The Old Testament is a foundation for the New. The scriptures are historical, instructive, and prophetic. The sacrifice and the Levitical priesthood indicated what Jesus would accomplish. The Torah defines God`s character and His will for mankind. If we abandon His instructions, we have abandoned the only way to have faith. Faith comes by hearing and listening through the Word of God. Romans 10:17 His Word is the only source of spiritual truth and should be used rather than our human thinking. This is exactly the mistake Israel made when God led them out of Egypt. They rebelled against him and died in the desert. We have the written testimony and it was written for our warning. 1 Cor. 10:11 Romans 15:4 If we repeat their mistakes, how can you believe that our result will be different? God does not pay attention to people. Acts 10:34 You are quite right, for the law was good.
And it`s always good because it teaches us about our shortcomings. However, the law is weak in the sense that it could not save us. Romans 8:3The law of Moses could not save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent His own Son into a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in this body, God proclaimed the end of sin`s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. This is exactly what all religions teach, that it is your fault if you always have someone to point fingers or accuse of doing this in their minds and hearts all the time, but they just like to hide it. You are no better than a murderous rapist or a murderous liar who is not religious at all, no better, that`s the whole point! This spiritual wickedness is in high places and it is in the mind and heart that it is sin.
For them, it is not a sin, because for a carnal man, spiritual things count for nothing. Smethurst affirms his desire to maintain the substance of morality, but typically the purpose of his position (called „New Covenant”) is to free Christians from the burden of observing the 2nd and especially the 4th commandment. The Bible presents two laws: one immutable and eternal, the other temporary and temporary. One represents man`s duty to God and his neighbor, the other has been demanded because of man`s disobedience to God. I ask; To whom has God the Father given all authority in heaven and earth? To Jesus or to Paul? Christians accept Paul`s authority regarding the baseless belief that Paul was chosen by Jesus to bring the gospel to the whole world. Paul`s alleged encounter with Jesus took place after Jesus` return to heaven. In Acts 3:21, we are told that Jesus once ascended to heaven; He must then remain in heaven until all things are restored; About of course the time of his second coming. While the angels confirmed that Jesus would indeed return to earth one day. They also warned that heavenly signs would necessarily accompany this future event.
Matthew 24:23–30 gives us a detailed description of the signs that would accompany His return to this earth. Jesus warned His disciples to be very suspicious of anyone who came and claimed that He (Jesus) had indeed returned – Matthew 24:23-26, but whose return was not accompanied by the necessary prophesied signs, and especially if all living people did not witness the turning point with their own eyes. Acts 3:21 tells us that Jesus once ascended to heaven; He must then remain in heaven until all things are restored; About of course the time of his second coming. Deuteronomy 19:15 and John 8:17; teach us; It is only through the testimony of two witnesses that something can be established as truth. This is crucial, because of all the men who would have been with Paul during his miraculous encounter with Jesus; None of these men share personal accounts of what they actually saw or heard. We are not even given the number, their names, let alone their certificates. This is a great problem for those who claim to trust Paul`s apostolic authority solely because of his Word. Remember, this is the same man who persecuted believers in Christ and was actually on his way to Damascus to arrest them for detaining them. It is true that Paul`s companion, Luke, recorded the details of the historical event, but we only get a personal version of what happened. This is Paul`s version. Even Ananias was not a „witness” of anything relating to the actual event, and although his name is given to us, in his own words we do not receive a personal testimony of what he was told, but we only have Paul`s account of what was shown and said. This unfounded evidence would never stand up in any court, especially God`s judgment.
We are all doomed to believe that Paul`s letters came through revelations given to Paul by Jesus, even though they are Paul`s letters in which we find teachings that actually prevent us from following God`s Word – Duet 13:1-3. Since Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth; I warn everyone reading this post to follow Christ`s words above Paul`s word every time, and you will not be afraid when you stand before the throne on the Day of Judgment. Jesus asked, Why do you call me Lord and don`t you do what I say? Who is your Lord? Paul or Christ. „Well, if we remove the ceremonial laws and civil laws of the Old Covenant, what do we have left? God`s moral law. This law existed before Moses wrote it as part of God`s law for Israel as a theocracy, and this law is still in effect for Christians under the New Covenant. Dear Michael, Sorry for the long delay. I had a lot of work cut out for me, and then it seemed like the „Write a comment” feature was turned off, so I couldn`t figure out how to respond. Anyway, in response.
As for the simple difference made by the definite article, I would say that THE LAW refers to the biblical law, especially that of Moses, while the LAW is basically the principle of the law in general, that is, against anarchy. I get that somewhere from John Piper. See also similar definitions of Strong and Thayer for G3551. If you look in Strong`s definition for νόμος nomos G3551: From a primary word νέμω nemō (to distribute, especially food or pasture, to animals); [#s in parentheses are given to match Thayer`s definition] [1b] Law (by the idea of prescriptive usage), general (ordinance), specific (of Moses [including volume]; also of the Gospel), [1a] or figuratively (a principle): – Law. Total KJV hits: 197 Thayer Definition: Part of speech: masculine noun 1) everything that is established, everything that produces by usage, custom, law, commandment 1a) any law or rule that produces a state approved by God 1a1a) by the observance of which God is approved 1a2) a commandment or injunction 1a3) the rule of action prescribed in reason 1b) of the Mosaic Law, and reference, depending on the context. either to the extent of the law or in its content 1c) the Christian religion: the law which requires faith, the moral instruction given by Christ, especially the commandment on love 1d) the name of the most important part (the Pentateuch), is used for the whole collection of the holy books of the OT. I have already mentioned (20210916) the important issue of nomos anarthrous versus nomos arthrous; I`m in the process of listing all occurrences in the original, in relation to how the translations treat it correctly or badly. It is ironic that although I am only a janitor with 5 years of Bible school and a few years of seminary, God has given me insight that many seminarians lack. But another issue, at least as important and really much more important, is Hebrew.