The first part of this week’s program wraps up what we’ve been discussing… with a reminder about the legalistic minded who quote certain passages which they think implies our eternal life and inheritance is based upon what we do and how we behave. We’re not dismissing the importance of behavior, but our inheritance is not based on that. The second half of the program starts a new conversation about the “biblical” catch phrase we often find in Christianity. We’re often trying to define and determine what is “biblical” and what is not. Another saying that is commonly heard is whether they are a “Bible believing church.” Just what does it mean when we determine whether something is deemed to be biblical while another version of belief is not? We’ll be laying down some thoughts that may cause people to reconsider how they define what is biblical.
Why is it that you both say that we as Gentiles were never under the Old Covenant and then you say that because of Jesus we are no longer under the law but under grace. Please clear this up.
Generally speaking, nowadays we try to be careful to make it clear that as Gentiles we were never under the law, so for Gentiles it's not that we're "no longer under law," but that we were never under the law at all. We say that the Jews had to die to the law in order to come to Christ, and that as Gentiles we come to Christ having been "far off" from God and anything that had to do with Israel and the promises and the covenants, just as it says in Ephesians 2.
Now, because in Paul's epistles he uses words and phrases that have to do with "no longer" being under the law, without specifically saying "Israel" or "Jews," sometimes those phrases simply slip out when we talk about things like that. And perhaps during the first few years of our podcast, we didn't make the distinction very clear. But in recent years it's definitely been something that we have pointed out over and over again. Gentiles were never under the law. We are not dead to the law, because we were never alive to it. We came to Christ by grace, through faith, without the "tutor" of the law like the people of Israel.
Why is it that you both say that we as Gentiles were never under the Old Covenant and then you say that because of Jesus we are no longer under the law but under grace. Please clear this up.
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking, nowadays we try to be careful to make it clear that as Gentiles we were never under the law, so for Gentiles it's not that we're "no longer under law," but that we were never under the law at all. We say that the Jews had to die to the law in order to come to Christ, and that as Gentiles we come to Christ having been "far off" from God and anything that had to do with Israel and the promises and the covenants, just as it says in Ephesians 2.
DeleteNow, because in Paul's epistles he uses words and phrases that have to do with "no longer" being under the law, without specifically saying "Israel" or "Jews," sometimes those phrases simply slip out when we talk about things like that. And perhaps during the first few years of our podcast, we didn't make the distinction very clear. But in recent years it's definitely been something that we have pointed out over and over again. Gentiles were never under the law. We are not dead to the law, because we were never alive to it. We came to Christ by grace, through faith, without the "tutor" of the law like the people of Israel.