The LAW of God according to Paul
The Apostle Paul was no dummy.
He was a highly-educated man, trained in the ways of the Pharisees and he excelled in their ways.
He knew the Word of God, but the ways of the Pharisees clouded
his understanding, until the Damascus road encounter; (see Acts 9:1-9) there he met the Messiah.
From there he went on to preach the gospel all over. He started churches, wrote books of the New
Testament and many of his letters are used for doctrine to this day.
The church knows Paul and his teachings better than they do the
teachings of Moses or the prophets – possibly better than they know what Yeshua
taught.
There is a reason people run to Paul whenever confronted with
someone who tells them, “you must keep God’s commandments”.
Paul explained that the Law and its commandments are done
away! We don’t need to keep that
anymore. The Law was nailed to the
cross!
They run to Colossians, Galatians or Ephesians and quickly slash
their opponents with a couple of quick verses from Paul.
Are we followers of Paul?
Or do we follow the Messiah, Yeshua, ?
I recently came across a little known – or little understood passage
of scripture in the New Testament. It
was written by Paul. Let’s take a look
at it to see what Paul said about the Law:
I want you to see as we go here what Paul is actually telling us:
*The
law of sin and death is NOT the Torah.
*The
Law of the Spirit IS the Torah.
Romans
8:3 For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh:
This sounds like the Law is weak. It cannot defeat or destroy sin.
The Law “instructs” us how to live and defines for us what sin
is.
If you tell a man not to murder, that doesn’t keep him from
murdering.
That just tells him the rule and the punishment.
Even if the punishment is death, he may still murder if he is
angry enough or feels he has a good enough reason.
The problem is our sinful nature. We have a nature within us
that wants to rebel against God.
If God tells us to do something, we say, “No!”
If He tells us NOT to do something we say, “I’ll do what I want
to do!”
*When
Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, sin came upon all of us.
Romans
3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: "There is none
righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who
seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become
unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."
Romans
3:13 "Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they
have practiced deceit"; "The poison of asps is under their
lips"; 14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."15
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;16 Destruction and misery are in their
ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no
fear of God before their eyes."
“God
sent His son in the ‘likeness of sinful flesh’.” (Rom. 8:3)
This does not say IN sinful flesh. He was without sin. But he
was sent FOR sin.
He came to defeat Sin - which the Law can’t do - to break its
power over us.
So, we need to understand:
*God
condemned SIN , not His Law.
Romans
8:4 That the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The goodness and righteousness of the Law is now ‘able’ to be
fulfilled in us.
*Walking
after the Spirit is following the Law!
*Sin is
just walking after the flesh.
Romans
8:6 For to
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
*Yes. The spiritual mind is life and peace.
That’s the same as obeying the Torah- life and peace!
When I hear “life and
peace” I think of the Law.
Keeping God’s commandments brings life and peace to a person.
People who know the Law / the Torah know this.
*Let’s look at some verses that support this idea:
Psalm
119:165 “Great
peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.”
Don’t think I just pulled some nice verse out of the Psalms,
there is more – much more.
Deuteronomy
8:1 "Every
commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you
may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore
to your fathers.”
Deuteronomy
30:15 "See,
I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16 in
that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to
keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and
multiply; and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to
possess.
17 But
if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and
worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall
surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you
cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.”
Deuteronomy
30:19
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life,
that both you and your descendants may live; 20 "that you may love the
LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for
He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land
which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give
them."
(for more see also Deuteronomy 4:1,2 and Deuteronomy 5:32 – 6:3)
Now I know, some of you will read these verses and say, “Ah
hah! There is my out!” It was just for the Israelites when they
lived in the Promised Land. I’m not
them, and not in that land, so it doesn’t apply to me!
I’ve heard this before from even pastors, who should know
better.
How can ALL be “under sin” for “all have sinned” if it was just
for while the people lived in the Land?
I don’t want to go off on that tangent. We are almost done with this portion.
Proverbs
3:1 “My
son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life and
peace they will add to you.”
**Life
AND Peace – are the promise of keeping God’s commandments.
These are not MY words.
These are Paul’s! When he wrote
the Book of Romans, he was explaining these things to believers in Yeshua and
the Gospel.
Romans
1:1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,
separated to the gospel of God
2 which He promised
before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
3 concerning His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the
flesh,
4 and declared to be the
Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead.
Romans
1:7 To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints:
Isn’t it strange that our churches teach us to use Paul’s words
to prove that the Law is bad and is done away with?
If you still cling to that, read his words again above.
Also read the verses from Deuteronomy, Psalms and Proverbs I
mentioned earlier.
We need to realize that we have been lied to.
Jeremiah
16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in the day of
affliction, The Gentiles shall come to You From the ends of the earth and say, "Surely our fathers have inherited
lies, Worthlessness and unprofitable things."
Who or what would do such a thing? The Father of Lies.
Maybe you need to take a second look at this Law that they keep
trying to get rid of?
Why don’t they want you following it?
Compiled by G.E. Walker April
2019
No comments:
Post a Comment