Is Christ the end of the law for you?
Those who insist that you must obey the commands of Jesus in order to be saved/blessed/forgiven/righteous/holy are assuming that you are either
(a) a time-traveler from Israel’s distant past
(b) the devil
If you are (a) I suggest you pick up a Sports Almanac, go back in time, and make a lot of money à la Marty McFly. Alternatively you could stick around here in the future, repent and believe the good news of God’s awesome grace.
If you are (b), then, um, well, er… this is awkward. I don’t really have any good news for you at all. You’ve been judged, condemned and disarmed and you have no future at all.
But you are neither (a) nor (b), so arise, shine! For the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and relies on Him. (Rom 10:4, AMP)
Christ has become for us wisdom from God. He is our righteousness! He is our holiness! He is our redemption!
Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord!
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Escape to Reality 
Gal 4:4-5
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you ARE sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7
The holy spirit sees fit to leave “abba” untranslated in our English bibles. Why? Because Abba is a word used affectionately: Not the formal and inapproachable “Father” but the loving “Daddy”! Praise the Lord.
Notice that Paul placed no conditions on the adoption. No “Thou shall keep the law thus adopted as sons due to your good works”. Notice that the adoption is based purely on HIS goodness.
Great Post, short, blunt & very sweet to those who receive the Truth 🙂 thanks so much, Paul, for another wonderful sharing,
Is not our “yes” to the gift of salvation (believing, receiving), walking in the Spirit, fixing our eyes on Jesus, drawing near to God, abiding in the vine, praising God, preaching the gospel, yielding to his work in us (remaining in Him), to name just a few of God’s words in the Bible, “obedience” to God? For me to live fully in the fullness of God, I need to stay connected (in relationship) with him and that involves my “yes” (choice, submission). My submission to God is obedience, something I do not have a problem with.
Hi Jackie, Our YES is not as you said. Our Yes is simply this: The Apostle Paul and Silas were thrown in jail in the city of Philippi for preaching the gospel. At midnight they sang and prayed until God broke down all the doors and broke the stocks which held their feet with a great earthquake. The poor jailer, frightened and convicted of his sins, came to these two preachers and asked this question. “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” To which the preachers said: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
Titus 3:5 says: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
This is God’s plan of salvation, which is the only plan He has given so that sinners can be saved. What you said: Abiding in Jesus, obedience, good works etc are a RESULT of our saying “Yes.” By Faith alone we say yes. No conditions prelude the Yes. That’s the beauty of His Grace.
wow thanks. what a revelation for me understanding what you are clarifying ! Thanks. Praise the Lord
Your right. We are led by the law of the spirit in Christ Jesus. Thank you for your reply which has put some reformation to the grace teachings. If we love Jesus we will obey him.
BEAUTIFUL….thank u dear Paul for posting, there is currently a page on facebook titled “Christianity is not a religion- it is a relationship with Jesus Christ.” I appreciate this message you’ve sent and i thank the LORD so for it bares relevance….thank u sweet Jesus.
Who are these people that you people keep going on about, that are trying to resurrect the law in regard to righteousness?
The only people that would even know the Law would be the Jews, the only other people that think that they will get into Heaven, are those that won’t even accept Christ in the first place.
Name one law that Jesus preached that is not also confirmed in the letters of the apostles, not including, when He spoke about the tithes to the Pharisees.
This wasn’t a teaching, He was pointing out there hypocrisy.
Do any of you know even one Christian that thinks that the cross wasn’t enough, I’ve never met one?
This whole argument is a paper dragon, set up by the enemy to stop the perfecting of the Saints in their obedience to the Faith.
Jesus said “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not OBEY the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
And in 2 Thess. 1:8-9, “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not OBEY the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”
Jesus warns those that build their house upon sand, those foolish people, that hear His words and don’t act (or obey) on them.
To say that we shouldn’t obey Jesus is to deny the very One who bought us.
We were warned about this teaching in Jude 4. and 2Tim3. and elsewhere.
I choose to believe and obey Jesus, I suggest you do too.
You just answered your own question,
Even though this comment was done years ago, Peter, you now have met someone (me) who believes that the cross was enough. Yep. I obey by believing in the only One who can save me and has already done so. I have obeyed the Gospel, by believing in Jesus’ grace & saving power demonstrated on the Cross of Christ. I am already a new creation in Christ: I am “The righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.” I’ve heard His words, have acted and obeyed. But, my faith didn’t save me. No. Instead, own Christ’s finished work has. Even my faith comes from Him. I have no room to boast. Thus, I do not deny the Creator who gave Himself for me. It is He who lives in me now, to good works, not my own. I work out of Salvation, not to obtain it.
Good post Paul.
It seems to me that one of the problems that I have with the Grace message as delivered by some, is that there is no Fear of God anymore. The law that I am talking about, is the moral law, not he Law of ordinances, of sacrifices, washing of cups, holy days etc. There are many “Christians ” in the Church today, that get divorced for no better reason than, “we didn’t get on.”
They then proceed to have relationships and re-marry, thinking “all is well.” Paul says that they that do these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. (2Cor. God is a loving Father, that is for sure, He grants favor to those that fear Him, and even to those that make mistakes. But because Jesus will judge every-one without partialty, and He will judge according to God’s law, don’t you think it is a good idea to make no provision for the flesh, now, and resist sin. The judgements of God are severe, according to Jesus, and He was talking about believers being cast out into the outer darkness etc. If we are Christians, we have been bought with a price, we are no longer our own, we are called to be Holy as He is Holy. Without the fear of God, we harden our hearts and consider sin as not important.Jesus death on the cross, paid for our FORMER sins (Rom. 3:25, and various other places), we cannot take what was of the Law of Sacrifices, eg, Jesus death, and apply it to the New Covenant.
The Old has finished, we now enter in to the throneroom by the blood of Jesus to find mercy and help in our times of need.
If we sin willingly, there is no longer any more sacrifice for sin, we try to put Jesus back on the cross if we think that what has finished can be resurrected to cover the new covenant. In that case, we count the blood of Jesus as nothing.
To think that your salvation is assured, just because you mutter some prayer that your led to say by some-one, and then claim to be a Christian, is the same as Catholics believing that they are the only ones getting into Heaven, just because they belong to the “One true Church”. I believed that for years, and I know it to be false, it’s just like the Pharisees and Sadduccees thinking they had the right way. Don’t believe that your saved because you name a name, become the person that you are called to be, a son of God, not a slave of sin.
Peter – are you that same Peter who cut off the soldier’s ear? I apologize but it’s clear that you have salvation issues of your own – you feel condemned yourself and then use the Bible as a means of condemning/controlling others – people you don’t even know. That’s a wonder of megalomaniac. Thanks for the warning Pete, but I read my Bible.
Hi Roshan, I don’t have any salvation issues, I know that I am saved by grace, not works, but I also know that I am called to obey the Gospel. I don’t condemn any-one and certainly don’t feel condemned myself, I have a very good relationship with God, even in my work, if there’s something i don’t know how to do, He teaches me, I am constantly doing, what others deem impossible, but I know and confess that I can do all things through Christ who strenghthens me. If some-one says it’s impossible, I take that as a challenge and without doubting, attack the job at hand, even if I can’t see the end from the beginning, I trust the Lord will show me. He has never missed yet! I also teach this to my children and now, even they are not listening to the fear of the enemy and doing back flips on the trampoline. (Well, it’s a start, they were convinced they couldn’t do it, but I told them to give all their fear to God, so when the enemy came, they can say, “I have nothing for you, I gave all my fear to God, if you want it, go and ask Him!” I also don’t control others, even my children, when they were young, I gave them a smack to get their attention, but now I want them to learn to be obedient through love, using the Father’s love for us, as an example. I try to love them as the Father loves us, to explain the benefits of obedience and the perils of disobedience, not from me, but that their choices will determine their lifes path. Do you know that if you judge others, you will be judged with the same measure, If you judge me, you are not only trying to put me under the law, you are also putting yourself under the law. Better not to judge before the time……..
I know this is an old comment but I have a few things that I would like to add. Fear God, the fear of God may be the beginning of wisdom but it is not supposed to be the end because fear has torment. Been there done that suffered greatly. Perfect love drives out fear. That love also gives us boldness in the day of judgement. 1 John 4:17-19. The very first instance you believe on Jesus every single sin you will ever commit across your entire life is washed away. Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 9:24-26, 10:10 & 14. In Hebrews 10 it talks about about the old covenant needing to be replaced with a new one because the old one could not operate properly because it depended upon weak human flesh. Most folks do not know what the old covenant actually was. I didn’t know until just a few month ago. See Deuteronomy 4:13, 9:9 & 11. The old covenant WAS the 10 commandments moral laws and all.
I have no power within myself, and you do not either, to stop being a slave to sin so that you can be prettied up for God. That is the WHOLE point of Jesus to make the unworthy acceptable while they have no strength within themselves to be worthy. He bought us from sin-slavery. We didn’t work our way out of it. That is the belief system that counts the holy perfect blood of Jesus as no more than animal blood. While we were yet sinners, gross, ungly and very unworthy Christ suffered and bled to death because He love YOU that much.
Peter,
About naming a name – The word “name” as in ” “Hallowed be thy name” or “Whatsoever you ask in my name” is better understood as “what draws attention to” or “to locate”. It could not have been understood to mean just a label.
Hallowed be what draws attention to you/Whatsoever you ask to draw attention to me or whatsoever you ask to locate me.
The other way to read it is psychotic, schizophrenic.
After much prayer and study, although I am no longer a slave to sin, I am a slave to obedience which leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16,22). God is my master. I am His fellow worker (1 Cor 3:9) I will work to serve the Lord with all my heart. (Colossians 3:23) and fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12) in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing (Philippians 2: 16). I will work out my salvation by obeying my Jesus and I will become blameless and pure, without fault and will shine like a star in the universe! (2:15) I will press on toward the goal as I have not yet been made perfect (3:12-14) I am equipped for every good work and real faith shows itself by deeds. (James 2:26) I will put on Christ and perservere in love -“this is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (1 John 5:2-3) We must obey God rather than man! (Acts 5:29) “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power… You are worthy, our Lord and God. Amen and Amen
Jackie, I totally agree with you, I know what I was, and know that I was saved by Grace, without which I would either be dead or in prison right now.
I know the power of sin and it’s power over our fleshly lusts.
I know that the enemy will only attack our weaknesses, so it is up to us to resist the enemy with the grace we have been given, so that even our weaknesses will become our strengths if we keep our eyes on Jesus, the perfecter of our faith,
I know that, in the Lord, I have come a long way, but I haven’t finished the race, I also press on, like you.
It is so good to know that there are others out there that believe the Gospel as it was given, not a gospel that has turned the Grace of God into a cult, like the Faith movement some years ago, “Name it and claim it!”
Stay true to what the Spirit has revealed to you, not the teachings of men.
You know the Sheperds voice and follow Him. John 10.
Math. 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Bless you Jackie, stay on track!
Peter,
I have to commend your desire to raise your children in the ways of righteousness. Paul (the apostle) complimented people like you who searched out truth in the scriptures for themselves. However, I am very confused by your comment that Jesus only paid for our FORMER sins, especially since he was crucified before the foundations of the earth even existed. Actually, a better way to look at it is that SIN was crucified on the cross (he became sin). Sin is now dead, and only comes “alive” under a false reality. Faith really only means to join your thinking with God’s thinking (trading a subjective truth for an objective truth). Several translations of the bible say that God no longer has a sin consciousness, and that the definition of sin has been removed from His memory. An example would be Hebrews 6:2 and Hebrews 8:12 in The Mirror Translation. Along those lines, repentance does not mean feeling sorry and apologizing for something. It only means to change your mind. It requires no words or works whatsoever. All of us repent several times a day without even knowing it when we come across a truth we didn’t know before.
The argument isn’t really the specific 623 laws of the old covenant vs. grace, but works in general. Doing ANYTHING in order to earn your way into God’s good graces or to please Him is the very definition of works (law), and sounds more like Islam. God’s covenant was not made with man so that man could mess it up. He made his covenant with Christ. “Sin” doesn’t even enter into it. Even when God made a covenant with Abraham, He didn’t allow Abraham to partake in it, but instead made him fall sleep. Also, the idea that we are not perfect is taking what Paul said out of context. He was speaking about death and resurrection. He wasn’t talking about sin at all. God sees all of us as perfect and holy, regardless of what you do, because when He looks at us He sees Christ. Paul was speaking to wicked sinners when he told them that In God they lived and moved and had their being. Paul also said that man was only an enemy of God in his mind. That means that it really wasn’t true. “Sin” does not create a great divide or limit God’s ability to work in our lives. If that is the case then we should all start worshiping sin since it has all the power.
Peter, my desire is that you would know you are already a spiritual jedi, and that the Imago Dei is pouring out of you at every second of your life. When people see you they are looking at Jesus. It’s called the “good news” because it sounds too good to be true. You are not going to get more power when you get to heaven. You have everything now! It is finished! I love you bro. Semper Fi.
Peter —
May God fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way. Be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patence, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light! (Colossians 1:9-12) We havent obtained everything or been made perfect but we press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us! (Phil 3:12-13) Continue to abide in the Vine and much fruit will be produced for the kingdom! (John 15:1-8) I pray God’s hand of protection over you and your family as you all daily walk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God’s word is your authority, and the indwelling Holy Spirit is your power to enable you to be a blessing on this earth. Amen (If you would like to connect with me, see my blogspot:http//itiswellwithmysoul-jackie.blogspot.com)
I believe that God is a mystery. We all still have some “blinders”. I pray that all who write, read, and comment on this blog continue to seek God’s answers daily, to verify what they hear with His Holy Word. Be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 1:2-3) May we all honor and glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is worthy.
I will be bowing out of this conversation at this time. Blessings to all!
.
Great article Paul! Sharing 🙂
Hi again, I finally found out why many people don’t get the gospel as preached by early Church, most people that come to the Lord, don’t follow the pattern that was used.
That is, REPENT and be baptised and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
These days, all people do is “ask Jesus into there hearts”, but this is not scriptural, nor does it cause people to repent of their sin.
Many just continue on, being told that their is no law, so sin doesn’t matter anyway.
Even when the Holy Spirit convicts them, what reference to sin have they got, as the “Church” has done away with God’s word on the subject.
We are even told that the Holy Spirit doesn’t convict us, it is the enemy condemning us!…
Peter, thanks for taking the time to comment. I had to shorten your comment because (a) it was more than double the word limit, (b) it wasn’t particularly related to the post above and (c) you’re starting to preach. This is meant to be a discussion thread; not a pulpit. I suggest you post comments pertaining to repentance under a post entitled “3 Reasons Why I Don’t Preach Repentance.” You may want to post comments on confessing sins under this post: “Confession, Conviction, Confusion!” And since you think the Holy Spirit is the one who’s convicting us of sin – something that is not found in the Bible, not even in John 16 – you may want to check out “10 Myths about the Holy Spirit.” Cheers.
Christ is the end of the law. AMEN. Christians are NOT under the law. Gal 5:18 “ye are NOT UNDER the law” Rom 6:15 “we are NOT UNDER the law.’ 1Tim 1:9 “the law is NOT MADE for a righteous man (Christians). Rom 8:2 SET FREE from the law of sin and death. And where there is NO LAW there is NO TRANSGRESSION (SIN) Rom 4:15
“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: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us” Rom 8:3,4. In Christ we have life. He is the Tree of Life. Christians are under the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, Rom 8:2. Christians are in the book of Life, Rev 20. But under the law of sin and death, the penalty is death for transgression. This is the tree of knowledge of good/evil resulting in death as God warned in Genesis. This law is what those without Christ will be judged by in Rev 20.
Hi. I definitely disagree with Peter when he said, “Jesus death on the cross, paid for our FORMER sins (Rom. 3:25, and various other places), we cannot take what was of the Law of Sacrifices, eg, Jesus death, and apply it to the New Covenant.”
That is definitely not what the bible and especially the New Testament teaches. John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away THE SIN of the world.” No condition of what kind of sin that is. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary of sins-“the sins” that are past-not the sins committed by the believer before he embraces Christ, but the sins committed under the old economy, before Christ came to “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”
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Paul, I’m just wondering if you are teaching that we no longer need to obey the law now that we have been fully forgiven by Christ.
Pleas clarify now what is the law to us who have been saved. Do we continue to obey the law and do what is right? Or are you saying it no longer matters in the sight of God what we do with relation to the law?
Hi Zack, I think you may be misreading Peter. Check out my post on 2 Peter 1:19.
Here’s my teaching on the proper relationship Christians are supposed to have with the law: None! The law was put in charge to lead you to Christ. Have you come to Christ? Then the law has done it’s wonderful job. Read more about our relationship to the law here.
I was referring to Peter your commenter.. not Simon Peter, in case there is a misunderstanding… So I don’t know what am I ‘misreading’ with regards to his comment.
I’m just asking a simple question, Paul: “what is the law to us who have been saved. Do we continue to obey the law and do what is right? Or are you saying it no longer matters in the sight of God what we do with relation to the law?” Since you said, there is NO relationship between a Christian and the law… does that mean you are saying the affirmative to my latter question above?
My bad – wrong Peter! Re: your question, I am saying we are no longer under the law but grace. Those who would try to live by the law set aside grace. Grace + law = law.
Hmmm… I still do not understand your stance, with regards to my question. “what is the law to us who have been saved. Do we continue to obey the law and do what is right? Or are you saying it no longer matters in the sight of God what we do with relation to the law?” Are you avoiding to answer in the affirmative with regards to my latter question?
I’ll try again: Christians are to have NO relationship with the law. None. Zip. Nada. We are not under the law. Imagine the law is the ceiling above your head and it’s keeping the sun off you. Now that you’re outside, what relationship do you have with that ceiling? None!
You asked a simple question; that’s my simple answer. That’s also my long answer.
So, then you are speaking the affirmative to my latter question. It no longer matters in the sight of God what we do with relation to the law? In other words, we can do anything that we please? Is that what you mean, since you speak of ‘absolutely NO relation with the law’?
Zack, I sense you’re trying to set me up. You asked a question about the law; I gave you an answer about the law. Does this mean we can do what we please and God doesn’t care? Of course not – if you stick your face in the proverbial blender He will be grieved as would any parent. But Christ is our righteousness, holiness, and wisdom from God. He is the end of the law for me. Is He the end of the law for you?
I’m just trying to be clear. At least I know your stance is proper and biblical. Since you do still believe that we have to do what’s right and lawful, then I know that you have the right understanding of Christ being the end of the Law for us. Now, since that is the case, I then would like to point out how I disagree with your wordings in explaining that. First, Your saying that Christians are to have “no relationship with the law, none, nada, zip” would then be easily interpreted by MANY that you are preaching Christians can do whatever they want in the eyes of God. But God says, regarding the new covenant, “I will put MY LAW in their minds and write it on their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33; quoted in Hebrews 8:10 & 10:16)
With those biblical passages, then your analogy of “the law being the ceiling” and “us being outside” would be, IMHO, inaccurate.
Absolutely no relationship with the law? I don’t believe that is a biblical statement or a biblical way of explaining this.
It is better to preach, absolutely no relationship with “SIN” than “LAW”. God’s law is good and right, it is stated and repeated over and over throughout the book of Proverbs. It is not the Law that we were set free from, but the curse that comes with breaking the Law; that is because we are no longer under the law but under God’s grace. I am glad to know that your understanding of “Christ being the end of the law for us” did not lead you to wrongful belief that now Christians can go out and do whatever they want.
With that said, I also disagree with your picture at the beginning. The law Jesus preached may not be something I must fulfill in order to remain in Jesus’ good book but I must strive to be good just as God is good and righteous, meaning I should (at the very least) try to fulfill the law Jesus preached, because Jesus fulfilled them, and I want to be ever more Christ like in every way. =)
This is exactly the sort of covenant-confusion that leads to joyless, insecure Christianity – no offense! The Christian life is not pretending to be Jesus; it’s Christ living His life through you (Gal 2:20). Trying to keep the law for any reason is a flesh trip. The law is not the problem; you are (see Romans 7). So am I – or at least my flesh is. We’re simply incapable of living up to the standard and by merely trying we insult the Spirit of grace that sanctifies us.
Jesus didn’t suffer and die for you so you could get a chance to impress Him with your impersonations. He wants to be with you and He wants you to enjoy Him. To the degree that you are conscious of “doing the right thing” and “avoiding sin,” you are walking after the flesh. You simply cannot reduce relationship to rules.
I appreciate that your performance-based Christian lenses will interpret what I say as a license to do whatever you want. But you’re looking through the wrong grid. You’re mixing your covenants. Paul said “The law is good if used properly” and you’re using it improperly. You can try or you can trust. To the degree you’re trying you’re not trusting. To the degree you’re conscious of sin, you’re ignorant of grace.
I don’t strive to do anything except enter His rest.
Hi Zach,
I’m going through this conversation you have with Paul and if I may add my own experience in the matter, if “experiential knowledge” of grace can help any.
I’ve had an encounter with Jesus at 19 in my room and have been trying to “serve” God ever since, being a missionnary for some years and knowing the Presence in or on me always helped me to love people and somehow be a witness. In the 90’s I went back to “normal” life, though never losing the awareness of the Presence.
Anyhow, this is when it gets interresting because though still conscious of the Presence I slid back into what we might call a life of sin for a Christian: smoking, drinking, watching pornography on the internet, for the more obvious sins, like the old man was trying to take over again which all led into fears, self hate, discouragement, you name it. And to top it all, my son had to be put in a psychiatric hospital.
Still conscious of the Presence, I became completely convinced I was a complete loser and had messed my life so bad that only death could deliver me out of this misery and I’d have to face the Lord ashamed.
I guess Holy Spirit must have suggested “Now is the time!” so that I got convinced in my heart to just take time for a week and do nothing but fast and pray. I fasted but didn’t pray much, I had no eidea what to pray for as I felt so far gone. Anyway, pretty proud of my fast I knelt by my bed and simply said “That’s it Lord, take over and do whatever you want with me” and picturing in my mind of me just throwing myself completely, body soul and spirit into Him – The right way to commit suicide, my humble advice, ha!
GRACE GRACE GRACE… it’s been 4 years now… you know “Joy unspeakable?”… losing all sin consciousness, and honestly I just cannot sin anymore, it’s not who I am anymore, it’s not part of my identity as a son of God, I have no law to keep, I have nothing to do, no law to try to keep anymore. Eternal life is to know God and when you start to KNOW HIM you finally meet your true self, the new man where old things are passed away and all things are become new, a new state of consciousness in Christ where sin is simply irrelevant, what is born of God cannot sin. THIS IS GRACE and in that day you will know that I am in the Father and I in you and you in Me. Where is the law and sin when you KNOW you’re in Him and He in you, when it’s not about the knowledge of good and evil any longer (which is cursed) but about LIFE. I could go on forever but this is my experience of grace.
Hope this helps!
Paul, I probably passed the 250 limit, that’s a day of GRACE, thank you!!!
Hi! So, if we are not under law but under grace (which we are of course), and I now need to have no relationship with the law at all whatsoever, how do I live my life now? Aren’t laws and rules good things? For example, to have a good, functioning traffic system we need traffic laws and rules don’t we? Otherwise there would be crashes happening all over the place. Another example; when we enter a certain job, don’t they tell us the rules – do this like this or if you don’t we’ll have to dismiss you. Please clarify these things with. Sorry if I totally misinterpreted these posts… 🙂
Jesus said he would give us the Holy Spirit who would guide us into all truth. If the Holy Spirit guides you into ALL truth, what is left for the law to do? The law is an external system for those who lack the internal guidance of the Holy Spirit. They gave you rules in the company because you are a servant. You don’t have a stake in the business. You don’t really care how well it does as much as you care that they pay you. But in God’s house you are not a servant but a SON – the Holy Spirit is proof of this. Think about your own family. Does it have a mission statement? Does it have an Annual General Meeting and issue quarterly reports? Of course not; you don’t need them. Love is greater than rules.
OK thanks Paul, just an other quick question about about this – When Jesus was in the wilderness, why did he use commands from the law to counter Satan? Are we to do the same in any circumstances?
The law is for sinners not the children of grace. Which one is the devil?
If Satan came against me, I would ignore him and focus on Jesus. I cannot afford to be distracted by him. When his lies about me enter my head, I respond with God’s good promises.
Does it once we believe we will go to heaven? What is we fail to acknowledge Jesus or backslide?
i believe that if you decide to live under the law, despite you are saved, you will be judged by the law.
“GOOD WORKS would be the the RESULT of salvation, but not its CAUSE; its FRUIT, not its ROOT. These are just the EVIDENCE of a man’s salvation, but they can never EARN it. Rather, justification is by the Grace of God through faith ALONE. (Romans 6:20-28, 4:3-8, 5:1; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:4-8).
Good works are the “NATURAL” FRUIT of faith, just as properly planted seeds grow and produce fruit. They grow BECAUSE they have life, not in order to produce life. Just so with good works: they occur ‘BECAUSE FAITH AND LIFE ARE PRESENT’…”
to all of us here…I SPEAK FOR GOD’S LOVE… LOVE MUST BE OUR DRIVING FORCE…OK GUYS?
Paul (the writer on this site), doesn’t say, we can do whatever we want to do… not under the law doesnt mean we can do immoral things or any bad things… our GOOD WORKS will not save us…only by grace through faith in Christ (Eph 2:8)…our GOOD WORKS are just our response to his goodness…i strongly believe that brother Paul is really GUIDED by the Holy Spirit.
people’s concern is always about how how how…i must…i must…i must…
BE LED BY THE SPIRIT…FOR THE SPIRIT KNOWS EVERY GOOD THINGS for you to do.
BY THE SPIRIT NOT BY THE LAW coz we are not under the law but under grace…
I LOVE DOING GOOD FOR HE IS POURING HIS GOODNESS UPON ME…
Amen! Perfect explanation
How could I explain to someone what it means when Jesus said teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you (Matt 28:20) ? They would say that all the commands including the SOM apply to the New Covenant.
I would tell them that the apostles did exactly that – everything that the apostles taught – after Jesus ascended into heaven and the Holy Spirit came on them at pentacost – was what He wanted them to teach… and there is not one mention of a command to keep the OT requirements… but rather many teachings about how believers in Christ have been made free from the requirements of the law by Christ’s finished work (see col 2:14 and gal 2:19)
🙂
Christ didn’t preach law, He preached the kingdom of God. Everything He taught is immediately relevant to the church.
Luke 16:16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”
Jesus is the one Who came preaching after John – so what does this verse say he preached? Law or or the Kingdom?
So when Jesus says, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Mat 6:14-15), you interpret that as a suggestion?
No not as a suggestion but a true and current reality.
Paul, something that may be worth expounding on in another post, would be somewhat of a response to the question, which was posed earlier in the thread. “Who are these people that you people keep going on about, that are trying to resurrect the law in regard to righteousness?”
I think if you were to ask most people how they are being encouraged to live by the law, they wouldn’t have any idea what you were talking about, because most churches don’t put it in such terms. We’re taught in very subtle ways, the things to do, think, and way to behave in order to please God, but there are few, if any, Christian churches that outright tell people that they have to live by the law. It is so deceptive. Generations of people have been taught to live by a form of law, but don’t even know it.
I have written a series of posts on this. Here’s the first one.
If the law is seen as anything more than a prophecy of the messiah it kills, Jesus said you think that in the scriptures you have life they speak of me but you reject me.Grace is the full observance of the law, it declares us perfect ,holy, spotless, despite ourselves. No one that is not holy,perfect and spotless will enter the kingdom. It is not about being naked but all about what you are wearing, in other words not about you but what you wear.
You know, the way you guys put words together in your blogs is somehow annoying. You just play with semantics. That’s all you do. You already assume that Jesus was preaching either to the religious of the time or to the devil. Thus, leaving no room for debate. Sly and tricky, but not working.
The fact is, the Hyper-grace doctrine was born in the Word-of-Faith movement, known for their anti-biblical ideas about… everything! So, apart from highly sensual or highly emotional people, you don’t receive much support for your ideas.
The thing is, every time one tries to show you you’re in error, you always go like, “You preach the law”, “you’re trying to put the Holy Spirit into a box”, “You’re disqualifying the work of the Holy Spirit”, bla bla bla…
What do you want to debate.this blog for me is less about winning and more about learning.
As someone who used to follow your site for a while and was Rey familiar with the grace message, I just read a book today by Michael Brown to see what he had to say it is called Hyper-Grace. He has done some research before writing his book, as he doesn’t state that anyone says grace is a license to sin and quotes from many books on the subject that I have read, you should read it and write and article on what you think.
I believe much confusion in the Church is due to not understanding that the kingdom teachings of jesus are for a yet future age,when Christ is King on the earth,satan is bound,creation delivered from its present bondage and corruption,and the King will have inclined the hearts of His people(Israel) to do His will. Believers will be ruling and reigning with Christ still under His Grace.The kingdom teachings,like the Mosaic law are pure law,not gracious.They are an intensification of the Mosaic law.Like the Mosaic law,for one to be consistent,portions can not be kept that seem desireable,while others are discarded that are less desireable.To offend at one point is to be guilty of all.All the blessings in the kingdom teachings are meritorious.Under Grace,we are already blessed with all spiritual blessings. We would never even attempt some of the kingdom teachings today.Who would ever give to ANYONE who asks of them?(supporting a lot of scam artists and criminals)Yet Jesus commanded we do that,and in the environment of the kingdom,it will THEN be a reasonable thing to do.Now it would be foolish.There are multitudes of other things Christ says that are in complete contradiction to Grace.The beatitudes are all won through merit.This is in great contrast to the blessings believers have in their standing in Christ attained the moment they believed.T he teachings of the law,whether it be the mosaic law or the kingdom are not necessary(though all scripture is profitable) except where they are repeated or restated under the teachings of Grace,
@ Claudia. ….what an awesome perfect testimony about being g being radically SAVED BY HIS GRACE. thanks so much for sharing.grace upon grace to you dear GOD’S BELOVED WHOM JESUS LOVES ~
Great post! This verse nailed it! those under the law.
Thank you Jesus! You’re awesome as always and ty Paul for sharing the love!
Amazing!!
I’m facing a lot of challenges trying to explain such things. I remember bringing up the tithe issue, saying it was no more demanded of us, we don’t tithe so that God can bless us, no, we just help people and support (finance) the church because we love to. In fact, Eph.1:3 says we’re already blessed, it does not say “blessed after you tithe”. Eish, Mosaic law people are so hard to teach.
Couldn’t have been said any better.
Food for thought. Some say that when you believe, Jesus only forgives you of your past sins. Are you kidding me? The blood of bulls and goats did that. If that is the truth, Jesus could have saved Himself a lot of pain and suffering. We could just kill our own heifer once a year and things would be great. This is another gospel, which is really not another.
To say that Jesus only forgave our past sins is to trample under foot the Son of God and to count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing.
Hebrews 10:10 – “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all”. A forgiveness of all sin for “all time”.
Come, let us reason together.
Truth! The New Testament doesn’t start until after the cross. Most of what is said to the Body of Christ from Jesus was said through the Apostle Paul.
short and concise explanation, great… thanks a lot for sharing . Be blessed
Are you saying believers can be (B.)?
No. The believer is one with the Lord.