Post by Rev. Jim Cunningham on Nov 19, 2008 4:59:19 GMT -5
From: Manager Rev. Jim (Original Message) Sent: 7/26/2008 11:58 AM
Recently, I received an email memo from a very popular Christian website that I'm a member of, about a new message that was posted there. The message was a post made by one of the members with a question about the Law in the Old Testament, with the question being answered by Pastor Weekly who runs the site. The message I received also asked for input from other members on the topic. After reading the pastor's response, I was so appalled that I had to respond. I want to share that response with you. The reason it relates to Gay Christians, is because the liberal gay Christian community has done the same type of butchery to God's Word that this pastor has done in regard to God's Laws.
Below is the original question asked, followed by the pastor's response, which in turn is followed by my reply. Many of you will notice the slick way the pastor uses the Scriptures in order to teach that sinning is now ok because the law that banned sin no longer exists. Yet the Scripture says that, "if any man say he sinneth not, he is a liar." The term "any man" refers to you and me and every person on the earth. If the Law that defines sin is done away, if we are no longer obliged to observe it, then that would make every man sinless. But any man who says they are sinless is a liar - which means the law that defines sin STILL STANDS.
Read on if you are interested...... and I sure hope you are.
God bless!
Rev. Jim
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Question: (Asked By: john from Panama City, Fl, United States of America)
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Answer: (By Pastor Weekly of ALL YOUR BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED)
Hello John. The question you ask is a great question, and the misunderstanding surrounding this issue is at the core of many doctrinal errors in the Christian Church today. I do hope to shed some light for you and other readers.
Before beginning, it's important to point out that the Mosaic Law consisted of a lot more than 10 Commandments. In fact, there were 613 commandments given under this Law. The 10 Commandments are only the primary and foundational commands given.
Okay, let's dig in and see what the Scriptures have to say about the role of the Mosaic Law for New Testament Christians.
"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." Galatians 3:19
The purpose of the Mosaic Law was to provide rules and regulations for the children of Israel to live by until the prophesied Messiah, to whom the promise was prophetically made, arrived. Notice the clear language of the text. The was added "till the seed [Christ] should come". The coming of Christ hailed the end of the era of the Law of Moses, just as Jesus said it would...
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Matthew 5:17
Christ did not come to destroy the law, as though it was an evil thing in need to annihilation. To the contrary, He came to complete the purpose for which it was established. The result is still the same, however. Now that the Law has been fulfilled, it is no longer in force and effect. In Jesus' own words, "It is finished."
Let's look further into the testimony of the apostle Paul in Galatians. After stating that the Law was only to last until the coming of Christ, he goes on to say the following...
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
Galatians 3:24-25
The Law was intended to be a spiritual tutor, whose job was only to keep the children of Israel faithful until the time of the Messiah--the era of faith. This verse emphatically states that once the era of faith has come (in Christ), we are "no longer under the Law (the schoolmaster)".
Now that the new era of faith (the new covenant in Christ) has arrived, what happened to the Law? We find out in Heb. 8:13.
"In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Heb. 8:13 (NKJV)
Now that we are brought under a new covenant in Christ, the first is made obsolete ("old" in the KJV). It is no longer in force. This includes EVERY precept of that old law, including the 10 Commandments. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but the Bible clearly states that keeping any portion of the old Law is akin to spiritual adultery and brings you under a curse.
"All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Galatians 3:10 (NIV)
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? [2] For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. [3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. [4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Romans 7:1-4
In the first passage (Gal. 3:10), Paul states that if we do anything as in obedience to the Law, we are immediately brought under a curse, because the requirement of the Law is that we must keep ALL of it, and none of us is able to do that. So, even when it comes to the 10 Commandments, we must never do what we do because it was commanded in the Mosaic Law. It's not pious. It's not noble. It's dangerous.
Paul's argument in Romans 7 is quite profound. He likens the two covenants of God to a marriage. The first one (the Mosaic Law) was only in effect while the "husband" was alive. But, with our death (in Christ) to the old Law, we were freed from it and brought into our new covenant in Christ. To now be in this new covenant and still submit to stipulations of the old covenant is to commit spiritual adultery. We are no longer under the Law, but under grace, and we must NOT submit to a covenant that we are not under.
Notice what verse 3 says in relation to a woman marrying another man while the first one is still alive. She's an adulteress. He's comparing a natural marriage to the two covenants (the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ). We must NOT be under the Law of Christ (grace through faith) and yet submit to provisions of the Law of Moses.
Some may claim the old Law did not end when Christ died on the cross, but that the new covenant simply built upon it. But, this would be a grave theological error, as you will soon see.
"For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. [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: [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." Hebrews 8:7-9
In verse 9, God states that this new covenant is "not according to the [old] covenant". The new covenant does not pick up where the other left off. It does not take it and build upon it. It's a COMPLETELY different covenant, established on better promises than the first (Heb. 8:6). The two covenants have things in common because they come from the same God, but that doesn't mean that we can look to the old covenant for application of the new. They are completely separate, and we are only under one of them--the new covenant in Christ (the covenant of grace through faith).
Finally, I'd like to address the question of whom the Law was written to, and to whom it applies.
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
Romans 3:19
Whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law. Since we are not under the Law (Ro. 6:14), none of what it stipulates applies to us, not even in the slightest.
Now, having said all this, let's understand a few things. First of all, just because we are not under the Law of Moses, does not mean that we are not under a law. You referenced the "Law of God" in your question, and equated it to the Ten Commandments; but that is a flawed assertion. The Law of God is bigger than the 10 Commandments. The old covenant was the Law of God, but the new covenant in Christ is now the Law of God.
So then, there is a law of God in effect, it's just not the Law of Moses. The new law that's in effect is the law of Christ (grace through faith). It is established in the NEW Testament, not in the Old. More specifically, it's established from the Crucifixion onward (the lifetime of Jesus was a period of transition, with the new covenant actually being established at Christ's death).
The law of God is still active in the New Testament, but the portion of the law of God that we call the Mosaic Law (within which resides the 10 Commandments) is not active. It is obsolete and no longer in force. However, we are still under God's law. It's just a NEW law/covenant.
So, what role should the Mosaic Law play in the lives of New Testament Christians? Absolutely none, if you're asking in terms of how we should live our lives. We can read the old covenant and learn things about God and how He dealt with the children of Israel, but we must not fall into the trap of subscribing to the prescriptions and proscriptions of that Law, lest we become spiritual adulterers.
As to the Ten Commandments, we are actually still under 9 of them, not because they were listed in Exodus, but because they were repeated under our new covenant. So then, we obey not out of submission to old testament laws, but out of submission to our new covenant. The one commandment that was not repeated and is no longer observed by most Christians is to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. If we were still under the Law, we would be sinning greatly by no longer honoring Saturday as Sabbath. But, we need not be condemned because we are not required to honor the Sabbath any longer.
In closing, I'll simply state this: When discussing right and wrong actions for Christians to engage in, the old covenant is not the place to go. It has absolutely no power/authority over Christians. As we've seen, it wasn't written to us, it doesn't apply to us, and it's requirements were fulfilled in Christ. It's finished. Let's leave it that way. God bless.
Pastor R. D. Weekly
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RESPONSE: (By Rev. Jim Cunningham)
Pastor Weekly, your response and your audacity to teach people to forsake God's Law - which was given for ALL generations - is summed up in the Scriptures which say, Woe unto the shepherd which teaches My people to sin!
While you neatly use multiple verses far, far out of context, you conveniently (and purposefully) omit the complete words of Paul, who answered the question of the observance of the Mosaic Law in the New Covenant head on:
"Now we know that what things soever the Law saith to them who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon on them that believe - for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the FORBEARANCE OF GOD, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be Just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then?
It is excluded.
By what Law?
[By the Law] Of works?
Nay, but by the Law of Faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.
Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision [Jews] by Faith and uncircumcision [Gentiles] through Faith.
DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH?
GOD FORBID! YEA, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW!"
-Romans 3:19
Throughout the book of Romans Paul tries to make us understand our New Covenant relationship in regard to the Law. Repeatedly he states that THE LAW STILL STANDS and NOTHING can take away God's Law, for it is the very DNA of God. To do any deed that is contrary to God's Law is to commit treason and anarchy against Him - for He IS The Law. What Paul tells us is that, while you cannot be SAVED by observing the Law, those who say they love God must obey His Law - else they do not love Him! It was Jesus Himself who said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments"! And if you try to say He was referring to his commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself, I will remind you that not only did Jesus say "keep My COMMANDMENTS" - PLURAL, meaning all of His commandments, not just this one - but also that the command to love your neighbor as yourself was quoted by Jesus FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW!
An action is only a crime if there is a law which states that the action is a crime. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as a crime if there was no law declaring it to be a crime. As it is written, "Where no law is, there is no transgression," and, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law." However you are implying that because we are forgiven in the New Covenant that the very laws for which we were condemned and from which we were redeemed no longer exist! The Law most certainly does stand and any violation of God's Law is still a sin. The difference now is that those of the faith of Jesus are FORGIVEN for breaking those laws. You cannot be forgiven for breaking a law which does not exist!
You are greatly confusing the entire concept of the Gospel. Let me give an example of what the Gospel is. You are on a world that is totally covered with an ocean of fresh water. This is your home and the ocean is the Law. This Law says that if you do not swim, you will drown. It is not a bad Law. It is not an evil law. Neither the ocean nor the Law that you must swim is sin. It is simply the Law. It is only you who can do the sin - not the ocean nor the law - and sin is ceasing to swim. Yet you cannot keep up your strength to swim and therefore you will cease swimming, and therefore you break the law, and you are drowning. And because you are drowning, you will die. But suddenly someone comes by in a boat! On the side of the boat you can just barely read the name of it. It says MERCIFUL FORGIVENESS. The boat is defying the law of the ocean and it is not sinking! The boat is operating on a different set of laws than the ocean and therefore it floats. The person in the boat is also defying the law of the ocean because he is protected inside the boat which operates by a different law. Little do you know or realize that the man in the boat is also the creator of the ocean and its law. You are offered a choice - to be saved from the law of the ocean by being brought under the law of the boat, or to reject the law of the boat and remain under the law of the ocean. At first you are not sure if you believe in this person in the boat. Is it a trick? After all, you've never encountered something that could operate in a different Law than the Law you know. If you remain under the law of the ocean you will die, because the law of the ocean requires you to swim ceaselessly, but it is outside your ability to do so. So you choose to let the man pull you into the boat. Now you are no longer subject to the law of the ocean. HOWEVER, the ocean is still there, and the law of the ocean is still there, and you still need the ocean because you still must interact with it, bathe in it, drink from it. It is your entire world. But now your ocean world has a man with a boat.
And the man in the boat tells you that if you will just trust him, he will give you the strength to obey the law of the ocean so that you do not die. He will give you strength to swim when you are weary, when you are tempted to give up, when you are tempted to venture below the surface to investigate the dark places of the deep. So you go out into the ocean, and you swim, and you are full of strength, and you are happy. But the great waves begin to come in and slam against you. But you trust the man and call upon him to give you strength, and he does. But then the waves get harder. And now a shark has bitten onto your foot! In your fear you forget the man. You begin to drown. You become shredded to pieces by the shark and the waves have filled your lungs. And just as you begin sinking into the quagmire of the deepest depths, you remember the man and call upon him. You cry, saying how sorry you are for forgetting him. Suddenly, above your head appears the Merciful Forgiveness! And a hand comes down from the boat to pull you aboard where you have escaped the penalty of the law of the ocean, which the man in the boat made. And each time you go back out into the ocean you become stronger and stronger. Some times you fail and need the Merciful Forgiveness. But if you reject both the law of the ocean and the law of the boat, you will be rejected by both and you will die.
For it is written:
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY: IF THEY SPEAK NOT ACCORDING TO THIS WORD, IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN THEM!” -Isaiah 8:20
“HE THAT DESPISED MOSES’ LAW DIED WITHOUT MERCY UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES: OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISHMENT, SUPPOSE YE, SHALL HE BE THOUGHT WORTHY, WHO HATH TRODDEN UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD AND HATH COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHEREIN HE WAS SANCTIFIED, [AS] AN UNHOLY THING, AND HATH DONE DESPITE UNTO THE HOLY SPIRIT?! FOR WE KNOW HIM THAT SAITH, VENGEANCE BELONGETH UNTO ME, I WILL RECOMPENSE, SAITH THE LORD. AND AGAIN, THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE. IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD!” -Hebrews 10:26
“FOR IF WE SIN WILLFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, BUT [rather] A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOKING FOR OF JUDGMENT AND FIERY INDIGNATION WHICH SHALL DEVOUR THE ADVERSARIES.” -Hebrews 10:26
Pastor Weekly, you do greatly err in teaching the people that they ought not to keep the Law of God, and in teaching them to keep nine but abandon the tenth of His high commandments. For it is written, "FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL KEEP THE WHOLE LAW AND YET OFFEND IN ONE POINT, HE IS GUILTY OF ALL!"
If you love Him, KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. If you don't keep His commandments, you do not love Him
Recently, I received an email memo from a very popular Christian website that I'm a member of, about a new message that was posted there. The message was a post made by one of the members with a question about the Law in the Old Testament, with the question being answered by Pastor Weekly who runs the site. The message I received also asked for input from other members on the topic. After reading the pastor's response, I was so appalled that I had to respond. I want to share that response with you. The reason it relates to Gay Christians, is because the liberal gay Christian community has done the same type of butchery to God's Word that this pastor has done in regard to God's Laws.
Below is the original question asked, followed by the pastor's response, which in turn is followed by my reply. Many of you will notice the slick way the pastor uses the Scriptures in order to teach that sinning is now ok because the law that banned sin no longer exists. Yet the Scripture says that, "if any man say he sinneth not, he is a liar." The term "any man" refers to you and me and every person on the earth. If the Law that defines sin is done away, if we are no longer obliged to observe it, then that would make every man sinless. But any man who says they are sinless is a liar - which means the law that defines sin STILL STANDS.
Read on if you are interested...... and I sure hope you are.
God bless!
Rev. Jim
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Question: (Asked By: john from Panama City, Fl, United States of America)
What is the role of the Law of God (Ten Commandments) in the New Testament? Are Christians to try to follow all ten commandments?
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Answer: (By Pastor Weekly of ALL YOUR BIBLE QUESTIONS ANSWERED)
Hello John. The question you ask is a great question, and the misunderstanding surrounding this issue is at the core of many doctrinal errors in the Christian Church today. I do hope to shed some light for you and other readers.
Before beginning, it's important to point out that the Mosaic Law consisted of a lot more than 10 Commandments. In fact, there were 613 commandments given under this Law. The 10 Commandments are only the primary and foundational commands given.
Okay, let's dig in and see what the Scriptures have to say about the role of the Mosaic Law for New Testament Christians.
"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." Galatians 3:19
The purpose of the Mosaic Law was to provide rules and regulations for the children of Israel to live by until the prophesied Messiah, to whom the promise was prophetically made, arrived. Notice the clear language of the text. The was added "till the seed [Christ] should come". The coming of Christ hailed the end of the era of the Law of Moses, just as Jesus said it would...
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Matthew 5:17
Christ did not come to destroy the law, as though it was an evil thing in need to annihilation. To the contrary, He came to complete the purpose for which it was established. The result is still the same, however. Now that the Law has been fulfilled, it is no longer in force and effect. In Jesus' own words, "It is finished."
Let's look further into the testimony of the apostle Paul in Galatians. After stating that the Law was only to last until the coming of Christ, he goes on to say the following...
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. [25] But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
Galatians 3:24-25
The Law was intended to be a spiritual tutor, whose job was only to keep the children of Israel faithful until the time of the Messiah--the era of faith. This verse emphatically states that once the era of faith has come (in Christ), we are "no longer under the Law (the schoolmaster)".
Now that the new era of faith (the new covenant in Christ) has arrived, what happened to the Law? We find out in Heb. 8:13.
"In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." Heb. 8:13 (NKJV)
Now that we are brought under a new covenant in Christ, the first is made obsolete ("old" in the KJV). It is no longer in force. This includes EVERY precept of that old law, including the 10 Commandments. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but the Bible clearly states that keeping any portion of the old Law is akin to spiritual adultery and brings you under a curse.
"All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Galatians 3:10 (NIV)
"Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? [2] For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. [3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. [4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Romans 7:1-4
In the first passage (Gal. 3:10), Paul states that if we do anything as in obedience to the Law, we are immediately brought under a curse, because the requirement of the Law is that we must keep ALL of it, and none of us is able to do that. So, even when it comes to the 10 Commandments, we must never do what we do because it was commanded in the Mosaic Law. It's not pious. It's not noble. It's dangerous.
Paul's argument in Romans 7 is quite profound. He likens the two covenants of God to a marriage. The first one (the Mosaic Law) was only in effect while the "husband" was alive. But, with our death (in Christ) to the old Law, we were freed from it and brought into our new covenant in Christ. To now be in this new covenant and still submit to stipulations of the old covenant is to commit spiritual adultery. We are no longer under the Law, but under grace, and we must NOT submit to a covenant that we are not under.
Notice what verse 3 says in relation to a woman marrying another man while the first one is still alive. She's an adulteress. He's comparing a natural marriage to the two covenants (the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ). We must NOT be under the Law of Christ (grace through faith) and yet submit to provisions of the Law of Moses.
Some may claim the old Law did not end when Christ died on the cross, but that the new covenant simply built upon it. But, this would be a grave theological error, as you will soon see.
"For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. [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: [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." Hebrews 8:7-9
In verse 9, God states that this new covenant is "not according to the [old] covenant". The new covenant does not pick up where the other left off. It does not take it and build upon it. It's a COMPLETELY different covenant, established on better promises than the first (Heb. 8:6). The two covenants have things in common because they come from the same God, but that doesn't mean that we can look to the old covenant for application of the new. They are completely separate, and we are only under one of them--the new covenant in Christ (the covenant of grace through faith).
Finally, I'd like to address the question of whom the Law was written to, and to whom it applies.
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
Romans 3:19
Whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law. Since we are not under the Law (Ro. 6:14), none of what it stipulates applies to us, not even in the slightest.
Now, having said all this, let's understand a few things. First of all, just because we are not under the Law of Moses, does not mean that we are not under a law. You referenced the "Law of God" in your question, and equated it to the Ten Commandments; but that is a flawed assertion. The Law of God is bigger than the 10 Commandments. The old covenant was the Law of God, but the new covenant in Christ is now the Law of God.
So then, there is a law of God in effect, it's just not the Law of Moses. The new law that's in effect is the law of Christ (grace through faith). It is established in the NEW Testament, not in the Old. More specifically, it's established from the Crucifixion onward (the lifetime of Jesus was a period of transition, with the new covenant actually being established at Christ's death).
The law of God is still active in the New Testament, but the portion of the law of God that we call the Mosaic Law (within which resides the 10 Commandments) is not active. It is obsolete and no longer in force. However, we are still under God's law. It's just a NEW law/covenant.
So, what role should the Mosaic Law play in the lives of New Testament Christians? Absolutely none, if you're asking in terms of how we should live our lives. We can read the old covenant and learn things about God and how He dealt with the children of Israel, but we must not fall into the trap of subscribing to the prescriptions and proscriptions of that Law, lest we become spiritual adulterers.
As to the Ten Commandments, we are actually still under 9 of them, not because they were listed in Exodus, but because they were repeated under our new covenant. So then, we obey not out of submission to old testament laws, but out of submission to our new covenant. The one commandment that was not repeated and is no longer observed by most Christians is to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. If we were still under the Law, we would be sinning greatly by no longer honoring Saturday as Sabbath. But, we need not be condemned because we are not required to honor the Sabbath any longer.
In closing, I'll simply state this: When discussing right and wrong actions for Christians to engage in, the old covenant is not the place to go. It has absolutely no power/authority over Christians. As we've seen, it wasn't written to us, it doesn't apply to us, and it's requirements were fulfilled in Christ. It's finished. Let's leave it that way. God bless.
Pastor R. D. Weekly
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RESPONSE: (By Rev. Jim Cunningham)
Pastor Weekly, your response and your audacity to teach people to forsake God's Law - which was given for ALL generations - is summed up in the Scriptures which say, Woe unto the shepherd which teaches My people to sin!
While you neatly use multiple verses far, far out of context, you conveniently (and purposefully) omit the complete words of Paul, who answered the question of the observance of the Mosaic Law in the New Covenant head on:
"Now we know that what things soever the Law saith to them who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon on them that believe - for there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the FORBEARANCE OF GOD, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness, that He might be Just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then?
It is excluded.
By what Law?
[By the Law] Of works?
Nay, but by the Law of Faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.
Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also: seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision [Jews] by Faith and uncircumcision [Gentiles] through Faith.
DO WE THEN MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH?
GOD FORBID! YEA, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW!"
-Romans 3:19
Throughout the book of Romans Paul tries to make us understand our New Covenant relationship in regard to the Law. Repeatedly he states that THE LAW STILL STANDS and NOTHING can take away God's Law, for it is the very DNA of God. To do any deed that is contrary to God's Law is to commit treason and anarchy against Him - for He IS The Law. What Paul tells us is that, while you cannot be SAVED by observing the Law, those who say they love God must obey His Law - else they do not love Him! It was Jesus Himself who said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments"! And if you try to say He was referring to his commandment to Love your neighbor as yourself, I will remind you that not only did Jesus say "keep My COMMANDMENTS" - PLURAL, meaning all of His commandments, not just this one - but also that the command to love your neighbor as yourself was quoted by Jesus FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT LAW!
An action is only a crime if there is a law which states that the action is a crime. Otherwise, there would be no such thing as a crime if there was no law declaring it to be a crime. As it is written, "Where no law is, there is no transgression," and, "Sin is not imputed when there is no law." However you are implying that because we are forgiven in the New Covenant that the very laws for which we were condemned and from which we were redeemed no longer exist! The Law most certainly does stand and any violation of God's Law is still a sin. The difference now is that those of the faith of Jesus are FORGIVEN for breaking those laws. You cannot be forgiven for breaking a law which does not exist!
You are greatly confusing the entire concept of the Gospel. Let me give an example of what the Gospel is. You are on a world that is totally covered with an ocean of fresh water. This is your home and the ocean is the Law. This Law says that if you do not swim, you will drown. It is not a bad Law. It is not an evil law. Neither the ocean nor the Law that you must swim is sin. It is simply the Law. It is only you who can do the sin - not the ocean nor the law - and sin is ceasing to swim. Yet you cannot keep up your strength to swim and therefore you will cease swimming, and therefore you break the law, and you are drowning. And because you are drowning, you will die. But suddenly someone comes by in a boat! On the side of the boat you can just barely read the name of it. It says MERCIFUL FORGIVENESS. The boat is defying the law of the ocean and it is not sinking! The boat is operating on a different set of laws than the ocean and therefore it floats. The person in the boat is also defying the law of the ocean because he is protected inside the boat which operates by a different law. Little do you know or realize that the man in the boat is also the creator of the ocean and its law. You are offered a choice - to be saved from the law of the ocean by being brought under the law of the boat, or to reject the law of the boat and remain under the law of the ocean. At first you are not sure if you believe in this person in the boat. Is it a trick? After all, you've never encountered something that could operate in a different Law than the Law you know. If you remain under the law of the ocean you will die, because the law of the ocean requires you to swim ceaselessly, but it is outside your ability to do so. So you choose to let the man pull you into the boat. Now you are no longer subject to the law of the ocean. HOWEVER, the ocean is still there, and the law of the ocean is still there, and you still need the ocean because you still must interact with it, bathe in it, drink from it. It is your entire world. But now your ocean world has a man with a boat.
And the man in the boat tells you that if you will just trust him, he will give you the strength to obey the law of the ocean so that you do not die. He will give you strength to swim when you are weary, when you are tempted to give up, when you are tempted to venture below the surface to investigate the dark places of the deep. So you go out into the ocean, and you swim, and you are full of strength, and you are happy. But the great waves begin to come in and slam against you. But you trust the man and call upon him to give you strength, and he does. But then the waves get harder. And now a shark has bitten onto your foot! In your fear you forget the man. You begin to drown. You become shredded to pieces by the shark and the waves have filled your lungs. And just as you begin sinking into the quagmire of the deepest depths, you remember the man and call upon him. You cry, saying how sorry you are for forgetting him. Suddenly, above your head appears the Merciful Forgiveness! And a hand comes down from the boat to pull you aboard where you have escaped the penalty of the law of the ocean, which the man in the boat made. And each time you go back out into the ocean you become stronger and stronger. Some times you fail and need the Merciful Forgiveness. But if you reject both the law of the ocean and the law of the boat, you will be rejected by both and you will die.
For it is written:
“TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY: IF THEY SPEAK NOT ACCORDING TO THIS WORD, IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS NO TRUTH IN THEM!” -Isaiah 8:20
“HE THAT DESPISED MOSES’ LAW DIED WITHOUT MERCY UNDER TWO OR THREE WITNESSES: OF HOW MUCH SORER PUNISHMENT, SUPPOSE YE, SHALL HE BE THOUGHT WORTHY, WHO HATH TRODDEN UNDER FOOT THE SON OF GOD AND HATH COUNTED THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHEREIN HE WAS SANCTIFIED, [AS] AN UNHOLY THING, AND HATH DONE DESPITE UNTO THE HOLY SPIRIT?! FOR WE KNOW HIM THAT SAITH, VENGEANCE BELONGETH UNTO ME, I WILL RECOMPENSE, SAITH THE LORD. AND AGAIN, THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE. IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD!” -Hebrews 10:26
“FOR IF WE SIN WILLFULLY AFTER THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, THERE REMAINETH NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, BUT [rather] A CERTAIN FEARFUL LOOKING FOR OF JUDGMENT AND FIERY INDIGNATION WHICH SHALL DEVOUR THE ADVERSARIES.” -Hebrews 10:26
Pastor Weekly, you do greatly err in teaching the people that they ought not to keep the Law of God, and in teaching them to keep nine but abandon the tenth of His high commandments. For it is written, "FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL KEEP THE WHOLE LAW AND YET OFFEND IN ONE POINT, HE IS GUILTY OF ALL!"
If you love Him, KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. If you don't keep His commandments, you do not love Him