| Author | Message | ||
| Chris (Chris) |
Has anyone else not received the latest issue of the Proclamation yet? Some of my friends here in town got theirs in the mail a week ago and I still haven't received one ....... maybe I better make another donation to LAM soon :-) Chris | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
Chris, do you usually get your magazine on time? Perhaps you should email Dale and be sure your name's on the data base! BTW, I've been studying Romans 4 for our Friday night Bible study, and I realized something today that I hadn't quite thought of in this way before. Paul says that God's promises are realized by faith, not by keeping the law. He also expounds at some length about the faith of Abraham, using his faith as the example for all of us. Abraham's faith, by the way, was in God and his promises, not in faith itself (as some people imply--"name it and claim it", for example--if your faith is great enough, things will come to pass, etc.). Anyways, I was doing some cross-referencing verse re: the purpose of the law, and I saw a connection between Galatians 3 and Hebrews 3 that I'd never caught before. Galatians 3, of course, identifies the law a a pedagogue, or tutor--the servant responsible for escorting the minor heirs of a household to school. Hebrews 3:5-7 is comparing Jesus to Moses and identifies Moses as a servant IN God's house and Jesus as a Son OVER God's house. Here are two different books and authors both identifying the law as a servant. Moses, of course, wasn't the law, but Moses represented the law to the Israelites. If we follow this metaphor to its conclusion, we might say that the law is God's servant, not his authority. Now, I know this isn't a new idea, but for me the personification of the law as a servant of God was really insightful. Adventists say the law is a transcript of God's character. But that really doesn't make sense if you think of the law as a servant of God. No servant of a master is considered a transcript of the master's character. He may represent the master's will in a given situation, but no one will look at a servant and see the authority of the master. Servants have authority only to the extent the master grants it. They do not have intrinsic authority. To say the law is the transcript of God's character implies that it has intrinsic authority. It IS the "blueprint" of God. This idea is heretical. Yes, the law represents God's will--as much of his will as he revealed in a written document. It doesn't come close to representing his entire will let alone his full character. But if the law is God's servant given us to perform the specific job of leading us to a conviction of our sins and the recognition of our need of a Savior, then the law has a very limited function. It cannot have anything except derived authority. It has no authority of its own. Just some preliminary thoughts--I hope I made sense! Colleen | ||
| Chris (Chris) |
Great insight Colleen! I would add that the Mosaic law represented God's will for a specific people at a specific time and place in history. Some dispute this by quoting, Heb. 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." This is true!!! Christ's character NEVER changes. Now, since we all agree that at least some of the Mosaic law no longer applies (animal sacrifices, circumcision, etc.), then the law cannot possibly be the ultimate representation of God's character, because His character does not change. At best, the law reveals aspects of God's character, but in a way that had specific application to a specific people in a specific time and place, and must be understood in that context. In other words, the law was God's tutor becasue it was a valuable teaching tool in God's progressive revelation of Himself to mankind. It was not THE revelation. THE ultimate revelation of God can only be found in His Son, Jesus Christ. Given the all encompassing completeness of the revelation found in Jesus Chrsit, there really isn't any need for such a limited tutor anymore. Chris | ||
| Chris (Chris) |
After posting my last message, it ocurred to me that those who don't know me well might interpret my last post as distinctly antinomian. Let me balance my comments on the law as only a temporary tutor (Gal. 3) with an affirmation that that we are called to holiness in Christ. It is my contention that the holiness we are called to is not a righteousness based upon the law though, but a work that the Holy Spirit does in our hearts, in our minds, and in our lives. This work of sanctification goes way beyond anything that that a written law could have ever produced. The law of liberty as encompassed in the commands of Christ and the teachings of His disciples is a far higher standard to meet then the one contained in the law. It is a standard that will never be fully realized in this lifetime and one which we can only strive towards through the power and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. Evangelical Christians are not antinomian. It is a question of being conformed to the letter of the law written in stone, or being conformed to the law of the Spirit sealed in our hearts. Chris | ||
| Jerry (Jerry) |
Amen, Chris. Allow me to shed some light on the ìantinomianî straw man. When people throw that epithet around, they show their inexperience or lack of insight into the true meaning of the Scriptural term ìlaw.î One must understand the historical, cultural, and linguistic background of the words in Hebrew and subsequently in Greek to draw the best conclusions about how it applies to us today. Not that we must all speak Hebrew or Greek, but a little research into the words reveals much. First: In Hebrew The word is transliterated as ìTorahî or ìTowrahî. In Strongs, this entry appears:
Second: In Greek
Notice how, in each definition, there are many variations and perspectives. In fact, there are many laws. There are many groupings of laws. There are laws that apply in certain periods of time, to certain people. There are laws that begin and end, laws that begin but do not end, and laws that begin and will end later. Chris is correct to say that ìthe lawî is our tutor to lead us to Christ, and that in Christ we no longer need that ìlimited tutor.î So long as one understands that ìthe lawî refers to the ìMosaic Lawî or ìthe Law given by God to Moses.î
Here, we see that Godís law which was given by Moses includes all of the books of Moses.
Here, we see that the covenant is in the book of the covenant of the Lord, beyond what was on the stone, which is the covenant, the Ten Commandments. The book of the Covenant is the same as the book of the Law and contains the Ten Commandments. We have another teacher and another law, that is Jesus and the ìLaw of Libertyî or the ìLaw of the Spiritî or the ìTestimony of Jesusî or ìthe Gospel.î Not at all "against the law," rather, for the best law, the reality instead of the shadow, that is, Jesus | ||
| James_Jean (James_Jean) |
There is no shortage of people searching for God. The question is what is God like, that is answered in Heb. Ch. 1:1-4. Verse 3 says "Christ being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high". The dominant theme of Heb. is the SUPERIORITY OF JESUS CHRIST OVER THE OLD COVENANT. James | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
So true, James! Hebrews is a wonderful book for us who have been steeped in the law. Richard had a conversation recently with a Jew--not orthodox, but some version of practicing Jew. The Jew said that one of his biggest complaints against Christians is that they don't take the Old Testament seriously, only the new. Richard asked him how he saw the Old Testament being fulfilled. He replied that the prophecies are specific: he would be visible to everyone, and he would enter Jerusalem through a specific gate. Richard replied that Christians also believe the Messiah will come that way, but we see those prophecies being fulfilled at his second coming, not his first. He then asked this person how he understands the law, including the Sabbath, to look after the Messiah comes. Would he see the laws being fulfilled after Messiah came, would they still keep Sabbath the same way, or not? Would he see the Torah as having ended? The man replied that he would of course see the Torah as having ended after Messiah came. So interesting! The Jews do see the law as being fulfilled when Messiah comes. Praise God for the new covenant and for Jesus, the Messiah who has already come! Colleen | ||
| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 414 Registered: 7-2003 |
Latest issue was Great!!! I love seeing the faces and being able to say "I "know" them". |
