Eliwood,
Regarding your remarks above, many are addressed in this post.
The Law was a faint glimmer of the holiness of God. Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God's holiness.
Focusing on the Law rather than Jesus Christ is the fundamental error of legalists. They embrace the shadow rather than the reality. Their gospel is all about the Law. Look at Jesus Christ to see what God's holiness is like. He is the standard. One must understand that Jesus was born under the law, so he kept elements of the Old Covenant, including circumcision and days, which do not apply to Christians.
The Law in general gives some guidance in terms of morals, and it is good to use to show a seeker that he is under the condemnation of the Law, so he can be brought to Christ. However, to insist that the law is the ultimate standard for holiness for a believer is not true. Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate standard, as he perfectly reflects God's holiness. The written code of the Law is actually a poor standard for a converted person. If you could keep the Law perfectly, you could still be a nasty, hateful person who would walk by a homeless person with money in your pocket. I suppose, though, if that nasty, hateful person was a Sabbath and festival keeper, in your books, he'd be all right with God, though.
I have heard from knowledgeable sources who know about the Hebrew roots movement is a tendency toward rejecting the deity of Christ amongst some of them. There is a tendency to embrace Unitarian Monotheism as one progresses in this false theology. Worshipping Judaism over Christianity ultimately ends in denying Christianity. I find this significant.
The gospel of Judaizers is all about the law. It is not about Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith in him. They may make some token remarks in that regard, but their focus is not on Him.
That is why Paul called it another gospel, and another Jesus. This heresy was rife in Galatia. And since you are preaching it, you'd better be sure you're right, because if not, you are accursed according to these Scriptures.
Galatians is particularly effective for addressing the truth claims of Judaizers. I remember when I attended Worldwide Church of God, a judaizing cult, that the pastor once told about some people in the church who converted to evangelical Christianity through reading the book of Galatians. The pastor said he wasn't going to get into "that old trap of Galatians". Regardless how Judaizers twist Galatians, it is very plain in denying that the Old Covenant applies to New Covenant Christians. READ GALATIANS!!!!!!
Galatians 1: [SUP]6 [/SUP]I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— [SUP]7 [/SUP]not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [SUP]8 [/SUP]But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [SUP]9 [/SUP]As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 2: [SUP]15 [/SUP]We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [SUP]16 [/SUP]yet we know that a person is not justified[SUP][b][/SUP] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [SUP]18 [/SUP]For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [SUP]19 [/SUP]For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. [SUP]20 [/SUP]I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [SUP]21 [/SUP]I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[SUP][c][/SUP] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 3:
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [SUP]2 [/SUP]Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [SUP]3 [/SUP]Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[SUP][a][/SUP] the flesh? [SUP]4 [/SUP]Did you suffer[SUP][b][/SUP] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? [SUP]5 [/SUP]Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— [SUP]6 [/SUP]just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [SUP]8 [/SUP]And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[SUP][c][/SUP] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” [SUP]9 [/SUP]So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3: [SUP]10 [/SUP]For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” [SUP]11 [/SUP]Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”[SUP][d][/SUP] [SUP]12 [/SUP]But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” [SUP]13 [/SUP]Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— [SUP]14 [/SUP]so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[SUP][e][/SUP] through faith.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]To give a human example, brothers:[SUP][f][/SUP] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [SUP]16 [/SUP]Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. [SUP]17 [/SUP]This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [SUP]18 [/SUP]For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [SUP]20 [/SUP]Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [SUP]24 [/SUP]So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [SUP]25 [/SUP]But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [SUP]26 [/SUP]for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [SUP]27 [/SUP]For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [SUP]28 [/SUP]There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[SUP][g][/SUP] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [SUP]29 [/SUP]And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Notice below that those who want to be under the law are sons of the bondswoman, or slave:
Galatians 4
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? [SUP]22 [/SUP]For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. [SUP]23 [/SUP]But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. [SUP]24 [/SUP]Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. [SUP]25 [/SUP]Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;[SUP][e][/SUP] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. [SUP]26 [/SUP]But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. [SUP]27 [/SUP]For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Now you,[SUP][f][/SUP] brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. [SUP]29 [/SUP]But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. [SUP]30 [/SUP]But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
[SUP]31 [/SUP]So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Notice below that Paul clearly describes the Old Covenant law as bondage. As much as your Hebrew Roots people want to deny this, it's clearly stated here.
Galatians 5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [SUP]3 [/SUP]I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [SUP]4 [/SUP]You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified[SUP][a][/SUP] by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [SUP]5 [/SUP]For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [SUP]6 [/SUP]For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Notice that Paul points them to love, not to lawkeeping. Lawkeepers can be nasty, hateful people, yet fool themselves into thinking they are righteous.
Galatians [SUP]13 [/SUP]For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [SUP]14 [/SUP]For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [SUP]15 [/SUP]But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Notice that Paul points these people to moral absolutes and fruits of the Spirit, and not the things that lawkeepers focus upon:
Galatians 5 [SUP]16 [/SUP]But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [SUP]17 [/SUP]For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [SUP]18 [/SUP]But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [SUP]19 [/SUP]Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [SUP]20 [/SUP]idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [SUP]21 [/SUP]envy,[SUP][d][/SUP] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [SUP]23 [/SUP]gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [SUP]24 [/SUP]And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Notice also that those who claim to keep the Old Covenant are often liars and hypocrites. I have heard that this issue is rife in the Hebrew Roots movement.
Galatians 6 [SUP]11 [/SUP]See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. [SUP]12 [/SUP]It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. [SUP]13 [/SUP]For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Regards,
Robert
Regarding your remarks above, many are addressed in this post.
The Law was a faint glimmer of the holiness of God. Jesus Christ is the full revelation of God's holiness.
Focusing on the Law rather than Jesus Christ is the fundamental error of legalists. They embrace the shadow rather than the reality. Their gospel is all about the Law. Look at Jesus Christ to see what God's holiness is like. He is the standard. One must understand that Jesus was born under the law, so he kept elements of the Old Covenant, including circumcision and days, which do not apply to Christians.
The Law in general gives some guidance in terms of morals, and it is good to use to show a seeker that he is under the condemnation of the Law, so he can be brought to Christ. However, to insist that the law is the ultimate standard for holiness for a believer is not true. Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate standard, as he perfectly reflects God's holiness. The written code of the Law is actually a poor standard for a converted person. If you could keep the Law perfectly, you could still be a nasty, hateful person who would walk by a homeless person with money in your pocket. I suppose, though, if that nasty, hateful person was a Sabbath and festival keeper, in your books, he'd be all right with God, though.
I have heard from knowledgeable sources who know about the Hebrew roots movement is a tendency toward rejecting the deity of Christ amongst some of them. There is a tendency to embrace Unitarian Monotheism as one progresses in this false theology. Worshipping Judaism over Christianity ultimately ends in denying Christianity. I find this significant.
The gospel of Judaizers is all about the law. It is not about Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith in him. They may make some token remarks in that regard, but their focus is not on Him.
That is why Paul called it another gospel, and another Jesus. This heresy was rife in Galatia. And since you are preaching it, you'd better be sure you're right, because if not, you are accursed according to these Scriptures.
Galatians is particularly effective for addressing the truth claims of Judaizers. I remember when I attended Worldwide Church of God, a judaizing cult, that the pastor once told about some people in the church who converted to evangelical Christianity through reading the book of Galatians. The pastor said he wasn't going to get into "that old trap of Galatians". Regardless how Judaizers twist Galatians, it is very plain in denying that the Old Covenant applies to New Covenant Christians. READ GALATIANS!!!!!!
Galatians 1: [SUP]6 [/SUP]I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— [SUP]7 [/SUP]not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [SUP]8 [/SUP]But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [SUP]9 [/SUP]As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Galatians 2: [SUP]15 [/SUP]We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; [SUP]16 [/SUP]yet we know that a person is not justified[SUP][b][/SUP] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
[SUP]17 [/SUP]But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! [SUP]18 [/SUP]For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. [SUP]19 [/SUP]For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. [SUP]20 [/SUP]I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. [SUP]21 [/SUP]I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[SUP][c][/SUP] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Galatians 3:
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [SUP]2 [/SUP]Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [SUP]3 [/SUP]Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by[SUP][a][/SUP] the flesh? [SUP]4 [/SUP]Did you suffer[SUP][b][/SUP] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? [SUP]5 [/SUP]Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— [SUP]6 [/SUP]just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [SUP]8 [/SUP]And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify[SUP][c][/SUP] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” [SUP]9 [/SUP]So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Galatians 3: [SUP]10 [/SUP]For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” [SUP]11 [/SUP]Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”[SUP][d][/SUP] [SUP]12 [/SUP]But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” [SUP]13 [/SUP]Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— [SUP]14 [/SUP]so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit[SUP][e][/SUP] through faith.
[SUP]15 [/SUP]To give a human example, brothers:[SUP][f][/SUP] even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [SUP]16 [/SUP]Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. [SUP]17 [/SUP]This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [SUP]18 [/SUP]For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. [SUP]20 [/SUP]Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
[SUP]23 [/SUP]Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. [SUP]24 [/SUP]So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. [SUP]25 [/SUP]But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, [SUP]26 [/SUP]for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. [SUP]27 [/SUP]For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. [SUP]28 [/SUP]There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[SUP][g][/SUP] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [SUP]29 [/SUP]And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Notice below that those who want to be under the law are sons of the bondswoman, or slave:
Galatians 4
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? [SUP]22 [/SUP]For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. [SUP]23 [/SUP]But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. [SUP]24 [/SUP]Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. [SUP]25 [/SUP]Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia;[SUP][e][/SUP] she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. [SUP]26 [/SUP]But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. [SUP]27 [/SUP]For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
[SUP]28 [/SUP]Now you,[SUP][f][/SUP] brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. [SUP]29 [/SUP]But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. [SUP]30 [/SUP]But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.”
[SUP]31 [/SUP]So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Notice below that Paul clearly describes the Old Covenant law as bondage. As much as your Hebrew Roots people want to deny this, it's clearly stated here.
Galatians 5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [SUP]3 [/SUP]I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [SUP]4 [/SUP]You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified[SUP][a][/SUP] by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [SUP]5 [/SUP]For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [SUP]6 [/SUP]For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Notice that Paul points them to love, not to lawkeeping. Lawkeepers can be nasty, hateful people, yet fool themselves into thinking they are righteous.
Galatians [SUP]13 [/SUP]For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [SUP]14 [/SUP]For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [SUP]15 [/SUP]But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Notice that Paul points these people to moral absolutes and fruits of the Spirit, and not the things that lawkeepers focus upon:
Galatians 5 [SUP]16 [/SUP]But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [SUP]17 [/SUP]For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [SUP]18 [/SUP]But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [SUP]19 [/SUP]Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [SUP]20 [/SUP]idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [SUP]21 [/SUP]envy,[SUP][d][/SUP] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [SUP]22 [/SUP]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [SUP]23 [/SUP]gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [SUP]24 [/SUP]And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Notice also that those who claim to keep the Old Covenant are often liars and hypocrites. I have heard that this issue is rife in the Hebrew Roots movement.
Galatians 6 [SUP]11 [/SUP]See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. [SUP]12 [/SUP]It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. [SUP]13 [/SUP]For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
Regards,
Robert
When the ignorant and unstable say that Jesus Christ changed God's law (which he didn't), they're actually accusing him of the very thing his enemy will do. It's amazing how discieved the world is.