THE REQUIREMENTS FOR ETERNAL LIFE ACCORDING TO JESUS
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They asked Jesus. What is the greatest commandment?
Jesus replied, and the love in his eyes burned a whole right through them, when he said, "love is the greatest commandment".
We Need help.
We are blind to heavens mission.
"There is a difference between the Bible listing which laws are part of those categories and you deciding to group laws in a way that makes sense to you. "
No,
Jesus said when Speaking to the pharisees in Matthew 23:2-4
2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. 4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
hey
The legalism of those who tell us about the law as they decided to group laws in a way that makes sense to them.
YET can't see why the laws were even written to begin with.
Those who say the law are required, must follow ALL the Law. And if you break one you ae guilty of ALL. In Christ I am free from the law Because I follow Christ. The legalistic Pharisees of today want us to think they follow the law whole yet are Liars.
IN their heart they hate which is murder, in thier heart they are perverted and commit adultery, and think GOD is winking at the idea they don't eat shrimp is some how impressive to GOD
Hypocrites Jesus called you. If you say you follow the whole law you're a liar. IF you tell GOD look I follow the whole law, you're self-Righteous. Don't tell me of what you thin is my error when you and those like you are Hypocrites and think GOD is impressed with your "Following the law."
According to Psalm 1, blessed are those who delight in the Law of the Lord and who meditate on it day and night. Do you agree or disagree that this is the correct attitude towards obeying the Law of God that we should share?
That is not interacting with any of the problems that I raised with using those categories.
Jesus set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Law of God, so he was much more zealous for obedience to it than the Pharisees were and he should not be interpreted as criticizing the Pharisees for teaching people to follow his example of obedience to what God has commanded. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that tithing was something that they ought to be doing while not neglecting weightier matters of the Law of God of justice, mercy, and faith, so he was not opposing their obedience to God, but rather he was calling them to have a higher level of obedience to it.
In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the Law of God is to graciously teach us how to know God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life (John 17:3).
In someone breaks any law and becomes a lawbreaker, then they need to repent and to return to obedience to the Law of God, which is precisely what James was encouraging them to do.
Christ set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Law of God and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6). So if you are in Christ, then you are not free from the law, but rather you are obligated to obey it. The way to follow Christ is not by refusing to follow his example. There are many examples of people in the Bible who followed God's law, such as with those in Joshua 22:1-3, Luke 1:5-6, Revelation 14:12, and Revelation 22:14.
In Leviticus 19:17 we are instructed not to hate our brother. We should love God by refraining from eating unclean animals regardless of whether or not there happens to be ate in someone's heart.
You are blatantly misapplying the Bible. God did not give His law as instructions for how to become self-righteous but as instructions for how to embody His righteousness. Do you think that God is impressed by someone's refusal to follow Christ's example of obedience to what He has commanded?
Soyeong,
Thank you for your carefully crafted response. I totally agree with your summation. However, as impassioned and orthodox as it is, it contains the shattered, ununified and zero sum concepts that lie at the heart of the demise of 21st Century Christianity. It has been my experience that we suffer less from a full hearted pursuit of expressing God's love and doing His will to the best of our abilities, even when our motivations may be mixed, than just perfecting the theological fine art of sitting and "believing."
Let me start with a metaphor that might be a fairly common human experience. There is a teenager that is constantly in trouble, at school, with the law and with both parents. The teen rejects the need to reform. The teen does not obey any family, school, or legal laws and requirements. However, the teen claims that because he loves you and you love him, behavior does not matter, because "in their heart" they know you will forgive them. Thus, we have an example of how claiming to love while living a life of abuse to those you claim to love is not love.... it is an irrational self-justification. I is irrational because it decouples obedience from "love." Love is a lived experience. It not a theory of mental justification for our self-indulgence.
Perhaps millions of divorces end with one or both claiming they "still love" the other but just not enough to behave in a legitimate loving manner.
Theologically and experientially you can not claim love as a primary motivation when your actions completely ignore the desires of the other.
When our theology requires us to decompose who we actually are, it by definition, makes us less human. My "responsibility" to God is to "love and trust Him." To the degree this is just a mental and occasionally an emotional experience, you have "stolen" from God your hands, feet, sweat, money, humanity, effort, sacrifice and daily commitment to take up our cross......because they are "works" which somehow we have convinced ourselves God hates. We have replaced our call to be suffering servants with personal convenience, social isolation, discrimination and self-justification by doing the easy comfortable thing, sitting, singing giving a little money and rendering back to God one hour a week.......but at least we will never be accused doing anything even remotely related to "works.....because 509 years ago a German monk told you God has no need of you, no mission for you and absolutely no work for you.
If Jesus followed our example of "being right with God" He would have just attended the Temple one day a week. In fact He came to give us all a mission, a personal mission and a mission that comes from a real heartfelt appreciation that He sacrificed His life for something other our personal convenience.
As the old country preacher used to say, "Some people are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good."
If you claim to love God, love Him with your whole self, not just your mind. He wants your whole self. He did not die for a piece of your mind. God has a claim for everyone. He has a mission for everyone. He has the power to help you leave self-reliance, self-justification (I only have to believe "right") and our passion for creature comforts behind. But, to do that we must move from just believing right to living right. Our mission is to truly become God's people.
Re "we must move from just believing right (Eph. 2:8-9) to living right (Eph. 2:10)."
And a person with right belief WILL move to good/godly/loving behavior.
Law was a means of teaching a uneducated, illiterate an rural people living in disjointed small little villages that any relationship with God comes with requirements. The New Testament slowly evolved to replace law of Moses keeping with will of God keeping. Much of the New Testament is a polemic devoted to helping populations who "knew" justification comes through law keeping to understand that Jesus fulfilled that law and replaced it with a law of truth and grace, of rebirth, renewal, freedom and mission to take the love from God to the world.
You are welcome. I agree that love is what we do. The way to love God is by having the experience of embodying His character traits, such as the way to love justice is by being a doer of justice, the way to love holiness is by being a doer of His instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth. In other words, the goal of everything that God has commanded is to teach us how to love different aspects of His character traits, which is why the Bible repeatedly states in both the OT and the NT that the way to love God is by obeying His commandments.
The Hebrew word “yada” refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. God’s way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by experiencing being in His likeness through embodying His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of His household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the law is to graciously teach us how to have an intimate relationship with God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.
To know God is to know truth. An arrow flies true when it hits its mark, our mark is to walk in God’s way, and God’s law is truth (Psalms 119:142) because it was given to teach us how to walk in God’s way (1 Kings 2:1-3) while sin is missing the mark, sin is what is contrary to God’s character traits, and sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4). The Spirit has the role of leading us in truth (John 16:13) and of leading us to obey God’s law (Ezekiel 36:26-26) because God’s character traits are the fruits of the Spirit. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact likeness of His character (Hebrews 1:3), which he embodied through his works by setting a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God’s law, so he is the way, the truth, and the life, and the way to know the Father (John 14:6-11).
God's character traits are eternal, so any instructions that God has given for how to know Him through embodying His character traits are eternal and cumulatively valid. For example, God's righteousness is eternal (Psalm 119:142), therefore all of His righteous laws are eternal (Psalm 119:160). For example, being a doer of charity was a way to embody God's righteousness before God made any covenants with man, so that is an eternally valid way to know God regardless of which covenant someone is under, if any. Sin was in the world before the law was given (Romans 5:13), so there were no actions that became righteous or sinful when the law was given, but rather it revealed what has always been and will always be the way to do that.
We embody what we believe to be true about God through our works, such as with James 2:18 saying that he would show his faith through his works. In other words, the way to believe in God is by walking in His way. For example, by being a doer of good works in obedience to the Law of God we are embodying His goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:16), and by embodying His goodness we are also embodying the belief that God is good. Likewise, the way to believe that God is compassionate is by being compassionate (Luke 6:36), the way to believe that God is holy is by being a doer of his instructions for how to be holy as He is holy, and so forth. This is exactly the same as the way to believe in the Son (Hebrews 1:3), which is why there are many verses that connect our belief in God with our obedience to Him such as with Revelation 14:12 where those who kept faith in Jesus are the same as those who kept God's commandments, and it is by this faith alone that we attain the character traits of God. We can't earn our righteousness even as the result of having perfect obedience to the Law of God because it was never given as a way of earning our righteousness in the first place (Romans 4:1-5), so that has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of the law. Rather, the Law of God is what we become a doer of by attaining the character traits of God through faith.
NO I am not. You just think your right. And do not understand why the law was given to begin with. Let you and I just end it here and we can move on.
I quoted verses to show why the law was given, so if you want to claim that I do not understand, then you should explain why you think that I have misunderstood those verses.
The foolishness said about the law is also most laughable if it were not so hurtful. Most don't quote Paul why? Because they don't hold Paul's revelation which came from Christ as Authoritative.
God gave Israel the Mosaic Law for one purpose: to reveal sin and condemn (Romans 3.19-20). Paul wrote Timothy:
8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (1 Timothy 1.8-11).
No one who spends time with Paul will conclude the Church is under the Mosaic Law. The great apostle’s teachings are completely contrary to such thought. Tragically, the vast majority of Christendom know little of Paul nor understand his teachings.
When one reads acclaimed Pauline “experts” and “scholars” one finds they too have little comprehension of Paul’s doctrines or knowledge of his revelations (secrets).
Paul the Pharisee
Paul trained as a Pharisee and became a zealot of Judaism and the Mosaic Law.
Paul thought he doing God’s will and keeping the Law in arresting, torturing, and killing those who believed Jesus was the promised Messiah. How wrong he was!
In God’s matchless grace, God saved Saul of Tarsus.
God redirected Paul’s zeal for His own purposes and commissioned him “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11.13) and the apostle of grace.
No one ever experienced such a radical change in outlook and direction as Paul.
As a Hebrew of the Hebrews, God sent him to Gentiles. As a legalistic zealot, God revealed righteous living apart from the administration of the Mosaic Law. To effect this transformation, God gave Paul revelations, “secrets” (μυστήριον), God had kept hidden from the Law and prophets, and from the Twelve.
God gave the Mosaic Law to Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20). The Mosaic Law was God’s moral, ceremonial, and civil law to govern a Jew’s daily life.
2 The Decalogue expressed God’s moral law. But the moral law existed long before Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Sinai. The moral law reflects the nature and character of God and is eternal. God codified the moral law in the Mosaic Law and made Israel accountable to it. Before the Mosaic Law, morality was “written on the heart” (Romans 2.14-15) in man’s conscience.
Paul taught that Israel alone had received the Mosaic Law and was under its administration. Gentiles were excluded from the Law, as was the Church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 2.11-13; Romans 3.1-2, 6.14). However, Paul taught that when Gentiles or the Church come in contact with the Law, it has the same effect it had on Israel: it condemns (Romans 3.19).
YET some here know more than Paul? And the Lord who gave this to HIM.
God gave Israel the Mosaic Law for one purpose: to reveal sin and condemn (Romans 3.19-20). Paul wrote Timothy:
8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted (1 Timothy 1.8-11).
No one who spends time with Paul will conclude the Church is under the Mosaic Law. The great apostle’s teachings are completely contrary to such thought. Tragically, the vast majority of Christendom know little of Paul nor understand his teachings.
When one reads acclaimed Pauline “experts” and “scholars” one finds they too have little comprehension of Paul’s doctrines or knowledge of his revelations (secrets).
Paul the Pharisee
Paul trained as a Pharisee and became a zealot of Judaism and the Mosaic Law.
Paul thought he doing God’s will and keeping the Law in arresting, torturing, and killing those who believed Jesus was the promised Messiah. How wrong he was!
In God’s matchless grace, God saved Saul of Tarsus.
God redirected Paul’s zeal for His own purposes and commissioned him “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11.13) and the apostle of grace.
No one ever experienced such a radical change in outlook and direction as Paul.
As a Hebrew of the Hebrews, God sent him to Gentiles. As a legalistic zealot, God revealed righteous living apart from the administration of the Mosaic Law. To effect this transformation, God gave Paul revelations, “secrets” (μυστήριον), God had kept hidden from the Law and prophets, and from the Twelve.
God gave the Mosaic Law to Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20). The Mosaic Law was God’s moral, ceremonial, and civil law to govern a Jew’s daily life.
2 The Decalogue expressed God’s moral law. But the moral law existed long before Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Sinai. The moral law reflects the nature and character of God and is eternal. God codified the moral law in the Mosaic Law and made Israel accountable to it. Before the Mosaic Law, morality was “written on the heart” (Romans 2.14-15) in man’s conscience.
Paul taught that Israel alone had received the Mosaic Law and was under its administration. Gentiles were excluded from the Law, as was the Church, the body of Christ (Ephesians 2.11-13; Romans 3.1-2, 6.14). However, Paul taught that when Gentiles or the Church come in contact with the Law, it has the same effect it had on Israel: it condemns (Romans 3.19).
YET some here know more than Paul? And the Lord who gave this to HIM.
The position that followers of Christ should follow his example of obedience to what God has commanded is not foolishness, but rather it is foundational to Christianity. I consider Pauls's writings to be authoritative and I regularly quote him, which is why I am opposed to you interpreting him in a way that makes him out to be a false prophet. In Deuteronomy 13, the way that God instructed to determine that someone is a false prophet is if they speak against obeying what He has commanded, so if you agree with me that Paul was a servant of God, then you should be opposed to you interpreting Paul as doing that, and if you think that Paul should be interpreted as speaking against obeying what God has commanded, then you should be opposed to considering him to be a servant of God, but Deuteronomy 13 does not leave room to you consider Paul to be a servant of God while also thinking that he should be interpreted as speaking against obeying what God has commanded.
If you agree that the Law of Moses reveal sin and that we should refrain from doing what God has revealed to be sin in accordance with what Paul taught, then you should be in favor of obeying the Law of Moses rather than opposing Paul.
In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the Gentiles, and the Law of Moses was how his audience knew what sin is, so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel of the Kingdom/Grace, which Paul also taught based on the Law of Moses (Acts 14:21-22, 20:24-25, 28:23). Jesus also set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Law of Moses and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22), that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6), and to be imitators of Paul as he is of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), so both Jesus Paul taught obedience to the Law of Moses by word and by example.
Nowhere does the Bible list which laws are part of the moral, ceremonial, or moral law, and nowhere does it even refer to those as being categories of law. You should not interpret the Bible as if its authors of the Bible had in mind a set of laws that you created.
Nowhere does the Bible refer to the Decalogue as being God's moral law or suggest that it is not immoral to disobey God's other laws. All of God's laws existed long before Moses' encounter with God on Mt. Sinai. All of God's laws reflect the nature and character of God and are eternal. In Romans 2:13-14, Paul said that only the doers of the Mosaic Law will be declared righteous and that Gentiles will by nature be doers of it.
In Ephesians 2:12-19, Gentiles were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world, which is in accordance with Gentiles at one time not being doers of the Mosaic Law, but through faith in Christ all of that is no longer true in that Gentiles are no longer strangers or aliens but are now fellow citizens of Israel along with the saints in the household of God, which is in accordance with Gentiles becoming doers of the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law only condemns those who refuse to submit to it.
I don't think that I know more than Paul, but I just don't think that servants of God should be interpreted as being opposed to obeying what He has commanded.
This why I can't take you seriously:
"I am opposed to you interpreting him in a way that makes him out to be a false prophet."
When one brings a biblical position supporting their understanding, you result to insult and childless ploys to discredit. their understanding. I did not say you were presenting teachings that make Paul a false Prophet. Yet you did say so about me and others.
Instead of providing biblical text that supports ones understanding, you use personal attacks. Fine. When the rubber meets the road, you do not follow the Law of Moses that you teach other must do. In this setting you can say whatever you want however, you are either justified by the law or grace it can't be both. IF you have broken the law. you can't return to the law; you must receive the punishment of the law.
Paul said in Gal 5:1-4
5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
This is of those who came to Christ then wanted others to follow the Mosaic law of circumcision.
you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
If you think you can follow the whole law? Please do it. But don't call us false when you lack understanding of the Law AS Paul says here in Galatians chapter 5.
Calling one false to prop up your repetition is cowardly and an act of one who has lost the debate.
God bless I am going to have a shrimp Cocktail. later.
God grants salvation freely as a gift, through Jesus Christ the Savior, unto those whom He had chosen for it:
[Tit 3:4-6 KJV]
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
[Tit 3:4-6 KJV]
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;