When we still have doubts but do what God says anyway . . . we will see the reality of God's power in our actions, increasing our faith.
Much love!
The Character of God
- Thread starter Soyeong
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Much love!
This is the essence of your error: you cannot discern between the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the fruit of the tree of life.
You are so focused on the former that you have entirely missed the latter.
The difference is that I know the purpose of the Law. I came to Christ. You do not know the purpose of the Law. Not only that, you reject any attempt to enlighten you.
No, God does not want disobedience. But you falsely claim that God requires obedience to the law. That is patently false according to scripture. The Pharisees obeyed God's law to perfection, yet Lord Jesus condemned them. I have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisee. It is Jesus Himself. Is that is not good enough for you? You have to add something of yourself to it? Well I'll tell you what God calls your self righteousness. Filthy rags. I stand before God clothed in Christ. You clothe yourself in the 10 commandments. I know which one God accepts and it is not the Law.
The Hebrew word “yada” refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. God’s way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by experiencing being in His likeness through embodying His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of His household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the purpose of the Law of Moses is to graciously teach us how to have an intimate relationship with God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.
If the Pharisees had been obeying the Law of God to perfection, then Jesus would not have condemned them, but rather the problem was that they were not obeying it or that they were not obeying it correctly. God did not give His law as a way to establish our own righteousness apart from Him or in order to teach us how to become self-righteous, but rather He gave it in order to teach us how to embody His righteousness. Likewise, God did not give His law as instructions for how to establish our goodness but as instructions for how to embody His goodness, which is why our good works bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:16).
In Isaiah 64:6, it is not God speaking about how He views our best errors, but rather it is the people hyperbolically complaining about God not coming down and making His presence known. The reality is that God's commands are not filthy rags, but rather the righteous deeds of the saints are like fine white linen (Revelation 19:8). It is contradictory to cloth yourself in God's Word made flesh instead of in God's Word. God wanted His people to repent and to return to obedience to His law all throughout the Bible, and even Christ began his ministry with that Gospel message (Matthew 4:15-23), so it is absurd to think that doing that is not acceptable to God.
Isaiah 64:6 does not say that "God's commands are... filthy rags"; it records the people saying, "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags".
If you are going to misrepresent the word of God, you have no business debating its meaning.
You need to distinguish between the "righteous acts" of ancient Israelites in Isaiah 64 and the "righteous acts" of the saints in Revelation 19.
They are NOT the same thing. The former is sinful humans trying to make themselves acceptable to God. The latter is already-accepted humans acting out of love for God and neighbour.