To Barry Amundsen - Re “Law and grace and good news”


Greetings Barry,

 

You wrote: “Abraham heard from God that 'You are righteous'”. I don’t know of any passage that says that but I could be wrong. You also wrote: “Abraham was righteous and KNEW he was righteous.” If that was true it was a momentary knowledge because shortly after this Abraham lost faith that God would carry through on His promise and took things into his own hands and went into unto Hagar to product his own heir.

The rest of Paul’s passage in Galatians explains it clearly.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

Is verse 10 saying that anyone who attempts to keep the law is cursed? Check it out, Paul is quoting Deut 27:26, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” In Deut 27:14 Moses tells the Levites to shout out to Israel that “cursed is anyone who”: vs. 15 makes idols, 16 dishonors parents, 17 cheats a neighbor, 18 abuses the blind, 19 mistreats orphans or widows, 20-23 lieth with family members or beasts, 24 slays his neighbor, 25 kills an innocent man, and then in verse 26 (RSV), “Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.”

 

So Deut 27:26 is telling us you are cursed if you DO NOT keep the law and blessed if you do. Paul used this verse to support his statement that “as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” If your strength and salvation depends on “works of the law” then you are cursed and lost, because somehow, somewhere you broke the law you are relying on to save you and instead of saving you it demands your death for payment. Because:

 

Verse 11 No man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

This time Paul quotes Hab 2:4 to substantiate his statement, “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith” (NKJV). You can’t be justified by your own righteousness because you don’t have any. We must trust in God, through faith, that He will justify us with Christ’s righteousness.

 

Verse 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

The law does not rest (RSV) or is not based (NIV) on faith but stands on its own and anyone that can possibly do them shall live in or by them. Here yet again Paul backs up his words with a quote from the law, “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.” (Lev 18:5).

 

Verse 13 The Messiah hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

So we have already learned the law itself is not a curse but imposes a curse on those who transgress it. Let’s look closely at the quote from the law Paul uses this time.

 

Deut 21:22 If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: 23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;).

“The wages of sin is death” (Ro 6:23) and so we all are “worthy of death.” But that curse or penalty of death by being hung on a tree was lifted from us and placed on our Saviour. Those who don’t accept Christ’s payment will carry the curse and pay the price themselves (Mt 25:41, Jn 3:36, 2Th 1:8-9, Jam 1:15, Rev 20:15, 21:8).

You then brought up one of Paul’s classic analogies in Gal 3:24 – “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster (paidagwgoj) to bring us unto Messiah, that we might be justified by faith.”

Strong’s #3807 ~ paidagwgoj - KJV-schoolmaster 2, instructor 1; total 3. Definition: a guardian and guide of boys. Among the Greeks and the Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them until reaching the age of manhood.

 

This word does not mean teacher, but pedagogue i.e., one who was entrusted with the supervision of a child, taking them to and from the school, being responsible for their safety and manners. Hence the pedagogue was stern and severe in his discipline. The law was our guardian to keep us in line and lead us to the salvation God had provided.

 

“Kept under the law, shut up” (v.23), away from salvation, unable to reach it [v.21], the law could not give life, or more exact, could not release us from death because that’s not its job. But faith can, faith in Christ, faith in what He did for us and how it is acceptable to the Father for payment of our debt. So we were shut up, enclosed from that maturity which could liberate us from our pedagogue that watches over, guides and protects us until we heard the gospel.

 

Verse 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

The fear of what the pedagogue would do kept the children in line, until they were old enough to appreciate and understand the value of his training. The threat, or curse, or penalty of the law, (not the law itself) which we were under, did this for us, in knowing that coveting or lying would put ourselves at risk of eternal death, we were looking for a way out. When we heard salvation preached through Jesus we were ready and willing to go to him for deliverance. When we arrived at Christ we received, through faith, complete justification, pure, as if we never sinned, no longer under the grip of the law, but free.

 

Just as the children, when reaching manhood and released from the care of the pedagogue, still can’t do dangerous things without suffering the consequences, so we also can’t break the law without paying (Ro 6:15). So once again, we are left to conclude that the law shows us our sins but does not save us from them. The standard of righteousness for us does not change when we accept Christ, but our standing before God does!

 

You wrote: “That means that we are no longer under the Law and therefore are not to even "strive to keep the demands of the Law".”

Do you realize you are telling people not to keep the law! You are saying those who are making an effort NOT to steal, cheat, lie or kill are lost and “have just left grace and are back under the Law” and the ones who make no effort to obey the commandments are the ones saved. Wow! This is what Paul says about that.

Rom 3:31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold (histemi) the law.

Strong’s #2476 ~ histemi -KJV - stand 116, set 11, establish 5, stand still 4, stand by 3, misc. 17, vr stand 2; total 158. Definition: to cause or make to stand, to place, to make firm, fix, establish; to cause a person or a thing to keep his or its place; to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything.

Do you believe the doctrine of once saved a person can’t sin or lose their salvation no matter what evil they do?

1Co 7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

1Jo 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Jo 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (barus).

#926 barus KJV-grievous 3, heavy 1, weighty 1, weighter 1; total 6. Definition: heavy, burdensome, severe, stern.

The commandments are not difficult according to John and in Revelation the ones who are saved in the end are found to have both faith in Christ and obedience to God’s laws.

Re 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Re 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Re 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life.

No doubt you don’t agree with everything I’ve written so let me know what you think and correct me where you think I’m in error.

Blessings,

David