Never Forget That God Is Never Ever Wrong When Studying The Bible, Never
GOD IS NEVER WRONG AND ALL HIS LAWS ARE GOOD FOR MANKIND
One must study God’s word with this premise. We should ask, “Why did God say that” and how can we gain deeper insight into His wisdom. It is a false assumption that the Old Testament is done away. People use this idea to get around the fourth and second commandments and stay in and with the world. Some have tried to misuse verses like Eze. 20:24-25 to support such a wrongheaded premise.
Ezekiel 20:24-25 NKJV 24 “because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols. 25 “Therefore I alsogave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live;
If you see this verse in the NIV, a clearer translation, it is obvious that God is angry with them for desecrating His Sabbaths and desiring idols. They preferred man-made idols over the true God. Human nature seems to desire an object they can hold as a solid object to represent the deity instead of the true, invisible God. For instance, objects that represent the queen of heaven or Baal are preferred. Anything that pulls a nation away from the true God weakens them greatly. He then gives them over to their own legal devices. God, thru the prophet is obviously not saying, “I gave you bad laws so you would suffer”. God let them suffer from their own bad laws and and paganized religions. Even today are our court decisions hurting the nation? Obviously many are! The principles behind His Laws are still valid. In 1 Cor 9:9-11 the Apostle Paul is applying a minor law from Deut. (25:4) to a gentile New Testament church.
1 Corinthians 9:9-11 NKJV 9 Forit is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
He used this Old Testament law as proof that he could have asked for a salary from the Corinthians, but deferred because he did not want it to be a barrier to their growth. He thought that some would be suspicious of this Jewish cleric wanting their money! He did it out of love, yet they did not appreciate his sacrifice. Note the Old Testament is quoted liberally throughout the New Testament as doctrinal support and guidance. See Act 24:14 to see what the main author of the New Testament believed.
Acts 24:14 NKJV 14 “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believingall things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
Whenever we find a law in the Old Testament that we do not understand, or no longer fits into our society because we are not a theocracy, and in that ancient culture, never ever assume that God was wrong! We just do not understand the situation.
GOD DOES NOT CHANGE BECAUSE HE IS NEVER IN ERROR
Be wary of biases from our past religious teachings. Many of those biases are of a harsh God of the Old Testament who has been replaced by a reformer, Jesus, who changed much of the laws. God put curses on those that would alter or do away with any part of His written word.
Numbers 23:19 NKJV 19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Deuteronomy 4:2-3 NKJV 2 “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3 “Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.
Hebrews 13:8 NKJV 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
See also Rev. 22:18-19 God does NOT need to change. Remember further that Jesus was the God of the Old Testament who led Israel. Note I Cor.10: 4. People need to repent and change not God. Christ said in Matt 5:17-18 that He did not come to do away with the law but to show its deep spiritual fulfillment.
Matthew 5:17-18 NKJV 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle willby no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
God gave the Apostles the power to make legal decisions regarding new situations that required a ruling- to bind or to loose. This is meant to be used with Godly insight which would never contradict God’s written wishes or laws. What about circumcision some will assert? Note Lev.19:33. Well the apostles decided that since the Bible does say circumcise your heart, that spiritual circumcision or repentance is all that is needed for gentiles. Circumcision was a national sign for Israel. It would have been an enormous barrier for gentile conversions. See Acts 10:28, 34, and 44. God did not want barriers against the entire gentile world.
Romans 2:25 NKJV 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Paul explains to the believers in Rome both Jews and gentiles that it is obvious that :
Romans 2:26-29 NKJV 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?
Paul's obvious statement is not a contradiction of the Old Testament because the OT said to circumcise your heart. God desired Israel to love Him primarily and circumcision was a national sign and healthy as well.
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he isa Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Christianity was the real true Godly sect within Judaism. Therefore the apostle could say that to be a real Jew was to be one deep in our hearts. Learn to love God deeply.
DID PAUL CANCEL THE LAW WHEN EXPLAINING GRACE?
Mainstream believers in this the age of Satan assert that Paul's teachings on faith and grace cancel the laws of God or at least the need for all ten of the commandments. However one must note Paul's most blatantly clear statements on the subjects.
Romans 3:30-31 NKJV 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary,we establish the law.
One does not need to in faith accept the pardon provided by Jesus Christ for breaking the law IF no such laws existed. No law no sin, period. Then no need for grace or pardon.
Romans 5:20 – 6:2 NKJV 20...But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
No doubt Paul believes that both faith and grace confirm the Law. Further Paul was countering the undermining work of the Judaizers. They wanted over regulations of everyone and a circumcision barrier on gentiles. These extra rules made the life of the Jewish people burdensome. Paul wants mature obedience with freedom note:
Galatians 5:1 NKJV 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Christ countered these over regulations and taught balanced free obedience of God's laws.
Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV 28 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.".
ISSUES
1. DO PEOPLE REALLY UNDERSTAND GRACE?
