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I’m saved – I can do anything I want

Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law Roman 3:28,
was not rightly understood, for by faith here Paul meant faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. By "the deeds of the law," he did not mean the deeds of the law of the Decalogue, which are the Ten Commandments, but the deeds of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews; that by a wrong interpretation of those few words, two enormous falsities had been established, one, that Paul here meant the faith of the present church, and the other, that he meant the deeds of the law of the Decalogue. It is clearly evident [these claimed] that Paul meant the works of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, and not the works of the Decalogue, from what he said to Peter, whom he accused of Judaizing, although he knew That no one is justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:14-16;

"The faith of Jesus Christ" meaning faith in Him and from Him. By "the deeds of the law" Paul meant the deeds of the Mosaic law, he distinguished between the law of faith and the law of works, and between the Jews and the Gentiles, or "circumcision" and "uncircumcision," "circumcision" signifying Judaism here as everywhere else. Moreover, Paul closes with these words:
Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid; but we establish the law (saying this in connection with the foregoing), Roman 3:27-31.

Likewise in the preceding chapter:
Not the hearers of a law shall be justified before God, but the doers of a law shall be justified Roman 2:13;

God will render to every man according to his deeds Roman 2:6;

For we must all be made manifest before the judgement-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done through the body, whether it be good or bad 2 Corinthians 5:10;

besides other passages in his writings. From all this it is clear that Paul rejected faith without works, just as James did James 2:17-26.

That Paul meant the deeds of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, these were still further convinced from the fact that all the statutes written for the Jews in uses are called "the law," thus, "the deeds of the law," as can be seen from the following:
This is the law of the meal offering Leviticus 6:14-18.
This is the law for the burnt offering, for the meal offering, and for the sin offering, and for the guilt offering, and for the consecrations Leviticus 7:37.
This is the law of the beast and of the fowl: Leviticus 11:46.
This is the law for her that beareth a son or a daughter. Leviticus 12:7.
This is the law of leprosy Leviticus 13:59: Leviticus 14:2-57.
This is the law of him that hath an issue: Leviticus 15:32.
This is the law of jealousy: Numbers 5:29-30.
This is the law of the Nazarite\: Numbers 6:13-21.
This is the law of cleansing: Numbers. 19:14.
This is the law respecting the red heifer Numbers 19:2.
The law for the king: Deuteronomy 17:15-19.
Indeed, the whole book of Moses is called "the book of the law," Deuteronomy 31:9-26; Luke 2:22 Luke 24:44; John 1:45; John 7:22-23 John 8:5.

Harry
 
Solo,

My apologies for the delay.

Regarding your reference to 1Cor. 5:1-5, it was my first time to see this passage, or if I had read it before, I totally missed the apparent conundrum.

So, I’ve been seeking help through commentaries. I’m sure you’ve “been there, and done that†so I don’t think that I’ll be able to offer you a fresh perspective on this passage. I have to say, though, that I can’t agree with your take on it.

I don’t see this passage as affirming OSAS. I agree with the Albert Barnes' view that this unrepentant sinner is to be ex-communicated from the church, in hopes that he will repent, and return to the fold.

Since you sought my view, on what looked like a toughie to me, I thought that I would, likewise, seek your opinion on Heb. 6:4-6, which has been (and still is) a toughie for me.

First, let me thank you for explaining the proper context to view this passage. A Christian Hebrew, teaching other Christian Hebrews.

I’m still trying to digest every nuance of the rest of your commentary. This is deep stuff for me!

In the past, I had decided that this passage must be referring to just the apostles themselves.

The verses speaking of those who“…tasted…of the powers of the world to come,…â€Â, and by falling away, put Christ “…to an open shame…â€Â, seem to me to be talking about the apostles ONLY.

Who else could bring shame to Jesus Christ more than one of His own hand picked apostles falling away, who had not only seen Him work miracles, but had worked miracles THEMSELVES, truly, this would be tasting the powers of the world to come.

I don’t expect you or anyone to agree with this take on this passage, since, at this point in time, I can still see where the first three verses of this chapter conflict with even this position.

But, I do thank you for reaching out to me, even though we aren’t on the same page on every issue, I do value your opinion.

Thanks again,

In Christ,

farley
 
farley said:
Solo,

My apologies for the delay.

Regarding your reference to 1Cor. 5:1-5, it was my first time to see this passage, or if I had read it before, I totally missed the apparent conundrum.

So, I’ve been seeking help through commentaries. I’m sure you’ve “been there, and done that†so I don’t think that I’ll be able to offer you a fresh perspective on this passage. I have to say, though, that I can’t agree with your take on it.

I don’t see this passage as affirming OSAS. I agree with the Albert Barnes' view that this unrepentant sinner is to be ex-communicated from the church, in hopes that he will repent, and return to the fold.

Since you sought my view, on what looked like a toughie to me, I thought that I would, likewise, seek your opinion on Heb. 6:4-6, which has been (and still is) a toughie for me.

First, let me thank you for explaining the proper context to view this passage. A Christian Hebrew, teaching other Christian Hebrews.

I’m still trying to digest every nuance of the rest of your commentary. This is deep stuff for me!

In the past, I had decided that this passage must be referring to just the apostles themselves.

The verses speaking of those who“…tasted…of the powers of the world to come,…â€Â, and by falling away, put Christ “…to an open shame…â€Â, seem to me to be talking about the apostles ONLY.

Who else could bring shame to Jesus Christ more than one of His own hand picked apostles falling away, who had not only seen Him work miracles, but had worked miracles THEMSELVES, truly, this would be tasting the powers of the world to come.

I don’t expect you or anyone to agree with this take on this passage, since, at this point in time, I can still see where the first three verses of this chapter conflict with even this position.

But, I do thank you for reaching out to me, even though we aren’t on the same page on every issue, I do value your opinion.

Thanks again,

In Christ,

farley
farley,
Thanks for the post. It was well written and thoughtful. Hebrews 6 used to be a difficult verse for me and one that I used to support a "lose your salvation" position. It took a while for God to teach me that salvation is only dependent upon him. The Hebrews 6 verse seemed to say to me that if one is to fall away after being enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the Word of God and the powers of the world to come that it would be impossible to renew oneself again to repentence as it would crucify the son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Then when I went to Revelation to read what Jesus said to the seven churches, he told six of the seven to repent. I would ask myself how could they repent if they crucify the son of God afresh. This seemed like a contradiction to me, but knowing God never lies, I looked to my understanding at being at fault. Then it hit.

Hebrews 6 is talking to Hebrew Christians who had the ability to offer sacrifices for their sins over and over again in the atonement sacrifice. Also for us today, we know that Jesus gave himself one time for all of the sins of the world, and his righteousness would be imputed to those who were born of God through the Holy Spirit. Look at the verses in Hebrew 6.

Those that were once enlightened (given the gospel of Jesus), and have tasted(tasted, not consumed), and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost (partners but not sons, see Heb 12:8), and have tasted the good word (tasted, heard but not acted upon), and the powers of the world to come (inflected with tasted from previous phrase. Tasted but not consumed to the heart); it is impossible to crucify the son of God afresh because he died once for all sins, not just for some sins as the former sacrifices of animals. Having to sacrifice Jesus again and again for the sins of man would bring Jesus to an open shame not being any better than the animals that were sacrificed for the sins of the Israelites.

Jesus died once for all, and the promise is that we are to be born of God once and for all time to become his children.

Thanks,
Solo
 
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