“...Where no Law is, there is no transgression--the misunderstood Gospel of Grace

Many “Christians” follow a Gospel that ranges from flawed to false because very few apprehend the true Gospel of Grace.

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While we may understand and acknowledge Christ as savior, we often fall prey to a deadly trap Paul warns us of:

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A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

--Gal. 5: 9.

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The leaven he speaks of is diluting faith by mixing Law with that faith, which was why he wrote his epistle to the Galatians against this danger.

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Conservative Jews, stringent in the observance of the hundreds of commandments God gave through Moses, naturally brought this mindset into their Christianity, and began teaching Gentile converts that they must likewise keep these same commandments to avoid being lost. This forced Paul and the Christian elders to confront the issue of what part obeying God’s Law and commandments played in the life of the believer, and what part they played in obtaining eternal life.

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Acts 15 chronicles the debate:

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1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

3 And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the Gospel, and believe.

8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from thing strangled, and from blood.

21 For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

30 So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:

31 Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.

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Unfortunately, that debate--which should have ended there--never ended, but goes on to this day.

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The result is that there are many denominations, and hosts in them, with doctrines leavening the Gospel of Grace with the Gospel of Law, resulting in endless and varying lists of “commandments” that people supposedly must keep and observe as proof they have real faith, or else as the way to entitle themselves to eternal life.

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How is this expressed in Christianity? Well, with some exceptions…

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Fundamentalists say it’s the 9 Commandments, not including the Sabbath.

Adventists say it’s the 10 Commandments, especially the Sabbath.

Evangelicals say it's the Golden Rule.

Catholics say it’s the ordinances in the Catholic Church.

Mormons say it’s the ordinances of the LDS church.

Messianics say it’s the 613 laws of Moses.

Calvinists say it’s not a question of commandments, but if you aren’t keeping them you may not be saved to start with.

Arminians say it’s no fixed number, but you better be careful.

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All these varying views, no matter how you slice them, ultimately come down to either a false salvation doctrine of:

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Receive it by Grace/yet earn it through Law.

Start with faith/add to it works.

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Or a flawed salvation doctrine of:

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Receive it by Grace/keep it by Law.

Start it by faith/finish it by works.

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The first group is flat-out damned. They have absolutely missed the mark of what the Gospel is, and have embraced the same sort of Gospel as the Judaisers Paul fought against.

To them, salvation is a process, and accepting Christ is only a starting point. After that, they must live properly enough that at the end they obtain the goal of eternal life based on how well they lived out their lives on earth.

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People who believe this sort of doctrine will derive it from misunderstanding verses like 1st Peter 1:9.

Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

“There you go,” they’ll say. “Salvation is a process we merely start through our faith, and we complete that process by faithfully walking in holiness, keeping God’s holy commandments, and persevering in righteousness to the end!”

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The catastrophic error these people fall into is confusing and equating sanctification with salvation.

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Salvation is an event. Sanctification--that is, being conformed into the image of Christ, and walking out the salvation we already have until we obtain the fullness of it in the resurrection--is a process, and this is what verses like the one above are talking about.

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For proof, all we need do is go to places like Ephesians 2:5.

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Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

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In the Greek, this is an absolutely declarative statement, written in the perfect tense, that the people were saved--not working toward being saved!

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Hebrews 10:14 also refutes the doctrine:

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For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

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In the Greek, it is more accurately translated: By one offering, he has forever perfected them that are being sanctified. Thus, those in the process of sanctification are already perfected before God!

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So both these verses, among others, demolish any thought that the Christian is undergoing a process of salvation or progressive justification that is completed at death, entitling him to heaven if he has lived a life of sufficient holiness to pass muster before God.

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Note too when this state of absolute salvation occurred, according to the verse in Ephesians: When the people were “dead in sins”! In other words, at the moment they, as sinners, embraced the Gospel message, having done not so little as one act of righteousness or obedience.

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It is this misunderstanding of the plan of salvation that propels the heretic into his false Gospel that faith + his works of obedience will earn him salvation at the Last Judgment.

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Even so, mankind intrinsically likes that sort of doctrine because of pride, and because it is man-centered, rewarding man’s efforts at saving himself by passing some sort of divine test.

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An earmark of some of these tares (which shows the spirit behind the doctrine) is that they will deny the deity of Christ, and make Jesus less than fully God. Many more will believe in the false doctrine of  “soul sleep,” and claim God will awaken them to review their earthly deeds at the Last Judgment to see whether they have lived a life of sufficient holiness and obedience to be worthy of eternal life. If they pass muster, they enter in. If they don’t, they are cast into the lake of fire and burnt up.

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I don’t have the time to fully refute the doctrine of "sould sleep," but I’ll provide some passages that easily prove it false:

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For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

--1 Thess. 5:9-10.

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I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)

How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

--2 Cor. 12:2-4.

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But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

--Heb. 12:22-23.

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For this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

--1 Peter 4:6.

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All these passages show clear acknowledgment that the spirit of a man lives on after death, and is not simply asleep in the ground. In particular, Paul says he’s not sure whether he went up bodily to heaven or in his spirit! If there could be a question after that, Hebrews 12 shows the “spirits” of the departed saints are in heaven with God, and not dead in the grave!

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Thus, the deceived who believe this doctrine live strict religious lives to “do their part” and hopefully endure judgment with their deeds surviving the fire of testing before a scrutinizing God who demands holiness.

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The sad fact is, those who await their works and obedience scrutinized at the Last Judgment to see if God will grant them eternal life will hear Him say, “I reject all your works! I reject them because every act of obedience and every act of righteousness you ever performed was leavened with your own self-interest. When you obeyed Me, it was to avoid My sending you to hell. When you did an act of righteousness, it was to earn My favor. It was all done for you!”

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This is the boat we are all in. We fallible humans cannot perform any act of goodness or obedience a God of perfect righteousness can accept to grant entry into eternal life--with or without adding it to the righteousness of Christ. All we do is leaven Christ's righteousness when we try to add our own righteousness to it!

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On our best day, we are nothing more than unprofitable servants doing our duty from less-than-perfect motives that may be sterling in the eyes of man, but ultimately corrupt in the eyes of a perfect God if we rely on those acts to earn His approval.

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The reason this entire mindset results in damnation is that it detracts from full reliance and faith in the merits of Christ, and redirects our efforts and attention onto our own merits.

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This is the very heart of leavening the Gospel, and why Paul fought so hard against it to the point some wrongly believe that he even denounced the Law.

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You will often discover that people with this false salvation doctrine are reasonably well-read in the Scripture. They don’t simply have a lack of correct intellectual knowledge of the mechanics of salvation, but often possess a well-developed heresy they both express and defend with Scripture.

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This is what removes them from the covering of grace might be there for an immature sheep who simply has an incorrect belief based on honest, incorrect understanding.

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These people, because of their knowledge of Scripture and indoctrination into heresy, have consciously embraced and placed faith in a false soteriology they will articulate and defend using verses like 1st Peter 1:9, which we noted. Thus, they have progressed beyond simple truth-doubting, expressed by the Greek word diakrino--which can be corrected by teaching and information--and moved into hardened unbelief, or apeitheia in the Greek, rejecting the real Gospel in the process.

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At that stage, the person is a heretic, and the only cure is repentance and rejection of the “Gospel” he has decided to follow. Failing that, he is headed for damnation with the cults who flat-out deny Christ’s full sufficiency for atonement and righteousness.

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“But won’t even the righteous ‘scarcely’ be saved?”

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When Peter (1st Peter 4:18) makes this statement--building on Prov. 11:31, which speaks of temporal judgment, not specifically eternal judgment--he is not talking about the Last Judgment; he is talking about the judgment to come upon the earth during the Tribulation. (You’ll note in the chapter he is dealing with tribulation the saints are already enduring, and he goes on to imply even worse is coming--but coming for a divine purpose.) Even Jesus says to pray to be accounted worthy to escape this wrath (Luke 21:36)! But the wrath of God against sin shown at the Last Judgment is a wrath the Christian is pre-appointed to be saved against (Rom. 5:9, 1st Thess. 5:9, 1st John 4:17).

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Thus, the person who awaits his works being judged to see if he has earned his way into eternal life is doomed from the start.

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“Oh, no!” the heretic will say. “I don’t believe I earn my salvation through my own works! Not at all! But…”

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Everything that follows the “But” is the leaven in the Gospel.

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No religious cult or cultist ever admits they “earn” their salvation through works. They all try to deny it by using some other word like “reward,” or else play a word game to guise their deadly theology in language that makes it seem as if full credit is given to Christ, yet when the full implications are scrutinized, the soteriology boils down to adding one’s own righteousness to Christ’s righteousness as the final factor in obtaining eternal life.

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This is why Paul’s directing us to Abraham is so critically important, and why I wrote the second part of this three-part series, Abraham--our paradigm for justification--who never kept the Sabbath or Law.

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We are to look to Abraham as our pattern of justification with God. As shown by Paul, Abraham kept no Law, lived no life of “holiness” based on keeping commandments and ordinances of some Law, church, or ecclesiastical authority--and was justified and accepted by God on the basis of his faith alone!

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So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

--Gal. 3:9.

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And because of taking Abraham as our pattern for righteousness and justification, we do not ‘work for our salvation with fear and trembling’ by “pursuing holiness,” “keeping God’s holy commandments,” or doing anything else that the heretic insists we must add to faith to make the cut!

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What the heretic misses is that only a superior foreign righteousness, that is independent of our own, will entitle us to eternal life.

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For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

--Matt. 5:20.

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This foreign righteousness was applied to Abraham as a result of his faith, and is likewise applied to us as a result of our faith!

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But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

--Rom. 4:5.

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…for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

--Rom. 4:9.

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For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

--Gal. 3:24.

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Commandments, deeds, and lifestyle have nothing to do with appropriating the foreign righteousness we require for eternal life because that form of righteousness is imputed only on the basis of faith--by a work done through the Holy Spirit--and not obedience to some sort of commandments:

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This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

--Gal. 3:2.

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That fact is what damns the Child of the Flesh who cannot transition between the Old covenant and the New. For him, it is a divine mixture and fusion of the covenants of Law and Grace, and faith and works--accomplished by the Spirit and his obedience--that fuses all these factors into the gold of righteousness and eternal life. In his false but good-looking Gospel, he is under the Torah/10 Commandments/Church ordinances, etc., and must humbly keep them as best he can with the aid of the Spirit as his role in entering into eternal life. When he fails, God's grace is there to forgive him and help him do better next time, but by persevering to the end in obeying commandments and walking in holiness, he will inherit eternal life.

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Sounds good, doesn’t it? Even a real Christian might be found saying something along those lines. But it is a false hybrid Gospel mixing two covenants of God--with Christ as some sort of bridge--into a Master covenant that supposedly accomplishes what neither covenant, by itself, can do. To the unlearned, it might seem to make sense, splitting the difference between Law and Grace, and compromising between both extremes, thus retaining as valid, many verses in the Old covenant demanding obedience to the Law, while diluting others in the New about not being under it.

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But it is a counterfeit Gospel that Paul calls “leaven,” and he demolishes the whole idea in these verses:

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

--Gal. 3:12.

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Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

--Gal. 4:24.

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A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

--Gal. 5: 9.

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The heretic sees the two covenants as two sides of the same coin--but Paul shows they are utterly dichotomous. They cannot ever be mated together, and to do so is the heresy in much of Christianity and almost all of Messianic Judaism!

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In fact, to not mix covenants was the point of the Old Testament commandments against mixing fibers in clothing! It wasn’t that God had some offense at mixing linen and wool--the point was to teach how unacceptable it is for us to mix Law with Grace!

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Wool is natural, coming from God Himself through the sheep that bears it. Linen is a man-made concoction created by taking plants also given by God, but through man’s efforts and work, converting them into material that can be made into clothes to hide his nakedness.

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Mixing the two--God’s lamb with man’s efforts to clothe himself in material he creates--pollutes the Gospel, and will always be rejected by God.

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Remember Cain and Abel? Cain’s sacrifice represented the offering up of his own efforts: An offering not based on faith in what the lamb represented, but on his own works in planting, growing, and harvesting--from a ground that was cursed to start with.

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Cain wanted to honor God. But his brother was the one placing faith in an unblemished lamb as a sacrifice acceptable to God, while Cain, perhaps sincerely--but wrongly, in any event--offered up the works of his own efforts, being rejected as a result.

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This is where the heretic of today is, except that he is taking the lamb, stewing it up with his own harvest from the ground, and thinking that mixture is the sacrifice God really wanted.

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But no matter how the heretic tries to make his formula work, the recipe is shown by Paul to be a pollution of the sacrifice God requires.

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If the heretic tries to claim it is only by his obedience and works (the sacrifice of Cain, and the platform of the covenant of Law), the entire New Testament refutes him.

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If he then claims mixing both sacrifices by accepting Christ and then adding his own efforts at keeping commandments and laws as the second part of the equation to be “rewarded” with eternal life, Gal. 3:2-3 refutes that notion:

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This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

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So the notion that starting in the faith, and then adding a formal law (like the 10 Commandments) as the completion of one’s walk in the faith is likewise refuted.

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This is not because there is some evil in the commandments of the Law; it is because the body of those commandments form a covenant that is no longer valid, and submission to the body of those commandments carries with it the potential of conscious or unconscious submission to the covenant they represent--and the covenant that goes with them is a rejection of Christ and the New covenant!

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Thus, the false Gospel holds that works of: obeying commandments, performing acts of righteousness, and pursuing a life of holiness will gain one salvation, while the flawed Gospel holds that the same works will keep one from losing salvation.

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Both positions are problematic, and I say that as one who denies the doctrine of Eternal Security.

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While I affirm that one can lose his salvation by apostatizing from Christ, or by allowing his heart to be “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,” this does not come simply through committing sin--since sin is not imputed to the believer who stands by faith (Rom. 4:8)--but rather through the effects of ongoing serious sin attacking one’s saving faith through generating a hardness of heart through resisting the Spirit’s call to repentance, allowing sin to pollute the man’s spirit (Gal. 6:8, 2 Cor. 7:1, Heb. 3:13, 1st Peter 2:11). Thus, losing salvation through sin is a process, not an event.

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“But doesn’t the Bible say we must ‘perfect holiness’ or we won’t see God? Don’t we have to live holy lives to get into heaven?”

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Yes--but here is where the counterfeit parts company from the real. The counterfeit is created from misinterpreting passages like Matthew 19:16-18, James 2:21-24, 1 John 2:3, and Rev. 22:14, and deriving from them a notion that we are bound to some sort of covenantal law for justification, and by persevering in keeping that law we will have done our part to gain (really, to earn) eternal life.

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Thus, the heretic “works for his salvation with fear and trembling,” and uses the Torah/10 Commandments/Church ordinances, etc., as the standard he must meet to earn his salvation.

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And that is the problem:

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But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

--Rom. 4:5.

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Keep in mind that a counterfeit looks real; it doesn’t, without scrutiny, stand out as a perversion. It may even look so real that it takes a microscope to see that it has no value at all, despite looking like the real thing to the naked eye.

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That is what makes the tares so dangerous. Many preach righteousness (i.e., “keep the commandments”), act like religious people, and from outward appearances look like the real thing. But they are servants of Satan, teaching a Gospel of Law from their master (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

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In the case of salvation, it is the philosophy and doctrine behind the lifestyle that reveals whether it is or is not a counterfeit.

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The heretic sidesteps the point that it is an imputed foreign righteousness--based on faith alone--that ultimately saves the soul from damnation. His emphasis, based on misunderstanding key verses about righteousness and commandments, will be on his own righteousness accomplished by keeping the Law, obeying commandments, and doing certain righteous deeds that will somehow be acceptable to God.

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All the while, he will be blind to the fact that he is working for his salvation, and will think he’s simply showing that he has “real” faith.

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Meanwhile, a true child of God with bad understanding can also miss that this foreign righteousness, based on faith, is the sole path to eternal life and simply start “keeping commandments” and “living righteously” in fear that if he doesn’t, he will lose his salvation.

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This mindset can easily bring the person with this flawed understanding over to the position of a false understanding where he consciously relies on his own obedience to assure his salvation.

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Thus, the false Gospel earns one salvation through works, while the flawed Gospel simply keeps it through works.

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Fortunately, while I never drifted into heresy, I still taught a flawed Gospel for decades. Had you asked me before the early ‘90s how one gets to heaven, I’d have told you something like this:

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“Well, Christ atoned for your sins on the cross, and by receiving, through faith, what He did for you, your sins are forgiven, and you will go to heaven. However, if you commit enough serious sin, you may wind up losing your salvation, so the formula for salvation is actually one of faith plus works equals salvation, those ‘works’ being keeping the Ten Commandments, which still apply, although the Sabbath--which we don’t have to keep as strictly as the Jews--has been moved to Sunday. Now you don’t earn your salvation by keeping commandments, but keeping those sorts of precepts keeps you in a state of salvation.”

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There are so many errors in that statement, it’s amazing to me I was ever ignorant enough to speak like that. But like so many, I didn’t understand the Gospel of Grace well enough to explain how one could not be freed from having to keep some list of commandments, yet not be free to sin.

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So the best I could do was preach faith + the 10 Commandments as a way to stay out of hell.

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As I started gearing up to write my study Bible in the mid-'90s, however, I was forced to look at each verse of New Testament Scripture in an in-depth way I never had before, and to test every doctrine I held against what the Scripture was really teaching instead of the way I had always thought or been told it was teaching.

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When I did that, I was able to correct and move forward in my understanding--starting with rejecting almost all the precepts I had been indoctrinated into through Messianic Judaism, an often-heretical movement that consciously mixes Law and Grace together in an attempt to hold onto both dichotomous covenants.

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I then began articulating that salvation, justification and sanctification came by faith alone, which, of course, is the proper evangelical--and biblical--understanding of those issues.

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But even though Scripturally literate, and certainly no babe in understanding, I still wasn't quite where I needed to be yet, and for years after, would have expressed salvation like so:

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“Well, Christ atoned for your sins on the cross, and by receiving, through faith, what He did for you, your sins are forgiven, and you will go to heaven. However, if you commit enough serious sin, you may wind up losing your salvation, so while only faith saves, and while we’re not saved by keeping the Law, the moral commandments of the Law still apply, and if we violate them severely enough, we may lose our salvation.”

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Better…but still flawed.

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I was still hung up on the issue of how one could be freed from having to keep some list of commandments, yet not be free to sin.

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So the best I could do was to now preach faith and the importance of “the moral commandments.”

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I was stuck in this rut until another brother, with better understanding, confronted me about the implications of my good-sounding preaching, and forced me to again lay aside my pre-conceived notions and consider the full implications of what I was preaching.

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While it sounded good to say “the moral commandments still apply,” I also knew--as did Messianic Judaism--that both the Old Testament (Deut. 12:32) and Paul (Gal. 5:2-3) made it clear that the Law really can’t be broken up, and it must stand as written, either all of it or none of it .

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So either we are “under” all of the Law, or we are “under” none of the Law. You cannot pick this commandment or that, uphold it as a mandatory point of right standing with God, while omitting other commandments, and still be walking in the purity of either the old or New covenants!

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In the case of salvation, it is faith or works, Grace or Law--never a leavened mixture of them!

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You cannot cut the Sabbath from the 10, nor can you cut the 10 from the 613. One is either under or not under the Law, or one is either justified or not justified by keeping the Law.

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It is all or nothing. It is one covenant or the other.

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And the answer is, it is grace and faith--and grace and faith only:

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Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all…

--Rom. 4:16.

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This acknowledgement sent me back to the Scriptures to try to discern once and for all Paul's revelation of Grace, and though being a serious Bible student for over 40 years, it took that long for God to enable me to truly apprehend the Gospel of Grace and its precepts.

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So why is the Gospel of Grace so hard to discern that many religious, biblically literate people and theologians have such a problem seeing it?

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There are several reasons those in our Western culture have such a problem with it:

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1. Misunderstanding the Scriptures.

2. The King James Bible’s misuse of the Greek word entole.

3. Misunderstanding John’s use of entole.

4. Misunderstanding Paul’s teachings on the New covenant.

5. Inability to understand that to not be under Law does not give license to sin.

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We'll deal with these issues as we go, starting with…

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The false Gospel of Matthew 19: Misunderstanding the parable of the Rich Young Ruler

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First, as is typical, the problem starts with a misunderstanding of Scripture--in this case, the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:16-17.

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And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

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The error starts here with many people believing that Jesus was making a soteriological statement for us on how to obtain eternal life, that being to “keep the commandments.”

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Well, that’s exactly what the Pharisees taught too. And if that is the real way to eternal life, we don’t need Jesus--all we need is Moses!

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In fact, I’ve had Jews throw this verse in my face and declare that Jesus Himself says that if they keep Moses’ Law they’ll go to heaven, so Paul is wrong when he disagrees, and says Jews need a savior.

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Right there, that should show there is a problem with accepting these verses at face value.

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But did Jesus really mean what both Jews and some deceived Christians think He meant? Let's read on.

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18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,

19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

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Well, there you go: If Jesus means what He says here, we need keep only six commandments to go to heaven, certainly not 10, let alone 613! (And note how Jesus left out the Sabbath, by the way!)

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In fact, just about everyone would agree we should do those things: Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, and even some atheists would say those six things are correct to do, and a “good person” would do them.

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Are all those groups, who would promote and do the very things Jesus said to do here, going to heaven?

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No.

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So what good is it to do those six things?

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None--if you believe that you will earn eternal life by doing them.

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Yet here is where error becomes hypocrisy. Not one of the people who base their actual theology on this passage accepts what it says!

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Not one!

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They’ll believe verse 17 readily enough, but then reject verses 18 and 19!

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When we get to those verses, suddenly Jesus doesn’t mean what He says at all, but He “really means”…

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Keep the 10 Commandments.

Keep the written Torah.

Keep the written Torah and the oral Law that goes with it.

Keep the ordinances of the church.

Keep a mixture of commandments and church ordinances.

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There you have it: Verse 17 is true just as written, but then verses 18 and 19 mean everything except what they actually say!

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Even though Jesus was specifically asked which commandments a man needed to keep to go to heaven, and even though He (supposedly) answered and listed them, the Child of the Flesh has the gall to overrule and reject His answer, then take it upon himself to add in extra commandments to overcome Jesus’ misleading and deceptive statement, because if you believe what He actually said, obviously you’ll go to hell for not keeping enough commandments!

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That also should tell you that there is a problem with the theology many apply to this verse.

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Yet most Christian cults, knowing they need not keep the full Law yet believing they must keep some kind of Law, simply conclude that Jesus needs them to contradict His actual answer and speak for Him, asserting He really meant, “Keep the 10 Commandments.”

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This is because they want to be justified by their own efforts and believe they can keep 10, but not 613.

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Sounds good, but there is a big problem: Jesus quoted from the whole of the Law, and not simply the 10 Commandments, nor did He say to keep the 10 Commandments. He said to keep six commandments.

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Five of these commandments are indeed found in the 10, but the last, and most important of them, is not!

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So are we under the 11 Commandments then?

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The cultist now squirms, and if confronted with even more commandments in the Law he knows cannot be ignored (like those against homosexuality), he simply claims they must fall under the 10, so more than 10 commandments still equal only 10 commandments!

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His bad math also equals bad theology. Yet in his error and ignorance, the cultist has actually stumbled onto what the 10 Commandments actually were: Capstones to the entire 613 commandments!

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Sabbath commands fell under the 4th commandment; stoning a rebellious son fell under the 6th commandment, returning a neighbor's wandering mule fell under the 10th commandment, and so on.

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You cannot separate the 10 from the 613, though Christianity often does, and for the same reasons:

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1. A presumption that if you aren’t “under” some sort of Law, then you must be saying it is all right to sin.

2. A presumption that since we don’t need to--and can’t--keep 613 commandments, we can keep 10.

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That might sound good, but we are still confronted with the fact that either Jesus meant what He said, or He didn’t.

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The fact is, He didn’t mean what He appeared to say--as the cultist, deep down, realizes--which is why he has to “flush out” Christ’s words with his own additions to them.

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So if Jesus did not mean to teach the way we go to heaven is by keeping the commandments He listed, what did He really mean?

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Let’s read on.

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20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?

21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

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The very man Jesus told this to, who affirmed he had kept “all” these commandments from his youth, went away with his head hung low because he wasn’t willing to sell all he had and give it to the poor.

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And do you notice that neither do the proponents of this verse?

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Except for perhaps some priests, monks and nuns, you would have a hard search to find an Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Catholic, Adventist, Messianic, LDS, JW, Armstrongite, or what have you, who accepts verse 17, denies and adds his own list of extra commandments to verses 18 and 19, who then goes on to follow verse 21!

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You certainly won’t find any Protestant, “Bible-believing” pastors or lay people who do!

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At least, I’ve never met any. I did once meet a Matthew 19:17 man who triple-tithed, and thought that qualified.

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I was impressed at his 30% obedience.

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If he ever makes it to 100%, he’ll actually have arrived.

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Incredibly, these poor, deceived people who are willing to believe the one verse to be true fail at the same point as the man who left with his head hung low: They won’t sell all they have to go follow Christ either! They’ll invent reasons why they don't have to do that but somehow still be saved, unlike the man in this passage.

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For one, they’ll say Christ was only speaking to that particular man, and since he was rich, that command doesn’t apply to them.

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But yes it does. You can be a Bill Gates, living in an ivory tower, or you can be homeless under a bridge, and be every bit as covetous as the Rich Young Ruler was! A millionaire might trust in his riches, and want to hold onto every dollar he has as his security--and a homeless man might have exactly the same attitude with a five-dollar bill and a shopping cart. (I was once homeless, and in that period would have fought over a 10 cent soda bottle! That's as covetous as you can get, so how much money you have has nothing to do with how covetous a person can be!)

It's not a question of how much you have--it's a question of how much what you have has you!

It’s not a question of how much you have--it’s a question of how much what you have has you!

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A millionaire might trust in his riches, and want to hold onto every dollar he has as his security--and a homeless man might have exactly the same attitude with a five-dollar bill and a shopping cart.

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The principle of Jesus’ words and teachings to that man thus apply to every one of us, and how much money we have or don’t have plays no part in those words at all! We are all under command not to be covetous and trust in our financial resources as our source, nor let those resources be in the way of serving God.

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So why would that man leave, walking into damnation because of his covetousness, while the cultist makes his way into heaven by keeping the same commandments the Rich Young Ruler was otherwise keeping?

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What makes the Adventist, Messianic, or Fundamentalist any better than that man?

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They aren’t. They’re in exactly the same boat, the only difference being that he walked away in the grief of conviction, while they walk away with their noses in the air thinking they can ignore what Jesus said in verse 21, and just live by their own private doctrine on verse 17!

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That man kept the same commandments the cultist is relying on to get him into heaven, and had kept them from his youth! In fact, he kept more commandments than the cultist ever thought of keeping.

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But the truth is, he was actually knee deep in idolatry, violating the first and most important commandment by having his possessions before God in his heart--even though he had kept every commandment Jesus listed.

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The proof is that he wasn’t willing to sell all he had to follow Christ.

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Neither is the cultist, the 10 Commandments-touter, or the Child of the Flesh.

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Neither are most of us! That’s why we need to reject the covenant of Law verse 17 represents--not take it as our salvation theology--and instead cleave to the grace offered in verse 26 as the truly redeemed do.

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So my message is that if you make the catastrophic error of thinking Matthew 19:17 is the foundation for entering into eternal life, you better do as Christ commanded in verse 21 and sell all you have as well!

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If not, you go away damned as an idolater, just as the young man did!

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Some of you have never realized that. Now you do, and are accountable for it. You must either remain in a deceived state of being justified by keeping the commandments--even though you will add to Christ’s words in verses 18 and 19, then refuse to follow Christ’s command in verse 21--or you can leave the Law and the unprofitable strivings over it behind, and let faith alone take you into the Promised Land.

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“Do I get to keep my possessions then?”

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Do you want a greater or lesser reward?

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Keep your possessions, whether humble or great, and be a good steward of them, using them as God directs to help others--some here, some there--and you will be blessed in heaven (1 Tim. 6:17-18).

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Or, sell all you have, give it to the poor, and come follow where Christ directs, and you will have a great reward in heaven.

..

But if you choose to live under Matthew 19:17, then you must also live under Matthew 19:21!

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Thus, Jesus was never intending to teach that this man--or anyone else--would make heaven by obeying some basic moral precepts. He was simply repeating what that man--and the Jews--actually believed, but was showing the man wasn’t as sinless as he thought, nor was he as worthy of eternal life as his religion held.

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This is shown in another incident related in Luke 10:

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25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

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Now we’re down to two commandments--neither of which is even in the 10 Commandments!

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So in the strictest sense, while Jesus didn’t mean what many think He did in Matthew 19, if one could keep both these core commandments in Luke 10 to God’s standard--as the man who answered Jesus thought he was doing--he would gain eternal life.

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But that Jesus was ultimately showing that no one will gain heaven by keeping even two commandments is shown in His revelation of what God’s actual standard of righteousness is:

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Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

--Matt. 5:27-28.

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That’s how high the standard of success is, and how low the threshold for failure is.

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Even a thought, never carried further, makes one every bit as guilty and subject to judgment as the man who carries out the thought with his body.

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This is why none of us ever can, or will, enter into eternal life by “keeping the commandments.” We will always fall short, and always require atonement for our sins and an imputed righteousness to override our own intrinsic unrighteousness!

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Beyond that, no New Testament writer after Jesus ever literally makes a statement like, “keep the commandments to enter into eternal life!” A verse in Revelation nearly says that, but the pedigree of that verse is bad, and modern Bibles use a more reliable reading that does not carry the same questionable implications to soteriology. So if you look at the panoply of the New Testament beyond Jesus’ words in these passages, you will never find His words, “keep the commandments,” repeated by Peter, John, James, Jude, or Paul in a direct context of gaining eternal life by keeping them.

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The KJV's misuse of the word entole

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After misunderstanding Christ’s words, another major factor in the formation of a flawed/false Gospel is the horrendously bad choice of the King James translators to repeatedly render some Greek words, especially entole, as “commandment(s),” which influenced subsequent English Bibles into following the same error.

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While entole often does mean some command or precept in the Law, it also means things like exhortations, instructions or orders.

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Here are some of examples where the word should never have been rendered “commandment(s)”:

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No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

--John 10:18.

.

And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed .

--Acts 17:15.

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Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.

--1 Cor. 7:25.

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Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)

--Col. 4:10

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Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

--1 Tim. 1:1.

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That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

--1 Tim. 6:14.

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That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

--2 Peter 3:2.

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It should immediately be apparent that in none of the cases listed, does the word “commandment” refer to some commandment in the actual Law. Every one of those instances should have been translated entole as “order”--or, at best, “command.”

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Never “commandment”!

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To our minds, when we see the word “commandments,” we automatically call to mind things like the 10 Commandments. This natural prejudice helps us err in our misunderstanding, because we connect the Law/10 Commandments to that word, and immediately tend to presume the writer is talking about the Law.

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This gives birth to heresy because you must let the context of the passage determine whether the writer actually means some sort of general order or exhortation, or literally some biblical “commandment”!

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Misunderstanding John's use of entole

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This bad choice on the part of the King James translators carried over into the writings of John, which are incorrectly used to form the false Gospel of the cultists.

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John doesn’t always use the Greek language as other writers do. As I point out in my commentary on John 6:28, he uses ergon (“works”), for instance, differently than Matthew, Mark and Luke. Likewise, with entole. While other writers use it for commandments in the Law, or for general orders that having nothing to do with the Law, John shows in his Gospel that he only uses it for orders and instructions, and never for commandments of the Law.

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Below are all his uses of the word entole in his Gospel.

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No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

--John 10:18.

.Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

--John 11:57.

.For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

--John 12:49.

.And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

--John 12:50.

.A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

--John 13:34.

.If ye love me, keep my commandments.

--John 14:15.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

--John 14:21.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

--John 15:10.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

--John 15:12.

..

Unlike other writers, when John uses entole in his Gospel, he never uses it in the sense of commandments of the Law, including the 10 Commandments, but rather as commands or orders.

..

Other writers who do use entole as a plural for “commandments” use it most of the time to refer to commandments of the Law, and on occasion for commands in a general sense. But when they use the word as a plural, they typically use it in a clear context so there is no real question of meaning:

...

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

--Matt. 5:19.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

--Matt. 15:9.

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

--Matt. 19:17.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

--Matt. 22:40.

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

--Mark 7:7.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

--Mark 10:19.

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

--Mark 12:29.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

--Luke 1:6.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness , Honour thy father and thy mother.

--Luke 18:20.

Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments* unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

--Acts 1:2.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

--1 Cor. 7:19.

If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments* of the Lord.

--1 Cor.14:37.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

--Eph. 2:15.

Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

--Col. 2:22.

Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments:* if he come unto you, receive him;)*

--Col. 4:10.

For ye know what commandments* we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

--1 Thess. 4:2.

Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

--Titus 1:14.

...

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* The word here refers to orders, not to biblical commandments of the Law,  nor artificial religious commandments of men.

...

As can quickly be noted, in every case where entole is used for “commandments,” the context--whether that of commandments in the Law or normal orders--is obvious, and there is no real ambiguity. Fourteen times, it is used to refer to commandments of some sort of law (God’s or man’s), and three times it refers to simple orders.

...

John stands out as being different from other writers, however. His Gospel reveals that he never refers to the Law by the word “commandments” (entole); he only refers to the Law as a whole (“Law”) using nomos. When he uses entole, he only uses the word to refer to orders, rather than biblical commandments of the Law. If he wishes to speak of the Law, he simply uses the word nomos. In the nine times he uses entole in his Gospel, the four times he uses it as a plural (“commandments”), he employs it when Jesus is telling the apostles to obey the orders he personally has given them:

...

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

--John 14:15.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

--John 14:21.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

--John 15:10.

.This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

--John 15:12.

Unlike other writers, when John uses entole in his Gospel, he never uses it in the sense of commandments of the Law, including the 10 Commandments, but rather as commands or orders.

..

Other writers who do use entole as a plural for “commandments” use it most of the time to refer to commandments of the Law, and on occasion for commands in a general sense. But when they use the word as a plural, they use it in a clear context so there is no real question of meaning:

..

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

--Matt. 5:19.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

--Matt. 15:9.

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

--Matt. 19:17.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

--Matt. 22:40.

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

--Mark 7:7.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

--Mark 10:19.

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

--Mark 12:29.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

--Luke 1:6.

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness , Honour thy father and thy mother.

--Luke 18:20.

Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:

--Acts 1:2.

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

--1 Cor. 7:19.

If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

--1 Cor.14:37.

Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

--Eph. 2:15.

Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?

--Col. 2:22.

Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)

--Col. 4:10.

For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

--1 Thess. 4:2.

Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.

--Titus 1:14.

..

As can quickly be noted, in every case where entole is used for “commandments,” the context--whether that of commandments in the Law, or normal orders--is obvious, and there is no real ambiguity. Fourteen times, it is used to refer to commandments of some sort of law (God’s or man’s), and three times it refers to simple orders.

John stands out as being different from other writers, however. His Gospel reveals that he never refers to the Law by the word “commandments” (entole); he only refers to the Law as a whole (“Law”) using nomos. When he uses entole, he only uses the word to refer to orders, rather than biblical commandments of the Law. In the nine times he uses entole in his Gospel, the four times he uses it as a plural (“commandments”), he employs it when Jesus is telling the apostles to obey the orders He personally has given them:

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

--John 14:15.

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

--John 14:21.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

--John 15:10.

John is clearly not referring to biblical commandments of the Law in these passages. While some get confused by 15:10, Jesus refers to two different sorts of “commandments”: His “commandments,” and the Father’s “commandments.” We cannot attribute the Torah/10 Commandments to God, and some other codified Law to Christ that excludes Him from equal attribution regarding the Mosaic Law. The Law is the Law, and it represents the righteousness of the same Trinity. Thus, “commandments” in 15:10 must refer to orders or exhortations, not to commandments of the Law.

John 14:15 and 14:21 likewise cannot be referring to the Torah/10 Commandments for the same reason: “My commandments” must reasonably have a meaning along the lines of, “my orders/teachings/exhortations,” rather than, “Thou shalt not steal.”

Failure to understand his established pattern of entole in his Gospel gives birth to a misunderstanding of his use of the word in his epistles and Revelation. Many Bible students, tricked by a biased English translation, do not realize John is referring only to “commands” (in the sense of following orders and precepts given by Christ), rather than literally to biblical commandments:

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He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

--1 John 2:4.

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.

--1 John 2:7.

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.

--1 John 2:8.

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

--1 John 3:22.

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.

--1 John 3:23.

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.

--1 John 3:24.

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

--1 John 4:24.

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

--1 John 5:3.

I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

--2 John 1:4.

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

--2 John 1:5.

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

--2 John 1:6.

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.

--Rev. 12:17.

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

--Rev. 14:12

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.**

--Rev. 22:14.

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As noted, some of these verses, in English, could reasonably be understood as referring to commandments of some sort of law. But as I have also tried to show, if even if you do view “keep his commandments” or “commandments of God” as referring to a body of Law, you shipwreck the moment you try to define what Law that is.

.

If you say it’s the 10, you exclude critical commandments the New Testament affirms, including those against homosexuality and incest, and Jesus’ summation of the Law and the Prophets. Your only recourse then is to throw in all those extra commandments “under” the 10, and then try to claim much more than 10 commandments still equal only 10 commandments because you have to keep the number at 10, but you also have to keep all these other commandments you know you’re stuck with!

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Since the legalists universally dismiss the commandments given by the Holy Spirit in Acts 15, and go back to the Old Testament for the ”real” commandments, they wind up stuck with either the 10 or the 613, and if they choose either, their argument collapses when weighed against the totality of the New Testament.

.

If you try to create some list on your own authority of “moral commandments” in the body of the Law that must be kept, you have no authority to do that, and the Bible does not do it for you.

..

You are stuck with either the 10 or the 613, and if you choose either, your argument collapses when weighed against the totality of the New Testament.

....

“But Jesus said, While heaven and earth remain, not one jot or tittle will pass from the Law--and John said, Sin is transgression of the Law, so some body of Law must be in force to transgress against!”

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These are common deceptions spread by Children of the Flesh.

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For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

--Matt. 5:18.

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Messianics and Sabbatarians often throw Jesus’ words here at me--but they always quote only the first half of the verse, and seem oblivious to the words, “till all be fulfilled.”

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Apparently, Jesus didn't really speak the last four words there. At least, these people never quote them to me, but quote only the words up to them.

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The answer why is obvious: They know it overturns their theology. Deep down, they know Jesus fulfilled all the Law in His life and on the cross, and so all has been fulfilled!

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But even though it is the natural conclusion to their bad theology, they know better than to advance the view that Jesus hasn’t fully completed the plan of redemption, so they quote half the verse to help justify the notion that, “the Law will last until heaven and earth pass away.”

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So too with John’s words in 1st John 3:4…

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Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

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They’ll quote the second half of the verse, and usually ignore the first half that says sin is “also” transgression of the Law.

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That part of the verse is important because it shows John is not writing to say, “We must keep the Law because to fail to keep a commandment of it means we have committed sin!” Instead, writing to a mostly Jewish audience (see 3rd John 1:7), John's point is that living in continuous, ongoing, unrepentant sin is “also” the same as a Jew who abandons the Law to live in Lawlessness, and carries the same ultimate penalty: death.

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“Then what does all this mean? That we don’t have to keep any commandments of God?! How do we know what sin is without a list of commandments to teach us?”

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Quite the contrary--we must strive to implement every word in Scripture God has given us to develop and show faith, hope and charity, and to represent His way of thinking. Many of those exhortations do happen to be “commandments” found in the Old Testament. However, the panoply of New Testament passages teach us what sort of “sin” and what sort of behavior the New covenant is really concerned with.

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So do we abstain from theft, adultery and murder? Certainly.

Do we feed the hungry? Certainly.

Do we avoid tale-bearing? Certainly.

Do we lend to our neighbor in need? Certainly.

Do we make sure we don’t light a fire or cook on the Sabbath? No.

Do we eat only clean meats before our God? No.

Do we allow our beards to grow naturally, without trimming them? No.

Do we shun “pagan” holidays like Christmas or Easter, and hypocritically keep the Feasts in the Law--most of which require animal sacrifice that we rationalize away as not having to perform? No.

Do we wear fringes on our garments to make sure we don’t forget the 613 commandments? No.

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Thus, real Christians never pervert the New covenant by taking a codified Law like the 10 Commandments or Torah, and upholding that Law as a canon of righteousness we must fulfill to be righteous before God, or as a measuring rod to obtain eternal life. Instead, we implement every exhortation in the New Testament relating to morality, faith, hope and charity. Then we take what is taught in the Old covenant, sift it and any doctrinal teachings of our leaders through the New covenant and New Testament, and use what remains as guidelines for proper living. (Where there are grey areas not clearly relating to essential teachings on morality, faith, hope or charity--for instance, the issue of corporal punishment in Prov. 23:13-14 or the question of whether it's allowable to fight in a war--Christians may decide on their own, and follow their conscience.)

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But if we err and do uphold a Law as a canon of approval before God, we leaven the New covenant, and fall from Grace. Thus, while we do not have license to sin, and while we do, in a sense, technically “keep the commandments,” we must never define that as “keeping the Torah” or “keeping the Ten Commandments”--because no one can keep the whole of the Law even if they wanted to, and to imply that we do keep some sort of codified law is to imply, and possibly teach, that we keep a false salvation covenant that cannot save us to start with! (And the truth is, we actually “keep” much more than simply ten “commandments” if you totaled them all up)!

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“But by the Law is the knowledge of sin, so we need the Law to teach us what sin is!”

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I’ve actually had Messianic Jews, deep in deception, quote Romans 3:20, thinking that Paul there is upholding the Law as the vehicle we need in order to know what sin is. To those who think that, I suggest you read the whole chapter, especially verse 21, in context. The “knowledge of sin” Paul speaks of is the curse the Law brings, which awakens sin in those exposed to it (Rom. 7:7-11, and 1 Cor. 15:56), which is why the righteousness “outside” the Law comes through faith, not man’s attempts at obedience, a concept hosts of people cannot grasp.

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Paul’s misunderstood teachings on the Law

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The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

--1 Cor. 15:56.

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…Where no law is, there is no transgression.

--Rom. 4:15.

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…Sin is not imputed when there is no law.

--Rom. 5:13.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ…

--Rom. 7:4.

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Uncomfortable verses like these bother the cultists. They know they have a problem with them so they either ignore them, pervert them, or else deny they refer to the Law they uphold (such as the 10 Commandments). To them, Paul must speaking of the minutiae in Mosaic law.

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But was Paul referring to the 10 Commandments so many cultists love? Let’s see….

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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.

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.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

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.

--Rom. 7:4-13.

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The last time I checked, “Thou shalt not covet” was in the 10 Commandments, not some “transitory civil and ceremonial Law written on parchment and fulfilled at the cross.”

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But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

--2 Cor. 3:7-8.

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The last time I checked, the only part of the law “written and engraven in stones” was the 10 Commandments, not some “transitory civil and ceremonial Law written on parchment and fulfilled at the cross.”

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So when Paul uses language like “abolished” or “done away,” or that we are a “dead” to the Law, he absolutely is referring to not only the “civil and ceremonial Law,” but also the 10 Commandments some deceived people bind themselves to.

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Are the “doers of the Law” justified?

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“But Paul said, ‘the doers of the Law shall be justified,’ and ‘by faith we establish the Law,’ so he taught we must keep God’s holy Law!” says the cultist.

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Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ…

--Rom. 7:4.

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Being “dead to the Law” doesn’t mean we are alive to it more than ever, now we have come to faith! So let’s deal the verses misused by the Children of the Flesh to promote their false Gospel…

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For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

--Rom. 2:13.

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To the cultist, this means, “We must keep (the Torah/10 Commandments/Church ordinances, etc.) to be justified!”

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If so, it is odd that the same Paul in Chapter 3, verse 20 goes on to say: Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

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So what did Paul mean?

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As he goes on to show in chapter 2, even the Gentiles can “do” the Law (as Paul says in verse 14) without ever hearing the name of Christ, let along placing faith in Him!

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The problem is, cultists have a heretical view of what the Law--in both Old and New Testament ages--was and is, and how one “does” it.

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First, Paul was writing this chapter to Jews who knew the Law (all 613 commandments), and knew that God commanded all that Law be heard and obeyed:

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Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

--Deut. 4:6.

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Heat therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

--Deut. 6:3.

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And the old testament verse he alludes to in so far as justification goes, is Deut 6:25…

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And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

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But did Israel--or any man--ever keep the Law to God’s ultimate standard? What does the Old Testament say?

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Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:

Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.

But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.

--Jer. 7:25-28.

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Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them….

--Malachi 3:7.

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So the answer is: No, Israel never kept the Law and thus was never justified as doers of the Law!

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They were commanded to “do” the Law...it would be to their righteousness if they “did” the law--but no generation of Israel ever kept or “did” the Law, which God acknowledges in Malachai!

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So yes--the doers of the Law shall be justified...but no one can “do” the Law to God’s standard and be justified!

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Conundrum? No. The conundrum is that the cultist, in his deception, cannot transition beyond the covenant of works to that of grace.

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So let’s now see what Paul goes on to say about the sort of “Law” he’s talking about, and how one “does” it:

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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:

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.

--Rom. 2:14-15.

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Oh--so Gentiles can know and do the “Law” instinctively without being taught the Law, or even hearing the name of Christ!

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Is that “Law” the 613 commandments, like not trimming the corners of one’s beard, or boiling a kid in its mother’s milk?

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No. Such commandments like that aren’t intrinsic to humanity at all.

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“Oh--it must be the 10 Commandments then!”

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Closer, but still no.

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You see, the 10 commandments (which I’ve shown were simply were the capstones to the other 603) are “the ministration of death”--not something we must still cleave to!

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“So what Law is Paul talking about fulfilling, and what does ‘keep his commandments’ mean then?”

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It means to do everything God said to do to live a moral life pleasing to Him. That includes living morally, in accord with many written commandments--but we are not “under” the body of those commandments as any part of justification. The body of those commandments has been transcended by the perfect Law--a Law that cannot be written down and observed, because that sort of Law must come as a gift of God:

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And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

--Rom. 5:55.

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Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

--Rom. 13:8.

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Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

--Rom. 13:10.

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For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

--Gal. 5:14.

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But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

--James 1:25.

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If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

--James 2:8.

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As Paul goes on to point out in Romans 2, God has placed in the conscience of all humanity the fundamental precepts of morality (don’t steal, kill, commit adultery) many of which--but not all of which--may be listed in the 10 Commandments. But no Gentile, in and of himself, ever concluded independently it was righteous to not kindle a fire on the Sabbath, to maintain absolute rest, and to stone anyone who works on it. What all men intrinsically do know is that it is wrong to steal, murder, cause harm, commit adultery, and so on. Thus, the conscience of every person, having been placed there by God, lets man know in his heart when he is doing right or wrong. And men, whether taught “the Law” or not, will all be punished in eternity by how they violated those aspects of morality:

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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;

--Rom. 2:12.

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In the Old Testament, God rebuked and judged the Gentile nations for corruption or lapses in morality--but never for violating “commandments” like the Sabbath, which are not intrinsic to humanity in the way moral imperatives are. These sorts of “laws” are unique to Israel and the Torah, and have never been enjoined upon Gentiles as a part of justification before God.

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The key factor in keeping the morality God does enjoin upon humanity lies in the fact that God’s intrinsic moral laws are based upon, and function through love--which is universal, and needs no Torah, no 10 Commandments, or any other list of commandments to define it because love automatically fulfills all those commandments and the morality those commandments seek to produce! At best, a list of commandments is useful only to help babes in understanding learn the precepts of God's morality, how they have violated that morality, and how they are incapable of keeping that morality well enough to be entitled to eternal life.

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This is why, while the morality of the 10 Commandments is fine to teach and extol, they can never function as a valid covenant of “Law” that Christians are required to “keep” in the dispensation of Grace and the New covenant, because the authority of the covenant those commandments represented has passed away:

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Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

--Gal. 3:24-26.

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For if that [the 10 Commandments] which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

--2 Cor. 3:11.

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It had to pass away as a covenant and binding Law...

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Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

--Rom. 4:1-15

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And because…

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For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

--Rom. 5:13.

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But with those truths come this truth:

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What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

--Rom. 6:15.

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Read that verse carefully. If you will deny that when Paul says we’re not under the Law--including the 10 Commandments--then you are saying Paul is referring only to the civil and ceremonial Law many claim is abolished, and so violation of those civil and ceremonial commandments would be the “sin” he mentions here!

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Did you get that? Only if Paul refers to all the Law--civil, ceremonial and moral--does Romans 6:15 work.

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Otherwise, Paul is saying we should not “sin” by trimming the corners of our beards, nor should we wear clothing made of different materials.

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And some Judaisers do teach that, by the way.

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Yet why does Paul include all--even the moral Law--in his denial that we are “under the Law?”

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Because…

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…Where no law is, there is no transgression.

--Rom. 4:15.

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And…

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…Sin is not imputed when there is no law.

--Rom. 5:13.

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Now--as he goes on to say, that doesn’t mean we can violate the Law’s moral precepts even though we’re not under the Law as a body.

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But how, one might ask, can we not be “under” the Law, yet not be free to violate it?

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The answer, again, is in Romans 2, which teaches that the morality of the Law has been, and is built into, the human heart--and with or without the 10 Commandments or Torah, mankind intrinsically knows it is wrong to steal, commit adultery, murder, and so on.

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The 10 Commandments have nothing whatever to do with those moral imperatives being in the heart of man because those moral imperatives come from the nature of God, and not by revelation of the 10 Commandments! Revelation of the 10 Commandments simply awakens the sin nature (Rom. 8:9)!

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So then, the Children of the Flesh who will not let go of the Law for justification will always persecute the children of the Spirit, accusing them of being Lawless. This is because the Children of the Spirit, having the true Law of God in their hearts empowered by the Spirit, are free--and the Children of the Flesh will always think the bondage they are under is the real freedom.

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So far as “establishing the Law through faith” goes, this is yet another misunderstood passage. The word “establish” is not even in the text; a business-related word about a balance scale is. Paul’s point is that faith accomplishes what the Law cannot do: Make men righteous. He is not saying that people with faith will go out and “keep” some Law to be in right standing with God. (See the full commentary for Romans. 3:31.)

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“Well, unlike an Antinomian like you, I know and keep God’s commandments!”

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.No you don’t. I know a long list of deceived people who think exactly that way, and the truth is that they’re every bit as deceived as the Pharisees before them.

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Anyone who says that he “keeps God’s commandments”--in the sense of a codified Law like the 10 commandments or Torah--proves by that very statement that he does not.

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To “keep” any commandment of God requires not only an outward observance, but also inward observance in thought and word, concepts the cultists miss by thinking like the Pharisees before them who held that only if you commit the act of sin do you actually sin!

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Yet Jesus showed that not only must the commandments be kept in thought and word--they must be kept in perfect observance in thought and word (Matt. 5:27-28 and Matt. 12:36-37)!

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No one but Christ can meet that standard. What we can do is apprehend what the Scriptures teach, then go out to live a moral life--not regulated by observance of specific commandments, or by a vague, carnal understanding of right and wrong subject to our own ungodly wills, but by new hearts and minds the Spirit has awakened in us, which will, as we yield to Him, conform our lives to what the commandments seek, but fail, to produce.

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.

--Jer.31:33.

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Then, when we reach the status of a man mature in Christ, we won’t be counterfeits who look religious on the outside by standing out for the way we apparently “obey commandments” and avoid “worldly” things and activities--but as a person who from the inside is a living epistle of Christ in his manner of life, with a conscience made alive by the Spirit, sensitive to the promptings of right and wrong by the Spirit as we walk with God:

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And that takes time. Lots of time.

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The true canon of righteousness

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All these misunderstandings about what righteousness really is arise because the Child of the Flesh sees “the Law” or “the commandments” as the real canon of righteousness.

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As Paul shows, while God has given us commandments in Scripture, the “Law” and covenant formed around those commandments is not the true “Law” by which God ultimately judges humanity, nor is that “Law” and covenant apprehendable by a Gentile who otherwise has a capacity to perceive and follow or reject God’s actual Law! As we see taught in Romans 2, the real Law is not the tortuous minutiae, but the core aspects of righteousness that come from the attributes of God Himself, which are placed in the human conscience, and merely written down and illustrated through the written Law. Man has this “natural law of love” in his conscience from being made in the image of God, so every man--even if his conscience somehow becomes seared to the truth--intrinsically knows, or knew at some point, it is wrong to steal, kill, commit adultery, and so on, and those sorts of “commandments” are the ones we must not violate to avoid being marked as transgressors.

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And that was the case even before the Law was ever given:

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For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

--Rom. 5:13.

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And that is the case now that again there is technically “no Law”

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What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

--Rom. 6:15.

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Sin can, and does, still exist even though the Law is “abolished”!

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Why?

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Because the Torah had nothing to do with certain acts being sin before, during, or after its existence.

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Those things were always wrong, such as when Cain--long before Moses--killed his brother, which was sin even though he was not “under the Law” and had never even heard of the Law. But he intrinsically knew he was doing wrong because murder violates God's intrinsic morality, a morality Cain knew in his conscience even if he had never read the Torah. Thus, he was subject to judgment for violating what he knew in his heart to be wrong, and God acknowledges that Cain intrinsically knew "the right things to do," and so had no excuse even though there was no formal Law yet:.

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If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

--Gen. 4:7.

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So sin existed when there was no Law, and Cain knew exactly what sin was because God had given him a conscience to know right from wrong.

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So too now, a Christian who goes out and murders someone--even though he's not under the Law--is still committing transgression just as Cain did, because murder was a transgression before anyone ever heard of Moses, and it will always be a transgression independent of the Law. The difference is, believers who reject unrighteousness and walking in ongoing, unrepentant rebellion are never viewed by God as having the status of transgressors despite the sins we still commit, nor is sin imputed to us because we are not under the Law (Romans 4:15 and 5:13). But even the most righteous of us is still capable of committing acts of transgression in thought, word or deed, and God may inflict corrective judgment on us for those acts of transgression (Heb. 12:8) even though we stand in the status of those justified by faith when we commit those individual acts.

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Where we part company from Cain, who wasn’t under the Law and thus did not technically have sin imputed to him through transgression of the Law, is that we have access to a foreign righteousness attributed to us as Abel (and all Old Testament saints) did, who, unlike Cain, was in covenant with God because of his faith (Heb. 11:4). (It may have taken time for the full benefits of that righteousness to be manifested in them after the cross, but through their faith they all looked forward to that time and the regeneration that would come through Christ’s atonement, and His sending the Spirit into fallen humanity.)

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Many people “unskilful in the word of righteousness” make a deadly error of presuming that forgiveness of sin, and avoiding sin thereafter, is all that's needed to gain eternal life.

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Not so.

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One must also have the regeneration of the Holy Spirit in his own fallen human spirit, and become “born again.” Lacking this, he might not be accountable for one sin, but yet will die in a fallen, unregenerate state and at the resurrection will have whatever attributes of his conscience that were given by God removed, leaving him in a state of perfected corruption fit only for the Lake of Fire even though no sin is actually attributed to him.

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That--unless he somehow repented and came to faith in God--will be Cain’s fate, because forgiveness of sin alone won’t save you from damnation!

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“Well, Hebrews Ten says if we willingly commit sin, there remains no more sacrifice for us--any salvation we had is lost! So we must keep God’s holy Law, and never violate it, except by accident, or we will be damned!”

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For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

--Heb. 10:26-27.

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Often the heretic will misapply the warning against rebellion in Hebrews 10, and say something like, “Once we come to Christ, only accidental and unintentional sins can be forgiven--anyone who willingly commits a sin after knowledge of the truth has blasphemed the Spirit, and cannot be forgiven because there is no more sacrifice for sin!”

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Thus, their “Gospel” is only for the strong. There is no place for the weak.

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Friends, I don’t have time to refute this “gutter Gospel.” Just read the sections on justification. The bottom line is, teachings like that are sewage from the heart of Satan, out the mouths of his tares, trying to bring the sheep under condemnation. The fool who believes that “Gospel” is himself damned, and at the Last Judgment will see how pathetic his 10 Commandments-keeping really was. Then he’ll be thrown into the Lake of Fire, while those he denounced as sinners excluded from the Kingdom will march into it.

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Goats who believe this are “unskilful in the word of righteousness.” They also fall prey to one of the greatest dangers that befalls those who seek right standing with God by keeping His commandments:

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The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

--1 Cor. 15:56.

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Law empowers flesh, while Spirit empowers spirit.

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The tares who emphasize keeping “God’s holy Law” to be assured of salvation will wind up in one of two states: Either knee deep in sin through that Law empowering their sin nature (Romans 7:5), or knee deep in the idolatry of Gal. 5:20--an idolatry arising from a spirit of empowered pride, manifesting in self-justification and self-righteousness. For these latter wretches, what they will think is Spirit-empowered sanctification will actually be flesh-empowered idolatry that may look like real holiness but is actually a counterfeit--as is the God they follow, which is created in their own image.

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So, despite what these deceivers teach, there is always forgiveness for the man willing to repent! That man might bear some natural consequences for his sin, but God is always ready to forgive even the most wanton sinner because of the atonement of Christ--and whether or not that man is a “Christian,” when he sins, is irrelevant.

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“But what’s the problem with being ‘under’ the 10 Commandments as many people and denominations teach? Isn’t it good to uphold those commandments?”

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The problem is in upholding any written “Law” as binding and covenantal upon Christians. The moment any Law exists that one binds himself to, that person leaves the status of a man justified by faith alone (Gal. 2:18-19) and now stands in the status of a transgressor before God because he has bound himself to the authority of that Law, while being incapable of keeping that Law to God’s pure standard because that Law will empower his sin nature in opposition to what the Law is meant to do:

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Romans 8:7 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 [in the 10 commandments!], wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment [in the 10 Commandments] came, sin revived, and I died.

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Note that! The principle in the 10 Commandments killed Paul!

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10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

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Again, the principle in the 10 Commandments brought death to Paul, not life and right standing with God!

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11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

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Why?

Because Paul--and us--have a fallen sin nature that will be with us until the resurrection. And any Law we bind ourselves to and try to keep will empower our sin nature even further! Coming to Christ does not end that sin nature and the Law’s magnification of that sin nature.

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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.

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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.

--Rom. 7:4-6.

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That is the problem with upholding the 10 Commandments as “God’s holy Law” or “God’s Royal Law” that we must keep and be under to be assured of our right standing with God.

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“Well, I believe God has given us His holy Law to we believers to keep and uphold, in order to separate us from the world, and to show we have real faith!”

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Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

--1 Tim. 1:9-10.

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That is whom the Law is for: Not for real followers of Christ, but for the unredeemed.

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Why?

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So that the sinner can be confronted in a way he cannot explain his way around, both with the fact he is condemned as a sinner; and secondly, that he cannot keep the Law that condemns him well enough to be acceptable to God on that basis alone, for he needs Christ’s perfect righteousness and perfect atonement applied to him and his sin!

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Once he knows that the Law condemns and kills him, he is freed from it when he turns to new life in Christ through repentance, faith and baptism. For him, he is now a new creation entitled to walk in Paul’s great revelation that:

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Where no law is, there is no transgression.

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