The only instructions we are given in regards to being righteous is simply to be righteous and do not put yourself under the law.
There is no list of rules, no Christian ten commandments, if you will. There could be no such set of rules because if any set of rules could have produced righteousness, the Mosaic Law was it.
If you do or do not do because you've been instructed then you have turned that instruction into a law and it will not produce righteousness, it will kill you just the same as the Mosaic Law did. Death is the purpose of the law, not life. The Spirit produces life, the letter (law) kills.
I agree! I certainly could have worded my comment better but you've fixed it. I will fix it further...
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is The Law. They are two manifestations of the same thing, an alternative to God. The parallels between the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (hereafter 'the Tree') are many...
The Tree is the ministry of death. Gen 2:17
The law is the ministry of death. 2 Cor. 3:7
Do not partake of the Tree. Gen. 2:17
Do not partake of the law. Rom. 7:6; 10:4
In the day you partake of the Tree, you will die. Gen. 2:17
In the day you partake of the law, you will die. Rom. 7:9
By the Tree is the knowledge of sin. Gen. 3:22
By the law is the knowledge of sin. Rom. 3:20; 7:7
The Tree brought the offense. Rom. 5:17
The law made the offense abound. Rom. 5:20
The Tree’s curse died on the cross. Rom 5:18-19
The law was nailed to the cross. Col. 2:13-14, 16
The Tree of Life is in the new heaven, but not the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Ezek. 31:15; Rev. 22:14
The Law of the Spirit is in the new heaven, but not the Law of Death. Rom. 8:2; 7:6
Further, Christ became a curse for us. How? By hanging on a tree!
Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We then have indeed been returned, as believers, to the same state in which Adam and Eve were in, namely with no law save one.
For Adam and Even is was:
DO NOT PARTAKE OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.
For us it is:
DO NOT PARTAKE OF THE LAW.
When you do partake of the law, you are essentially biting again from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Of course!
Galatians 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Do you suppose that righteousness or any understanding of it is not possible without the law? That's what your question implies and from a certain perspective you could say that you're right. That is to say that before we came to Christ we were separated from God because of sin and thus had no way to understand righteousness apart from the law, which is why God, in His mercy, gave the law. The law convicts us of sin, teaches us that we are evil and, if we repent, then God reconciles Himself to us through Christ. But once that reconciliation has occurred we are returned again to having the choice which Adam had. That choice being reliance on the Tree for understanding or reliance on God!
You, as a believer, don't need instructions, rules or regulations. You need God - period.
Of course it is still we who are living our lives but now our lives are not lived because of rules but because of faith in Christ.
Galatians 2:19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So yes, its you living your life, the question is are you living it by faith or by the rule book. The question is, are you living your life believing that Christ has already made you righteous, believing that you cannot be better than you are.
Living by faith means just that. It means that you accept the biblical facts concerning your position in Christ and what that position implies concerning your righteousness. We are taught (only by Paul, by the way) that we are hidden in Christ and that we are righteous in Him. We are taught that we have been crucified in Him and therefore raised to life in Him. We accept these biblical facts by faith and then Christ sets about completing the work through us. The Christian life is not about trying to live a righteous life, its about accepting the fact that we are already righteous and leaning (resting) entirely upon the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ and believing that He will do His own work in and through us. Our part is to love God - that's it.
There is no other law by which righteousness can come.
Galatians 3:21b For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
The law has not been replaced, it has been abolished.
You've removed this passage from its context. Paul is not talking about law vs. grace. He's merely making a distinction between those under the law (i.e. Jews) and those who do not have the law (i.e. Gentiles). He is simply saying that to the Jews, he goes as a Jew and the the Gentiles he does not go as a Jew.
What you're suggesting here is that one law has been replaced with a different law, that the Mosaic Law and been replaced with the Law of Christ. That's true but only as a play on words. The Law of Christ, alternatively called the Law of Love or the Law of the Spirit, is no law at all. Christ is not under the law, Christ was killed by the Law. He did not die under one law so that He could create another nor could He create another even if He wanted to. As I said before and as Paul explicitly stated, if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law (i.e. the Law of Moses).
For what reason would God do such a thing?
Which of the Twelve do you nominate for expulsion?
If God had any intention of doing such a thing, He failed to mention it in scripture. There is simply no evidence that any of the Twelve were deficient or needed replaced. Matthias was chosen according to the authority Jesus Himself gave to the remaining Apostles before His ascension and God sanctioned their decision when Matthias received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
I've explained this before.
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
1 Corinthians 7:18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
1 Corinthians 7:18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
If Peter, James, and John taught the same thing as Paul, where the need for Paul in the first place?
If Peter, James and John taught the same thing as Paul why then did the Twelve renounce the Great Commission, agreeing to minister to Israel while Paul went to the whole world? (Gal. 2)
If Peter, James and John taught the same thing as Paul why then is the line that separates each side of so many doctrinal debates between the Pauline epistles and the whole rest of the bible (never mind the New Testament)?
I said it once before and I say it again here. The gospel of Grace is taught by Paul and Paul alone. If not for the Pauline epistles we would all be Messianic Jews (or the equivalent). Meaning that we would worship on Saturday, we would observe the Feasts (minus the animal sacrifices), we would all wear Yarmulkes and have tassels on our clothing in keeping with millennia old Jewish tradition.
There were two groups but there isn't any longer.
Remember that the calling of God is irrevocable. If called as a member of the Circumcision (i.e. under the Law) you remained a member of that group and vise versa.
1 Corinthians 7:18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
This transition period from one Dispensation to the next is a major reason why the book of Acts is so critical. Without the book of Acts, Paul's books would rightly be rejected as teaching a false religion.
Nope! No down side!
Well, actually there is a big down side but not in the way you mean it.
Of course they can! Believers do it all the time and they do it to their own shame and to their own detriment.
You cannot out sin God's grace. A believer is saved because he is a believer not because he turns his life around and does good deeds and refrains from evil. If you think otherwise it is precisely because you, without intending to, have resurrected the law.
The down side isn't that the worldly Christian is lost but that his sin hurts himself and those around him, it upsets God and grieves the Holy Spirit. His sin costs him the effectiveness of his witness as well as rewards in heaven. And worst of all, others may even reject Christ altogether as a result of the sins Christians commit.
I'd consider that an enormous downside, wouldn't you?
Well, look we have deeds and we do works and we will be given rewards based on those works but Paul addresses this issue directly and states explicitly that some works won't count. A lot of works will be burned up and the believer will be saved himself but as through fire.
I Corinthians 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Why does Paul claim to have laid the foundation here?
What foundation is he talking about? He says that the foundation is Christ Jesus but what does he mean by that? Paul didn't execute Jesus, Paul didn't resurrect Jesus, Paul didn't have anything to do with Calvary nor was he even present during Christ's ministry. So what foundation is Paul claiming here to have laid?
That is a question you cannot answer under your current paradigm. There is no answer for it unless you accept that Paul's message was substantively different that that of the Twelve.
The answer is the Dispensation of Grace!
Ephesians 3: 1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship[a] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship[a] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
Okay, I'm out of time for now! That's long enough of a post anyway. I look forward to your reply!
Resting in Him,
Clete
