To womanlovesTX, Do you believe Eph.2:14-16? It is very clear that Jesus did away with the ordinances of the Old cov.. The law of circumcision is done away with, it is not for us in the New Cov in Jesus blood. The sign of the New Cov. is water baptism and communion is commanded in the New Cov. we done keep the OLd Cov. Passover. It would be wrong for Christians to sacrifice any animals today. Jesus "fulfilled" and did away with the Passover and made it obsolete , void, Jesus nullified the Passover. As you read the O.T. and see what God required of the Jews then, don't do it yourself, unless you can see it in the new testament. If it is not repeated in the N.T. , it is not for us today. All the ten commandments, except the sat. sab., is repeated in the N.T. for us to do today. The Sat. Sab. is not for us,, Sunday is our day of worship.. BUT, if you lived in Israel, you couldn't have church on Sun. because they all work on Sun. so they worship on Sat. when the Jews have their day off for worship. In regards to baptism,I believe the Biblical way is immersion, BUT,if one is deathly afraid of water, I would allow bap. by sprinkling a little water on their head. We have some liberty in our N.T. practices. I serve communion to all in attendance, I don't "close" the table, I leave it "open" to all, and and tell them, this many be the time God choses to save you, as you remember Jesus death for you, by eating the symbols of His death.
In regard to the one asking about our sal. is it a "momentary exp". or it is a "gradual process"; It is both, the moment God gives us the New birth, the new Heart,, we are saved, But then our experience of a life time is required to save us. Love to all Hoffco
To begin, it should be understood that the word "ordinances" in Colossians 2:14 and Ephesians 2:15 do not refer to God's laws. It is translated from the Greek word
dogma and refers generally to opinions, judgments, and decrees. Such ordinances could be public decrees by government officials or religious decrees by religious officials. We should, however, treat these two verses separately because they deal with different subjects.
Colossians 2:14 should be seen in its context, specifically with the preceding verse:
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (verses 13-14)
The New King James version has rendered
dogma as "requirements," a perfectly justifiable translation. The phrase "handwriting of requirements," however, begs an explanation. Its basic meaning is "a written statement of
obligation," much like a traffic citation, which lists the laws that its recipient broke. Thus, it is a record of wrongdoing or guilt. We can verify this by seeing that the clause in which it appears restates the one just before it: "having forgiven you all trespasses." What Paul is telling these Colossians is that the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ has "wiped out" all record of their guilt in breaking
God's law. That is good news!
Christ came to pay the penalty for all our sins. Accepting His sacrifice releases us from the penalty of death incurred through our
sin and cleanses our
conscience from all guilt (
Ephesians 1:7;
Hebrews 9:14;
I John 1:7;
2:2). God says that when He forgives our sins, He removes it "as far as east is from the west" (
Psalm 103:12).
This truly is "tak[ing] it out of the way"!
Ephesians 2:15 uses
dogma in a different way, and again, we need to see the context of Paul's argument:
For He Himself is our
peace, who has made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. (Verses 14-16)
Paul himself defines what this "law of commandments contained in ordinances" is;
it is "the enmity"—which he mentions twice (verses 15-16)—between Jews and Gentiles (see verses 11-12). He also calls it "the middle wall of division" in verse 14. Whatever "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" is, it causes hatred and division.
This rules out right away that it refers to God's law, for it, Paul writes in
Romans 7:12, "is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good."
We can solve our dilemma with one passage from Jesus' own mouth, speaking to the scribes and Pharisees of His day:
Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? . . . Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: . . . "And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
These
"commandments of men" were the restrictive pharisaical decrees burdening the Jews and those among the Gentiles who desired to
worship God. These human ordinances—
additions by men to what God revealed in the Old Testament—contributed to feelings of prejudice, animosity, suspicion, and separation between the Jews and Gentiles who were being called into
God's church. These ordinances acted as a "middle wall of division." However, Jesus abolished that barrier through His supreme sacrifice: "For He Himself is our peace" (
Ephesians 2:14).
In Paul's day, many newly-begotten Christians continued to suffer from the burden of their former teachings. Some converted Jews found it difficult to forget and change that deeply-ingrained part of their lives. It affected even someone as converted as the apostle Peter (see
Galatians 2:11-12). Paul explains to the Ephesians, mostly Gentiles, that Christians comprise an entirely new community that is not dependent at all upon
the manmade laws and regulations of their former religions, but only upon what God had revealed: "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" (
Ephesians 2:19-20).
Christ abolished the Talmudic traditions—all of which were yokes of bondage (
Galatians 5:1;
Matthew 23:4)—as necessary for salvation.
Jesus, however, did not do away with any part of God's law. In fact, He made it possible for
both Jew and Gentile to become spiritual Israelites, the children of God (
Galatians 3:26-29;
6:16), so they might live together in freedom
within His perfect law (
James 1:25). He says in
Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."
Yes, to fulfill, to observe, to keep, and by doing so, He set us a perfect example as to how we ought to live. We are "to walk just as He walked" (
I John 2:6). The apostle Peter writes that Christ left "us an example, that you should follow His steps" (
I Peter 2:21). Paul says, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (
I Corinthians 11:1).
God's law is good and for our benefit: "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time" (
Deuteronomy 4:40).
Jesus Christ did indeed do away with the unnecessary and unprofitable requirements of men, but the law of God is binding on us more than ever. We are to keep it in the Spirit as well as the letter. Even so, the benefits of keeping God's laws are wonderful and many. Jesus says, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them" (
John 13:17).
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
(Rom 11:17) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
(Rom 11:24) For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
Eph 2:12 That at that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Hoffco, the differences I see is that some are ingrafted Israelites through the blood of Messiah Yeshua and others believe that they are not part of the commonwealth of Israel. Those who believe they are not of the commonwealth of Israel have themselves put up "the middle wall of division", the very thing Jesus Christ tore down. No heresy here in believing the Word of God. Many times much verses showing from the New Testament we Christians/ingrafted Israelites are to keep the commandments.
Remember these 9 verses?
(Mat 19:17) And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
(Joh 14:15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
(Joh 15:10) If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
(1Jn 2:3) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
(1Jn 3:22) And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
(1Jn 5:2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
(1Jn 5:3) For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
(Rev 12:17) And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
(Rev 14:12) Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.