Jesus said: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) Does Jesus advocate a works doctrine of law-keeping for salvation?

Christian response,

Don’t put the cart before the horse. It is the one who “believes” in Jesus as Lord that receives the anointing of the Holy Spirit providing the ability and desire to obey (Ephesians 1:13-14; Galatians 5:16; John 16:13). Until one humbles themself before God and rejects their own self-righteousness through vain attempts at law-keeping and seeks God’s righteousness earned for us at Golgotha, a perfect righteousness manifest through the obedience and shed blood of Messiah, and one receives the imputation of Messiah’s righteousness into their life by faith, their works of obedience through self-righteousness, law keeping, are equated to a filthy, bloody, menstrual cloth in God’s nose (John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 64:6).

Those who love God in Jesus Christ and have received the Holy Spirit as Guarantor of that covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14) will walk in sanctification through the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) and pursue the will of God for their life NOT because they’re enslaved to letters and laws and rules and days but because they love God, they are His child, His possession…they now have a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17) and an innate desire to please God as they are forgiven and walk in peace with God, forever (Romans 8; Galatians 5:16; Romans 5:1).

The Commandments can do NOTHING for you but define your sin and culpability before God void any form of atonement (Romans 3:20). The Commandments were given Israel as a tutor, a school master, to point them to their need for a Redeemer by faith (Galatians 3:24). When Jesus says to keep “MY” Commandments, He speaks of those commands provided mankind during His earthly ministry. Commandment keeping has absolutely NOTHING to do with your status before God concerning your eternal destiny. It is the one who believes in Jesus as Lord that is made righteous before God as a GIFT of grace through faith, not the one who works in self-righteousness through Law keeping (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3; Romans 3:21). If you seek God’s favor through law-keeping, self-righteousness, you will perish in your sin and ultimately the “second death” in Perdition as you live under a curse (Romans 3:20; John 8:24; Galatians 3:10).

Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord, receive His righteousness through the imputation by faith and live with God in peace, forever (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:1).

It is written,

21 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 but it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,” Romans 3 (NASB)

Why animal sacrifices in the Hebrew Scriptures?

Animal sacrifices in the Hebrew Scriptures were given, performed, as an object lesson relevant to what Elohim requires as atonement for sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22) as He first demonstrated this by shedding innocent blood in Eden to provide Adam and Eve an imputed robe of righteousness, Himself, while rejecting the self-righteousness of Adam to cover his own sin by the work of his hands via fig leaves (Genesis 3:21; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Though our forefathers followed this example, first provided by Elohim in Eden, the blood of animals could never take away sin (Hebrews 10) but most relevant is the truism that the “faith” of the one offering the sacrifice was accounted to them as “righteous” (Hebrews 11) (possessing a right standing) before God BUT their sin had not yet received acceptable atonement; therefore, upon death of the body in Time, the Old Testament saints were relegated to Sheol (Paradise) awaiting the perfect blood atonement, Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World (Psalm16:10; Luke 16; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19).

It is only the blood of Messiah, innocent, sinless, that the Father accepts as atonement for your sin (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 10; Hebrews 11) and only by faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord who died for you will you receive the imputation of Jesus’ righteousness, an atoning righteousness earned for you at Golgotha, as a “robe of righteousness” first demonstrated-pictured in Eden immediately subsequent the fall of man and fulfilled 4000-years later outside the gates of the Old City with the words of Messiah… “It is finished” (Genesis 3:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21; John 3; Matthew 26:28; John 19:30).

God’s Moral Law…the righteousness of God that precedes Time…

God’s moral law has been extant from the creation of the angels as an arbiter of free will and we each have that law infused within us at conception (Romans 1:20; 2:14-15) as we’re created in the spiritual image of God having received certain communicable attributes of Elohim (Genesis 1:26-28); the moral law acts as a bulwark against unrestrained narcissism that would lead to species extinction; also, the moral law is necessary for God’s justice to manifest with equality, due process, at judgment.

The only One who has obeyed the moral law in perfection is Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:17), born of the seed (ovum) of the woman under the law (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4) to negate and circumvent the seed of Adam through which all of mankind is infected with a sin-nature leading to death of the body in Time, death of the body and soul in Hell (Romans 5:12; Rev 20:11-15). It is by trusting in the perfection and righteousness of Jesus Christ as our Lord who died for us that we can receive the perfection and righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed into our lives by faith and be declared “not guilty” by covenant promise (Hebrews 8:12; Matthew 26:28; 2 Corinthians 5:21) and receive the Holy Spirit as Guarantor of covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14) and thereby walk in sanctification and peace with God, forever (Romans 5:1) i.e. the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This Gospel (good news) was ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:9-10) and this Gospel is the ONLY Way God the Father has provided as a path to righteousness (a right standing) with Him through the forgiveness of sin by which He successfully “destroyed the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b) at Golgotha concerning His eschatological purposes. Faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord is the only Way to Eternal Life (John 14:6).

Law Keeper asked: Why would Jesus spend 33-years studying the Law then die if the Law was to become obsolete?

Answer,

First of all, God’s moral law will never become “obsolete” (Matthew 24:35). God’s moral law is provided every human being at conception as we are created in the spiritual image of God with certain communicable attributes of God; knowledge of God’s moral mandates is but one of these communicable attributes (Genesis 1:26-28).

Second, God’s moral law,

1) Acts a bulwark restraining narcissism/arbitrating free will by the conscience thereby curtailing human self-destruction which would thwart God’s eschatological plan and give victory to Satan.

2) Defines God’s righteous decrees through the conscience thereby allowing for justice, adjudication with due process in Holy Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

Third, the Law of the Covenant, given specifically to Israel’s children, is NOTHING NEW or novel but is simply a reiteration, with some specificity, of the Law of Conscience infused within every human being from Adam forward (Romans 2:14-15).

Discussion,

As a Christian, I don’t walk through this life enslaved to letters in stone or scratched upon parchment (Romans 6:17-18)…I walk in “peace” with God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1) as the Holy Spirit is my Law (John 14:26) and He teaches me (1 John 2:27) and guides me daily in obedience (Galatians 5:16) as I am forgiven for sin by faith in Jesus my Lord whereas the Law of the Covenant only condemned me, cursed me, without recourse (Galatians 3:10; Romans 3:20). Don’t you understand the eternal difference and the relevance concerning your eternal destiny? Jesus gives LIFE – the Letter KILLS (2 Corinthians 3:6)!

Finally, Jesus did not require “STUDY”…Jesus wrote the Ten-Commandments on SINAI and the 613-Levitical Laws and Jesus authored the Law of Conscience, the basic moral law (Romans 2:14-15) that arbitrates the angels behavior, convicted Satan, convicted the Adamic and Noahic generations of sin and under girded their destruction by water save eight. This Law of Conscience has arbitrated the behavior of every generation of human kind beginning with Adam and continues in its relevance as an arbiter of free will to this very day and will extend that relevance into Eternity.

You serve a Law Covenant in self-righteousness that only condemns you but provides you nothing but death in Hell (Romans 3:20). Jesus is the only One who kept the Law in mandated perfection and offers you His righteousness by faith in Him as Lord…can’t you see this? Don’t you understand that the only righteousness qualifying you for eternal life…the only righteousness available to you in this life, is the righteousness that Jesus our Messiah earned for you by keeping the Law in mandated perfection (Matthew 5:17) and shedding His innocent blood as atonement for your sin; can’t you understand that you can only access that forgiveness of sin by faith in Jesus as Lord (John 3)?

Why do you insist on dying in Hell when a Path to eternal life awaits you by simply believing-trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord with sincerity and receiving the Holy Spirit as Guarantor of covenant relationship with God the Father (John 3; Ephesians 1:13-14)?

James warned that faith without works is dead but what is the Holy Spirit actually telling us? James 2:26

Unless one FIRST establishes covenant relationship with God the Father by faith, alone, in Jesus, alone, their works of righteousness are equated to a filthy, bloody, menstrual cloth in God’s nose (Isaiah 64:6); fact is, God does not even entertain the petitions of those who are not His child by faith in Jesus as Lord (John 9:31).

One’s works of goodness, faithfulness, righteousness, SUBSEQUENT to having established covenant relationship by faith in Jesus as Lord and having received the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of that relationship are seen as validating, substantiating, one’s faith as true but NEVER can one’s works supplant the necessity for faith first, relationship first; in other words, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE IN YOUR FLESH TO WORK YOURSELF TO GOD AND “EARN” HIS FAVOR OR FORGIVENESS. If righteousness came through law-keeping, self-righteousness, Jesus Christ died needlessly.

God the Father has ordained ONE – WAY for you to find forgiveness of sin and life in eternity; that is, repentance – faith in Jesus Christ believing that Jesus is Lord and that He died to pay your sin-debt owed the Father and subsequently receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of that covenant relationship (Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 1:13-14); from that point forward, you walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit who meticulously guides you in obedience to the Father’s will for your life via the daily process of sanctification i.e. preparation for eternal service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:16). There is no other Way and there is no other Name given among men by which you can be saved from death in Hell (John 14:6; John 3; Acts 4:12).

Law Keeper says: “Jesus was a Jew and kept the Sabbath and the Law; therefore, we must do likewise.” Is this theologically accurate?

My life as a Christian is NOT consumed by what “I must do” today to please God because God the Father is pleased that I am HIS by faith in His Son, that His Spirit resides within me with intimacy…this is rest…NOT a “day” or a “law” or a “tradition” or doctrine of men who are presently awaiting judgment for their apostasy.
Jesus is God – Elohim who entered Time through the Tribe of Judah under the Law to redeem those under the Law (Galatians 4:4) and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8b) through selfless love, but those under the Law rejected Him, blasphemed Him, falsely accused Him, murdered Him and demanded that His blood be upon them and their children (Matthew 27:25); obviously, seeking righteousness through Law was a complete failure and Jacob’s children made this truism abundantly clear; we see by example that the Law does not provide peace, rest or relationship with God the Father (Galatians 2:16).

Jesus provided both the moral law of conscience (Romans 2:14-15) and a reiteration of that law etched in stone for Israel’s children known as the Law Covenant including 613-laws with ceremonial, civil, dietary, mandates specifically for Israel’s children. Jesus kept the moral laws in perfection, something mankind could never do, and shed His innocent blood at Golgotha to fulfill the sacrificial atoning mandates of Leviticus 17:11 so that by faith in His sacrifice for me, I could receive the imputation of HIS righteousness into and over my life, forever, and receive the beautiful Holy Spirit who walks me in Sabbath Peace and Rest through faith in Jesus every single day of my life (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 5:1; Hebrews 4).

Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Sabbath edict foreshadowed (Colossians 2:16; Romans 14; Hebrews 4) and in Jesus and ONLY in Jesus through the Holy Spirit is there “peace” and “rest” with God the Father (John 14:23). As a Christian, I don’t worship or serve rules etched in stone or days or festivals or traditions…I worship and serve the Living God, Jesus Christ, by faith and through His Spirit; the indwelling Holy Spirit is my Law Giver (Galatians 5:16) and Sanctification and in this there is intimacy with God that no day or rule could ever provide. You don’t understand this because you don’t belong to God but you belong to a false god of self-righteousness through a facade of obedience to a Law that only condemns you but provides you no rest, no peace, no joy, no hope (Galatians 3:10; James 2:10; Romans 8; 3:20). You worship yourself in pride and arrogance in self-righteousness and point an accusatory finger at those who don’t comply with your legalism.

Concerning your Sabbath Day,

The Sabbath edict was given exclusively to Israel as a sign between God and Israel beginning in Exodus 16 and at NO TIME, from Adam forward, has God commanded a Sabbath as observance for a Gentile lest same sought inclusion into Israel’s society under Covenant of Law. I belong to Jesus through the Holy Spirit and God the Father is mine by faith in Jesus as my Redeemer, My Lord; therefore, take your Sabbath legalistic nonsense and go away…I am NOT under your Law and your legalistic futility. Sabbatarianism is a spiritual illness of Jewish Roots, SDA Cult members, a works doctrine of self-righteousness and if you’re going to demand that others keep a Sabbath or any Law of the Covenant, first keep them yourself by example and demonstrate the “peace” and “rest” and “love” you’ve received through self-righteousness.

Must grace alone by faith alone in Jesus as Lord be supplemented by works of obedience to be saved from death in Hell?

If one suggests they are saved by grace having trusted in Jesus as Lord yet there is no evidence of a changed life or evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in their life (Galatians 5:22-23)…they are a liar and living in self-deception. Jesus said you would know them by their fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).

With that said, you cannot earn or supplement the grace of God with your works before or subsequent to salvation. Obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation is a natural act or resultant of being born again by grace (unmerited favor unattainable by human effort) through faith (trust-belief) in Jesus as Lord.Your obedience to the Commands of Jesus that follow true salvation does NOT supplement faith or grace; obedience subsequent to salvation only validates, substantiates, the fact that true salvation has manifest in one’s life by faith, alone, in Jesus, alone, as Lord, alone.

The good works that follow salvation are not done to complete the salvation process but these works of obedience, righteousness, fruit of the Spirit, are a sign that the salvation process has resulted in covenant relationship with the Father by faith in the Son, Jesus Christ, and those works of obedience are ONLY possible by the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer as Guarantor of covenant relationship that was established by grace, alone, by faith, alone, in Jesus, alone (Galatians 5:16; Ephesians 1:13-14).

Self-righteousness is a sure path to death in Hell…

You cannot keep the Commandments, the Law of the Covenant or the Law of Conscience sufficiently to be saved by self-righteousness (Romans 3:20; James 2:10; Galatians 3:10)…it WON’T happen because you’re a sinner condemned by the Law to death in Hell (Romans 3:23; Galatians 3:10). If you trust in yourself, your facade of goodness and obedience to please the Father and thereby believe you are qualified to earn your own way into God’s grace, you will die with the “many” in Hell (Matthew 7:13-14).

Your only hope for life in eternity with God is by humbling yourself before Him as an unworthy sinner and asking forgiveness for your sin and confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, Messiah, Savior, Redeemer, and that Jesus died for you to pay your sin-debt owed the Father (Romans 10:9-10; John 3)…a debt you could never pay by attempting to be “good enough” to please God.

Subsequent to confessing Jesus as your Lord, you’ll receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as the promise, seal, Guarantor, of covenant relationship with the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14) and from that point forward, the Holy Spirit will walk you in sanctification, daily, and you will be incrementally transformed into a vessel of obedience by which you can honor God (Galatians 5:16), but until you’ve admitted that you’re incapable of pleasing God in self-righteousness, you will continue to exist in futility, anger, hate, an odd mix of self-loathing (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21).
Honoring God by pursuing obedience is only relevant SUBSEQUENT to becoming His child by faith in Jesus; until you’ve established covenant relationship by faith in Jesus as Lord, your works of obedience, on your best day, are equated to a filthy, bloody, menstrual, cloth in God’s nose (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8-9).

What is your only hope in this life and in the life to come? Trust completely in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the One who performed the work of redemption for you on a Roman Cross 2000-years ago and find peace with God the Father, forever (Romans 5:1).

Skeptic asked: “If Jesus could not save Himself, how can He save you?“

Jesus, God in flesh, could have rejected the Father’s will and permitted the Devil to have victory over your sinful soul and thereby allowed you to die in Hell without hope but Jesus, even though horrified by the Cross and spiritual separation from the Father, endured unconscionable beating and suffocation upon a Roman Cross in order that His innocent blood would be shed as atonement for your sin (Matthew 26:28; Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). Jesus performed this sacrificial act out of selfless love for the Father and the Father’s will for you and your eternity.

Don’t disparage what God has done for you within the Realm of Time so that you can attain victory over the Devil as God is restoring peace and order to His Kingdom that was ravaged by the Devil’s rebellion. Don’t die as a subject of the Devil but die in body in victory in Jesus and live with God forever in that victory (John 3). Trust – believe in Jesus as your Lord and believe that Jesus died for you to pay your sin-debt owed the Father and live with God, forever, in peace (John 14:6; John 3; Romans 5:1).

Eternal security in Law v. Eternal security by Grace through Faith…

Response to a law keeper who denies eternal security for the one who trusts in Jesus as Lord…

Everyone of your Scriptures emanates from a dispensation of Law and works of the Law which had absolutely nothing to do with salvation. A man under the Law can repent till his dying breath and die in Hell lest his repentance was accompanied by faith in God with a heart that believes God is true, that He exists, and will forgive man’s sin through faith. Even though those in the Hebrew Scriptures could be justified before God through faith (Hebrews 11), their sin had not received the mandated blood atonement first pictured in Genesis 3:21, articulated in Leviticus 17:11, demonstrated by the blood sacrifices under the Law (Hebrews 10).

The Hebrew Scriptures denote a wholly different dispensation and working of the Holy Spirit; for example, in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Holy Spirit was only given to certain specified individuals as an anointing for a specific work or responsibility for God’s purposes and the Holy Spirit could be removed for disobedience (Psalm 51:11).

Fast forward to the New Covenant of grace through faith in Jesus as Lord where the Holy Spirit is given as Guarantor of Covenant Relationship with God the Father, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14). In the New Covenant, the one who is truly born again by faith in Jesus and has received the indwelling Holy Spirit as the Seal of that covenant will endure to the end…they are forever God’s property and He has set His seal upon them and nothing will ever snatch them out of God’s hands (John 10:28-30).

Finally, Christianity is NOT lawlessness but is a Covenant of obedience through the indwelling Holy Spirit that is far superior to the Covenant of Law that sought obedience through the weakness of sinful flesh (Romans 8; 2 Corinthians 3; Hebrews 8; Galatians 5:16;).