No one can be saved apart from the LAW.
By LAW, I'm referring to that which is also called The LAW of Grace or Mosaic LAW or Torah or Pentateuch or 1st 5 books of the Bible.
The LAW points the way to salvation, among other things by CONVICTING OF SIN. Without knowledge of SIN as God has defined it, there can be no starting point for personal redemption. If one doesn't know one is a sinner, then how can such a person be persuaded to seek divine justification?
Jesus is NOT the LAWgiver. Traditionally, that role has been assigned to Moses who passed the LAW God gave him to the Hebrew people and ultimately to the world (which to this day has rejected it - including Christians).
Jesus didn't judge anyone. Believers are not authorized to judge either. It is the sinner, the spiritually unregenerate who judges themselves unworthy of God's grace and forgiveness. This is an important point for readers here.
When the post protestant church rejects the LAW, it rejects the foundation of good doctrine. In doing so it substitutes its own dogma which is normally illogical, ultimately irreverent and totally erroneous.
The LAW points the way to salvation. While it is true the LAW cannot save of and by itself, it is also true CHRISTIAN TRADITION CANNOT SAVE either. Christians have wandered away, even rejected the template of religious instruction provided by the LAW and substituted their own godless form of heresy. Today we see this in religious slogans and buzz words shouted and reiterated as though they were some sort of truth, when in fact most people who regurgitate these words have no idea what they're saying.
There are two laws.
Most of the confusion Christians cling to is based upon the supposition there's one law. There isn't. There are two.
First is the LAW OF GRACE also called Mosaic Law or Torah. It was given by God to Moses and the Hebrew people and often quoted by and lived by Jesus.
Second is the Law of Works formulated by the Jewish rabbinate also called Talmud. It was created during the Jewish captivity in Babylon and has been passed down to us to this day. Jewish scholarship of today is primarily focused upon Talmud.
Jesus and the apostles lived by Torah. Everything they taught and wrote is based upon the Law & the Prophets as well as some of the writings (Proverbs, Psalms, etc.).
Matthew 5:17 quotes Jesus saying, "I did not come to abolish the LAW, but to fulfill it." In another passage He also said not one jot or tittle would pass away from the LAW. Jots and tittles are very tiny punctuation marks associated with Hebrew writing. They serve to clarify and enhance the meaning of the letters and words they are attached to. If not a single tittle is to be lost, THEN THE LAW STILL STANDS. What then, did Jesus fulfill if he didn't destroy the LAW?
If post protestant Christians had been taught a modicum of the LAW, they'd be able to answer that question easily as well as the question as to why so much blood is required for forgiveness. Since they reject it, they can only come up with nonsensical opinions if they dare to imagine that much at all. Most just twitch their heads in church like dashboard bobbleheads and acknowledge or utter some scripture slogan or buzz word.
The world is dying in its SIN, but modern Christians are only concerned with spiritually dead politically correct issues. Some statistics suggest that if this aberration continues there will be no organized Christian church in less than a generation.
that's me, hollering from the choir loft...
This long post, all of it yours! Almost nothing g Biblical, except for a mention of the Torah, and "hollering's" favourite verse to quote Matt. 5:17! He doesn't know Scripture, he cannot answer a challenge from the many verses people have used. He can't even express what his heresy is, using Bible verses & passages. I've been watching this, and he simply appears to not be very knowledgeable about the Bible, because his doctrine is not sound, not being built on a Biblucal foundation. Just his own words chirping in the dark!
I suspect that a Judaizer like you, choir loft, has barely read any of the Bible except the first 5 books of the OT.
I would suggest you read all of Galatians, which addresses the very heresy you are describing. I did not become a Christian because of the law. God revealed himself to me through the NT. True, I had memorized many verses as a child. And it was John 3:16 that really make me realize the tremendous love and forgiveness of Jesus.
I will freely admit I was a sinner. But it was the Holy Spirit that convicted me, not reading the law. It was the Holy Spirit that starting leading me from the moment God saved me, not OT law!
In fact, Paul and Peter & the rest of the Christians at the first Jerusalem council made definitive statement about what laws were necessary to keep.
"Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” Acts 15:5-11
Note the meaning of "yoke" as a metaphor- it is the law, which no one can keep!
Here is the final declaration:
"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” Acts 15:19-21
4 items, 3 of which don't apply to us, today! "Abstain from sexual immortality." That's it! That's all!
No Gentile needs to hear the law to be saved. For that matter, neither do the Jews, although they usually do know all the laws.
What is necessary to do to be saved? Everything of God's part. Very little on our part.
"9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." Romans 10:9-10
The NT also talks about repentance, which God gives us the grace to do!
"Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38.
"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham." Luke 3:8
Note how having Abraham as your father, ie being a Hebrew, doesn't save you. Neither does knowing the law!
"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10
"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" Romans 2:4
Notice that it is God's kindness that leads us to repent, not the law!
Well, you've harangued us enough with your Judaizing, heretical gospel.
For everyone not knowing whether this guy is right or not, I strongly urge you read and study Galatians. Paul addresses this in great detail. It why "Hollering" doesn't like Paul, because he totally demolishes "choir loft's" heresy, which is not the gospel. Put yourself under the law of Moses, you have basically gone back to being a slave. We are free when we follow Jesus, not the law! It