Are new covenant saints called to keep the law?

[Lyfe]

We are all sinners but that should not stop the complete truth of God from being preached. We should of course pray daily, confess our sins and study God's Word. We should ask for the Holy Spirit to guide us to Christ who gives us His power to obey.

If you don't believe that a person can obey as Jesus obeyed, then it means you don't trust Jesus' words. You doubt Him and therefore have resigned yourself to never fully obey. If Jesus says something is possible, it is possible. We have to be willing to reach and can reach the standard that Jesus set for us, not through our own power but through His power.

Look to Christ and not people. His Word is what we should trust. If you look at people and focus on whether they are perfect or not, whether they fully obey or not then you will always be disappointed. Everybody's personal relationship with God is different and at different stages. We should all focus on our own relationship with Christ.

God promises to do for us that which we can never do for ourselves. In Christ the gift of salvation is ours. He places His law in our minds so we can know it, and places it in our hearts so we can love it. Through His Holy Spirit, God gives us power to obey and delight in His ways. This is the miracle of the gospel.

If you don't believe this, then pray to God to help you believe Him because He never asks of us anything we can't do as long as He is part of the equation.

God bless.

I am all for obedience. Just not toward things we are no longer obligated to observe and keep. Most people who insist we must keep The Law also put an emphasis on dietary regulations as well as the commandment to still observe certain days including the biblical feasts. I came across a ministry a while back that went so far as to suggest we must still be circismized. There are gentlemen on this forum who want to establish The Law as part of society and advocate for bringing back stoning people who The Law commands to stone. There is no consistency among people who say we must observe The Law. It's subjective on a person to person basis.

 

[phipps]

I am all for obedience. Just not toward things we are no longer obligated to observe and keep. Most people who insist we must keep The Law also put an emphasis on dietary regulations as well as the commandment to still observe certain days including the biblical feasts. I came across a ministry a while back that went so far as to suggest we must still be circismized. There are gentlemen on this forum who want to establish The Law as part of society and advocate for bringing back stoning people who The Law commands to stone. There is no consistency among people who say we must observe The Law. It's subjective on a person to person basis.

Well we are obligated by Jesus to keep the commandments (ten commandments) of God just as He did when He was here on earth. He has told us we too can do what He did in His power and not on our own. The Bible is clear, that we have to keep the ten commandments and only those who obey will be saved. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

The dietary (dietary laws existed before Noah’s time), health, sexual, hygiene and some other laws still matter to this day as we still need to be healthy, hygienic and live morally according to God's Word (they were obeyed by Jesus and the apostles in the New Covenant that we live under). God gave us a manual in the Bible of how we should our lives in this World so that we are healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. If we follow all God's laws we will be the happiest most content people on earth as much as we can be in this sinful world.

Certain Old Testament laws and punishments were of the time and cannot be kept in the New Covenant. We no longer have to stone anyone for breaking certain laws for example.

As for circumcision, God gave it to Abraham and his people as a sign that they belonged to Him. Circumcision is no longer necessary in the New Covenant. Baptism replaced circumcision as a sign that we are casting away self. As we go under the water, symbolically dying to self, we rise up to a new life, not trusting in self, but trusting in Jesus.

The feasts and festivals of the sanctuary in the Old Testament should not be kept under the New Covenant because they pointed to Jesus and were fulfilled under Jesus. In the ceremonial law, God laid out a system of worship for the people of the Old Testament—it was a depiction of the plan of salvation. Through Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ministry, He personally became the fulfilment of the Old Testament sanctuary.

If anyone keeps the feasts of the Old Testament today, they are really going back to the sacrificial system. They might as well also rebuild the temple, close up the Most Holy with a veil again and look for a High Priest here on Earth who can perform the functions of the sanctuary. They are basically rejecting Jesus' sacrifice for us. They are rejecting Jesus Christ as Saviour, High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate in the heavenly sanctuary.

 

[Oceanic]

If you want the truth, the law is supposed to be obeyed by the Israelites --- God's chosen people. The law was never done away with. The only thing that changed was Jesus dying for Israel's sake thus there's no longer a need to sacrifice lambs as atonement when he paid the price.

 

[Lyfe]

If you want the truth, the law is supposed to be obeyed by the Israelites --- God's chosen people. The law was never done away with. The only thing that changed was Jesus dying for Israel's sake thus there's no longer a need to sacrifice lambs as atonement when he paid the price.

Anyone who acknowledges their need for Christ and turns to him can be saved.

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

1 Timothy 2:1-6
King James Version

2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time


Romans 1:16-17
English Standard Version

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[b]

 

[Oceanic]

Anyone who acknowledges their need for Christ and turns to him can be saved.

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

1 Timothy 2:1-6
King James Version

2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time


Romans 1:16-17
English Standard Version

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,[a] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”[b]

The world refers to Israel. People of Israel who were scattered all over the whole world as a result from slavery.

Matthew 15: 24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

God has repeatedly stated he chose Israel as his own, and that he shall be their God.

So yes, they're the only ones who should be keeping the laws.

 

[Lyfe]

The world refers to Israel. People of Israel who were scattered all over the whole world as a result from slavery.

Matthew 15: 24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

God has repeatedly stated he chose Israel as his own, and that he shall be their God.

So yes, they're the only ones who should be keeping the laws.

Cornelius wasn't Jewish. In fact the entire reason they had the Jerusalem council was to discuss the gentiles and how God was now including them in his redemptive purposes.

 

[elsbet's cat ^. .^]

I am all for obedience. Just not toward things we are no longer obligated to observe and keep. Most people who insist we must keep The Law also put an emphasis on dietary regulations as well as the commandment to still observe certain days including the biblical feasts. I came across a ministry a while back that went so far as to suggest we must still be circismized. There are gentlemen on this forum who want to establish The Law as part of society and advocate for bringing back stoning people who The Law commands to stone. There is no consistency among people who say we must observe The Law. It's subjective on a person to person basis.

In my experience, those who insist salvation comes through the Law do not believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Instead, they believe He serves as Inspiration from without; something akin to the Muses of pagan Rome, perhaps.

Also noteworthy: they do not believe we have a spirit of our own. This piqued my interest, when I saw James ch. 2 misused as support for salvation through the Law.

Verse 26
'For as the body apart from the spirit is dead...' is strangely absent from this camp. And by "works," of course, as you mentioned, they mean laws chosen selectively from the old testament and/ or the decalogue.

We cannot believe salvation is the result of 'perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness' and Galatians 5:6, at the same time; though it has been suggested.

While I'm at it, an intellectual understanding of the existence of God should not be confused with belief -> the gift of Faith, as it's defined in the biblical text.

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For those interested, James ch. 2 is often read as a contradiction to Paul's writing throughout the new testament, as well as the New Covenant, itself-- but isn't. Barnes offers a great analysis, here --> Commentary | James 26
I think his commentary is second from the top.

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