For by grace are you saved and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
The words of Christ are a serious matter to me. I don't explain them away and I don't ignore some words for other words. It ALL must fit together NO CONTRADICTIONS. I follow what he said to ME as ME IN THE BODY OF CHRIST. Jesus is the end of the law FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. We cannot EARN righteousness. It is given to us by faith [belief] in Jesus Christ.
It is also said that "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" and "For s by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one [man] shall many be made righteous." and "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference".
Let me speak plainly - NO ONE is saying that we shouldn't obey, i.e. walk by the Spirit. But that salvation is a gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We do not WORK for our salvation nor is there anything we can do to be good in and of ourselves. It takes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and that comes from being born again and that can not and is not achieved through WORKS.
Peacefulbeliever, here's what you and many others (including the OP, BradC) are misunderstanding...
the topic of this thread is "eternal life", not "salvation". Not once was I talking about law-keeping for salvation.
Salvation =/= Eternal Life...else we *all* - who've confessed Christ - would no longer die. But we still do for now.
Salvation is
not Eternal Life, no more than Israel's Passover Lamb in Egypt was their Promised Land.
The original premise of this thread is "
The Law *only* is not good enough to inherit eternal life" (Christ's words in Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18-19, and Luke 18:18-20), which is a true statement. But then an error is made in the OP's conclusion because he, like many - in misunderstanding the difference between salvation and eternal life - change the topic of this thread and begin discussing whether or not
the law brings salvation (and let me state for the record that it does not, and never could).
Again Salvation does not equal Eternal Life.
What happened to ancient Israel is our example for a reason (1 Cor 10:11); it's so we don't do what we're doing now, which is seriously misunderstanding Paul's words. If we do not understand what ancient Israel went through and why, thoroughly, we haven't a clue what the true gospel is. Note the order of events:
Israel was *saved* by the mercy of God through blood of the lamb...which was not of their own merit or work. It *saved* them from (a) death and (b) slavery to Egypt. But AFTER they were saved they could not remain in Egypt. They had to - themselves -
walk out of Egypt (a work)...first they received the tablets of the testimony (God's Commandments on the outside) and then they had to walk towards their promise (Canaan),
obeying God's Commandments along the way (a work).
Notice: Their Salvation was the starting point...it
was now behind them. They were now required to move on
from it, walking towards their promise (their work to do).
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Likewise we are *saved* by the mercy of God through the blood of Christ...which was not of our own merit or work. He *saved* us from (a) death and (b) slavery to Sin. But AFTER we were saved we can not remain in Sin. We have to - ourselves -
walk out of Sin (a work)...first we receive the Holy Spirit (God's Commandments on the inside) and then we have to walk towards our promise (the "house" prepared for us; the new body; Eternal Life),
obeying God's Commandments along the way (a work).
Notice: Our Salvation was the starting point...it
is now (or should be) behind us. We are now required to move on
from it, working towards our promise (our work to do).
Hebrew 6:1Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ [i.e. that he died for our sins] and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death (i.e. SINS), and of faith in God,
1 Corinthians 3:11-1311 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now [i.e. at this point AFTER the foundation is laid] if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work
But unfortunately just like with Israel, so it is with God's people today (eccl 1:9).
They - on their own - keep turning back to Egypt/Sin. They keep their slave mentality instead of understanding they're free. Then they complain about all the walking they must do (a work required of them to reach their promise). And they complain about all the picking they must do (a work required of them to reach their promise). And they ignore when they are not to do any work out of obedience (a rest required of them to reach their promise). Finally, when they reach the gateway to their promise, these same stiff-necked people refused to cross over and fight for their promise (another work required of them)...and all because it seemed like it was "too hard for them to do".
They kept believing they had to do it alone even though they had witnesses *constantly* telling them that God was with them to help them succeed. And so with this sin of unbelief, they all died walking around in circles for the rest of their lives; never even understanding the daily bread they were actually eating every week ("man'na" is Hebrew for "
what is it?").
Let me say it again; all God's people who were once saved from death & their slavery...by the blood of the lamb....continued to disobey and so continued to died, never experiencing the promise God had for them. God does not change.
Hebrews 3:11So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.
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This thread's topic is not about Salvation, nor is our walk about salvation. We been there, and (glory to God, we testify that He's) done that (for us).
Now *we* have work to do.
Now we must obey for our promise of eternal life.
I understood the type in the seventh day under the old ordinance. But that was nothing compared that I now understand and live the Sabbath rest in this eternal great and notable day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is Eternal. This is the revealed true meaning of what the type was all about. Resting in Christ, at rest in the land in salvation and eternal life. A study of that old law can reveal wonderful little kernels that find their full revealing and application in the Spirit of Christ and His Body. Now that I have Jesus, the old law is like an old wineskin to be tossed as Jesus said, but it was sure worth it's while until I received Him of whom it foretold us to prepare for