You may want to get a cup of coffee, for this is a bit more in-depth study concerning the Law of Moses and God's Spiritual Law written in our hearts.
Folks, please read these passages, and even read them in their context, and make your own assessment:
Romans 7:1-6
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? [He makes it clear he is speaking to the Jews and converts to Judaism who knew the Law]
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband. [Remember this as you continue to read Paul's portrayal of how the Law of Moses relates to us today.]
3 So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
My brothers and sisters, please re-read and re-read those passages again and again if you find yourself being tugged toward trying to live the Law of Moses once again by way of the enticements of others. There are movements out there trying and subjugate (enslave) followers of Christ once again to the Law of Moses (death).
Those chains of bondage were shattered from you when you were buried and raised back up into newness of life in Christ Jesus. Read again those verses. Let the words of Christ, inspired through our brother Paul, from He who laid down His life for you. He redeemed you from the death and condemnation of the Law.
This is not to say that the Law has passed away. NO! It has not. However, its still being valid and in existence does not translate into a requirement that we, who have been redeemed from the curse of the Law, must CONTINUE to live it. We cannot. He lived it for us.
Romans 7:7-13
7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead. [The law is the defining authority for sin.]
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].
12 Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Read that again and again until it settles firmly in your heart and mind. Let your understanding be enriched.
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
So, we can see that going back to the Law, we pursue death and sin within ourselves, trying to attain unto that which is perfect. The imperfect cannot apprehend and hold to that which is perfect, for the perfect Law of Moses offered no redemption from its curse for sin, but rather only a sin covering until He who is the Lamb of God is and was slain for our transgressions as defined by the perfect Law.
Romans 8:1-8
1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [Do you see this?]
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [Pursuing the Law is a matter of the flesh, for works of the flesh are until death.]
6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
So, why go back to trying to live the Law? The Judaisers set themselves up as authorities over the Law of Moses, carving it up with their religious knives, telling what parts to which we all are allegedly beholden, and which we are not.
To the Israelites, the Lord inspired this to be written unto them:
Jeremiah 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Romans 2:12-16
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; [Do YOU want to be judged IN the Law?]
13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and [their] thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another [The Law of Moses was written on stone and parchment, not on the flesh of hearts...not yet when they were initially written to the people of Israel]
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Most people assume that every occurrence of the term "law" in our English translations is always a reference to the Law of Moses. That is not always the case. THIS is why one must delve into the Greek from which the English texts were translated. Do you see what is being said in verse 14? When referring to Gentiles who knew not the Law of Moses, there is reference to what can also be translated as "conscience" (...do by nature...).
Reading through the Bible just to get through it in one year, for example, leaves one missing so much in the details that are so vastly important. This is a reason I have gravitated toward Systematic Theology. These rare gems and precious metals of truth bolster up a belief system much more massive in size, and with a magnitude unimaginably powerful.
Going back to the Law of Moses, then, is a matter of walking away from the life lived in the Spirit. A woman cannot bring back her dead husband to once again be bound by the law of marriage to him once again, no matter how much she may try. Going back to the Law to once again be bound to it, that is the comparison Paul of Tarsus made for us to understand it.
My former wife is now in Paradise with our Lord. I would not ever want to drag her back here again...ever. Not to this world. Instead, I have taken unto myself another to fill that void the Lord created in us men, that it is not good that we are alone. The Lord gave to me a wonderful woman, and I am so thankful to Him for that.
Love God's Law. Study the Law of Moses. Hold it dear to your mind and heart, for it is perfect. A woman can continue to love her former husband, but can never be bound to him again once he is gone. We are like that husband in relation to the Law of Moses. THAT is the essence of what Paul has taught in those passages. We died to the Law, and were raised back into newness of life in Christ.
Know it.
Believe it.
Embrace it.
Teach it.
MM
Folks, please read these passages, and even read them in their context, and make your own assessment:
Romans 7:1-6
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? [He makes it clear he is speaking to the Jews and converts to Judaism who knew the Law]
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to [her] husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of [her] husband. [Remember this as you continue to read Paul's portrayal of how the Law of Moses relates to us today.]
3 So then if, while [her] husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, [even] to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not [in] the oldness of the letter.
My brothers and sisters, please re-read and re-read those passages again and again if you find yourself being tugged toward trying to live the Law of Moses once again by way of the enticements of others. There are movements out there trying and subjugate (enslave) followers of Christ once again to the Law of Moses (death).
Those chains of bondage were shattered from you when you were buried and raised back up into newness of life in Christ Jesus. Read again those verses. Let the words of Christ, inspired through our brother Paul, from He who laid down His life for you. He redeemed you from the death and condemnation of the Law.
This is not to say that the Law has passed away. NO! It has not. However, its still being valid and in existence does not translate into a requirement that we, who have been redeemed from the curse of the Law, must CONTINUE to live it. We cannot. He lived it for us.
Romans 7:7-13
7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin [was] dead. [The law is the defining authority for sin.]
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] unto death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew [me].
12 Wherefore the law [is] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Read that again and again until it settles firmly in your heart and mind. Let your understanding be enriched.
Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that [it is] good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
So, we can see that going back to the Law, we pursue death and sin within ourselves, trying to attain unto that which is perfect. The imperfect cannot apprehend and hold to that which is perfect, for the perfect Law of Moses offered no redemption from its curse for sin, but rather only a sin covering until He who is the Lamb of God is and was slain for our transgressions as defined by the perfect Law.
Romans 8:1-8
1 [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [Do you see this?]
5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. [Pursuing the Law is a matter of the flesh, for works of the flesh are until death.]
6 For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
So, why go back to trying to live the Law? The Judaisers set themselves up as authorities over the Law of Moses, carving it up with their religious knives, telling what parts to which we all are allegedly beholden, and which we are not.
To the Israelites, the Lord inspired this to be written unto them:
Jeremiah 31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Romans 2:12-16
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; [Do YOU want to be judged IN the Law?]
13 (For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and [their] thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another [The Law of Moses was written on stone and parchment, not on the flesh of hearts...not yet when they were initially written to the people of Israel]
16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Most people assume that every occurrence of the term "law" in our English translations is always a reference to the Law of Moses. That is not always the case. THIS is why one must delve into the Greek from which the English texts were translated. Do you see what is being said in verse 14? When referring to Gentiles who knew not the Law of Moses, there is reference to what can also be translated as "conscience" (...do by nature...).
Reading through the Bible just to get through it in one year, for example, leaves one missing so much in the details that are so vastly important. This is a reason I have gravitated toward Systematic Theology. These rare gems and precious metals of truth bolster up a belief system much more massive in size, and with a magnitude unimaginably powerful.
Going back to the Law of Moses, then, is a matter of walking away from the life lived in the Spirit. A woman cannot bring back her dead husband to once again be bound by the law of marriage to him once again, no matter how much she may try. Going back to the Law to once again be bound to it, that is the comparison Paul of Tarsus made for us to understand it.
My former wife is now in Paradise with our Lord. I would not ever want to drag her back here again...ever. Not to this world. Instead, I have taken unto myself another to fill that void the Lord created in us men, that it is not good that we are alone. The Lord gave to me a wonderful woman, and I am so thankful to Him for that.
Love God's Law. Study the Law of Moses. Hold it dear to your mind and heart, for it is perfect. A woman can continue to love her former husband, but can never be bound to him again once he is gone. We are like that husband in relation to the Law of Moses. THAT is the essence of what Paul has taught in those passages. We died to the Law, and were raised back into newness of life in Christ.
Know it.
Believe it.
Embrace it.
Teach it.
MM
