The Law: pt#2

[Guest Yacov]

1) I am not a christian. Never will be. The writers of the bible were not christians, they were at least Orthodox jews.

2) To state what you state, you make Rabbi Paul to be a liar, a false Prophet and a false teacher and everything he wrote needs to go in the garbage can sicne Paul is no better than any other False Prophet. You state this. Not I.

A wise man once said that the most normal Christian in the world is a converted Jew - the rest of us are mutts. Be that as it may, knowing and keeping the letter of the law is not required of Christians. During Jesus' time, the religious leaders had taken the idea of 'keeping the law' to an extreme, to the point that, what in their minds defined righteousness had become a burdensome litany of legalistic rule-keeping. For example, anything heavier than a single swallow of milk constituted carrying a burden on the Sabbath, etc. In their minds, they were the chosen people to the exclusion of the rest of the world, in spite of the fact that God had told them that they were to be a light unto all the nations.Their system of religious rule-keeping had become such a drudge that Jesus Himself described it as "Laying burdens on the shoulders of people that are too heavy for them to bear"(Matthew 23:4). They were self-deceived into believing that all their religious activity entitled them to right standing before God.

In Christ, all of that goes away. By the Holy Spirit, and without studying, we know what is pleasing to God. We don't have to memorize the books of Moses, we don't have to memorize two-four blatt a day, we don't have to wear tzitzen or phylacteries - we are led by the Holy Spirit to do what is right, say what is right and act toward our fellow men in a godly manner. We do not have the burden of having to memorize and act out the letter of the law.

During the early days of the church, Christians were viewed as just another Jewish sect and this misunderstanding led to all sorts of friction, especially when it came to the Gentile converts to The Way. It was to address this misunderstanding that Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians stating very clearly that the Gentile converts were in no way obligated to be circumcised and keep the law. Paul, who had been a student of Rabbi Gamaliel, knew of what he spoke.

All that to say this: if you are a committed Jew, be a Jew and may the God of Abraham bless you all of your days. However, if the teachings of Jesus speak to you and tug at your heart, what can it hurt to listen a little more? Just be aware that knowing and keeping the law as is obviously your practice and in the manner that you are accustomed to is not binding on Christians.

1) I call that "wise man" an idiot that does not know the Law and the Prophets. If ALL Jewish people converted to Christianity then the Messiah would not need to come and would never come.

2) I agree about keeping the letter of the law. Those statements have been taken to the extreme by the anti-semites of this world. Please for the Love of Christ, stop. It only serves to feed anti-semitism.

3) Your statements border on the same legal arguments that Marcion made. Rabbi Ploycarp ben David, an early church leader who lived in Asia Minor around 150 a.c.e. adjudicated Marcion a heretic and rightly so for very simular statements. Marcion's bible throughout all of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament to include to 4 Gospels. Sound familiar to you?

4) During the early days of the church, all beleivers in Yeshua were considered rightly a Jewish sect or denomination. That does not mean the gentiles were no longer gentiles. You do not know your history correctly. I have no clue where this Political Correctness comes from except to put fuel on the fire for the anti-semites.

5) You are correct. Rabbi Paul was extremely well versed in PARDES. That is the way that all the Rabbis including Yeshua interpreted scripture. If you do not understand PARDES, I refer you again to Dr. Bob Tippie's website Torah Tips through google.

6) The practic of keeping the Law for Gentiles has never been such as a Jew should so your statement is not only not true, it is invalid.

[kross]

Yacov, Paul was a Christian. Paul taught keeping the law was not necessary.

The book of Hebrews that you quoted was written to Jews who rejected the work of JESUS. The punishment for not keeping the law was written for the sole perpose of pointing out how much greater a punishment would be deserved for someone who rejected the sacrifice offered by GOD.

Those Jews who choose JESUS a savior, are no longer under the law. For them, JESUS fulfilled all of the law, not just the sacrifice for sin, but also the requirement for righteousness as established in the law.

As I stated before, those indwelt with a HOLY SPIRIT will do by nature what the law requires.