If you want to be saved, you must keep the law of God which is defined in the 66 books of the Bible.
This isn't what God's word says.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Titus 3:5
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
2 Timothy 1:9
9 Who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Galatians 3:1-3
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Galatians 2:16
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Romans 3:20-22
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.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe...
Keeping the law of God means thinking, speaking and acting as God wants you to.
I am speaking about the moral law, not about the ceremonial law.
The moral law: Do not worship idols, do not steal, do not murder, do not wear women's clothes, do not commit fornication, do not eat blood, and many more.
The ceremonial law was fulfilled by Jesus, therefore no one should obey the ceremonial law. If someone still wants to keep the ceremonial law, he has fallen from grace (Gal 5:4).
No, the Mosaic Law encompassed
ceremonial laws, laws of
separation and
moral laws. The first two types of law are dissolved under the New Covenant, as the books of
Galatians, Romans and
Hebrews make abundantly clear. Only the Moral Law remains for the Christian to fulfill.
You've mixed laws of separation with moral laws in the quotation above, however. No Christian ought ever to commit murder but there is nothing immoral about a man not wearing a beard, or having a tattoo, or not being circumcised, or wearing mixed fabrics. These laws given solely to OT Israel were to remind them in every domain of their lives of their "set apart" status as God's Chosen People, and to make this evident also to surrounding pagan nations. No one except the Israelites have ever been under obligation to adhere to these laws of separation, however. And under the New Covenant, the Jews, too, are now liberated from the constraints of the Old Covenant laws of separation. This, the apostle Paul makes very clear in his letter to the Christians in the province of Galatia, who were being pressured by Judaizers to conform to the separation law of circumcision.
Galatians 5:1-6
1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.
3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Faith means keeping the law,
loving God means following the commandments,
being a Christian means to imitate Jesus.
No, "faith" means "a settled confidence in something."
Loving God means desiring Him with all of one's being (
Matthew 22:36-38;
Psalms 42:2; Psalm 63:1). Out of this positive, whole-being desire for God arises obedience. If our obedience does not arise from love - desire - for God, it is entirely useless spiritually. See:
1 Corinthians 13:1-3.
Being a Christian means to be a vessel in whom, and through whom, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit (
Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19), manifests himself. See:
1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; Galatians 5:22-23; 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Isaiah 64:8
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Matthew 19:16-17, "If you want to enter life, keep the commandments."
When did Jesus say this, and to whom? Had he died on the cross yet, in doing so making a new way to be reconciled to God? No. Was he speaking to a Gentile or a Jew? A Jew - one who had been careful to keep the moral laws Jesus cited "from his youth." And so, Jesus's remarks to the rich young ruler were within a pre-Calvary, Old Covenant context, communicating nothing of how lost sinners would "enter life" once Jesus had become the once-for-all propitiation for their sins (
1 John 4:10; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:19-20; 1 John 5:11-12; John 14:6). For the born-again believer, then, Jesus's words to the rich young ruler have no salvific pertinency.
Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
This, too, was said to Jews within an Old Covenant context. Nothing of what Christ would do through his atonement for sin at Calvary, nothing of spiritual regeneration, nothing of being a temple of the Holy Spirit was said by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He spoke only to those under the Old Covenant of a standard they had never, and could never, meet: divine perfection. For the born-again believer, then, Jesus's sermon holds no practical, how-to-walk-with-God value.
Matthew 5:18-20, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."
Again, this is Jesus establishing a standard for entrance into God's kingdom that had never, and could never, be reached by law-keeping. It is because this standard was unattainable that he came to make a "new and living way" through himself, through his atoning work on the cross as the Lamb of God (
John 1:29), by which all people could enter God's family and kindgom. Christ's words in the verse above, then, aren't applicable to born-again believers.
John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commandments."
This isn't instruction on what loving God is, but on how that love is properly expressed. It is a remark on the effect of love, not on love of God itself. The kind of love God wants from us is
His own perfect agape love which is "shed abroad in our hearts" in the Person of the Holy Spirit (
Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22). As the love of the Spirit fills the believer, they naturally and joyfully keep God's commandments. But keeping God's commands is
the effect of the love of the Spirit within the Christian person, it isn't love for God itself, which is why Jesus said "IF you love me... ." Keeping God's commands is conditioned on a pre-existing and obedience-producing love - whole-being desire - for God.
1 John 3:6, "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him."
This isn't
the way a person in saved; it is merely
an indicator of being saved.
Romans 6:1-2, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
Said to
born-again believers who were, obviously, still living in sin. By using "we," Paul unites his readers with himself in being, together, those who have died to sin.
