The Simplest Answer To The Most Complicated Question

[WhiteKnuckle]

I'm new to this forum. I'm sorry to impose my opinions so quickly on everyone here. None the less, I base these on scripture and what the Lord has shown me. The law and the prophets are summed up thus, "Love thy neighbor as you love yourself"Everyone asks all these questions about, Being under law, justified by faith, blah blah blah blah. I struggled with alot of this for a long time. After some thought and a lot of prayer I understand everything summed up like this."by faith you are justified, by grace you are saved" "not by works lest any one should boast" "Faith without works is dead" That's true, but summed up simply.You obey because you believe.That simple saying for me sums it all up. In my mind it settles all the arguements and questions about faith and works and salvation. Maybe someone will be helped by this possibly over simplified version of the Gospel.

 

[bethog]

QUOTE (WhiteKnuckle @ Mar 31 2009, 12:55 AM) index.php?act=findpost&pid=71449
The law and the prophets are summed up thus, "Love thy neighbor as you love yourself"
Matthew 22:37-40 37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”The Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments.1. You shall love the LORD your God2. You shall love your neighbor as yourselfPeople are all up in arms when one says that we should keep/not keep the Law. Jesus came and said that there are two laws which we “shall” keep and then he said “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”. In short, Jesus said to us if you keep these two laws, you will in the end keep the Law, as the Law is summed up in short into these laws. The only difference is that “under the Law” we sit with a set of rules which nobody can keep if our hearts are not set on God, but when we have a relationship with God we automatically keep His law as we follow Him in love.

 

[HammerStone]

I think bethog put it pretty well here. Notice that the two commandments really sum up the 10 Commandments:#1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.#2 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:#3 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;#4 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;#5 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.All of these are contained in: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.#6 Thou shalt not kill.#7 Thou shalt not commit adultery.#8 Thou shalt not steal.#9 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.#10 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.All of these spring from: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.This is why Christ said hey, everything hangs on these two commandments. If you truly love God, you won't have an issue with the first set. If you truly love your neighbor, you won't have an issue with the second. If you want to take this even a bit deeper, 5 is the Biblical number for grace, so the split (as always) makes perfect sense. Also note the old Two Witness requirement. If you do these two things with these two most important commandments, they bare witness for you, if you will. God knowing your heart will see to that.QUOTE
You obey because you believe.
I am in agreement here. It seems I almost always end up in a faith vs. works argument when I bring this topic up, but the Bible clearly says that if you have the faith, then you will desire to do something to further the kingdom of God. I would firmly argue that no Christian is worth his salt if he or she always sites idly by simply saying, "I'm saved!" I sense this from those here, but I do know I want to tell people. I want more to know the peace that comes along with this. I live for moments when someone brings up something to do with Christianity and I can plant that one tiny little seed.

 

[WhiteKnuckle]

QUOTE
I live for moments when someone brings up something to do with Christianity and I can plant that one tiny little seed.
I agree. I used to think "just go around preaching" that doesn't seem to be the right thing to do. Just plant little seeds, I love how that works! Say something so small and seemingly with no intention. It builds huge curiosities that more often than not lead to the truth.That happened with my best friend. He was talking about what's goin on in his life. I just listened, and we just talked a bit. I told him, "I think you're the adventurous type,...." As I was leaving he asked me, "Is that your answer for my problem? I need adventure?" So I said, "Oh, I didn't know you were asking for advise. Do you want to know what I think? You need God." He said, "I need God huh?" The next morning that was the first thing on his mind. Now he's just constantly thinking about what God is, who God is, what he believes and doesn't, what's true and what's not. Now it's up to God, (as if it wasn't up to him, but you get my point here).