James versus Paul.

I think James and Paul did not contradict.

James said, that if some one knows to do good but do it not, that is a sin. According to Paul we know to do good (our inward man which delight in the law of God) but have no power to perform it. From our own we can do no good things, because all is contaminated with the love for self, all is based to satisfy the flesh. So we remain a sinner and continuously sinning, as we know to do good (what is good) but can’t perform the deeds.

Again, according to Paul, we can perform good deeds only if we let Christ through His Spirit does the willing and the doing in us. It is a life after the Spirit, and the performance is fruit of the Spirit. But if we, believers in Christ, choose to live for self by serving the flesh, we will die, because we grieved the Spirit till the end of God’s grace and mercy (closing of probation). So, it is in line with James too, them that know to do good (by living after the Spirit) but serve the flesh, it is a sin.

The question now is, when we start to do the first good deed and how it happen?

In His love

James S.

Paul was pretty good at telling off those who came into conflict with him.

He never does this to James.

------------------
Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. Rom. 12:12 NLT

I must admit this is a first for me to see these two passages of scriptures compared/contrasted.

First of all I believe James is speaking of the sin of omission whereas Paul is speaking of the internal struggle the converted believer has with the propensity to sin.

Secondly, I would like to deal with the usual "apparent" contradiction between Paul and James on the subject of faith and works. (Ephesians 2:8, 9; James 2:21-24 for example.) To me you have two individuals in the Bible who are dealing with two diametrically opposed problems. Paul is arguing with the legalist, those who abuse the intent of the law. James is arguing with those who abuse grace.

It could be compared to two friends who are standing back to back defending common ground. They are fighting against different enemies using different methods to defend the common ground. Then, while they are struggling with their respective problems, you turn them around to face each other and expect them to continue by fighting against each other.

Paul and James, I believe would agree with the following statement: "Faith will lead to action or it is not faith." Paul, the great champion of faith, acted upon his faith. His love for Christ compelled him into works of love for his saviour. He did not "act" in order to be saved but because he had been saved through his faith in the atoning work of Christ. The people James were arguing with would definitely not use Paul's life as an example to prove their point. However, I believe James could have used Paul as an example of the true faith experience.

Yours in the Blessed Hope,
MHS

[This message has been edited by Mogens H. Sorensen (edited July 26, 2001).]

Good post, brother Mogens.

Now back to my question, what is the first good deed we perform and how it happens?

I believe, the first good deed we perform is when we accept Christ by faith and believe Him as a Son of God, our Redeemer and Savior.

This might happen because of the work of the Spirit in us as “faith” is also fruit of the Spirit, after we learn about Christ and His gospel.

What is the next good deed?

It is “living by the Spirit”, because it is the Spirit that work in us “to will and to act according to His good purpose” – Philippians 2:13. Just then we can do the good deeds that we are unable to perform by our self. Thus, without faith, all what we do is based on self. “And everything that does not come from faith is SIN.” – Romans 14:23. As this SIN is in us and is our nature, our very being, all what is done by SELF is evil as SIN dominates us (Romans 7:7-25).

And to live by the Spirit needs faith! This is what the gospel of Christ all about: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The just shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:17.

We know that fruit of the Spirit is LOVE (Galatians 5:22), the character of God that was shed abroad in our heart by the indwelling Spirit to change our heart, to put death to SIN that dominate us.

And when LOVE ruled our heart, we will do good deeds to our fellowman.

At this point Paul and James were one in perception.

Paul is ruled by “faith that works by love” (Galatians 5:6), and James said “If you really keep the royal law found in the Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right” – James 2:8.

So, “love” for both James and Paul is an expression of their faith. According to James “faith without deeds (love) is dead” – James 2:26, same as what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

If they both have the same perception about faith and love as the fruit of faith, then they too must have the same perception about HOW they might perform this.

According to Paul, for to have LOVE in our heart we must live by the Spirit as LOVE is fruit of the Spirit that was shed abroad in our heart. We are not suppose to live by the law, because “the law is not based on faith” (Galatians 3:12), and “everything that does not come from faith is SIN” (Romans 14:23). That means keeping or observing the law is done by the principle of self, based on self-acts, performed by the SIN in us. The text might say: “Everything that does not come from faith is done by self (SIN).”

The law doesn’t require faith from his law keeper, on the contrary “the man who does these things (performance) will live by them.” – Galatians 3:12. All the law needs is performance or obedience. And since our performance is motivated by self or the SIN in us that dominates us, the result will only be acts of the flesh or keep on doing evil, breaking the law (Romans 7:7-25).

That’s why, the law is not for the righteous man (a believer in Christ) but for the “law-breakers (law keepers) and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, unholy and irreligious, murderers etc, as according to Timothy 1:8-11.

And James has the same perception.

James 1:25 “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.”
James 2:8 “ If you really keep the royal law found in the Scripture, “Love your neighbor as your self,” you are doing right.”

James didn’t say that a believer must keep the 10 Commandments, what he said is that a believer must keep (or have) the royal law which is love. And since he knew that love is the fruit of faith (James 2:14-25), then he knew that a believer must live by faith and not by the law.

Love is the royal law, the perfect law that gives freedom, freedom from SIN and sins. But the law (10 Commandments) only put us into prison, Prisoner of SIN (Galatians 3:23). As in order to keep the law, we must perform obedience, and that is impossible, because SIN (our self who were dominated by SIN) could not perform anything good. And since “the law is not of faith,” but requires obedience that is performed by “self” or the SIN in us, then the law could not give us freedom from SIN and sins, as it keep provoking all covetous desire in us, locked us into prisoner of SIN and put us to death ((Romans 7:5,8-11). Only the Spirit (by living after the Spirit) can set us free from SIN and death (Romans 8:1-4,13).

Thus, it is important to know that what James mentioned in James 2:10,11 is not a sign that he promotes the law as an obligation to keep for Christ believers (if so is the case, he will put himself against Paul theology) but just a COMPARISON for when you said you have love but shows favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law (love) that you are a law breaker because this act shows you have no love (agape) but selfish love (V.9).

He compared with a law keeper that breaks any one of the 10 Commandments is a lawbreaker.

And James continued with an advice that we must speak and act as those who are going to be judge by the law that gives freedom. Surely he didn’t mean the 10 Commandments, as it only made us prisoner of SIN, but LOVE will be the measure of judgment. That means, the fruit of our faith (if we claim we are Christ believers) will be the judgment of faith as it is the proof of our faith, are we a true believer that lives by faith or are we a believer that lives by self.

The just shall live by faith, it is the standard of life for true believers in Christ. If some one or the church said that the law (10 Commandments) is the standard of Christian living, then “faith has no value.”

In His love
James S.

Amen to the above. It's great to finally be on a forum where the correct balance between faith and works is presented. I've learned that when there are what "seems" to be a contradiction between the Bible and itself, between Ellen White and herself, or between Ellen White and the Bible, that there really isn't a contraction and truth is found when the apparent contradicting statements are harmonized. Faith vs Works is a good example. Some pull out Bible quotes on faith only and say all we have to do is believe to be saved, and others pull out Bible texts which give the impression that works saves us. However, the Bible gives us the balance on this one when it says "I will show you my faith by my works."

I read where Marvin Moore said that faith and works are the flip side of the same coin. I believe he is right. Without one you don't have the other.

A different story to describe the concepts of Paul and James.

In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were placed, and maintained, in the Garden by obedience to a relationship with Jesus. If they obeyed the commandment, do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would live. Now the issue is how would they obey and live. The only way, as was soon pointed out, was trust that Jesus knew what He was talking about and do not eat by faith. Reasoning would not allow them to understand the need for the commandment and the need to obey it. They had only to obey because they trusted in Him.

An interesting factor in the Adam and Eve story is that their natures were in harmony with God so it was far easier to obey than to disobey. They had not natural bent to sin, and they did not think of reasons to disobey. Yet satan was able to present a thought to Eve that led her to ponder the idea of distrusting Jesus. Satan led her to believe that Jesus was holding out something good from her and that by her own strength and reasoning (already the sin of the knowledge of good and evil was producing its fruit in the spirit of Eve) she could rightly assess God. When she had finished with her assessment she was deceived into making the wrong choice. When she took the fruit to Adam he was not deceived and as the ruler of the earth he knowingly chose to eat the fruit to be with Eve rather than Jesus. He was willing to take the risk to break the commandment and to hold on to grace without law.

As soon as Adam ate the fruit the law went into effect, that he started to die physically and died spiritually. His character had been wounded, his nature bent, and his nature was now in harmony with satan and not God. He immediately began to practice the old covenant behavior patterns. He felt naked, and he decided to solve the problem. He made coverings to shelter him from the nature that God had created and to cover him from the view of God. He did not ask for guidance from God because his nature had been changed. He now thought as satan thought - God will destroy me. He thought the letter of the law without the translation of the Spirit. Again his logic took over since his heart was dead in trespasses and sins.

When Jesus came to seek Adam and Eve He found them afraid of His approach due to grief, guilt, and their changed perceptions of His love. He confronted them, promised them, and then covered them with garments that He had prepared for them.

The Genesis story is the simplest story of how much God loves us. He created man, gave man power to obey and live, and then gave him an environment to grow and develop in that was perfectly in harmony with what man must develop to fit into God's plans. When man rebelled against God's plans he rebelled against God, he broke the relationship, he depended upon his own reasoning and wisdom and thus broke the faith relationship with God, and then, in his diseased state he tried to save himself by efforts of his own.

God's plan is for us to accept that we can not save ourselves. That we must accept the provisions that God has made for us. When we are willing to do this then we have entered into a faith relationship with God that allows Him to live inside our minds. When God's mind and our minds are united we are naturally in harmony with His plans and His perceptions. When this unity is developed we will carry out God's plans for us for we are naturally in tune with Him and the flesh will not lead us into death and rebellion.

I'm curious.

How does a Holy Law, formulated by God Himself, make us prisoners of sin? Nowhere in the Bible do I see this taught.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins. So according to this philosophy Jesus came to save us from His own law. I find this to be rather strange indeed.

I have a couple of other things that I am really curious about here.

We know two things about the Law of God. 1. It is a transcript of the character of God, and 2. It is our schoolmaster that brings us to Christ.

Since the law is the transcript of God's character, and in being so becomes the antithesis of sin, please explain to me just how it is that sin makes me want to emulate God's character in my actions. This is not what my Bible tells me about sin.

And while we are at it, please also explain just how it is that something that is my schoolmaster bringing me to my recognition of my need of Jesus, who frees me from both the power and the guilt of sin, makes me a prisoner. Looks to me like the law actually helps to free me from sin. Without it I would not know I needed a Savior.

Again, I do not find this logic of the law making me the prisoner of sin taught anywhere in the Bible. Here is an analogy of this argument:

Every morning when I get up, totter into the bathroom and look into the mirror, I see a couple of things. 1. My hair looks like I've been sleeping all night and goes in all directions. 2. It also shows me that the oil from my skin has gotton onto my hair and I need to take a shower. 3. I see I need a shave. Since it is this mirror that shows me these things the mirror makes me a prisoner of messed up oily hair and stubble on my face in the mornings. Does anyone see the absurdity of this logic?

The logic found in the post above that has been commended as the correct balance between faith and works I find to be most contradictory and confusing indeed. I find it to be un-Biblical to tell the truth.

There is another bit of logic from the same post that I would like to have explained to me too.

How is it that a just, perfect, and Holy Law provokes me to not only commit sin, but be sinful? How does God's character, being what it is--the antithesis of sin--provoke me to selfishness and covetousness, the very opposite of what it stands for? How does Holiness encourage, abet, and cause, sin? If this were true God would be responsible for causing people to sin just because of He is who He is, Holiness personified. This makes God, by His being Holy, the cause of sin itself. Again, this logic is very strange indeed.

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Gary K ]

While some of the more advanced theology speak has gone over my head, I do notice that there's a lot of confusion dealing with sin and "the Law".

Well, I've had it described best to me, that "sin" was not so much a matter of "breaking God's law" as it is "seperation from God" by whatever means.

How well we are following his law is *secondary* to our relationship with Him. Are we a prisoner because we can't follow God's law? Is it possible to follow God's law?

You prbably already know that we CAN'T follow God's law 100% on our own. An 50% isn't "good enough" either. It simply can't be done - are we a prisoner to that?
My thinking is, no, we're not. Since we can't follow the law on our own, we HAVE to turn to the one way it IS possible - to turn our lives over to Jesus. Through HIM it can be possible to follow his law easier on Earth. Our failings are also washed away when we are repentant at His feet. In the "Big Ledger" when we are judged, we will show to have "followed the law" because Jesus blotted out the places where we have failed.

I'm rambling. In short - the #1 priority should be a relationship with Jesus. The closer we are to Him, the easier it is to follow His law, and the less discouraged we'll be if/when we fail.

I was going to answer the original question but I think Gerry Buck answered it just about as good as it could be answered already.

It seems simple enough.

Claudia

Hi Markel,

quote:

---

How well we are following his law is *secondary* to our relationship with Him. Are we a prisoner because we can't follow God's law? Is it possible to follow God's law?

---

God's law is the revelation of what *sin* and *separation* from Him is. The first two commandments deal with the principle that for God to have His rightful place in our lives we must place Him first in all things. All things include the way we respond to His commands in all things. Since you seem to consider following His law secondary to our relationship with Him do you mind explaining just how that logic explains the results of the fall of Adam and Eve? They had a perfect relationship until they broke away from His stated commands and did what they considered to be a better way of doing things. (They worshipped their own opinion thus making it an idol in place of God and breaking the first two commandments.) They walked and talked with Him daily until they sinned. After sin this was no longer possible. I see the lesson in this as: sinning breaks the relationship between God and His creatures. Just how was their obedience secondary to their relatinship with Him? Failing to obey broke that relationship.

Please show some scriptural evidence that sinning does not come between man and God.

As to your questions--Yes, we are prisoners on this planet because of Adam and Eve not following God's laws. Jesus made it clear that to serve sin separates us from God.

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.

Notice that Jesus says you can't serve God and covetousness at the same time. You can either be covetous, or you can serve God. He did not lay out any middle ground. His lesson is plain, you can serve God, or you can break His commandments for the story highlights one of the Ten. Serving God and breaking His law are at odds with each other. Jesus makes this even clearer still in another place.

John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me,

Notice that Jesus tied sin and the Ten Commandments together here again. He also states that if we are sinning we are the servants of sin (in bondage to it). He also states that if He is the one that sets us free we are indeed free. In the context of this story this can only mean from from the bondage of sin (committing sin).

Yes, we can keep God's law--2Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The original Greek word translated as the phrase "beholding as in a glass" actually means reflecting as in a mirror. Since we has humans cannot physically reflect God just how is that we can reflect God? By reflecting His character showing all the world just who God is. Just as Jesus came to show the world who the Father is and was able to say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father", so Paul is telling us that we also are to reflect the image of God. People are to see in us the character of God.

Holy dissection, Batman!
I never claimed to be a theologian, let alone a pastor. You're gonna' chase me away!

I wasn't trying to say we could happily sin away, I was only trying to get at one main point that you yourself even mentioned...
[q]Jesus made it clear that to serve sin separates us from God.[/q]
That's it! Sin = seperation from God.
In order to commit "sin" we must choose to put God aside and commit the act, whatever that act may be. "Sin" could be described as the action of shoving God aside so you can do your 'own' thing.

Technically speaking, breaking the law itself is not the sin- walking away from God (even for a moment) to do your own thing, is.

Now this isn't doctrine or written in scripture... this is just some of my thoughts that have percolated while I study the Word.

Gary wrote:

I'm curious.
How does a Holy Law, formulated by God Himself, make us prisoners of sin? Nowhere in the Bible do I see this taught.

Jesus came to save His people from their sins. So according to this philosophy Jesus came to save us from His own law. I find this to be rather strange indeed.

= = = = = = = =

Romans 6:14

SIN shall not be your master because you are not under the law but under grace.

So, if you are under the law SIN will be your master.

Roman 3:19 says that they who are under the law are those who must keep whatever is written in the book of the law.

You are under the law because the 10 commandments is a law that you believe is still exist, valid and binding for you to keep and obey as a standard for Christian living, and that the law has the authority to judge you.

As the principe of the law is based on God's agape love but you yourself is controlled by the flesh and have a selfish atitude, you can never fulfil the righteous demand of the law, so all law keepers come under God's judgement and no one could be justified by their lawkeeping, on the contrary the law only shows their SIN of self love.

By keeping the holy law of God, you make yourself a slave of SIN, a prisoner of SIN, and this SIN is self love that through the 10th commandment make your SIN looks exceeding sinful (Romans 7:7-11).

Love (agape) is fruit of the Spirit, that is imparted by the Holy Spirit to change your self love atitude that is the SIN in you if you live after the Spirit by faith in Christ. And when you did this, you live in accordance with the law because love is the fulfilment of the law.

By living after the Spirit with faith, who need any law even the 10 commandments to keep and obey?

On the contrary when you want to keep the law, SIN will be your master, because it is SIN who controlled your will and doing.

The desire of the Spirit is against the desire of the flesh, they can not work together and support each other. You have only one choice, to live by the flesh or to live by the Spirit. By keeping the law you live by the flesh, but if you want to live by the Spirit, you didn't need any law to keep and obey. This is faith! Because you believe that the Spirit will lead you to all righteousness and holy life and love will be the fruit of your faith.

By keeping the law as a standard for living, you have shown that you have no faith, as without the law you don't know what sin is and so might do and free to do evil. But this is living after the flesh, either you are under the law or not. And whoever live for the flesh, a believer or not, he will surely die because there is no place in heaven for self loving people.

By keeping the law SIN will be your master!

In His love

James S.

James

Good point. But I think maybe the way you're stating it is confusing. I like the way you make a distinction between keeping the law with and without the love of Jesus, but to simply say - Keeping the law makes us a slave to sin - gives the impression that you don't believe obedience is a part of salvation (which I know you don't believe).

Obedience is as much a gift and fruit of the Spirit as is love. Obedience leads unto righteousness. But I like your point about not making obedience our goal, rather we should make Jesus our goal and obedience will follow.

ROMANS
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

2 CORINTHIANS
10:5, 6 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Hebrews 5:8
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

1 Peter 1:2
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Mike.

The point is that we can not do anything "good". Read Roman 7:7-23 and you will find out that from our self we can do nothing good, what we can do is just doing evil. Why? Because if what is "good" before God and His holy law is "love that seeks no self", then our "deeds" is all bad (evil) because it is based on our nature which is self love.

The SIN in us is our nature of self love, that will be exposed whenever we want to do "good", such as keeping God law. That's why the law could never justify us based on our obedience, what it can do is just revealing our SIN and by that condemn us with death as the wage of SIN.

Because "love" is fruit of the Spirit, we could only have this love in our heart if we live by faith and according to the Spirit.

And when we have the love of God in our heart, all our deeds will be in harmony with the law. We are now doing "good" and no more doing evil.

Our deeds will be in harmony with the law doesn't mean that we keep the law as a standard of living and an obligation to keep, but because it is solely done by the pirit in us eventhough there is no law for us.

Doing evil is our nature, doing "good" is "the willing and the doing of God".

So, you have only 2 ways of living, to live for the flesh or to live for God. If you want live for God, you must have faith in Hin and He will sealed you with His Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), just then you will have love as fruit of the Spirit. otherwise you are still living for the flesh, it doesn't matter you keep or not keeping the law.

The point is that by keeping the law you are under the law because SIN will be your master as all your deeds in keeping the law is based on SIN of self love.

But when you live by the Spirit, the righteous demands of the law (love that seeks no self) will be fulfilled in you without any effort from you to keep and obey any law.

Remember, that the desire of the Spirit is against the desire of the flesh, it can not support each other. You live by the Spirit or you live by the flesh, you live by faith or you live by the law, it is your choice.

In His love

James S.

James, here's what I wrote in my last post:

"Obedience is as much a gift and fruit of the Spirit as is love. Obedience leads unto righteousness. But I like your point about not making obedience our goal, rather we should make Jesus our goal and obedience will follow."

Does this agree with the intent of your post?

Mike.

I agree 100% with you.

So, if obedience is a fruit of the Spirit and a gift, do you still need the 10 commandments as a standard of living righteously?

In His love

James S

Gary K wrote.

Please show some scriptural evidence that sinning does not come between man and God.

Unquote.

How about this:

"....their sins and transgressions I will remember no more."

In His love

James S

James, the law of God is "holy, and just, and good" (Rom 7:12) and as such it is an important standard to live by. But we cannot live up to this standard by focusing on the law instead of focusing on Jesus. The only way we can walk in harmony with the principles of the law is to make Jesus first, and last, and best in our heart, mind and soul.

If there were no clear cut prohibitions, like the ones contained in the law, then God has no leg to stand on in judgment. He would have nothing to back up His rewards - eternal life or death. No one could be denied eternal life if it could not be shown they were unworthy.

2 Thessalonians 1:5
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

Is that how you see it?

[ April 10, 2002: Message edited by: Mike Lowe ]

Mike.

I don’t think that love as fruit of the Spirit leads to obedience, obedience to what? Because obedience need a law as a pattern or a model or a standard for living, but the Spirit doesn’t need anything as a model or a pattern to live for, He does as He pleases! And if you are led by the Spirt He will does as He pleases, but if you do as you pleases, that means you are living by the flesh.

Fruit of the Spirit is love that seeks no self, it is love to your fellowman, it is not obedience to any law but just a character of the heart to love. When you have this character you will do no harm to your fellow man (Romans 13:10) and you will have no covetous desire against your fellow man, because all covetous desires are the desire of the flesh that was based on self love which is against the love of God that seeks no self.

Love is the fulfillment of the law, when you have love, you don’t need the law because your deeds is in harmony with principle of the law.

Perfect obedience was achieve through keeping the law, but having love that fulfills the demand of the law was achieve through a life led by the Spirit. Obedience need a law as pattern or a model for living but doesn’t need faith (Galatians 3:12), on the contrary, living by the Spirit needs faith but doesn’t need the law (Galatians 5:18).

The desire of the flesh is against the desire of the Spirit, they are against each other (Galatians 5:17); the desire of the flesh is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of God (Romans 8:7).

The Spirit will help a believer and empower him to deny the flesh, but the Spirit can not help and give power to those who wants to keep and obey the law. Why? Because the desire to keep and obey the law is the desire of the flesh, it is based on the principle of self that the Spirit is against it.

The Spirit doesn’t need any law to make a believer live righteously, what He did is making a change of heart by imparting the love of Christ, changing our nature from self love to love for our fellow man.

If you want to live according to the Spirit, you must deny your self, you do not need any law to keep and obey, because you trust God and have faith in Him, that He will lead you to all righteousness and holy living, just as He said: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put in you………And I will put My Spirit within you, and CAUSE you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments, and do them” – Ezekiel 36:26,27.
“….I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts” – Jeremiah 31:33.
“For it is God which worketh in you BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO of His good pleasure” – Philippians 2:13.

It is God who lead your life, it is God who work in you “to will and to do”, it is God who made you have the principle of the law “love that seeks no self” in your heart. You need nothing of any law, to do it, to keep it and to obey it.

Thus, the teaching that the Spirit empower us to keep the law is not what the Gospel of Christ told us. This is the same as saying “the Spirit gives power to our desires of the flesh”. And that is impossible, because the Spirit is against the desires of the flesh.

The Spirit desire is against the flesh desire and since the flesh desire is not subject to the law of God, then by denying the flesh desires I will be in harmony with the law. But since denying the flesh is fruit of the Spirit because love (agape) that is fruit of the Spirit will set us free from SIN of self-love, root from all selfish or flesh desires; so, I will be in harmony with the law not because I obey the law and keep it, but because I deny the flesh desire through a life by the Spirit that sets me free from love for self, so that I can love my fellow man.

I hope you might understand this and grasp the meaning of living by faith, which is a life without any law to obey but just a complete trust in God who will lead my life to all righteousness and holy life and made me love my fellow man.

In His love

James S.

James wrote:

"Love is the fulfillment of the law, when you have love, you don’t need the law because your deeds is in harmony with principle of the law."

This logic is foreign to me. It doesn't make sense. If love and law are synonymous - how can one cancel out the other, or make the other unnecessary? They co-exist. To say we don't need the law, since love fulfills the law, is like the man who says Jesus destroyed the law because He fulfilled it. It's crazy talk.

Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Love and law are inseparable. But again, we do not focus on the law in order to obey it's principles. Instead, we focus on Jesus and He in turn empowers us to fulfill the spirit and letter of the law.

Exodus 20:6
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

1 John 5:2, 3
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Mike.

Matthew 5:17,18 said that until Christ fulfilled the demands of the law, not one jot or title will disappear from the law even it must wait until heaven and earth disappeared. But, thanks God, 2000 years ago Christ has fulfilled the law by His death on the cross.

The other verses are a question of WHO made you keep the law? The Spirit or you your self.

If it is you, then only the letter of the law that you obey (legalistic righteousness) but failed to fulfill the intent of the law, because by keeping the law, you are under dominion of SIN, SIN is your master (Romans 6:14; Galatians 5:18), and the result is just deeds of the flesh. The law judges you and found you guilty and condemns you with death sentence.

“The law kills, keeping it will only lead to condemnation and death” (2 Corinthians 3:6-9), keeping it would only reveal our SIN (Romans 3:19; 7:7).

But if it is the Spirit that made you has a life in harmony with the law (the letter and the principle) according to Romans 8:4 and Galatians 5:22,23, then you do nothing and need nothing of the law.

In His love

James S.

James, please see my comments regarding this issue on the Bible Study thread entitled - "My Grace Is Sufficient For You."