I'd just like to say, can you guys just feel the zeal we all have for the Father and his Son? Yes, debate and arguments can get heated but this is no different from the "reasoning" the disciples performed back in the early days of the faith (ON THESE SAME ISSUES lol). And there's no love loss as we're all in pursuit of truth.
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Question: "What laws are still valid to Christians?"
I say
ALL of the law is still *valid* to Christians...because the law is a perfect expression of our Father's character, thereby becoming
a mirror to show us how we fall short. One can no more do away with the law than one can do away with our Father. The law is immutable.
Think about it; for we to profess that we are *sinners* saved by grace, the law MUST eternally exist else our sin doesn't exist, since sin = "transgression of the law";
no law = no transgression. If there's no law, *nothing* you do is a sin. So all the laws of our Father are valid...but I think the thread asks the wrong question, doesn't it? I think the real question we should be asking (since it's at the heart of this argument) is
"*How* is The Law fulfilled in the life of a Christian? Is The Law fulfilled (a) outside of Christ, or is The Law fulfilled (b) in Christ? And if in Christ, what exactly does that mean from the Christian's perspective?"
Well first I'd like to answer "yes"...*BOTH* are correct. The law is fulfilled outside of Christ
AND the law is fulfilled in Christ.
(a) The law is fulfilled outside of Christ
with YOUR perfection or YOUR death...as the whole law (every jot & tittle) must be kept perfectly by you, "to the
Letter", for you to be sinless [James 2:10].
OR...
(b) The law is fulfilled in Christ with
his death and by the
Spirit (but I'll get to what this means a little later).
If one confesses to be a child of the God of Abraham one is under the Father's law...we are just free to choose *how* our Father's perfect law is fulfilled in our lives; either by "the letter" or by "the spirit", but the eternal law WILL BE fulfilled one way or the other.
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(Option A) The law is fulfilled outside of Christ with YOUR perfection to the letter or YOUR death
Was this even possible to do? Well scripture proves it
was possible...take Zechariah and Elizabeth for example:
Luke 1:6
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly
Many people have never noticed this passage, but it proves it was VERY possible to live in obedience to the letter of the law, blamelessly. But we have to make a distinction...Zechariah & Elizabeth were Israelites, not gentiles.
So is it possible for we gentiles to live in obedience to the letter today, outside of Christ? Unfortunately the answer is "no". There are certain instructions that
the letter of the law enumerates that are impossible to accomplish, for instance:
1. To honor the Sabbath, males would also have to celebrate the Father's holy days
AT his temple...but there's no temple.
2. To properly pay tithes one would need to
give *FOOD* and give it
to *Levites*...but there aren't any Levites.
3. And if one has sinned one would need to make
an animal sacrifice at the temple...but again there's no temple.
Perform ANY of these examples in any way other than exactly how instructed in the letter of the law and one's in *violation* of the whole law and must die. So the only way someone today can fulfill the Father's law
to the letter,
outside of Christ (and I'm emphasizing this on purpose) is with that person's death. But this sort of defeats the purpose of salvation (lol).
(Option B) The law is fulfilled in Christ with his death and by the Spirit
Quick History:
1. Israel alone (called the Father's "firstborn") agreed to the Father's law at Mt. Sinai. This was a legal blood contract where the offending party MUST pay with their lives. This covenant/agreement - like all contracts - was BASED ON the law. But a contract is not - itself - the law. The agreement was '
if you Israel will obey my laws, you will be blessed as my special people and be priests to the world'. Again note, the agreement is NOT the law but a contracted based on the law. The contract was broken, so the (eternal) law required the death of the offending party.
2. Israel alone, not a few months after making the agreement/covenant to follow the Father's law, broke the agreement and owed a death (hence the temporary Levitical instructions - like animal sacrifices - temporarily covering Israel's violation until Christ).
...Fast-forward to the time of Christ's ministry...
3. Christ establishes the (re)new(ed) agreement/covenant between the Father and Israel, in his blood. This means several things:
a) The breach-in-contract (based on the Father's eternal law) was restored. No more need for the temporary covering.
b) Because Christ is called "son" and "firstborn", AND because he is "king of Israel", Christ IS "Israel" de facto...so ANYONE "IN Christ" is also part of "Israel" (though grafted in), and so the (re)new(ed) contract applies to us too.
c) Because we have a perfect High Priest in heavenly places who can not die, but who took his blood into heaven to minister daily, there are no more *animal* sacrifices required as payment for breaking the Father's eternal law (i.e. sinning); the law that says "sin = death" is no more...but a sin is STILL a sin because the law is eternal. So we have Christ's mercy and strength (grace) to repent (turn away) from sin and live obediently to the Father's eternal law. It's never of our own strength.
d) During his ministry, Christ showed the difference between "the letter of the law", "the spirit of the SAME law", and "the Pharisees' traditions" (deceptively passed off as part of the law). So IF YOU *WALK CHRIST'S WALK* which is to love the Father and your neighbors (not just talk the talk), YOU WILL FULFILL THE FATHER'S LAW in spirit, for example:
- Christ IS the temple, so as long as you are in him you can celebrate the Father's holy days
wherever you are, and that would still honor the Spirit of the law which is to keep the Sabbath holy. This DOES NOT mean one can honor one's *own* holidays for God, or change the day of rest.
- Christ says "
whatever you do for the least of my bretheren you do for me" and "
give freely to the poor". This honors the Spirit of the tithing law which was meant to take care of those who had no property to take care of themselves (like the Levites exemplified), honoring God. But this DOES NOT mean change the tithing law to *require* giving money to 501(c)(3) churches or one's "cursed with a curse".
- And by yielding to Christ's spirit (i.e. the Holy Spirit) everyday,
one will be compelled not to lie, steal, covet, lust (adultery of the heart), hate (murder of the heart), dishonor parents or any other authority, idolize any object because you "no longer live but Christ lives in you" (gal 2:20). It DOES NOT mean one can do these things freely. This is what it means to have the SAME eternal law written in one's heart; one who has the Holy Spirit can't bring themselves to do these things without TREMENDOUS tug of resistance prior to the sin, and a TREMENDOUS tug of guilt after the sin. Believe me I know :/
- With Christ being the ultimate sacrifice, no more "animal" sacrifices are required...but we are STILL commanded to sacrifice as "living sacrifices, holy and acceptable" (Rom 12:1), dying to our flesh. It DOES NOT mean we aren't required to make any sacrifices. It's still a commandment.
- The true form of Circumcision is not of the flesh (outside) but is Circumcision of the heart (inside). It means turning from the world and giving up beloved traditions you've held on to since you were born. Notice, there's still a painful circumcision (cutting away) of the flesh required.
- Dietary laws, while following them would drastically improve our physical health almost instantly, they were also a prophetic shadow pictures of the truer form of diet which is "
every word that proceeds out of the Father's mouth" because we don't live by bread alone. It means "beware of the leaven" and study daily "to show yourself approved" of the Father. Notice there's still a commandment on what you "eat".
...This is how the eternal law is fulfilled in Christ from the Christian's perspective.
