Can you be saved by obeying the Law of Moses?
Will you be found righteous in God's sight by The Law?
I picked "no" for the poll, and answer "no" to your questions. But when I was reading through some of the posts on this thread (as well as some posts in my Romans thread) and I couldn't help but imagine a conversation between us and Christ, and I just want to share it to see if some things lines up for some of us. Let me know what you think Keren.
---
Christ: Go and sin no more (
John 8:11).
Us: But that’s impossible! We can’t cease from sinning because we’re not you.
Christ: Here...if you believe in me take my Spirit. That’s why it was given to you as a gift, so that I may again resist Adam’s flesh, through you, and not sin.
Christ: Be perfect even as you father in heaven is perfect (
Matthew 5:48).
Us: But we can’t because we’re not you. Only you are perfect.
Christ: Yeah, that’s why my Spirit is given to you. Here...take it, so that I may again be perfect in Adam’s flesh, through you.
Christ: Follow me... (
Matthew 16:24).
Us: We can’t because we’re not you. We can’t walk as you walked.
Christ: I know. This is why I offer you my Spirit. Take my Spirit, so that I may again walk in Adam’s flesh, through you.
Us: How do we follow you, if we don’t know the way?
Christ: I am the way the truth and the life (
John 14:5-6). Do what I did. I was obedient to our Father.
Us: We can’t be obedient! Only you are able to be obedient to God.
Christ: THAT’S WHAT MY SPIRIT IS FOR! TAKE IT, so that I may again be obedient to our Father in Adam’s flesh, through you. Why do you deny the power of my Spirit? Are you saying your flesh is somehow stronger than my Spirit? I had the same flesh you have.
Us: NO! You do NOT empower us with your Spirit to obey God’s law! NO ONE can obey God’s law but you! And to even say such a thing is a lie from satan.
Christ: But that’s what the new covenant is. As
Ezekiel 36:27 says “
And I will put my Spirit *IN* you and MOVE you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” It’s what
Jeremiah 31:31 & 33 says; “
Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,... But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”
Christ: There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Law. It doesn't need to go anywhere. It’s not the problem...you are. It condemns because *you* are evil...that’s why we have to change *you*.
Us: BUT WE CAN'T CHANGE! We don't have the power to!
Christ: When you truly believe in me,
my Spirit moves you to follow My Laws and shows you how to do that. You will want to obey...you can’t help it, because I’m in you, and all I want to do is obey my father because I love him.
That’s how you KNOW you’re *already* saved, because you *want* to obey...and you will eventually obey, because I’m working in you. Your character becomes my character. You're supposed to die (
Matthew 16:24)...and I'm supposed to live in you instead (
Galatians 2:20). Like *you* said...only I can obey God's Law. So why do you deny me?
Us: No! We don't deny you...but we do not obey the Law, not while we were unsaved and not after we are saved. And any spirit that leads us to obey is of satan because there's no way we can.
Christ: But isn't that backwards? A spirit that leads you to obey is a spirit of obedience...while a spirit that says "do not obey the law" is a spirit of lawlessness (
2 Thessalonians 2:7). How can satan go against his own nature of lawlessness? How can satan go against himself? "A house divided against itself can not stand" (
Matthew 12:25)! I obeyed my father's law at all times. This is why I'm called sinless and perfect. My spirit is a spirit of obedience. If my spirit is in you you will *want* to do all that I did. You will want to obey.
Why do you deny me?