liafailrock
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- Jul 4, 2015
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Hi LFR - The doing of God's will is and has always been encouraged by God to man, starting with the Jews, and this even before the Mosaic Law. This Law was only temporary and is why it has been "taken away" (Heb 7:18, 19; 8:7; 10:9).
The reason for it was not to save but to show the need for it, and is why no man could keep it in the way required, as James 2:10 shows it wasn't intended for man to keep it but rather reveal he can't, thus showing the need for Christ.
There is some misunderstanding here. The taking away of the first and then a new covenant is a means of salvation i.e. keeping the Law for salvation (flesh power) vs faith in Christ's finished work (power of the Spirit). I was talking about the standards of the Law as defining what is right and just-- apples and oranges. The first covenant does indeed prove that man cannot keep it and the new covenant shows he is empowered to keep it. But this change of order idea confuses people into thinking that the old standards are done away with and new laws are introduced. That's not true. If it is true, then maybe someone here has a nice-looking wife I'd like to break the old 7th commandment because we "are not under the law". Rather, we are saved to do good works, and the good works are in alignment with the old Law. The old Law is our schoolmaster. Upon seeing we can't keep it, it brings us to Christ
In addition, keep in mind that some of this Law being discussed are ceremonial in nature which foreshadowed Christ. So that schoolmaster that brings us to Christ is another way of saying the ceremonies foreshadowed Christ, thus the next logical step is to see Christ in them. They are a prerequisite.
The reason I caution everyone here about the old Law is that it's part of the Bible, which is every bit inspired and relevant today as back then. If we "do away" with any part of that Law, then we are effectively truncating part of the bible and saying that it's no longer inspired nor required.