Do you believe dietary laws are still to be obeyed? Do you think it is a matter of salvation? What about water baptism?
To the first question; as a general matter, yes. Does following them
achieve salvation? No. and again, no. Faith in Messiah achieves salvation (i.e cleansing/justification). Do "gentiles" specifically need to follow dietary laws? This is probably the actual question and its answer is "if it's genuinely on your heart to do, then yes".
----
Ok. We start with a base truth...
In
Romans 2:12 Paul says
all people will be judged by the Almighty's law:
1) Those who sin
outside the law = Evil people. destroyed; done; finito.
2) Those who sin
inside the law (note: this is not the same phrase as "
under the law") = are judged by the law. Jew & Gentile.
...Next, we expand this truth even deeper for the gentile...
In
Romans 2:14-15 Paul says this concerning those inside the law:
1) Doers of the Law are right, not just hearers of it.
2) Gentiles believers in Messiah (who weren't given the law) will only be judged by
the portion of Almighty's law
that resides in their hearts. Such will become the gentile believer's
whole law that they're weighed by.
Their conscience is a
witness to which laws are in the gentile's heart. In other words, do they feel remorse or guilt by not obeying a specific law? If so, then it's one of the laws they are weighed by. Are they even aware of a law? Have they been properly taught? If not, then they won't be weighed by it because it's not in their heart.
----
Now the way the process was supposed to go - before evil men crept in and change the truth - was after one's faith in Messiah cleaned a gentile they were to be taught the law every sabbath day. As
Acts 15:20 explains, the only things they were initially responsible for were avoiding sexual immorality, idols, food that's strangled and food that still has blood (dietary). And they would be taught the rest every sabbath.
[Side note: The blood restriction was given before the law as far back as Noah and the covenant of peace that the Almighty made with all living things, in
Genesis 9:1-11. So this restriction applied to all mankind.]
Our love isn't perfect upon conversion. We are
still worldly as a new babe in Christ (
1 Corinthians 3:1-3), coming from all walks of pagan life. This is why Paul in
Romans 14 teaches not to judge a weaker brethen on certain things like foods or drinks or days...because they're just not there yet and doing so would cause them to struggle.
^ This is the mercy and patience of God that is mean to lead to repentance.
Through daily study of the scriptures - which train us in righteousness (
2 Tim 3:16-17) - and the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we try & fail & improve & restart,
our love for Almighty and our neighbor grows and grows; our grace grows more and more, until eventually maybe we say in our heart "I want to do more for God. I want to be even more pleasing to Him." and then we take on something more mature (
Hebrew 5:11-14). And this goes on day by day until we are perfectly like Messiah in character and stature (
Ephesians 4), who knew no sin and was in all ways pleasing to the Father.
[Important side note: this process does NOT include the cleansing/justifying tasks & rituals that prefigured Messiah's work. WE STAY AWAY FROM THOSE NOW!!]
----
Today's current situation
Intrigue! Enemies of the faith! The kingdom taken by force! Men crept in unawares!
Who can be trusted? With so many denominations and doctrines, what is the truth? One can't know the truth unless they're taught (
Romans 10). So again, a believer is to obey the laws
in their heart. If you know what's right but choose against it, that is sin. But the laws we're not sure about we're not held responsible for. All good!
However, I push back against the notion that the law is the problem, was done away, and should be avoided and that there should be
no attempt by the believer in Messiah whatsoever at obeying (incorrectly citing Galatians to support this notion). This is going in the opposite direction toward lawlessness and is not what's explained by Paul or any other apostle.
----
Water Baptism
Faith is expressed through actions not mental ascent. Recall prophets like Elisha who didn't think he received a double portion of Elijah's spirit, but when he smote the waters the Jordan parted. There was no power in the cloak. Recall he who took a stick and purified the bitter waters. There was no power in the stick. The power was in his faith, expressed through his actions.
The faith behind baptism is "
I am dying to (repenting of) my life. I am resurrecting to a new life." This is a statement of faith because - clearly - we're still walking and talking and not actually dead. There is no power in the water. But the act of immersion is the expression of the faith that proves the faith is true. And so, "amen. it is true" as reckoned by the Almighty.
To redirect this back to my point regarding obedience; we have faith that Messiah has cleansed us from our sin, given us the Holy Spirit, and granted us grace. We can't see this. No one can see this. So what makes it "amen"? What makes it "true"? The answer is, our acts of obedience. There is no power in the acts of obedience. But the acts express our faith that proves everything Messiah did and does for us is true. That we are saved.
"So be it."