Christ died because we do not qualify to pay the wages of sin that will bring us eternal life. Sin is the breaking of the law. This includes all ten commandments.
Yes, I am a COMMANDMENT KEEPER. I do keep the fourth commandment Sabbath. I try not to do secular things that can be done on other days on the Sabbath. Example: I do not shop on the Sabbath, but if I were visiting a home where no food is, I would go to the store and buy some. This is doing good on the Sabbath. I would not mop my floor on the Sabbath, but if someone vomited on the Sabbath, I would mop the floor. Ex. 20:8-11 says that we should do no work on the Sabbath. This refers to unnecessary work.
Consider the following:
Christ being the END of the law:
Rom. 10:4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Christ is the end result of the law. The law leads us to the character of Christ.
1st Peter 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.
Should faith now end?
1st Tim. 1:5 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and [of] a good conscience, and [of] faith unfeigned:
Here we are told that the end RESULT of keeping the commandments is charity.
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
The Lord has not ended. The end result of Job’s patience was mercy from God.
The Schoolmaster:
Gal. 3:23-25 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. 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.
The whole idea of anything that leads us to Christ is to get us to love Him and keep His commandments. The law plays the role of a schoolmaster by teaching us what sin is. (1st John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.) Then we are told in 1st John 2:4 "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
Here is another text.
Mark 10:17-19 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? [there is] none good but one, [that is], God. 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.
Christ didn’t need to name all ten commandments for them to know which law He was talking about. If you are not inclined to murder, do you need a law that says, "Thou shalt not murder?" Should you be concerned about a law that says, "Thou shalt not stand on thy head for two hours a day?" If you are a murderer or a head stander, you might. For the thief, "Thou shalt not steal" is a schoolmaster that leads him to the love of Jesus, which brings to an end, his desire to steal. Christians don’t keep the law in order to be Christians, rather Christians keep the law out of love because we ARE Christians. A pear tree produces pears not to prove that it is a pear tree, but because it is a pear tree. If you had ten teachers who taught and led you to your PHD degree, once you were awarded your PHD, you no longer needed those ten teachers or schoolmasters. Do you now make void what they taught? Rom 3:31 says, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
You no longer need a schoolmaster because you are practicing what they taught. Because you no longer need your physics teacher, do you think the laws of physics are now void? A reasonable person will realize that when a schoolmaster is no longer needed, the students are able to teach what they were taught and spread the truth. If whatever the schoolmaster teaches is no longer valid upon teaching it, then he has a useless job. What has happened to make God’s law no longer needed by man? When is "Thou shalt not steal:" inappropriate?
Paul makes things quite clear:
Rom. 3:19-31 19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
The law was made for all, but only law breakers are under the law.
If you drove 80 mph in a 55 mph zone and the traffic cop showed you mercy and grace, does this make void the law? If you no longer sped, are you under the law? The law says, "Thou shalt not speed." when grace keeps you from paying the price of a ticket, you are not under the law, but under grace. Is it wise to now speed? The speed limit sign is a schoolmaster only for those who would speed. The speed limit signs are a reminder of what the law says.
3:20 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.
The deeds of the law that says, "Thou shalt not steal" is to live and not steal. We are not justified by the act of not stealing. The law merely tells us that stealing is a sin and we know that the wages if sin is death. If sin is NOT the transgression of the law as stated by 1st John 3:4, then what is sin? Sin is the only thing that God will send us to hell for.
3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Righteousness is right doing. If you are living right, you don’t need a law to remind you to do what you already are doing. The law only condemns the wicked. The righteous are not under the law, because they obey it out of love. If you love God then keep the first four commandments. If you love your neighbor, then keep the last six. Upon these two, hang all the law and the prophets, which is the golden rule as found in Luke 6:31. " And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. "
3:22 Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
3:25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
3:26 To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
3:27 Where [is] boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Who in their right mind would think that this text is telling us that we no longer need, "Thou shalt not steal?"
In order to get rid of the Sabbath, one must get rid of the whole law.
3:29 [Is he] the God of the Jews only? [is he] not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
3:30 Seeing [it is] one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
I agree with Brother Paul.
James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all.
Gal. 5:3,4 5:3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Matt. 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
If repentance is required to be saved and the law is void, then what is there to repent of?
Matt. 15:9 says, " But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men."
If the Sabbath was changed to Sunday from Saturday by man, then this text applies.
eace:
