BLUE VIEWPOINT
The law represents the will of God in our lives.
Rather than drag this out and make it boring, let's get right to the issue. Romans 12:1-2 is as good a place as any:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
When we read this passage, we each get a clear idea about what it means to us. However, how many of us actually live out what it says to do? What does it mean "to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship"? Daily we see Christians going though life doing what seems to be everything except sacrificing for God. What is pleasing to God? What are we expected, by God, to do? This doesn't mean fasting or giving yourself 10 lashes with a leather cord, or letting someone nail or even lash you to a cross. It means to deny the pattern of the world and living life as God outlined for us to do. The closest we get is to go to church (and even that on the wrong day), sing songs, listen to the pastor's sermon, and visit shut-ins. But even that routine is mostly right out of the pagan playbook. (see the page called Pagan Chrisitanity? for references and examples.)
What is the pattern of the world to which we are not supposed to conform? How about, go your own way, celebrate pagan holidays, ignore the ten commandments, choose the best for you and not others? These are the things that attract the human nature, so they are the things we must deny. We have to sacrifice our own desires and follow the will of God. That's easy, you say? Then why can't people do it?
Now, let's go back to the passage in Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.
. What is God's will? If, by living as Paul says we can "test and approve" His will, how do we test His will? Are there steps listed somewhere? Where can we find it? Have you ever wondered? Many say that "all we have to do" is follow Matthew 22:37-39
37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "
. Show me how to do that. The same people say that, because Jesus said this, the law no longer applies to us. Some go as far as to say the law itself is a curse on us. But, how do these people explain the very next verse in that same passage
37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.' " (Emphasis added)
? The law must be part of the answer to the question.
If the will of God is expressed in His law, then how can we just ignore it as though it doesn't matter? Unless, of course, we think that the will of God no longer matters. There is a list of comparison verses online at Amazing Facts that looks like this (revised to include the links):
GOD IS LAW IS
Good Luke 18:19
19 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone."
1 Timothy 1:8
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
Holy Isaiah 5:16
16 But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
and the holy God will be proved holy by his righteous acts.
Romans 7:12
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Perfect Matthew 5:48
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Psalm 19:7
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are
trustworthy, making wise the simple.
Pure 1 John 3:2,3
2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet
been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify
themselves, just as he is pure.
Psalm 19:8
8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the
LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Just Deuteronomy 32:4
4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful
God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Romans 7:12
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
True John 3:33
33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
Psalms 19:9
9 The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
Spiritual 1 Corinthians 10:4
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that
accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Romans 7:14
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6
6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which
he will be called: The LORD Our Righteous Savior.
Psalms 119:172
172May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.
Faithful 1 Corinthians 1:9
9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalms 119:86
86 All your commands are trustworthy; help me, for I am being persecuted without cause.
Love John 4:8
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Romans 13:10
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Unchangeable James 1:17
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the
heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Matthew 5:18
18For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the
least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is
accomplished.
Everlasting Genesis 21:33
33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the
name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Psalms 111:7,8
7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy.
8 They are established for ever and ever,
enacted in faithfulness and uprightness.
If you don't like the NIV used here, and really can't find a way to see the verses about the attributes of God and the law are the same, check your own Bible version. They are the same.
So, if God is everything the law is, and the attributes of the law are the same as those of God, when some say that the law no longer applies to Christians... I know, I know, "That's silly!" Right? Just because we are told throughout the Bible that salvation will not come by the law, and legalistic obedience to the law (trying to save ourselves by keeping the law) will not save us, how does that equate with "we no longer have to obey the law"?
The law never saved anyone, even in the Old Testament, but they still had to obey, anyway. And when we disobey the Moral law, doesn't that mean we disobey God? No, don't start hedging. We either obey God's law, and Him, or we don't. If He never changes, how can we say that His precepts changed and no longer apply to us Gentiles?
That list of verses up there show that for us, the law is God's will. Isn't that what we were looking for? How to find the will of God? (Matthew 7:21
21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
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Disagree? Find an error? Contact us at glenjjr@gmail.com and give us your view.
