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"When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (John 8:10-11) 1
"Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." (John 5:14)
Sin no more? Jesus said that? But didn’t Paul tell us that the law is dead, and that he who offends in one thing is guilty of all? Didn’t he tell us we cannot be righteous according to the law, so we may as well not bother keeping the law? (Well, that is what the mainstream Evangelical churches teach today!) Okay, okay! They don’t tell us "not to bother" per se… they say that the Old Testament laws (Torah) have been done away with (so long as the particular law is inconvenient for them - though they love to use it to enforce the so-called "tithe" and to condemn homosexuals). They have their own set of rules and expectations however, which have replaced Torah (and they love to invoke the Old Testament if possible to justify their position, no matter how hypocritical that may be). I call these man-made rules "The Book of Thou Shalts" and "The Book of Thou Shalt Nots." But wait… before we get into these unpublished Books, let us take a peek at something Paul had to say about Torah and sin:"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." (1 Cor 15:33-34)
Paul said that? Yes he did! He agreed with Jesus! Who’da thought? But didn’t he do away with the law? For Gentiles at least? Not according to this statement. Note: he wrote this (above) to the Corinthians … Gentiles! What else did Paul have to say?"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;" (1 Tim 1:8)
"The Law (Torah) is good!" Yes, Paul said that! I hear the Fundamentalists and most "Universal Reconciliationists" howling in protest already. "But come on! That’s ‘Legalism!’ (Capital ‘L’)." There is no dirtier word or filthier sin in the lexicon of many "Universalists" than "Legalism." One might think it the ultimate sin, worthy above all others of condemnation. Look, I believe that all of creation will be saved (returned unto God)… it is His will that ALL men be saved… Jesus’ resurrection is a pattern for every last one of us, our abiding hope to escape this "flesh of corruption," "as in Adam all die, so in Christ will ALL men be made alive" (1 Cor 15:22), "for God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all" (Rom 11:32). Yes indeedy! Amen? I am convinced that salvation is the work of God alone, and I also believe that this has always been the case. God "Am," right? God "Am" past, present, future, and outside of space and time as we know it. Jesus completed the act on Golgotha from before time began. As such, His sacrifice applies to all people throughout all of time. We are not saved by good works, but "unto good works" (Eph 2:10) which God prepared for us before-times to do (paraphrase). Works and choices in no way contribute to our salvation, but are a reflection of our salvation. This does not mean we can judge others according to their achievements (or even ourselves for that matter), for it is God who will determine whether they are of "gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble" (1 Cor 3:12)… He will burn away the dross; and "if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1 Cor 3:14-15) Do you see? Paul spent a great deal of time encouraging good works and sanctification for the purpose of rewards! Unfortunately, we have been brainwashed by the mainstream into believing otherwise, calling it "legalism," but it is only legalism when we enforce works upon others, judge people according to their works (achievements, holiness), and either state or suggest that one’s salvation may in some way depend on maintaining some minimal level of "goodness." Jesus said,"If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15
Keep my Commandments? Yep! People say Jesus only told us of two commandments, "love God, and love your neighbor," but… if we believe He is God, then we must know deep down that He was the ultimate author of Torah, and that the commandments of the Old Testament clarify the summary that He gave so succinctly. What was He going to do, trot out all 613 laws? His questioners and accusers knew those laws very well. If we (as regenerated believers) want to please God, why would we want to throw His revealed will (Torah / Law) out the window, whether utterly, or replacing them with man-made laws and precepts? Surely what God has revealed to us as good must be better than anything we can come up with? Throw scriptures at me all you want, I trust what God has told us hands down over any preacher."What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom 6:1-2)
"Aw... come on Paul! How can you contradict yourself this way?" I can hear the frustration in the voices of the preachers of ultra-grace. These kinds of statements must drive them crazy. They either have to ignore them or pretend they’re not there, otherwise they would go mad, surely. The point is, what did Jesus and Paul mean when they said these things? Here’s what modern-day churches would have you believe, take your pick, depending on denomination:"The Books of Thou Shalt Nots"
"…you Hypocrites! You are like Whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth!" (Matthew 23:27b)
What is sin? According to 1 John 3:4 "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." I repeat, for emphasis, according to the Bible, Sin is transgression of the law (Torah). What is legalism? Legalism is observing the law, or any ordinance or law of man or God, or any legal duty, or the observance of a dress code (the wearing of apparel, jewelry, meticulous and scrupulous clock watching, Sunday keeping etc), or any of the above list of "Thou Shalts" or "Thou Shalt Nots," FOR SALVATION, or to remain in God's "good Graces" to maintain that salvation. In short, legalism is obedience so as to get or remain saved. As my friend Les Gosling points out, "The Messianic Scriptures or so-called New Testament (written for the most part by Paul, the emissary to the nations) include 1050 rules, regulations, decrees, commandments, statutes, judgments, precepts, ordinances, edicts, laws, recommendations and good old plain sound advice -- based upon the so-called 613 Mosaic mitzvoth ("Old Testament" Commandments) – mainly for Gentiles on how to put Torah into practice. It was the purpose of Israel to take the Torah to the Gentiles and this is precisely what the original apostles of Mashiach did! Indeed, Yeshua is referred to as the Living Torah." So what is the bottom-line? Let us return to 1st Timothy:"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;" (1 Tim 1:8 KJV)
IF A MAN USE IT LAWFULLY (NIV says: "Properly," NRSV says: "Legitimately"), THE LAW IS GOOD!!! Surely, in the primitive "ekklesia" there were those among the Gentiles who understood salvation by grace yet chose, AFTER believing, to follow Torah. I am confident that there would have been false teachers at both ends of the spectrum, as there are today. One end of this spectrum would be those who taught the law as a means of achieving righteousness in God’s eyes. We all know about these, and today’s Protestant denominations are very good at focusing on this particular error. But there is another extreme which has become rampant today and which I believe must have existed back then, to wit: ultra grace … the idea that, having believed by grace through faith alone, any attempt to follow the law, in any form, for any reason, is "LEGALISM" (it is not!), and therefore must be condemned. It seems to me that this has become almost a matter of doctrinal necessity among many in the Universalist camp today. In most cases I think those who teach this position today do so for honorable reasons, but that doesn’t make them any less wrong. In Col 2:16 Paul writes, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days," etc. I believe this is Paul’s admonition for those mature Gentile believers who did follow the Torah not to allow those "ultra-grace" teachers and their adherents to judge them. I am convinced there were Gentiles, perhaps many, who chose to follow Torah, NOT to justify themselves in God's eyes, but because they loved Him and wished to follow His revealed will, and they got grief from the ultra-grace community for doing so. Paul would have considered these mature believers to be "using the law lawfully" and would support them vigorously. If we really wish to obey Yeshua’s (and Paul’s) command not to sin, we should ask God to help us obey His laws. Don’t beat yourself up if you fail… don’t let any legalists take authority over you or condemn you for your failures… but don’t let the ultra-grace crowd make you feel bad if you DO choose to move in this direction. They do not have that right! I was recently told that "Paul is saying we are no longer held to a standard of observing holy days or Sabbaths (whatever the Sabbath may be) as they are only shadows of Christ." Brethren, this type of understanding stems from the perversion, in fact the jettisoning, of Jewish thought-forms propagated by the Roman Catholic Church and carried forward by Protestantism. Between the two of them, they have dominated doctrinal thinking for the past 1,700 years. Modern day churchianity has inherited 1,700 of lies based on hatred of Jews! Dare we also forget that both Jesus and Paul were Jews? The prophet Jeremiah said:"O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." (Jer 16:19)
Do you suppose this may apply to our situation today? I think so.| The Christian Universalist WebRing | |
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