and could not be eaten! That shows love and care! And the instructions aren’t random either. The ones that are excluded as being unclean are all excluded for good reason – some eat garbage and scraps, some are scavengers and eat dead animals, others eat animals that eat garbage or dead animals. For obvious reasons, eating these animals could be unhealthy! I’m also all for the regulation on not eating bugs (yuck!!). The guidelines weren’t restrictive and to keep the Israelites from eating yummy stuff (most of it sounds disgusting anyway). It was to keep them from getting sick or from eating things that could make them unhealthy (think about the fat content of pork…). A God who cares about even these details cares greatly about His children. If He looks after these details, won’t He also be looking after the other, seemingly bigger and more important, details?
From Skip Moen’s post at Today’s Word: An African bishop once commented on the Church in America. “I never knew you could do so much without God.” I wonder if Hosea wouldn’t say the same thing. Now I am sure you are going to ask, “But what about Billy Graham? What about Mother Teresa? What about my friends or my pastor? They don’t keep Torah. Are you saying that they don’t belong to God’s kingdom?” No, I am not saying that. Neither is Hosea. What I am saying is what Hosea says. If those who call themselves by His name continue to live in disobedience to His instructions once they know what He requires, then they are on very dangerous ground. There are sins of ignorance. They do not damage our relationship with the Father until we realize they are sins. Then we have to do something about them. Once you know, you’re stuck. Welcome to the mud! Now life is going to get a lot more messy. My greatest concern is for those who refuse to consider rethinking the foundations. It is one thing to be unconvinced. It is quite another to reject the consideration. Hosea speaks to those who should have known better. There are so many today who don’t know because no one has taught them. Those who do know are obligated to live according to their understanding, and to help others see the Way by the way they live. Wow! This is only part of the post, but it really stuck out to me. There were a couple of interesting points: 1. The statement by the African bishop is scary! How much do we do without God and His direction? We do a lot of good things, but how often do we do them on our own initiative instead of watching God? The history of the Christian church is riddled with godless men and women in positions of leadership within the church (okay, really mostly men that I know of because women weren’t allowed positions of leadership). They acted in ways that I can’t imagine God smiling upon (remember the Inquisition?). But they were the leaders of the church. How often does that continue today? Not the Inquisition, the church acting on its own. 2. Sins of ignorance. I always wondered how someone could be held accountable for something they didn’t even realize was wrong. It’s like me punishing my son for something he didn’t know not to do. I believe it’s only fair to give a warning so that the next time he knows. This point goes right along with my next point. 3. You are responsible for what you know. Once I know the rules, I am responsible to play by the rules. Everyone knows the saying, “ignorance is bliss,” and in some ways that’s true (although sometimes the laws of physics hold us accountable even if we’re ignorant). So, that made me think. I know a very rudimentary amount of Old Testament law. And, if Skip’s teachings are true, much of the Old Testament is still relevant today. So, what I do know I am responsible to obey. But that still begs the question. How much? We don’t have to follow the sacrificial system because of Jesus, but if that’s obsolete, what about the other laws about multi-fiber clothing and pork and piercings and tattoos? How can one apply and the other not? Sigh. Anyway, interesting post!
Romans 3:30-31 There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by him. He makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law. Let me start by saying that I don’t want to get into a debate over this issue. Obviously there are many sides to this and I’m not a religious scholar, so I don’t pretend to know them all. I’m just writing my thoughts…. I know there is some confusion over whether people are saved because they believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus and His forgiveness of sins or whether people are saved by doing good things and being good enough. I’m not sure why though. This verse seems pretty clear about what God wants. He makes people right with himself only by faith. It doesn’t matter your color or your background or any of that. All that matters is faith. The second thing here speaks to the questions I had about the Old Testament law and how we seem to pick and choose the parts of it that we follow today. I’ve had some great comments about how Jesus’ death and resurrection did away with the old rules and regulation because, as I mentioned above, we are made right with God through faith not through following rules. However, here it says that the law cannot be forgotten and tossed out just because we have faith! On the contrary, faith emphasizes our fulfillment of the law! So faith and the law somehow fit together. The law isn’t totally invalidated because of Jesus. Obviously, we still adhere to many of the ten commandments (particularly the ones like don’t commit murder), and some people still adhere to other parts of the law given to Moses such as not piercing or tattooing themselves. Yet, it’s interesting that people who adhere to this part of the law have no trouble wearing polyester or eating bacon, which is also forbidden just one verse earlier than the piercing and tattooing bit. Sorry, getting off topic! Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that Paul says not to throw out the law just because we are made right with God through faith. Faith should emphasize our ability to truly fulfill the law… perhaps by truly loving other people and loving God (which I believe is what Jesus said summed up the entire law anyhow).
Question: what “rules” from the Old Testament do we keep? For example, we say that getting tattoos is bad because the Bible says not to pierce or mark our bodies (but we pierce our ears with no compulsions…), but just a few verses earlier it says not to wear clothes made from two different fibers (polyester anyone?), which we regularly seem to do. So, are we picking and choosing the laws to enforce? Why do we enforce or defend the ones we do – is it simply because we are uncomfortable with them – like the tattoo issues (Do people with tattoos make you uncomfortable? There are some amazing people at my church with incredible tattoos and I have a hard time believing God considers them to be breaking His law – especially as they have such a wonderful ministry with others). Anyhow, I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts. If we keep one but throw out another, is it arbitrary? Or in not keeping them all are we violating God’s will – or is that part of grace? But then, what about the 10 Commandments (don’t murder… that certainly still stands)? Any thoughts on that one?