Good morning Steemians, I hope you're all having a wonderful day!
I'm going through a study on the Idea of Law in the Christian Bible. I'm breaking it into chunks, so there will probably be more to come. I've made a Youtube video, which is basically a podcast with a slideshow.
It's basically me reading the article below, which I posted for the more literary inclined. You'll get the same message either way, I'm trying to be format binary...
I've been a believer in Jesus for most of my life. I'm one of those people who can't really remember having a conversion experience: I just remember always believing. Throughout my life, and over 30 year walk with Jesus, I've found that one of the great joys in a walk with the Lord is the studying out of the scriptures and working through their implications for daily life. The more I faced difficult decisions in life, the more I found myself turning to the Bible for guidance. In doing so, I learned something interesting: the more difficult the life problem is, the more difficult the Scriptures are to interpret.
This led me to seek out teachers, theologians, pastors, and other biblical experts for their opinions. I wanted to see how my reading stacked up with theirs. What I found was that on almost every major “doctrine” there was substantial disagreement on interpretation of key passages. For example, Acts 2:38 says:
-----"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Does this verse teach that water baptism is required for salvation? Some say yes, some say no. It has been my experience that biblical teachers are very prone to first learning a theological system, and then to use that as a framework for interpreting difficult passages. Some will say this verse clearly shows that baptism is a prerequisite to salvation, others say that “for the remission of sins” should be understood as “because your sins were forgiven.”
Doctrines of salvation, sanctification, atonement, faith, and law are all hotly debated. Many good and intelligent followers of Jesus have reached different opinions on these issues over the centuries since the resurrection, and many more will disagree going forward. As for me, I can't help but try to look at things from every angle. I try to learn what I can from anyone who has a perspective, think things over, and come up with a conclusion.
From time to time, however, I am confronted with something that makes me re-examine my conclusions, and restudy an issue. Sometimes I run across something while studying one topic that causes me to want another look at a different one. This is what happened to me when I started studying the feasts and festivals in the Old Testament and how they are related to and sometimes fulfilled by Jesus.
Looking into the Feasts of the Lord led me to various Hebrew Roots “type” teachers. I say “type” because they vary a bit in core beliefs, but one thing I noticed was almost universal was the belief that followers of Jesus were supposed to obey the Mosaic Law. I really started looking into the Law from their angle. I also read and studied some Seventh Day Adventist teachings about the law, Sabbath, and commandments. I throw the Adventists in there because they are quite similar to the Hebrew Roots types in regard to their understanding of the Law.
I ran into this during a really difficult time in my life where I was learning that many of my previously held notions of how the world worked were untrustworthy. Could I have gotten this wrong as well?
If you want to know what I found out, stick around. This issue has a great many angles to it, and as usual it seems to revolve around the understanding of several key passages. Today, I want to look at one I've experienced to be the most prevalent argument in favor of Torah observance.
Arguement: “1 John 3:4 defines sin as transgression of the law.”
In the KJV it reads: “ Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Here's what the Seventh Day Adventists have to say about it:
-----“The ten Commandments convey God's pattern of conduct for humanity. They define our relationship with our Creator and Redeemer and our duty to our fellow beings. Scripture calls the transgression of God's law sin (1 John 3:4, KJV).” -Seventh-day Adventist believe… A biblical Exposition of Fundamental Doctrines, 1988 pg 234.
Now, here's a clip from Rob Skiba, a prolific and popular youtuber promoting Torah observance
For the reader among you, Rob starts by citing Romans 6: 1-2:
-----“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein”
He jumps straight to 1 John 3:4 and defines sin.
Seems pretty straight forward, right? Well it is if you aren't asking questions. Lets see if I can muddy the waters any.
First, when John talks about sin as transgression of the law, what law is he referring to? Rob and many others would make it seem like there isn't any question: John must be referring to the Torah. Or the Decalogue. Or the entire Mosaic law. But could there be more to it?
I might have missed it, but what Rob and many others don't seem to consider is that John actually tells us about another law. In the Gospel of John Jesus says:
John 15:12-17
-----“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.”
I know that came from a different book in the Bible, and there is debate as to whether it was the same John, but keep those verses in mind as you look at these verses fro 1 John.
1 John 2:3-11
-----“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
1 John 3:10-16
-----“In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
1 John 3:22-24
-----“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
It seems clear to me that if you read the entire epistle of 1 John in context, John is defining “sin” as failure to love one another. Is John making this up? Do any of the other New Testament writers back this up? I think so. Here's some examples:
First, let's see what Jesus says.
Matthew 7:12
-----“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22: 35-40
-----“Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
This scene is retold in Mark 12:28-35 and Luke 10:25-27
In the Synoptic Gospels Jesus sums up the Law for us, but in Johns Gospel it becomes a specific command.
John 13:34-35
-----“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Now lets look at some things Paul has to say. First, lets see if Paul taught Torah observance. In 1 Corinthians Paul is making a defense of his authority when he throws this in there:
1 Corinthians 9:19-21
-----“For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.”
Paul is saying that when he is with Jews, he observes the Torah so he can effectively preach the gospel to them, but when he is with non-Jews he doesn't observe the Torah so he will not alienate the non-Jews. Then, he throws in parenthetically that he is not without the Law to God, but under the Law to Christ. Let's see if Paul gives any clues about what he means by that.
First lets look at Galatians
Galatians 5:14
-----“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Galatians 6:2
-----“Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Now Romans
Romans 13:8-10
-----“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
James also mentions this new law, but he calls it the Royal Law
James 2:8-9
-----“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.”
Here James is saying that showing favoritism is a sin because it violates the Royal Law to love one another. This wouldn't have been a sin under the Mosaic Law.
There's another way we can know that John isn't saying we have to be Torah observant, and Paul tells us in Romans that we are no longer bound to the law because we are dead to the law.
Romans 7:1-6
-----“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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Here Paul tells us that the law was binding until Jesus Died, then when he was raised from the dead we became married to Christ in order to bring forth fruit. Paul says the Fruit of the law was death because people were unable to stop themselves from breaking it. Now, we are free from the law that causes death so we can walk in Liberty with the Holy Spirit.
There is a whole lot more to be said here, so stayed tuned if you're interested in this topic. Until then, please check out the scriptures I quoted in context and see if you think I'm reading them correctly. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter. You can leave comments on Youtube, Steemit, or Minds.com.