"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."John 1:17.
and he want us to follow it as it is said
"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4. Salvation does not come by observing the law. It comes after salvation and as an urge of the Holy Spirit.
Short answer is that it is not a sin to observe the law and keep the OT commandments. I don't think Jesus ever intended that His followers not keep His commandments that are written in the OT. These verses make that pretty clear.
Mat 22:37 And Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." Deut. 6:5
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Lev. 19:18
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments all the Law and the Prophets hang.
How can we help but keep the commandments of the OT if we agree with what He says here. But if you are a Gentile the following would apply:
"In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the first Christians were predominantly Jews. When Gentiles began to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Jewish Christians had a dilemma. What aspects of the Mosaic Law and Jewish tradition should Gentile Christians be instructed to obey? The apostles met and discussed the issue in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). The decision was, �It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood� (Acts 15:19-20)." Source: http://www.gotquestions.org/Sabbath-keeping.html
I think that Messianic Jews should continue to observe the OT Law because they are not included in this decision by the Apostles.
Daniel ~ I believe it is not Sinful to observe the Law. And this is why ~
It is written that Saul/Paul was called by the LORD Jesus Christ...
I was reading the book of Acts NKJV and came across 28:23-31...
*23~ And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, ( both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening.)
*24~ And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not.
*25~ And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, ( after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, )
26~ Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
27~ For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart,( and should be converted, ) and I should heal them.
28~ Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.
29~ And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.
30~ And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him,
31~ Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
We all agreed that we are justified by faith. After justification through faith, we will want to be righteous before God, this is sanctification. How to be righteous? That is the problem. If we look into the NT only, a lot of questions remain unresolved, as Jesus only told us to obey the law. Without the Mosaic law, we cannot know what Jesus meant. Romans 2 told us righteousness can only be achieve through observing the law. It did not say 10 commandments but the law, all of them. The small laws are necessary to explain the 10 commandments.The law is all the books in OT, not j ust the Torah. Let have 2 examples.
1. Is tithing a must? In NT, we are only told to give to God what belong to God with a willing heart. Only in the small laws that it is known that the tithe belongs to God. One breaks the 10 commandments if not tithing.
2. Genetic engineering (cross species). Again, only in the small laws that we are told that such action is not correct and is against the 10 commandments.
Of course some of the laws is custom and some are meant for the past. This is told specifically in the law, therefore it is not for us because the law said so. We don't choose what law we should obey, God choose it for us.
I have to ask what you mean when you refer to the Law. Are you talking about the Torah, (Pentateuch), or are you talking about the Old Testament? The Old Testament is not the Law. Only the first five books are the Law. The other books are either The Prophets and The Writings. Many Christians confuse the Old Testament with the Law. Then they try to disregard the entire OT because they think it is invalidated by the New Testament. This is a manner of thinking that goes along side of Replacement Theology and is not Biblical. It is also antisemitic. This theology teaches that the Christians are now God's Chosen People because the Jews rejected their Messiah and also the NT replaced the OT. (But they still quote the OT when it is convenient for them.)
That being said, I think you should turn to whatever Scripture applies to the situation regardless of where in the Bible it is found. God said He does not change. Paul wrote, "2Ti 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
2Ti 3:17 so that the man of God may be perfected, being fully furnished for every good work."
ALL Scripture is profitable . . . for EVERY good work.
I am wondering sometimes, how do we love God. People said you must love God, yet a lot of people did not address the question "how?". Saying is easy, doing is difficult.
The view that the entire OT is the Law is not the view of mainstream theologians nor is it the view of the Jews. In my experience it is only the Torah that is the Law. I have been involved with Messianic worshipers for over ten years and have studied the Torah with them. There is no way they would agree that the entire OT is the Law. The Jews specifically separate the Torah (Law) from the Prophets and the Writings. Even Jesus did. The Writings being books like Job, Psalms, Prov, and Song of Songs also called The Psalms in the NT. It might be worth your time to research this. The misunderstanding that the Law is the entire OT is common. But you have to remember that the Law was all of the Laws by which the people of Israel were to live and were not just religious but also civil laws. There are no Laws in any of the books of the Prophets or the Writings. What's more Moses only wrote the Torah so how can the entire OT be the Mosaic Law?
Mat 7:12 Therefore, all things, whatever you desire that men should do to you, so also you should do to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments all the Law and the Prophets hang.
Luk 24:44 And He said to them, These are the Words which I spoke to you yet being with you, that all the things must be fulfilled having been written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, concerning Me.
Joh 1:45 Philip finds Nathanael and said to him, We have found the One of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the Prophets, Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.
Rom 3:21 But now a righteousness of God has been revealed apart from Law, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
I believe that we should not often listen to the teachings of men but rather seek Truth on our own by searching the Scriptures with an open mind and learning from the Holy Spirit. (1Co 2:16) So many Christians search the Scriptures for something to support what they believe rather than searching for what they should have believed in the first place. There's a difference between Doctrine study and Bible study.
Besides Bible study, I personally think that every Christian should learn the traditions of the Jews and their ancient culture if they are going to analyze the OT. Most of what many Christians believe about the Law cannot be supported by Scripture and is rooted in the antisemitic views expressed by the ancient Gentile Church and the Early Papacy that continue to permeate the Church today. What's more, without understanding the OT you cannot understand many of the teachings in the NT and especially Revelation. An example of this is the false idea that Jesus established the "Lord's Supper" when in fact He was simply expressing the meaning of the symbols of the New Covenant that are in the Sader of Passover and telling the Disciples to remember Him and His sacrifice and His redemption rather than their exodus from Egypt and looking forward to the coming Messiah.
If you haven't done it yet you probably should also study the history of the way the Church persecuted the Jews and Sabbath keeping Christians. When it comes to Holocausts the Church has no room to talk. i.e. The Inquisition! (Please note that I am talking about the Church as a religious/political entity specifically and not Christians in general.)
1. The writings of the prophet encompassed the law and prophecy, I said it is part of the law because prophet explain the law. Therefore, the Mosaic law should be read together with the teachings by the prophet. In this way, writings by the prophet is part of the law. In certain way, it is also not part of the law because it is not a written article or act but a written judgment. If one read the writings of the prophet it often involve judgment. It is law because when we want to know what is meaning of one law, we look at the past judgment by God Himself. This concept is known as binding precedent as it is known in the common law. I don't know whether I am being clear to you, but this concept is also being practice in the court in US, Britain and many other countries. You can study more on this. This is the only way we can reconcile all the verses in the bible because apart from the verses you pointed out, there is one important verse you miss where Paul refer to verses found only in Isiah as law as in 1 Corinthians 14:21,
"In the Law it is written:
"Through men of strange tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,"says the Lord. "
I am an open minded person, if you can show me how you can explain 1 Corinthian 14:21, then I will consider changing my position. I am not sure whether many Christians share my view but from the discussion here, most of them don't.
2. Thanks for sharing your experience in Christ. Let me share some of mine, I became Christian when I was small. I followed my father who converted to Christianity not lead by any man or any man have spread the Gospel to him at that time but by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I become Christian before belonging to any denomination (and I still belongs to none but Christ). So, if you look carefully into my believe, I think you will not find that it does not belongs to any denomination.
3. Church persecuting Jews. I don't know what happen then.
4. Sabbath keeping Christians: I do not have problem with them, in fact some of them had come to my house before. The only thing I agree that there is nothing wrong in keeping the Sabbath. The only thing I disagree with them is how to keep.
5. Lord Supper, so what is the difference you are trying to point out. Sorry, I cannot understand.
