The Law

[Diolectic]

An injustice can never be satisfied, in the sense
that, the guilty can be punished until he ceased to be guilty, and became innocent.

For example: one breaks the law by speeding then pays the fine for the crime; that one does not cease from being guilty for paying the fine, but, paying the fine only satisfies the law.

Therefore, punishment for a crime against the law is not for the purpose of rehabilitation, but to satisfy the law.

The law is not founded in mere randomness, but in the Personhood of God or on the foundation of reality.

The difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law is that the letter relates to the outward action; the spirit relates to the motive or intention of the heart and from which the act should proceed.

The spirit of the law requires impartial goodwill or benevolence, and is all expressed in one word--love.
The letter of the law requires strict adherence to every precept, it is all expressed in one word--obey.

An example, the letter of the law says, do not commit murder! But the spirit of the law says anyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to Judgment. The spirit requires that certain conditions to be examined in their proper place.

The letter of the law is unyielding and sentences
guilty all violators of its precepts, without regard to purpose. Just as the speed limit is 55 mph and one exceeds the limit, the law says, guilty. The spirit of the law sees the purpose of the excess speed for an emergency and says; keep speeding until purpose is met.
Furthermore, when speeding for the purpose of an
emergency, the spirit of the law is not broken, but fulfilled

The purpose of the law is to teach one of the
character of the Lawgiver also to guide and to guard us while directing us to mercy of the Lawgiver, Galatians

There is a lot to say on the account of our
righteousness that is imputed to us.

For man to be legally pronounced just, is not
impossible, however, there is but one ground of the justification of man, that is by obedience to the law.
I repeat, there can be no justification in a legal sense, but upon the ground of perfect, and
uninterrupted obedience to law.
Jesus is the only Man that has accomplished this, He performed the law perfectly, therefore, while in His earthly ministry, He would have had a perfect conscience from sin according to Hebrews 9:9

It is true that what a man does through another he does himself, however, there is a theological theory that the law regards Christ’s obedience as ours, on the ground that he obeyed for us.

This doctrine of an imputed obedience for
righteousness, or of that Christ’s obedience to the law was accounted as our obedience, is founded on a false assumption. Christ’s obedience could do no more than justify himself. It can never be imputed to us. It is naturally impossible for him to obey in our behalf as
a proxy.

This doctrine intends that Christ owed no obedience to the law, and therefore his obedience to the law was superfluous.
Would not Christ have sinned had he not been perfectly obedient? If he would have sinned, it follows that He owed obedience to the law, just as any other man.

Furthermore, if Jesus obeyed the law as our
substitute, our own return to personal obedience would not be insisted upon as an essential part of our salvation?

Christ was required perfect obedience to the law for Himself, however, since he perfectly obeyed, he did not need to suffer the penalty of breaking the law.
He could therefore suffer the penalty of death for in our place as a proxy.

If the doctrine of Christ’s obedience to the law being accounted as our obedience is false and if by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight? Romans: the question remains, then, how is man justified if one can not consistently obey the law?

We know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those under the Law, therefore, in order for man to be justified; man must be taken out from under it. This only comes by death which is to satisfy the law. Having been set free from the Law by dieing to the Law through the body of Christ. Romans

Since the penalty for sin is death and we die to the Law through the body of Christ we must also rise from the dead with Him. Ephesian

Now that we are raised with Christ, we now, also have eternal life that creates good works from faith because of the love of God poured out in our hearts. Romans 5:5

The bible tells us that one must revert back to birth and begin anew 1Peter 1:23

We can be born again only after we accept the
sacrifice of Jesus on His cross and acknowledge His resurrection; we must also acknowledge our place in His death. Only then, can we be redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot 1Peter 1:19: acknowledging that He is representing us on that cross and we die through
Christ and rise in newness of life Romans & 7:6.

Therefore, only after death, one can be born again and live perfectly according to thespirit of the law, Brought out from under the law, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans

All this is only through faith because of His grace.
I must repeat, this is only through faith because it is impossible to please God without faith.
Furthermore, it is only by this faith that righteousness is imputed to us. Romans, Galatians 3:6, James 2:23

Imputed righteousness that only comes by faith causes one to good works.
It is known that Faith with out works is dead. We must know what these works are in order to further understand Imputed Righteousness.
Works are the fruit of righteousness. In other words, a changed life, a new view on life, and a new motive for everything that you do.
One may ask if one doest work for salvation, then how is faith dead without works?
It is in these new aspects of your life, there will come actions or works that give a testimony of Christ in you.

In other words, just as you don’t work to get a job, but that you work since you have a job. So it is that you don’t work to be righteousness, but, you work because you are righteous; as it is written, the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, 5:14, Hebrews 10:38) or, the faithful will live justly.

Jesus says, if you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:15
The great commandment in the Law is this:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind. Deut 11:13
This is the first and great commandment. And the
second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Lev. 19:18
Therefore, whoever has the ability to give, and sees one having need, and hardens his heart against him, how is that faith and how does the love of God abide in him?

Therefore, love is the work of faith, because loving one another is fulfilling the Law. Romans, 13:10

since sin is the transgression of the law, then every time one sins, he sins against love.

 

[GMS]

19Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For by works of the law no human being[c] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.



The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-- 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.


27Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Do you believe in Reform Theology? GMS

 

[cyberjosh]

It seems you sort of balanced out the emphasis at the end of your post but me clarify something you said along the way.

The spirit of the law requires impartial goodwill or benevolence, and is all expressed in one word--love.
The letter of the law requires strict adherence to every precept, it is all expressed in one word--obey.

This is mostly true, however the law did have a purpose. The OT talks alot about the way of God's precepts, statues, and commandments. And Jesus also revealed that the law can be summed up in the two greatest commanments. Galatians also tells us that the law was a tutuor. The Law actually had a purpose and it pointed and directed one toward righteousness, because it pointed to righteousness himself (Jesus Christ, our God), but the problem was that we fell short of the requirements to reach that righteousness - so then under the New Covenant it came to us in the person of Jesus. He bridged the gap. I'm just trying to make it clear that the law should not be belittled and that it was not imperfect & inglorious (as Paul pointed out).

An example, the letter of the law says, do not commit murder! But the spirit of the law says anyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to Judgment. The spirit requires that certain conditions to be examined in their proper place.

Actually what that shows is that the law of the Spirit under grace has even higher standards. John said, "For the law was given through Moses; but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) Jesus gives us grace which covers more of our sin, but it also empowers us to to the righteousness God desires thus we have more responsibility, though the Bible says that we will never be given more than we can handle. Grace is an important factor in the Christian life, and that is why Paul pleads with his audience not to "recieve the grace of God in vain". Grace makes you accountable for even your thoughts even if you didn't physically commit an act (murder, adultery, etc.). Thus grace is the higher and more excellent standard.

The letter of the law is unyielding and sentences
guilty all violators of its precepts, without regard to purpose.

No that's not entirely true because that's what the pharisees fell into, thus why they did not understand Jesus' teachings. Read the following exchange between Jesus & the Pharisees:

2But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath."

3But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,

4how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

5"Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

6"But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.

7"But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent. (Matthew 12:2-7)

Jesus gave three examples of things in relation to the OT & the law in which there appeared to be exceptions, however what Jesus was really pointing to is that God had a way for his law (somewhere is leads and points to beyond itself), which if one could discern God's law (the Psalmists constantly asked God for understanding and discernment of His laws, commandments, and statues - meaning there is something beyond the surface) they could see that the regulations were set up in order to point out those things righteous, yet the Pharisees would implelment the law in the context of just one one commandment, and one commandment only (like how some Churches build themselves around a single verse) thus they did not balance their view of God's commandments to see what it really called for. Thus Jesus said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." (Matthew 23:23) I almost think our translations should put an exclamation point behind that because it is quite an emphasis and statment from Jesus.

Just as the speed limit is 55 mph and one exceeds the limit, the law says, guilty. The spirit of the law sees the purpose of the excess speed for an emergency and says; keep speeding until purpose is met.
Furthermore, when speeding for the purpose of an
emergency, the spirit of the law is not broken, but fulfilled

Yes there are sometimes when certain exceptions can be made but lets try as hard as possible not to promote "situational ethics" to justify certain things. But yes we have more liberty in Christ as Romans chapter 14 points out.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[cyberjosh]

Oh, and welcome to the boards! I just realized you are new here. I hope you enjoy your stay here. We have some smart and sincere people here on these boards and it all makes for interesting discussion.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[Diolectic]

Galatians also tells us that the law was a tutuor. The Law actually had a purpose and it pointed and directed one toward righteousness, because it pointed to righteousness himself (Jesus Christ, our God),

That is what I meant with:
The purpose of the law is to teach one of the character of the Lawgiver also to guide and to guard us while directing us to mercy of the Lawgiver, Galatians

but the problem was that we fell short of the requirements to reach that righteousness - so then under the New Covenant it came to us in the person of Jesus.

As I meant with:
We know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those under the Law, therefore, in order for man to be justified; man must be taken out from under it. This only comes by death which is to satisfy the law. Having been set free from the Law by dieing to the Law through the body of Christ. Romans

I'm just trying to make it clear that the law should not be belittled and that it was not imperfect & inglorious (as Paul pointed out).

I am not belittling it, but showing what the law was suposed to be, which is in the spirit of what it means

Jesus gives us grace which covers more of our sin, but it also empowers us to to the righteousness God desires thus we have more responsibility,

As I meant with:
Works are the fruit of righteousness. In other words, a changed life, a new view on life, and a new motive for everything that you do.
One may ask if one doest work for salvation, then how is faith dead without works?
It is in these new aspects of your life, there will come actions or works that give a testimony of Christ in you.
And for the more responsibility, I gave the example of the letter of the law says, do not commit murder! But the spirit of the law says anyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to Judgment.

Grace makes you accountable for even your thoughts

How is that?
I figure that the moral law makes you accountable for even your thoughts.

No that's not entirely true because that's what the pharisees fell into, thus why they did not understand Jesus' teachings. Read the following exchange between Jesus & the Pharisees:

The Pharisees added to the law to make it more unyielding, however the spirit of the Law says, 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions,

4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?

5 "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?

Yes there are sometimes when certain exceptions can be made but lets try as hard as possible not to promote "situational ethics" to justify certain things.

The spirit of the Law is for "situational ethics".