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The Law
I have run into a few folk who have told me I needed to obey the Law in one fashion or another. Most Christians know that there is something called the law, but few really know what the law is. While many of the folk who claim to follow the law know about parts of the law, few of them could tell you the whole law.
Do you know how many laws are in the law? There are 613. This includes the Ten Commandments. Ask most Christians if they can name the Ten Commandments and most could not. Most denominations fall into one of two camps. One camp has works based doctrine. The other has faith based doctrine. Which of the two is right? Well, let’s look at a couple of scriptures and see if we can clear this up.
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. 5:18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. 5:19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. At first reading of these verses, it would appear that the works based camp has the upper hand in their teachings.
What is the Law and the Prophets? The Law is the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets are the rest of the books which make up the Old Testament. At the time Jesus spoke the scriptures we are examining, there wasn’t a New Testament. Jesus has just said that the Old Testament will not pass away. Not only that, but he would give validity to the Old Testament by fulfilling it.
Then Jesus says if you break even one of the least of the commandments and teach others to do likewise, that you would be called the least in the Kingdom. Let’s take the commandment thou shalt not steal. Is it okay for me to steal? Is it okay for me to teach others to steal? This is one of the laws we wish everyone would obey. Then we could leave our churches unlocked. We wouldn’t have to lock our cars. We wouldn’t really need keys. It becomes obvious that obeying the commandments is a good thing.
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