Thoughts about the confusing word: "Law"

[sparow]

I wrote another post about what is really meant when we say "God" did something. I think of this as attributing the action to the Kingdom of God, with the Father at the top. Thus, because Moses was part of the Kingdom of God, and was operating in accordance to the goals of the Father to the best of his understanding, then the Law of Moses becomes equated with the Law of "God." Jesus, later, points out that Moses gave laws of divorce because of the hardness of people's hearts. But he implies that this was really NOT the best ideal law, when he says "but it was not so in the beginning." Jesus doesn't condemn Moses for giving this law, but He highlights a difference between what the Father might say, and what Moses said. In another situation, Jesus tells the people that the scribes and pharisees sit in the seat of Moses, and thus should be obeyed. But the people were not to emulate them. This tells me that Jesus was upholding the hierarchical organization while trying to also clean out the corruption.

The main thing about the law of God, regarding human behavior, is that it is also a means to God's end, requires degrees of flexibility and common sense, and for this reason just believing is not good enough, skill is required. Moses has a difficult job to do and he did well. There is a nuance in your statement that I cannot quite define but disagree with.

Moses had no choice regarding the giving of the Law, or in the terms of the covenant, nor did Abraham. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy, nor is God a democrat, certainly not a communist.

Young Israelites would fornicate, and Moses would declare them married, would such a marriage be a type or reflection of God's covenant with man; I think not, so a divorce in these cases may not constitute a broken covenant; God had already arranged that the lost sheep would be literally born again into a new generation and a renewed covenant.

I don't think Moses implied that the Law was not really the ideal Law, but rather he implied that Israel was not the Ideal people.

We are required to pay taxes and obey the Law of the land, but not the point of receiving the Mark of the Beast.

 

[sparow]

A friend of mine, great guy, but of a different denomination and different belief system, tried to help me understand his thinking about predestination. "Is there any part of creation that is not under God's control?", he asked me. "And if it is under God's control, then everything is following God's will." The implication is that if someone is ultimately lost, then this also was in accordance with God's will.

.... Yes, but more "No!" ...



I agree with what you are saying, and am just restating it to my own understanding.

God has a plan that leads to the best good. For an example, He has established the principle of gravity. Gravity is great, as it keeps us all from floating off into space and dying. But by creating gravity, essentially every toddler/child is going to end up crying with a skinned knee as they learn how to deal with the situation and not fall down. Is God happy about children with bumps and bruises? I would say "no," but it is necessary for the greater good. Jesus, in the garden before his betrayal, pleaded with the Father to take away the cup He had to drink. "All things are possible for You", He prayed. The Father could have allowed Jesus to escape crucifixion, or could have even destroyed the entire universe and started over. But consequences would follow. Thus when you say that "God is bound by the laws of His creation", I agree -- though I probably would say it as "God is consistent, and when He establishes a consistent law of creation, then that consistency creates consequences."

Ha!

Thanks for the feedback.

Kevin

I do not see God directly piloting every little thing; from time to time angels save us from evil, sometimes they do not. The Bible tells us that a war is being fought, and that the cost to the kingdom of God is great.

The doctrine of predestination is a doctrine of men, and most of the teachings of men are excuses for not keeping the commandments of God. Somethings are determined before creation, still all men live once to be judged regarding matters that God is not responsible for.

What happened to Jesus will determine the Magnitude of His wrath, blood to the belly of horses.

 

[Fervent]

What is meant by "law" is definitely a contextual issue, as it can have many meanings. In some places, it means the first 5 books of the Bible, in others it means the one called Deuteronomy, in others it means the legal code found within that book, in others it means basic Godly living, in others it means the entire code of traditions that were what bound them to God as His exclusive possession. The heart of the issue is not what legal codes we are to follow, but how we understand our identity. To the Jews, their identity was wrapped up in the distinctive things the law required of them. That is, circumcision, diet, and Sabbath observance. While these things can be good, they are not what makes someone belong to God in the new covenant. So where Paul opposed the law, it was a matter of fidelity to the Messiah and His work as the defining feature of Christianity and not the obedience to the distinctives of the Jewish nation.

 

[sparow]

What is meant by "law" is definitely a contextual issue, as it can have many meanings. In some places, it means the first 5 books of the Bible, in others it means the one called Deuteronomy, in others it means the legal code found within that book, in others it means basic Godly living, in others it means the entire code of traditions that were what bound them to God as His exclusive possession. The heart of the issue is not what legal codes we are to follow, but how we understand our identity. To the Jews, their identity was wrapped up in the distinctive things the law required of them. That is, circumcision, diet, and Sabbath observance. While these things can be good, they are not what makes someone belong to God in the new covenant. So where Paul opposed the law, it was a matter of fidelity to the Messiah and His work as the defining feature of Christianity and not the obedience to the distinctives of the Jewish nation.

The Law and its subsets introduced by Moses is mankind's requirement and obligation to the covenant (enabling some to be called and chosen as inhabitants of the kingdom), God's obligation to the covenant is to provide the salvation, the Law, the Kingdom and the King.

The greatest failure of Israel was the did not enter into the covenant, they did the actions without the relationship.