We are wading into deep waters here, so please be open.
I totally agree. However, when we fail to do what pleases our Father, the Law is there to point out our sin so we can confess it and repent of it (
Romans 3:20).
Precisely. And that’s what Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 3. Read that whole chapter. Over and over and over.
The Law, the written commandments, the letter of the Law, “ministers death.” Yes, it “points out our sin,” (ministers condemnation) but more than that, it also (ministers death) points out that the wages of sin is death. And by the letter of the Law there is no sacrifice for sin, no temple, no altar, no priesthood, no atonement, no forgiveness for sin, no reconciliation with God, no feasting and fellowship with our Father. According to the letter of the Law, we cannot please God, because according to the letter of the Law we’re dead in our sins, cut off from God and without hope.
But notice it doesn’t stop there. Paul also teaches us that the “spirit” of the Law “ministers life.” And that’s what I’m trying to get you to look at and consider. Look beyond the veil of Jesus’ flesh and look at the spirit of the man. Look beyond the letter of the law and look at the spirit of the Law. The things of God are spiritual, heavenly, and that’s where life is, that’s where forgiveness of sin is, and reconciliation with God, and that’s where there is feasting and fellowship with the Father. That’s where His kingdom is. That’s where His Temple is. In the spirit. That’s where we observe the feasts, all of them, every jot and tittle.
If you think the kingdom of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, the Temple on Mt. Moriah, the courts and gates and walls of those earthly shadows, if you think they were glorious, how much more glorious is the heavenly reality that those earthly shadows were patterned after?
If we live according to the letter of the law and its shadows we will die. But if we live according to the spirit of the law and its heavenly realities we will live. And that’s not just true of some of the Law, of some of the sacrifices, of some of the feasts, of some of the sabbaths, it’s true of all the Law, every jot and tittle.
We don’t have to understand all those jots and tittles, and how they were fulfilled, it is enough that we understand what those things teach us, that Jesus Christ was put to death in the flesh so that we might be washed of our sins and be restored to spiritual fellowship with our Heavenly Father. And everything in the letter of the Law was a shadow of the blessings that flow from that one great truth, Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I know what your point was and I did not ignore it. I answered that we keep the commandments out of love (the love that is in our hearts as a result of first being loved by YHWH). We do not love because we are commanded to love. It comes naturally as a result of salvation. Obedience to the Law is a fruit of our salvation, not the means to it.
You are talking about being obedient to the letter of the Law, but the letter of the Law says you must obey all the commandments, which it is self-evident is impossible, so no, you’re actually not obeying the Law. In all honesty, instead of talking about “obedience to the Law” all you can really talk about is “obedience to some of God’s commandments.”
Yes, the New Covenant replaces the OC. What Law is written on hearts and minds in the NC? Torah (
Jeremiah 31:33).
The Law written in our hearts is the spirit of the Law, not the letter. (read 2 Corinthians 3 again and again)
The same Torah as under the OC is now ministered in a new way under the NC …
I agree, but I contend that is true of ALL the Law, including the fall feasts, and the sabbaths, and the entire calendar of all the times and seasons of the land. But you are saying that some of the commandments have not yet been fulfilled in the New Covenant and therefore they are to be observed in the OC way.
Has all been filfilled? No. Has heaven and earth passed? No. Therefore, the Law stands.
I think that's got things mixed up. Yes, the whole Law, every jot and tittle, has been fulfilled, and having been fulfilled it passed away. That’s what Jesus said. Not one jot or tittle would pass from the Law until ALL the Law was fulfilled. It was all fulfilled in the generation of the coming of Jesus and it all passed away in the last days of that generation.
Also, when Paul says that through our faith we “establish” the Law, he is not speaking of the Old Covenant letter of the Law (which were earthly shadows) but the New Covenant spirit of the Law (the heavenly realities). And even though this present heavens and earth pass away and never rise again, the heavenly realities that is the spirit of the Law will stand forever and will never pass away.
So Paul wasn't saying that by faith we establish the OC letter of the Law, which was temporal, earthly shadows, but that we establish the NC spirit of the Law, which are eternal, heavenly realities.
The Law can only be fulfilled in our lives when we walk in love (
Romans 13:10). If we steal from our neighbor or covet our neighbor's spouse, we have broken the Law and failed to love our neighbor. If we cause another to work on the Sabbath, we fail to love that person by robbing them of the blessing of rest from their labors.
No my friend, that’s not loving people. Loving people is sharing our earthly goods with the needy, honoring our neighbor’s spouse, but most importantly loving people is sharing with them the good news that this is the day that God has ordained that we can lay down our burdens of sin and can come to Jesus and find rest for our weary souls, water for our thirsty tongue, manna for our hungry hearts, and unconditional love from our Heavenly Father. The difference is the ministry of death teaching people that obedience lies in taking a day off work, or the ministry of life in resting in the finished work of the Savior.
In Christ,
Pilgrimer