The Christian, possessing the indwelling Holy Spirit as the Guarantor of New Covenant with the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14), does NOT chase after letters, laws, ordinances, days or diets (Romans 6:14), but the Christian walks daily in daily sanctification through the leadership of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16) who employs the spiritual law written upon the heart (Romans 2:14-15) in conjunction with the redeemed conscience (2 Corinthians 5:17) to produce fruits of righteousness through the faithful in Jesus; a righteousness against which there is NO LAW (Galatians 5); divine “fruit” that fulfills the moral mandates of ALL LAW (Galatians 5:16).
Christians are not enslaved to letters but serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (Romans 7:6).
Obedience in the New Covenant is realized through obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit, not laws etched in stone or scratched upon parchment that demand perfection from a sin-nature that can never comply sufficiently to please our Heavenly Father (James 2:10; Galatians 3:10; Isaiah 64:6).
Concerning Torah Law and the New Covenant,
The Law given Israel at Sinai through Moses was but a minute fragment of the eternal law of Elohim, that eternal law which finds its genesis in Eternity past. Torah Law was given for a Time and specific eschatological purpose, its purpose has fallen away into history.
The New Covenant is NOT governed by Torah Law but by the “law of the Spirit of life” which is eternally superior to the “law of sin and death” or Torah Law (Romans 8:2).
If you perish worshiping Torah to the exclusion of Messiah Jesus, you will perish in Hell in your apostasy as will an overwhelming majority of Jacob’s children who have compromised themselves with self-righteousness through Torah while simultaneously rejecting faith in their Messiah, Yeshua (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27; Romans 9).
A Theological Error emanating from Judaism and other religions that do not impart life… “Law finds its genesis at Sinai with Moses via Torah” “Law finds its genesis with Allah through Muhammad via the Quran”
The Holy Spirit tells us that where there is no law there is no sin (Romans 4:15; 5:13); therefore, how was Satan judged, adjudicated, convicted of sin i.e. covetousness and extricated from the Kingdom for that sin if the law was initiated at Sinai?
How were the Adamic and Noahic generations judged of defilement worthy of death by water save eight if there was no law prior to Sinai?
How did Elohim differentiate the righteous by faith (Hebrews 11) and the wicked by disobedience (Romans 1:18-32) prior to Sinai lest a form of law existed to provide a differentiation between good and evil?
There is a theological error that abounds throughout Judaism and other religions that Sinai/Moses or Allah/Muhammad was the genesis of Law when Sinai is NOTHING NEW or novel but simply a fragmented codification of the moral aspects of the law of the Spirit (Romans 8:2; Romans 2:14-15) that has been relevant as an arbiter of free will subsequent the creation of the angels. Sinai, the Law of Moses, was given Israel for sanctification – eschatological purposes and its relevance is but a moment in Time when compared to the eternal spiritual law of the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2).
Islam’s Allah is Satan masquerading as an angel of light via the Arabic moon god (2 Corinthians 11:14) while Muhammad is a 7th-Century demon-possessed nomadic pedophile, murdering, thief, who plagiarized the Torah to construct the Quran.
Elohim (Genesis 1:1), the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, IS the origin of Law; this, before Time began.
Jesus and the “lost sheep of Israel.” Jesus’ eschatological ordination efforts relevant to Jacob’s children and the Gospel and the free will choices that forever altered Elohim’s relationship with Israel…
Jesus did NOT initially come to the Gentile as His ordination and eschatological mission was to the Jew first (John 15:24) as Jesus was sent “only” to the lost sheep of Israel. The Gentile was to be proselytized in the New Covenant’s Gospel via Jacob’s children who were foreordained to be part of Messiah’s blessing to every family of the Earth as promised the Patriarch, Abraham (Genesis 12:3b).
The Gentiles were to be grafted into the Olive Tree by faith via the hearing of the Gospel preached by Jacob’s children; unfortunately, Israel’s children rejected their divine eschatological ordination through their murder of their Messiah and their demands that Messiah’s blood be upon them and their children (Matthew 27:25); therefore, Elohim’s eschatological will concerning the Gospel and the destruction of Satan’s works through that divine battle strategy would not be deterred due man’s free will choices (1 John 3:8b); therefore, Elohim simply transitioned the Gospel message and its eschatological purpose over to the Gentiles until such time the fullness of the Gentiles have entered the Kingdom (Romans 11:25).
In response to Israel’s rejection of and murder of their Messiah, only a remnant of Israel’s children will escape the “second death” in Hell due their unbelief and the Jewish Curse emanating from the demands of their forefathers that Messiah’s blood be upon them and their children (Isaiah 10:22; Romans 9:27; Matthew 27:25).
To whom much is entrusted, much is expected (Luke 12:48). The “Door” of salvation (John 10:9-16) remains open to the repentant Jew and Israelite who trusts in Yeshua as Messiah; unfortunately, only a relative few will break the bonds of self-righteousness through Judaism and Law to seek grace and mercy via the New Covenant’s Gospel (Romans 9:27-33).
16 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”
17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
Jesus was not denying His deity during his discourse with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22) but Jesus provided the rich young ruler an opportunity to receive eternal life by faith in Jesus as Messiah (Matthew 16:19-22). The young man approached Jesus asking what he “must do” to inherit eternal life and politely referred to Messiah Jesus as “good Teacher” (a Rabbi)…Jesus used this opportunity to provide the only true Path to Eternal LIFE which is belief-faith that Jesus is indeed Messiah – God – Elohim – our Creator. Jesus essentially asked the young if he was calling Jesus Deity…Elohim…Messiah…did the young man see and acknowledge the Truth of Messiah standing before him…did the young man know Jesus as the Christ just as Peter had confessed Jesus as the Messiah (Matthew 16:13-20)?
The young man did not acknowledge Jesus as Messiah; therefore, Jesus offered the young man what was and continues to this day as a prevailing false ideology relevant to earning one’s salvation through works of the flesh e.g. “keep the Commandments.” The young man insisted that he had indeed kept the Commandments at which time Jesus proceeded to prove to the young man that he had failed to keep the Greatest Commandments by offering the young man another opportunity to receive eternal life by “faith” as Jesus commanded the young man to sell all that he had, distribute his wealth to the poor, come and “Follow ME!” Unfortunately, the young man loved his wealth more than Elohim as the young man walked away sad having made an idol out of his wealth thereby violating the greatest Commandments to honor no god but Elohim; to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; to eschew the worship of idols; to love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus was NOT denying His deity before the young rich ruler but Jesus offered the young man no less than two opportunities to receive eternal life by “faith” in Jesus as his Messiah. No one inherits eternal life through works of the law or striving in self-righteousness; this truism was first demonstrated for humanity in Genesis 3:21 as Elohim rejected Adam’s attempt to cover his sin and shame with fig leaves (the works of his hands) yet Elohim shed innocent blood, Himself, and clothed Adam and Eve in an imputed-gifted robe of righteousness; Jesus did this very thing for all of humanity at Golgotha and that imputed robe of righteousness is received by faith, not works (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:16).
Nine of the Ten Sinai Commandments, those reinstituted into the New Covenant by Messiah are what we define as “moral” law which are eternal and govern behavior vertically and horizontally, forever. The 4th-Commandment is a civil-ceremonial law that was made applicable to Israel’s children specifically and sojourners with them beginning in Exodus 16.
The Sinai Commandments are but a mere fraction of the spiritual law (Romans 2:14-15) that has been relevant subsequent the creation of the angels as an arbiter of free will.
Sinai’s purpose,
The Commandments were given Israel as an eschatological bulwark against compromise with paganism that inundated the Tribes, a pagan ideology that relentlessly sought Israel’s compromise with Baal and Molech…a paganistic compromise that would have thwarted Elohim’s eschatological will through Jacob’s children concerning the Messiah through Judah, much like that same form of paganism destroyed both the Adamic and Noahic generations and their ability to produce the Messiah foreordained “to destroy the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b).
The Sinai Commandments were given for a Time and a specific purpose but they represent only a fragmented, incomplete, codification of Elohim’s law just as Jacob’s children represent a miniscule fraction of societal totality.
Sinai and the Christian?
The Christian, reborn spiritually by faith in Messiah and sealed by the indwelling Holy Spirit (John 3; Ephesians 1:13-14), does NOT live daily contemplating Sinai or its mandates but the Christian lives through obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit and the “spiritual law of the Spirit of life” written upon the human heart and not the “law of sin and death,” a written code seeking perfect compliance from the old-sin nature (Romans 8:2).
The Christian life and law,
The Christian lives daily through the anointing of the indwelling Spirit who produces fruit through the redeemed conscience that honors the Father and fulfills all law, fruit, against which there is NO LAW (2 Corinthians 5:17’ Galatians 5); therefore, Sinai and Torah Law are relatively insignificant concerning sanctification of the Christian via the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant; the Holy Spirit who prepares the Christian for eternal service in the New Jerusalem via the spiritual catalyst of the eternal spiritual law and the redeemed conscience for the production of divine “fruit,” NOT letters etched in stone or scratched upon parchment. Jesus said that “You will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:15-20), divine fruits of righteousness that fulfill all law.
If you love me you will keep my commandments…
Yes, Jesus said to a Jewish audience, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) but those dying in legalism and enslavement to a written code don’t contemplate the words of Messiah that immediately follow v.15,
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
In conclusion,
What the legalist and the lost Jew and Israelite don’t understand is the truism that void the indwelling Holy Spirit, there is no pleasing the Father through obedience as the Holy Spirit, gifted the redeemed in Jesus by faith (Ephesians 1:13-14), is the Teacher of the Spiritual Law written upon the heart, a Spiritual Law that is eternally superior to Sinai or any written code as the Spirit methodically addresses every moral decision that confronts the Christian moment-by-moment while the written code is far too often the subject of obfuscation, rationalization and compromise by the old sin-nature; therefore, if you desire life with the Father and obedience that actually pleases the Father, you must first believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit and walk in daily sanctification via the Spirit’s tutelage (Romans 7:6), the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13) and the One who reminds the Christian of all that Jesus taught (John 14:26).
“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
The Law establishes the need for “faith” as the KEY element of salvation; that is, the initiation of New Covenant relationship with the Father, as the law demands absolute perfection (James 2:10) if righteousness (a right standing) with the Father is to be attained through law-keeping – BUT – there is a very relevant problem, all of humanity is under the curse of sin (Romans 5:12; Romans 3:23); therefore, humanity has already violated the law; therefore, the law curses anyone seeking righteousness through obedience to it (Galatians 3:10); fortunately, the Father did for us what we could not do for ourselves through vain attempts to keep the law; that is, the Father commissioned the Son, Jesus Christ, to enter the Realm of Time born of the virgin seed thereby bypassing the sin-nature of Adam; therefore, Jesus walked in sinless perfection before the Father and in doing so, Jesus fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law’s moral mandates and through His sinless perfection, Jesus made Himself the spotless Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the World (John 1:29-32; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 2:2) as Jesus provided you and me acceptable blood atonement for our sin as mandated by Leviticus 17:11; therefore, anyone who believes in Jesus by “faith” in Him as their Messiah who died for them (John 3; Romans 10:9-10), that person so believing receives the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of Covenant with the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14) and that person is declared “not guilty” by covenant promise (Hebrews 8:12); this, by faith in Jesus as Messiah which is something the law could never do as the law is weakened by the sin-nature (Romans 8:1-6).
Faith establishes the impotency of the law to save (Romans 8 ) and faith establishes the truism that no one is justified through law as law simply defines sin but provides no form of acceptable atonement (Romans 3:20); therefore, the Father’s standard for righteousness (a right standing) with Him is absolute perfection (James 2:10) and that perfection can only manifest in our life via the imputation-gifting of Jesus’ righteousness over our life by FAITH (2 Corinthians 5:21); therefore, the law has become a tutor to point us to our need for Jesus by faith (Galatians 3:24-25); therefore, we walk by the Spirit, we serve through the Spirit by faith and not in oldness of the letter (Galatians 5; Romans 7:6).
So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
“So you are saying God was not capable of dealing with one rogue angel and that’s why he did the whole Jesus thing?”
Christian response,
Satan was Elohim’s anointed guardian cherub (Ezekiel 28:11+)…Satan served in the inner fold of Elohim’s administration. Satan’s charismatic gifts convinced one-third of the entire angelic realm to rebel against Elohim’s authority. This conundrum placed Elohim between a rock and hard place…so to speak. Destroy Satan and one-third of the angelic realm for their rebellion and destruction to the Kingdom and risk losing volitional intimacy with two-thirds of the faithful angelic creation, a faithful angelic majority who would respond to such a drastic measure with repulsion and possibly no longer love and honor Elohim as Creator but fear Him and serve, obey, out of compulsion which would have destroyed intimacy as love cannot be coerced or forced – OR – Elohim could provide a physical realm constrained by Time and physics, remove the spiritual rebellion and its participants from the Kingdom and place the destructive rebellion there, partially constrained by physics, and deal with the rebellion through a battle strategy that involves selfless love, grace, mercy and self-sacrifice by Elohim, Himself; this strategic tactic would consequently destroy the works of Satan, death-Hell-the grave, expose Satan’s folly and unsustainable behavior through selfless love; therefore, the previous 6000-years of spiritual and physical horror within the Realm of Time mirrors a spiritual war that manifest in the Kingdom before Time was created, a spiritual war that is waged around us and through us, daily (Ephesians 6).
Elohim chose victory through selfless love via a Gospel battle strategy that was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10) and this Gospel battle strategy is the primary reason Messiah Jesus, who is Elohim manifest in flesh, entered the Realm of Time; that is, “to destroy the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b) via selfless love first demonstrated in Eden (Genesis 3:21), a divine battle strategy that was ultimately fulfilled at Golgotha with the words “It is finished” (John 19:30).
The previous 6000-years of horror, death, destruction, within the Realm of Time, the suffering, disease, hopelessness; the future 1000-years of Millennial peace as Satan is confined and restrained from interacting with humanity; the war that manifests the moment Satan is released, the entire scenario is a bulwark, an example, to the faithful angelic creation demonstrating why Elohim’s plan is eternally superior to that of Satan’s narcissism and the scenario playing-out before our eyes will provide a bulwark against future rebellion in the Kingdom where free will remains extant by necessity.
Our entire creation in Time is nothing more than Elohim’s response to an unfathomable destructive rebellion having manifest in His Kingdom in the Eternal Realm.
Elohim’s battle strategy was first declared in Genesis 3:15, pictured in Genesis 3:21, fulfilled at Golgotha (John 19:30). Human kind is afforded the opportunity via free will to come along side Elohim via faith in our Warrior, Messiah Jesus, and attain victory over the Devil – OR – humanity can choose to honor Satan by rejecting Messiah Jesus. Those who honor the Father by faith in the Son will enjoy the spoils of victory; those who honor Satan through an alliance with him will suffer a fate similar to his subsequent Judgment (Revelation 20:10-15).
Concerning the Trinity revealed within the first-three chapters of Genesis…
The Holy Spirit chose the Name “Elohim” (Genesis 1:1) to introduce our Creator…a plural noun with a singular verb.
The Holy Spirit proceeds to introduce Himself in Genesis 1:2; the Father, Son and Spirit are seen collaborating on the creation of the complex human genome (in their spiritual image) on Day-6 as “Us” and “Our;” while the Son is first introduced in Genesis 3:15 entering Time via the seed of the woman to do battle with the Devil (1 John 3:8b) via the Gospel of Grace, a divine battle strategy, which is first introduced in Genesis 3:21 with Elohim shedding innocent blood, Himself, to clothe Adam and Eve in an imputed-gifted robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) while simultaneously denying Adam’s attempts to cover his own sin and shame by the work of his hands (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16).
In the first three-chapters of the Genesis, the Trinity, the Gospel, the eschatological purpose for the creation narrative, the victory of Jesus over the Devil at Golgotha (1 John 3:8b) via the Gospel, a battle strategy ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10), are clearly articulated for those with eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart that is willing to believe by faith.
The Deity of Messiah Jesus and your eternal destiny…
The Holy Spirit, who Authored the Scriptures as presented in the Canon, could not have been more clear concerning the deity of Messiah Jesus (John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1); those who deny Messiah’s deity are absent the indwelling Holy Spirit who is the Guarantor of New Covenant relationship with the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14); therefore, those who are absent the indwelling Spirit are not redeemed by faith and therefore remain in their sin (John 3:5; John 8:24).
The one primary differentiating theological Truth between the Christian and every cult and religion of the World is the knowledge that Jesus is Elohim, our Creator – eternally “I AM” and the confession of same publically without apprehension (Matthew 16:13-20). If you do not know Jesus as Elohim, you do not know the Father or the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:23).
The unbelieving Jews during Jesus’ Earthly ministry knew the eternal import of the defic title “God’s Son” and “I AM” and sought to murder Jesus for blasphemy (John 8 ). This same mindset is prevalent today in a society inundated by “antichrists” seeking death in Hell via a false messiah they’ve created in their own image or an image of their own choosing (1 John 2:2).
“Christians, how do you explain the book of Jonah and the people of Nineveh (gentiles) repenting and being saved prior to Jesus?”
Christian response,
From Adam forward, humanity was provided covenant righteousness with Elohim by faith-trust in Elohim as the One true Deity, our Creator and Sustainer; this same truism was relevant for those in Nineveh.
Messiah’s presence in Time and His work at Golgotha simply paves the path to life in Eternity in response to the prerequisite of Leviticus 17:11 which was first pictured for humanity in Genesis 3:21; that is, the shedding of innocent blood as atonement for sin. It is “faith” in Jesus as Messiah that initiates a covenant of righteousness with the Father and it is the blood of Jesus that permits entry into the Kingdom via satisfactory atonement as mandated by the Father (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Though men and women in the Old Testament found righteousness with Elohim via “faith” (Hebrews 11), their sin required atonement before entering the Kingdom, a Kingdom where “nothing impure is permitted to enter therein” (Revelation 21:27); therefore, the Old Testament saints were interned in Sheol/paradise (Hades in the Greek) awaiting Messiah’s work at Golgotha.
Subsequent Messiah’s atoning sacrifice, those who die in body having expressed faith in Messiah Jesus are now immediately translated into the presence of Elohim in a disembodied spiritual state awaiting the resurrection as modeled by Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 3:21). The imperishable resurrected body will be the eternal life form for all of redeemed humanity throughout Eternity.
Finally, it’s important to note that the people of Nineveh repented of their sin in response to Jonah’s preaching and sought righteousness through faith exhibited, validated, by their righteous efforts to eschew evil; unfortunately, much like the people of Israel, the Ninevites did not hold fast to their covenant of repentance and obedience but once again fell prey to defilement and were subsequently judged harshly for their unfaithfulness.
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 