law of moses

[Andre]

Ok so I just wanted to give a bit of an update on all my studies lol. I’m pretty torn right now, I understand that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. Just want to throw that out there first. My issue comes in when I ask what my daily life should look like as a Christian. Sort of an “I’m saved now what?” problem I’m having.

It seems to me that when you really get down to it Christians (those who put some time into really learning about their faith that is) will go one of two ways. (Get ready for a gross generalization) The first is the belief that grace frees us from the law and therefore we cannot sin because we have no law. They will say things like “love God and love others and that will fulfill the law for you.” My question is then how do you love God? Is it just feelings of affection for Him or is it actually doing something that pleases Him? What does loving God look like when lived out? I’ve heard quoted “Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered, and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:28-29 meaning that all we have to do is believe in Christ and this fulfills all Christian obligation to God. This statement however is an altar call so to speak. Jesus was speaking to a group of mostly unbelievers who, after this set of teachings, “withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” The other way is that people seem to say there are certain commandments that you should follow like the 10 commandments except for the one about the Sabbath so the 9 commandments and you should try and be a “good person” based on Jesus’ sermon on the mount.

So, post salvation, what is our walk with God to look like? I know the Bible is pretty vague on it and probably intentionally so. But I think there are a few things we could/should (?) glean from that we do see in Acts where we can watch how the apostles and early church behaved. Maybe first begin with the fact that the early church was a sect of Judaism and they viewed themselves as Jews. They were meeting in Synagogues on Sabbath as well as houses on a regular basis.

Going back to the whole Romans thing from my last post I think this also would explain why Paul addressed at least the first portion of his letter specifically to Jews Rom 2:17. Paul also here calls himself a Jew Rom 3:9 as he does all throughout his life (more on that in a min). I also want to point out that Paul believed our faith would “establish the law” Rom 3:31. It seems to me that Paul is, in Romans, laying a good foundation for being saved but not giving examples of how we are to live post salvation. I say this based on his description of Abraham who was justified before he was circumcised (Rom 4) along with James’ references to Abraham’s faith being dead without works (Jam 2:14-26). I’m not here talking about law necessarily only making the point that merely “believing” is not enough.

Now some of the things I’ve found interesting which may be helpful or may not based on whether or not you believe Christianity was supposed to be a fulfillment of Judaism or a separate religion entirely. If you think the early Christians were meeting in synagogues out of convenience or habit or because they didn’t yet have their own places of worship then this doesn’t matter to you however if you think that Christianity was meant to be the fulfillment of Jewish prophecies and the promises of God then maybe this will be something to think about. 1 Paul throughout his life continued to refer to himself as a Jew and live according to the Torah. Ref. Rom 3:9, Romans 11:1, 2Cor 11:22, Acts 23:6 now Paul may have just been saying that to keep himself out of trouble however I find it very hard to believe that He would be ok with lying to get out of trouble. In other words if he didn’t truly see himself as a Pharisee then I don’t see how, based on His character throughout the rest of scripture, he would have been ok with lying this time and bringing shame to Christ in front of the Sanhedrin. I also find it hard to believe that they would have believed him to be one of their own if he was not very similar in practice and look to them. They would have simply rejected him and said you are not one of us. Even in the book of Galatians when Paul rebukes Peter he says, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal 2:14) Notice he rebukes Peter for his hypocrisy and also makes the comment that they were compelling “the Gentiles to live like Jews.” I know I’m assuming here but wouldn’t that mean they were teaching them the ways of living lined out in the Torah? What are your thoughts?

Sorry for the wall of text here I realize you just got a summary of 2 months study in 1 post lol.

[Paidion]

Should we keep the Sabbath? If we do, are we surpassing Jesus in righteousness? Jesus broke the sabbath!

John 5:18 ...this was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his father, making himself equal with God. RSV

[Andre]

2 things:
1 why are you taking the accusations of those who desired to kill Christ as truth and
2 didn’t Jesus say John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”