Jesus fulfilled the Law…so what does this mean for those who honor Him as Messiah?
Discussion,
Jesus fulfilled the Law just as He said in v.17 of Matthew 5…He is the only One genomically capable of accomplishing same as Jesus circumvented the Adamic sin-nature via the virgin birth (Romans 5:12; Matthew 1:23).
Jesus kept the Law for us, He fulfilled it and He offers us His righteousness, His perfection, gifted-imputed into our life when we trust in Him as our Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:21) and consequently the Father deems us “not guilty” by New Covenant promise (Hebrews 8:12) and the Father guarantees this promise by Gifting the redeemed in Jesus with the Holy Spirit who is Guarantor of New Covenant promise, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14).
IT IS NOT our righteousness or servitude to Torah, Sinai, Moses, days or diets that makes us “right” with Elohim but it is by grace, a divine gift in response to faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), that engenders New Covenant with the Father (Hebrews 10) and we honor the Father subsequent faith in Messiah through obedience to the indwelling Spirit (Galatians 5:16) who enlivens the “spiritual law” written upon our heart; this, in combination with the “new creation” in Messiah; a “new creation” having manifest via a redeemed conscience (2 Corinthians 5:17) and it is the indwelling Spirit who “works” and produces “fruit” through us, divine fruit – against which there is no Law (Galatians 5:22-23) as this divine fruit fulfills ALL LAW; both, Spiritual and Codified; consequently, this New Covenant reality has absolutely NOTHING to do with Sinai or Moses or Torah but is rooted in a Gospel ordained “before Time began” (Romans 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:8-10).
Why has the Holy Spirit included Jesus’ discourse with the “rich young ruler” in Matthew 19? What is Jesus teaching?
A theological response to the confusion…
In Matthew 19:17, Jesus is in a theological discourse with a wealthy young man who approached Him asking “What must I ‘do’ to ‘inherit’ eternal life?”
Why do you call me good?
The very first thing Jesus did, out of compassion, was to provide the young man an opportunity to acquire eternal life by “faith” in Jesus as Messiah-Elohim; that is, Jesus asked, “Why do you call me ‘good’ seeing that no one is good but Elohim?” Had the young man possessed the faith, spiritual insight, to acknowledge Jesus as Elohim the Messiah, eternal life would have been granted immediately (Romans 10:13). Unfortunately, the young man did not recognize or acknowledge Jesus as Messiah; therefore, Jesus, knowing the young man’s thoughts, provided the only other alternative to eternal life, Jesus commanded, “Keep the Commandments.” The young man then assumed himself on fertile ground as he felt himself to be righteous due all of his efforts to keep the Commandment; therefore, he asked Jesus, “Which ones?” Jesus recited a number of moral commands to which the young man boldly and proudly stated that he had kept them; then, Jesus proceeded to demonstrate to the young man that he had NOT kept the Commandments but had failed to keep the Greatest of Commandments; Jesus, once again, provided the young man a second opportunity to find eternal life by faith and commanded the young man to “follow me.” Jesus told the young man to sell all of his wealth, distribute it to the poor and “follow me!” Had the young man complied by faith, eternal life would have manifest in the young man’s life.
The relevance of the young man’s wealth?
The young man walked away sad and disheartened because he loved his wealth more than Elohim thus demonstrating that he did not keep the Greatest Commandments to love Elohim above all else and to love your neighbor as yourself but the young man had made an idol of his wealth (Matthew 22:36-40).
I tell you this protracted story because you are DEAD WRONG if you think anyone but Jesus keeps the Commandments in perfection (Romans 3:23) which divine perfection is absolutely necessary if righteousness (a right standing) with Elohim is to manifest (James 2:10) through works of the Law (Galatians 2:16) and you are DEAD WRONG if you think the Law does anything but CURSE the one who seeks righteousness (a right standing with Elohim) through it (Galatians 3:10). As a result of the Adamic sin-nature (Romans 5:12) the Law is a curse to all of humanity; therefore, mankind requires a perfect Intercessor if righteousness (a right standing) with the Father is to manifest with purity and authenticity (1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6).
If you desire eternal life,
IF YOU DESIRE ETERNAL LIFE YOU MUST HUMBLE YOURSELF AND APPROACH ELOHIM (Genesis 1:1) BY FAITH AS AN UNWORTHY SINNER THAT YOU ARE AND ASK FORGIVENESS, REPENT OF YOUR SIN, TRUST FULLY IN JESUS AS YOUR MESSIAH WHO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THE ATONEMENT OF YOUR SIN AT GOLGOTHA! John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19
Humanity finds righteousness with Elohim NOT by what we do but in Whom we “believe.” John 3
Christians “work,” they produce divine “fruit” (Galatians 5:22-23), “subsequent salvation” by faith in Jesus as Christians “walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) in faith as they love Elohim and honor Him through obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit, not enslavement to a bygone law covenant given specifically to Israel’s children for eschatological purposes (Romans 7:6; Hebrews 8:7). The Law curses one to death; Jesus saves you through His death at Golgotha (Romans 8:1-7)! Know the difference and LIVE!
Someone said that “True love is keeping the Commandments.” Is this true?
Discussion,
The Commandments don’t espouse “love” but condemnation (Romans 3:20). Faith in the One who embodies the Commandments, the Logos of Elohim (John 1), espouses true love as that faith honors the Father (John 6:29) and engenders New Covenant relationship with Him (John 3) and subsequently engenders obedience through the indwelling Spirit (Galatians 5:16); therefore, the letter kills as it defines man’s culpability void atonement (Romans 3:20); the Spirit gives life through the Son via faith (2 Corinthians 3:6).
Divinely inspired obedience results from true love for the Son, the Father, the Holy Spirit, this, by faith and this engenders obedience inspired by the indwelling Holy Spirit via the production of divine fruit that fulfills all law, divine fruit of the Spirit that methodically fulfills every divine Commandment as there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-23).
Yes, Jesus did say “If you love me you will obey my Commandments” (John 14:15) but “love” comes first and true obedience naturally flows through the Holy Spirit given as Guarantor of New Covenant relationship with the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14) as true obedience is NOT possible void the Spirit (Galatians 5:16).
Faith in Jesus that honors the Father (John 6:29).
Receive the indwelling Holy Spirit and walk in obedience to the Spirit’s tutelage in daily sanctification producing fruit that honors the Father’s will (Ephesians 1:13-14; Galatians 5:16).
Live in peace with Elohim, eternally (Romans 5:1).
Commingling Law – Grace – Faith. Which Covenant makes this possible concerning “obedience” that honors Elohim?
Discussion,
What people don’t understand is the differentiation in application of law and the form of law that exists between the Law Covenant and the Covenant of Grace.
Sinai – Moses: Wholly insufficient as instruments of righteousness,
Sinai – Moses are codified fragments of the eternal Spiritual Law and are therefore wholly insufficient as instruments of righteousness with Elohim. Sinai – Moses were given Israel for sanctification and eschatological purposes concerning Elohim’s efforts to thwart Israel’s compromise with Baal and Molech so that Messiah, the Gospel, the Great Commission, would manifest in Time with the sole intent of “destroying the works of the Devil” (1 John 3:8b; Genesis 3:15) via the Gospel, a battle strategy ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:8-10) and the “Great Commission” as the vessel through which Satan’s defeat and eternal life by grace through faith in the Messiah would be proclaimed to all the Earth in preparation for the Tribulation, the Millennial Kingdom, the Judgment, the destruction of the Earth by fire, the placement and realization of the New Jerusalem.
Sinai and Moses – temporary for eschatological purposes,
Sinai and Moses are a fragmented codification of the eternal Spiritual Law and they were never intended to be elements of Salvation or a Key-Path to eternal covenant with Elohim as these codified laws pointed Israel’s children to their need for a Messiah by faith (Galatians 3:24); Sinai and Moses demanded perfection (James 2:10) from a sin-nature (Romans 5:12) that could never comply; therefore Sinai and Moses only defined culpability (Romans 3:20) void atonement (Galatians 2:16); therefore, Sinai and Moses only curse the one who seeks righteousness (a right standing) with the Father through them apart from or as a supplement to faith, alone (Galatians 3:10).
The New Covenant Law,
Elohim, via New Covenant promise (Ezekiel 36; Hebrews 8; Jeremiah 31), employs the eternal Spiritual Law (Romans 2:14-15; Romans 8:2) written upon the heart of humanity on Day-6 and through the Gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), Elohim enlivens, makes applicable, that Spiritual Law in the heart of the redeemed in Jesus by faith (John 3). It is through the redeemed conscience (2 Corinthians 5:17) that the Holy Spirit produces fruits of righteousness (Galatians 5) and thereby guides the faithful in Jesus to fulfill all Law as there is NO LAW against the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24); after all, Jesus did say “You will know them by their fruit” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Conclusion of the matter,
Therefore, Sinai – Moses have very little relevance in the New Covenant concerning Law and obedience to same. Christians are not obligated to Sinai, Moses, Days, Diets (Romans 6:14; Colossians 2:16). If one desires an applicable understanding concerning the commingling of Law and Grace and Faith, they must look to the work of Jesus at Golgotha, Messiah’s shed blood as atonement for sin and His imputed – gifted righteousness only available by faith in Jesus as Messiah (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Judaistic-Islamist-Religionist misunderstanding relevant to Messiah’s words “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” John 14:15
What does Jesus say immediately following John 14:15?
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you.”John 14:16-17
Discussion,
First of all, Jesus IS NOT advocating for or teaching a works based religion or salvation by works in John 14:15 nor is Jesus suggesting that obeying His commands engenders eternal security.
Jesus was speaking to a transitional audience that had lived under the law covenant now transitioning to the Covenant of Grace (New Covenant) and Jesus said that if these former slaves to the written code (Romans 7:6; Romans 6:14) loved Him, they would honor and obey what He has told them, taught them, during His 3.5-year Earthly ministry and in order for these former slaves serving a dead law covenant to actually obey Messiah’s message, they must first comply with the Father’s will and honor Him as Messiah (John 6:29), receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who would remind them of everything Jesus had taught over those years (John 14:26); therefore, if one desires to honor Jesus’ teaching ministry and the edicts He provided, they must first honor the Father by faith in the Son (John 6:29), receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of that New Covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14) and walk by the Spirit in daily sanctification (Galatians 5:16) thereby allowing the Spirit to produce fruit through the redeemed conscience (Galatians 5; 2 Corinthians 5:17) of the faithful in Jesus; this obedience manifests through the spiritual law written upon the heart (Romans 8:2; Romans 2:14-15) as per New Covenant promise (Hebrews 10:16).
Jesus’ “commandments” are fulfilled by walking in obedience to the indwelling Holy Spirit during daily sanctification, sanctification manifesting subsequent salvation by faith and NOT by chasing after letters from a dead covenant of works (Hebrews 8:7) that only defines sin and demanded obedience from a sin nature that could never comply and provided no hope of atonement or life (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16).
It is the devil, himself, that indwells the blind legalist and hides this truth from the Judaistic – Islamist – Religionist legalist that prowls these forums seeking to enslave the servants of Messiah with cult practices (2 Corinthians 4:4).
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).
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 