Psalm 119 - Love for God's Law

You are spot on as usual! Christ lives in us--that's the ticket! Without Him, we are powerless to live as He did and meet the standards that have been set for us as His followers.

Trying to claw our way up to God by adhering to the law will never work. We are too selfish, stubborn, and proud, and the weakness of the flesh will ultimately send us tumbling back down the mountain.

It's Christ in us that matters. He is the one who elevates us to the top of the mountain to live out the "law" as it was intended. It's a partnership and more importantly a relationship. We are willing, and Jesus makes it happen--all the glory goes to God and not our feeble attempts to obtain righteousness by our own power.

The Old Testament is just that--an obsolete covenant that has been replaced by a New Covenant made possible by Jesus Christ. He is the one who puts the old covenant into the proper perspective, and that's how I view any Old Testament reading/study I undertake.

I believe all New Testament Works by Jesus Christ are absolutely necessary.

Me too. The key being...works by Jesus.

Then the OSAS peoples will come along and says "we're not under law man, we're under grace so we don't have to do none of that law stuff man!"

They are ignorant of the New Testament which teaches... we are now under the Law of Christ, aka Law of Liberty, aka Law of the Spirit of Life IN Christ Jesus

What Jesus did on the Cross is ONLY applicable to those that abide IN Christ... the OSAS peoples deny what Jesus taught ion John 15

That's what someone says who doesn't understand OSAS about someone who believes OSAS.

Amen.

And I was just commenting in another thread about Psalm 119 myself. Love that long chapter.

More Christians should read it often; it changes the perspective of many due to its contradiction to what most modern churches teach about God's Law.

Just as Jesus says, if we love Him, we will obey the Commandments.

John 14:15
John 15:14

He taught them all.
Matt. 23:1-3

He obeyed them all.
John 15:10

God bless.

Those are great verses, Braweh. It struck me how Jesus emphasized the importance of keeping His commandments. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount took the Old Testament commandments that were supposed to be obeyed from the letter of the law to the New Testament level of living out the spiritual implications and purpose of God's law.

Matthew 5:17-20

New King James Version

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Heaven and earth haven't passed away yet, so that implies to me that "one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law" is still in effect. We need a blend of both law and grace in our lives as Christians.

It's interesting how the word "commandments" carries negative connotations today. It often sparks resentment and rebellion with human nature striking back with "how dare you try to tell me what to do!" Yet, those commandments are given to help us focus on our mission as Christ's disciples.

For me, I need both commandments and grace in my life. If it's all grace, the tendency is to push the boundaries of sin and slip into reckless living patterns. I need the law to keep me in check, too. I know that if I step beyond the boundary the commandments provide, there will be consequences for me and those who are a part of my life.

The law contains justice, mercy , and faith when properly understood. How can this be construed as no longer in effect? The very gift of faith teaches us that when mercy and justice are not present in the enforcing of the law, it is not being construed nor understood according to Love, and dLove is God.

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.

That would not be the old testament law...

Galatians 5:4
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Under the New Testament we are under the Law of Christ... not the old testament law, which Jesus kept and fulfilled.

What is acceptable to God now is that we abide IN Christ, being led by the Holy Spirit, based in the Doctrine of Christ..

Hebrews 10:9
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

The old testament law has been done away with according to Hebrews and now we are under the Law of Christ.

Law of Christ
(Galatians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 9:21, James 2:12, James 1:25, Romans 8:2)

In the New Testament, many mentions of “the law” is actually referring to Law of Christ (aka the Law of Liberty) and is not talking about the old testament law. Christians are NOT called to keep or live under the old testament law, but we ARE called to live under the Law of Christ.

Ultimately this means we are called to abide In Christ which is living after the Spirit and not after the flesh, or to be spiritually minded and not carnally minded (see Romans 8). As we see in Romans 8, to be spiritually minded is life and peace but to be carnally minded is death which is separation from the Lord.

Galatians 6:2
Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:21
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

James 2:12
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

James 1:25
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
*Free as in no longer being a slave to sin, as in stop doing sinful things!

2 Peter 1:4-10
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. (*Notice what Paul said about his own body in 1 Corinthians 9:27)

Colossians 3:6-10
For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Those that do not put on the New Man and quit walking after the flesh, the wrath of God comes upon them for their disobedience because God is NOT mocked, if we sow to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption (Gal 6:7,8)

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; Things end very badly for those that do not obey the gospel.

Romans 11:19-25
Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Law of Christ
The phrase "the law of Christ" appears only in Galatians 6:2, although it is implied by the wording of 1 Corinthians 9:21 as well. In both places, its precise meaning is difficult to fix. In Galatians, Paul argues vigorously that the law given at Sinai makes no claim on those who believe in Christ, whether Gentile or Jew ( 2:15-21 ; Galatians 3:10-14 Galatians 3:23-26 ; 4:4-5 ; 4:21-5:6).

He then appeals to the Galatians to engage in ethical behavior by walking in the Spirit ( 5:16 Galatians 16 ), being lead by the Spirit ( 5:18 ), and fulfilling "the law of Christ" (ho nomos tou Christou) through bearing one another's burdens ( 6:2 ). In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul demonstrates how Christians should, out of love for the weaker brother or sister, refrain from demanding their rights.

By way of illustration Paul says in verses 19-23 that he adopts certain Jewish customs when among Jews, although he is not under the Jewish law, and that he adopts some Gentile customs when among Gentiles, although he is not without the law of God but rather "in the law of Christ" (ennomos Christou).

It seems fairly clear from these two texts that Paul uses the phrase to mean something other than the law given to Israel at Sinai and considered by most Jews to be their special possession.

Help is found in the prophets. In Isaiah 42:1-4 we read that God's chosen servant will one day establish justice throughout the earth and that "the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law" (NASB). If we take this passage to refer to the Messiah, then we could paraphrase it by saying that the Christ, when he comes, will teach God's law to the Gentiles ("the coastlands"). Jeremiah 31:31-34 similarly predicts the coming of a time in which disobedient Israel will receive a new covenant, consisting of a law written on the heart and therefore obeyed (cf. Ezek 36:26-27 ).

Jesus' teaching, although standing in continuity with the law given at Sinai, nevertheless sovereignly fashions a new law. In some instances Jesus sharpens commandments ( Matt 5:17-48 ) and in others considers them obsolete ( Mark 7:17-19 ). On one occasion, having been asked to identify the greatest commandment, Jesus concurs with the Jewish wisdom of his time ( Mark 12:32-33 ) that the greatest commandments are to love God supremely and to love one's neighbor as oneself ( Mark 12:28-31 ). He breaks with tradition, however, by defining the term "neighbor" to mean even the despised Samaritan ( Luke 10:29-37 ).

Paul believed that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ marked the beginning point of God's new covenant ( 2 Cor 3:1-18 ; Gal 4:21-31 ; cf. Rom 8:2 ). Like Isaiah, he believed that this covenant included the Gentiles ( Gal 3:7-20 ), and like Jeremiah he believed that it offered Israel a remedy for the curse that the old Sinaitic covenant pronounced on Israel's disobedience ( Gal 3:10-13 ).

In light of this, Paul may have understood the teaching of Christ as a new law. If so, then the correspondence between the ethical teaching of Jesus and Paul on many points (e.g., 1 Cor 7:10-11 / Mark 10:2-9 ; 1 Cor 9:14 / Luke 10:7 ; Rom 14:1-23 / Mark 7:18-19 ) is a matter of Paul's intention rather than happy accident. Paul's own admonition to fulfill the law of Christ by bearing one another's burdens provides both a pithy restatement of Jesus' summary of the law and an indication that Jesus' teaching fulfills prophetic expectations.

The law is ineffective for garnering salvation... .

It excels as/at being a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.

We, after receiving the Hoy Spirit, become new and we have the law inscribed upon our hearts, in this sense, we know the laaw and obey as besst we are given to do.

And some turn away from the knowledge of God to go back to their sin being deceived by their sin (2 Thessalonians 2:11) and the Lord turns them over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).

Do a study on that and you will find that speaks of certain unbelievers.

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.

- 2 Thessalonians 2:9-15

The truth is found in God’s Word. “It is written.” Yet, many people are biblically illiterate or care nothing about God and, because of this, they are unable to differentiate between false doctrine or truth. These are the ones who will be easily led astray when the Antichrist appears. God doesn’t like this at all and for this reason, He will allow you to be deceived and strongly deluded.

Christ tells us in Matt. 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.

All the OT is God's word, all is truth, every word including the law as given. However it is given in stone, not given to man in spirit although God is spirit. It is given in fleshly symbolism. God's word cannot be cancelled, but you can cancel the fleshly symbols to expose the true spirit of the Lord.

From Matthew 5:17 to the end of that chapter are five examples of how Christ does this. We know that the fleshly symbol of circumcision is no more to be done, for in Christ we have the spiritual circumcision.

Only the Ten Commandments are engraved in stone, which when saved are become engraved upon our hearts.

Why not elaborate just a little on this comment?

If we love our blessed Father Eternal with all of our hearts, having become new creatures, is it not our nature to know all laws which should be a practice in our lives, and not something learned rote?

When we love our Eternal Father our very being is to please Him, and obey Himd. Thus we KNOW what to do in true gratitude for all He has done for us, for instance the Cross for example.

No one need dispute the Lws being passed for this is not our intent in thanksgiving, it is our new understanding and our new nature under Grace, whithout which we would yet walk in darkness.

Never fear doing what is right. Jesus Yeshua has shown us the Way, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Follow Him...

I love this whole concept of God writing His law upon our hearts, in essence changing our nature from our fallen/sinful state to develop the nature of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit living in our hearts and minds.

2 Corinthians 3:3

New King James Version

3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.


Jeremiah 31:33

New King James Version

33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their [a]hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Ezekiel 36:26

New King James Version

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

We need that "new heart" and "new spirit" to become like Jesus, the embodiment of God's Word. Our thinking, emotions, and lives as a whole are transformed from the inside out with the guidance, strength, and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Stone is cold and eventually is eroded into dust. Our hearts are warm and coupled with that new Spirit, we are transformed into a new creation in Jesus Christ our Lord!

Oh that all would realize that our Kingdom is headed by the New Jerusalem to come. What's more, if they would just learn exactly what the word, Israel, translates as.

It is not that staging ground on our maps of this age, kkbut it will be populated by true Jews, not those who say they are Jews but are not. Look and see what and why Leah named her begotten child Juday, which may be shortened to Jew

All who worship God (Yah(, in spirit and in truth are true Jews, not those who call themselves such and are not.

Israel means to rule with El. Judah is to praise God (Yah.)

Please correct this if it is untrue..

Once more, from Revelation, "Beware of those who say they are Jews but are not. They are a synagogue (assembly( of Satan." Stay away from such.

Should read Judah, name given by Leah.

Jesus kept and fulfilled the 10 Commandments Law of God, and also taught it. He wouldn't have taught it if He expected Christians not to observe it. And to abide in Christ is to walk even as He walked. (1 Jn. 2:6) And He obeyed the 10 Commandments. Hebrews only speaks of doing away with the Law of sacrificial ordinances, the law of washing this and that, the Traditions of the Elders (Men).
Mark 7:5-13

It says nothing about doing away with the 10 Commandments.

If Jesus had intended His followers to stop obeying the 10 Commandments, we would not have record of them obeying them after His death in Luke 23:54-56.