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Ezekiel 18:4 says that all souls belong to God, and that the soul who sins will die. We know that the soul who doesn’t sin will go to Heaven, but except for Jesus no one has gone through life without committing a sin whether they know it or not. And God told us in Genesis that there will always be evil in the hearts of everyone. This can’t be helped because as it says in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” That is, we have all been conceived in a world full of sin, since it is Satan’s domain.
But as it says in John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Whoever is saved is saved from death and has eternal life in Heaven, the House of God.
And Jesus came not just for the Gentiles but for the Jews as well. He came to us at a time when the Gentiles were ignorant of God’s existence and when many Jews were so fixated on tradition that they lost sight of God in their quest. So, first Jesus says that nobody will come to God except through Jesus, and he implored his disciples to spread the word, that who ever believes through Jesus will be saved.
So, who would be prime candidates to be saved? Would it be those who abide by the Law, those who love God, or those who have faith in God without the works to show for it?
We cannot just ignore the Law. Jesus didn’t ignore it when he said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” If Jesus meant for US to ignore the law, then why is it that virtually every Bible that has the New Testament also has the Old Testament, where the Law was first formed?
In a world of sin, what does the Law do? It helps us to recognize that which is sin, so we may avoid sinning, at least most of the time. Romans 7:7 says, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” But nobody knows every Law that is in the Old Testament, so Jesus makes it very simple by saying in Matthew 22:37-40, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Did Jesus change the Law in making that statement? Did he abolish the Law as it exists in the Old Testament? No; he simplified it so that not only Gentiles could understand what is expected of them, but the Jews may come to discern which of their hard-held traditions are conducive to God’s purpose and which aren’t.
But to abide by the Law in whatever form, cannot be done without some works being involved. How, for instance, can you love your neighbor as yourself without demonstrating some form of works to that end? And how can you show God you love him without showing Him what you can do?
The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. But what of those who perform good works but do not have an expressed faith in God? Romans 2:12-16 says, “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
In short, the Law is an integral part of our faith in God and in the works we perform to gain God’s approval.
But as it says in John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Whoever is saved is saved from death and has eternal life in Heaven, the House of God.
And Jesus came not just for the Gentiles but for the Jews as well. He came to us at a time when the Gentiles were ignorant of God’s existence and when many Jews were so fixated on tradition that they lost sight of God in their quest. So, first Jesus says that nobody will come to God except through Jesus, and he implored his disciples to spread the word, that who ever believes through Jesus will be saved.
So, who would be prime candidates to be saved? Would it be those who abide by the Law, those who love God, or those who have faith in God without the works to show for it?
We cannot just ignore the Law. Jesus didn’t ignore it when he said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” If Jesus meant for US to ignore the law, then why is it that virtually every Bible that has the New Testament also has the Old Testament, where the Law was first formed?
In a world of sin, what does the Law do? It helps us to recognize that which is sin, so we may avoid sinning, at least most of the time. Romans 7:7 says, “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” But nobody knows every Law that is in the Old Testament, so Jesus makes it very simple by saying in Matthew 22:37-40, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Did Jesus change the Law in making that statement? Did he abolish the Law as it exists in the Old Testament? No; he simplified it so that not only Gentiles could understand what is expected of them, but the Jews may come to discern which of their hard-held traditions are conducive to God’s purpose and which aren’t.
But to abide by the Law in whatever form, cannot be done without some works being involved. How, for instance, can you love your neighbor as yourself without demonstrating some form of works to that end? And how can you show God you love him without showing Him what you can do?
The Bible tells us that faith without works is dead. But what of those who perform good works but do not have an expressed faith in God? Romans 2:12-16 says, “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.”
In short, the Law is an integral part of our faith in God and in the works we perform to gain God’s approval.
