one multipart question i would like to ask, please feel free to respond, even with dogmatic beliefs. here goes:
if Christ did away with the “Law” as most “Christians” believe, then how does anyone sin now? if there is no law, then there is no sin. because sin is rebelling against God’s commands. so if there is no command, there is no sin. one person might respond, we are accountable to the Law, but not the Old Testament Law, but the New Testament Law. thus, we are convicted by the New Testament. then how were people convicted from the time of Christ’s death and resurrection until the time of the canonization of the New Testament in the 4th century? this is a tricky one, but another person might say that those people were convicted by word of mouth from the apostles until the canonization of the New Testament. so if this is true, then what “Law” does the New Testament give? doesnt the New Testament use the Old Testament as its source of “Law”? didnt Christ Himself use the Torah to convict and didnt he state that He was upholding Torah? if this is the case, then why arent we as Christians both under the Law and simultaneously under Grace? arent we required to obey the Law? which we cant do. thus, Christ’s sacrifice is necessary in order to wipe away our trangression of the Law. so couldnt we be both “under” the Law and “under” Grace? why do we think they are mutually exclusive?
now that i wrote such a lengthy question, i want to hear your thoughts. i truly do. because i am really struggling through this. i want any and all feedback.
Filed under: Christianity, Culture, God, Personal, Philosophy, Religion | Tagged: failure, gentiles and torah, Good News, new perspectives on paul, self-righteousness, torah
hi, your lengthy question is very interesting.
this kind of sensible question
is worthy to be discussed.
though, i don’t have the complete answer
to this question, i want to search for the complete answer to this.
maybe you want to join me reading
answers to question posted
in a certain blog, http://esoriano.wordpress.com
While I’m no longer a christian, I would like to add what I considered concerning this question. It is indeed a very good one. So here goes:
I think that the teaching would be that Christ came to save us from the penalties of the law (the wages of sin is death). However, the law, depending on which parts, is still useful when considering how to live in the world today. The 10 commandments just flat out make sense on how to get along with others. To me, when I was a christian, there was really only one sin that I could commit, the “unpardonable sin,” and that would be unbelief. If one is a believer in christ, all other sins are removed, and the only one left to commit would be to turn away.
Now, according to Christian teaching, we are all products of the fall. Therefore, we will all die as a result of the original sin. However, Christ, through his sacrifice and resurrection, offers life.
Any other “sin” we might commit, aside from the unpardonable, are forgotten about, done away with (as far as the east is from the west), however, we still have to reap the temporal consequences of those acts. Therefore, the sin is not necessarily against God, but against others in our lives.
Make any sense?
The answer to the question may be found in the Gospel. The words of Jesus 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. 18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
I have a long answer to this but no time, remind me sometime next week.
You are right in your conclusion. It is both.
Great post!
Tim
tungkab, mjackson75, john rich, totaltrans, timglass
thanks for posting comments. i appreciate the time yall took to give me some feedback.
mjackson, i think you are right (although with your mind alone and not your whole self, as you personally admitted) that sin is washed away entirely by Christ. so sin no longer is an issue, true. but this doesnt necessarily mean that God no longer commands anything. for if God no longer had commands, then Jesus would be unnecessary, because sin is defined (at least in judeochristian heritage) as a rejection of God’s commands. so without cmds, there would be no sin and no need for Christ, right? thus, not rejection for the unpardonable sin, because that too is no command. that is, if the law no longer applies.
john
i think i understand what you are alluding to, but not for sure. because i have mostly heard this passage used by Torah-submissive believers, but there are some who would interpret it to mean that Christ did in fact abolish the Law. so what exactly are you implying?
anyway, i will no doubt write more on the subject.
thanks
peter