We find that in 1 Timothy 4:1-6, I will be a good minister of Jesus Christ to point out to the brethren that in the last days men will heed the voice of demons and will purport doctrines of demons...among which are the concepts that marriage should be forbidden and that we ought to abstain from meats that God has created to be received with thanksgiving...for they are sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
However, in Matthew 5:17-20, I am told that I will be counted as great in the kingdom, if I obey and teach the least of the commandments that were given in the OT...which includes the food laws of Leviticus 11.
These things would appear to contradict each other unless you make the distinction that the doctrine about abstaining from meats includes within it the concept that a man is not saved unless he obeys the food laws of the Old Testament.
Because I can obey and teach the food laws of the Old Testament without touting them as a requirement for salvation...I can teach the brethren that obeying the food laws is simply another way of saying to Jesus that you love Him more than anything...that even though you know that He does not require it of you for salvation, you are willing to give up those savoury meats as a way of saying to Him that you love Him more than those savoury meats (and I do love them; and yet have also given them up for the most part).
The doctrine of devils being that obeying the food laws are required for salvation.
While I would say that if anyone is seeking to be justified through law-keeping, good works, or personal merits, that Galatians 3:10, James 2:10, and Matthew 5:48 would require them to obey every law in the Old Testament perfectly from conception into eternity...including the food laws...
But that if you are trusting in Christ and what He did on the Cross to save you, you are not under the law (Romans 6:14) are dead to the law (Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19) and are delivered from the law (Romans 7:6) as concerning condemnation...
And therefore, it is not required of you that you obey the food laws.
While if you desire to obey them, there is also no condemnation for you if you obey them.
1Co 8:8, But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.
It is saying that if you obey the food laws and eat not, you are not worse off for that you eat not.
And you are not better off if you disobey the food laws and eat what is forbidden by them.
This is referring to the doctrine that says that we must necessarily forsake the laws of the Old Testament in order to truly be under grace.
It should be clear that obeying the food laws of the Old Testament does not make you worse off...you do not end up not being under grace if you decide that you want to obey them.
As a matter of fact, it would seem, in looking at Matthew 5:17-20, that if a person does obey the food laws, they are better off...they will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
However, it would indeed be a doctrine of devils to purport that one must obey the food laws in order to be saved.
Again, if someone is born again through faith in Jesus, they are not under the law.
It is only those who seek to obtain salvation through law-keeping, works, or personal merits who are required to obey every law of the Old and New Testaments (Galatians 3:10, James 2:10, Matthew 5:48) perfectly from conception into eternity if they are going to enter in that way.
And no one has ever done that but ONE...our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
And He died on the Cross in order to provide for
the divine exchange in
penal substitution...where His perfect life and righteousness is applied to our account and our sinful behavour is applied to His, as He took the penalty for our sins on the Cross and His right to entrance into heaven is freely given to us.
Our gratitude at having received this ought to make for loving obedience on our part as we fall in love with Him for having given us such an extravagant gift so freely at such a mighty cost to His own life.
Of course it was not possible that death could hold Him down...
So, it was the pain of suffering that Jesus would look forward to as the Cross was set before Him as He would only temporarily suffer the punishment that, if it had been applied to us, would have been everlasting punishment; for that He is an infinite being and we are finite; and therefore He was able to take in a finite period of time the punishment that, if it had been meted out to us, would have lasted for eternity.