UppsalaDragby said:
I'm not hysterical, I just don't appreciate people coming here complaining about twisting thing and then continue to distort other people views. That's all.
I haven't figured out how this quote thingie works yet...so I've put your words in blue, so that we can tell who is talking:
Does your Bible say this:
"And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us."
"By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear." (Heb 8:13)
You left out the "meat" of that scripture.
Mine has quite a bit more to say on the subject:
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
Heb 8:8 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:
Heb 8:9 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.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Of course, you recognize these verses as repeating the prophecy of Jeremiah 31, I hope.
Again, there are a few things you need to see here, that I think you've missed.
First, this covenant, like the first one, was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, just like the first one. So, if you reject the first one, because it was "for the Jews only", then you have no part of this one either.
I don't need to tell you that this covenant is "not according to" the first covenant...there are some differences. Do you know what these differences are?
You do see that God's laws are still a part of this new covenant? Do you see where it says: "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Now, when God says "My laws", what do you think He means? He's not referring to Mosaic law here...but the law He wrote Himself with His Own finger, on tables of stone. But He isn't going to write them on stone this time...but in our hearts.
But the most important difference of all is this:
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
This is a Covenant of Grace. This is why so many people think that "not under the law" means that there is no more law, but that is not true.
Our lives are no longer required as a penalty for breaking these basic laws, because that penalty has been paid for us at Calvary. This precious grace that we have was bought with a horrendous price, let us never, ever forget that.
Let's not even think to squander that price by declaring that there is no more law...
"But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." (Gal 5:18)
A great verse...but there's more:
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Wow...Does this scripture teach us that there is no law?
I don't think so.
Those who do these things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God...
Do you wish to inherit the Kingdom of God?
Then don't do those things...
"Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!" (2 Cor 3:7-11)
How, exactly, does this new ministry bring righteousness? How is it more glorious?
The answers are simple.
This ministry puts the law directly into the believer's heart. Now, that is glorious.
But that's not all.
This ministry brings grace tor forgiveness!
What could be more glorious than that!