Ziggy
Well-Known Member
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
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.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
I went looking for works of the law in the OT last night. Not the rituals or sacrificial laws. I guess sundry laws?
Is this law contrary to what we find in the NT?
Deu 15:7
If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
Deu 15:8
But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
Deu 15:9
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Deu 15:10
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
Deu 15:11
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.
Notice in verse 10 it says "for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works"
In verse 11 it says: Thou shalt open thy hand wide"
What are the works of the law?
In verse 11 it says: "therefore I command thee"
Here I would say is a command of the works of the law.
I would call this a 'good work" opposed to the list of works of the flesh listed above.
The thing that makes this law spiritual is in verse 10 it says "thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest"
Doesn't Paul teach the same thing?
2Co 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
What connects this same idea is the giving without being grieved nor grudgingly.
But if you keep this law accorrding to verse 9
Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Then it becomes an evil work and not a good work. It becomes a law of the flesh and not a fruit of the spirit.
I believe we are not "under the law" to keep the law for the law sake. But the principle of the spirit of the law is always in God's words.
I could list many verses where Jesus speaks about feeding the hungry and giving place to the poor.
The difference between the OT and the NT is Israel didn't keep the spirit of it but did give begrudgingly and it grieved them in the heart.
They did what was written for the sole purpose of being considered righteous, but they were not righteous in their heart.
The works of the law can not save you. It is the rightness of the heart.
Luk 11:42
But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Mat 23:23
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
You hypocrites do the works of the law, but the fruit of the spirit is not in you.
The OT speaks of the works that God did for the children in the wilderness. He fed them, he kept their clothes from decay, he kept them from harm. These are the works God does for us that he wants us to do for eachother.
But with a right heart and not with envy or strife or hatred, when these are present it is no longer the fruit of the spirit but becomes the works of the law only.
And the works of the law don't make you righteous if you do it with an evil heart.
Joshua says:
Jos 1:7
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Jos 1:8
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
1Th 3:12
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
It is not the law that is flawed. It's the application of how to apply it.
They missed that part. They omitted judgment, mercy, faith. The very spirit of the law.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
There is no law that says thou shalt hate thy brother. There is no law that says be evil, faithless, intolerant.
Lev 19:17
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
1Jo 2:9
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
It's the heart that is flawed not the law. If you walk according to what is written and how it is applied, there is no difference between the old and the new accept it's application of the heart and of the mind.
And what you add to it or subtract from it.
Deu 4:2
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Rev 22:18
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Eze 18:31
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Eze 36:26
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
This is the new covenant.
Rom 7:6
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
The only difference is the heart and the spirit within the law.
A translation from dead works, or those things of the heart which lead to death, unto the the things of the heart which lead to life.
God never changes. It's us who have to change.
And we have to listen to every word.
Specially those which pertain to the heart of the matter.
Hugs