Dear reader,
I have tried to understand Embers post. I cannot construct something. The later ones convey an overview.
The gist seems to be those who read the bible and take moral principles seriously you are slaves to them.
A free thinker who has no morals is not in condemnation.
There is a third option here. A Holy Spirit driven believer fulfills the moral principles from their heart, because they are working on walking in purity and obedience. The law is an echo of where they have come from and a measure of the goal to where they are going. To those not empowered by love and the freedom of forgiveness, the law in any form just reminds them of their defeat, so their desire is to remove the law completely.
Without the law we have no measuring stick, and easily get lost, but with the law, we know our goal empowered by the cross and love which overcomes our failures. And the power within is? Love.
This is why Paul and the apostles continually opposed the ceremonial symbols of faith, like circumcision etc and emphasised pure holy living. If this condemns us in our hearts, we are to humble ourselves and repent, because Jesus says, in our weakness and humility he will lift us up, and deal with us as if we are righteous.
We know we are walking in the Kingdom because sin still causes us pain and we are wary of its consequences and temptations. But our focus is on love and life, the great positives of eternity.
I have tried to understand Embers post. I cannot construct something. The later ones convey an overview.
The gist seems to be those who read the bible and take moral principles seriously you are slaves to them.
A free thinker who has no morals is not in condemnation.
There is a third option here. A Holy Spirit driven believer fulfills the moral principles from their heart, because they are working on walking in purity and obedience. The law is an echo of where they have come from and a measure of the goal to where they are going. To those not empowered by love and the freedom of forgiveness, the law in any form just reminds them of their defeat, so their desire is to remove the law completely.
Without the law we have no measuring stick, and easily get lost, but with the law, we know our goal empowered by the cross and love which overcomes our failures. And the power within is? Love.
This is why Paul and the apostles continually opposed the ceremonial symbols of faith, like circumcision etc and emphasised pure holy living. If this condemns us in our hearts, we are to humble ourselves and repent, because Jesus says, in our weakness and humility he will lift us up, and deal with us as if we are righteous.
We know we are walking in the Kingdom because sin still causes us pain and we are wary of its consequences and temptations. But our focus is on love and life, the great positives of eternity.
The simple version is "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers," 1 Timothy 1:9
Without complete context, this can be endorsed as "God's perfect law served its purpose in my past, and now has no place in a believer's life in Christ Jesus because we all are saved by grace and not the works of the law." This doctrine is true and false combined. (Balaam)
The sad crux is 'to abolish God's pure law from ones life is to live without it.' What is purposefully omitted form our lives has zero effect to our lives. Therefore, that person is willfully minus God's perfect law, henceforth making them "lawless" to one degree or another, forcing themselves to follow their own doctrine of self works that appear outwardly as good. Matthew 23:13-29
If a person truly has the indwelling Spirit of God, they will desire to see the spiritual aspects thereof. This is a conundrum for sure. Romans 8:7
This is certainly what the Pharisees missed due to an attitude of self works unto righteousness. One can seek self righteousness by distorting the spiritual truth of God's law, or one can do the same by rejecting the spiritual truth of God's law. The outcome is the same in either case. A true Pharisee views that perfect law of God only as regulations and nothing more. Matthew 23:23
"behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2b
Now we can clearly see why we have contentious threads such as this one, that dare to mention the law of God, and even if it isn't mentioned on other threads, yet assumed by some that the thread's subject might go there eventually............... "Kill it before it spreads" mentality prevails.
Read my signature. After salvation, the perfect law of God isn't a threat to being secure in Christ. This security is defined as the "law of liberty." It's the same law of God, not man's