And... how exactly are we obeying the law and how exactly are we able to live it out?
First, what Law are we talking about?
For if God did not spare angels who sinned, but cast them into the pit and delivered them to chains of darkness, being kept for judgment. 2 Peter 2:4
The Angels in Heaven were not given the 10 Commandments.... yet they sinned.
1 Timothy 2:14
And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into trespass.
Gen 3:6b
so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Adam and Eve were not given the 10 Commandments... yet they sinned.
Later the 10C were given.
Israel was given the 10 Commandments.
Who? Israel. When? 2669 years after creation.
So, what Law was in place for 2669 years?
If Jesus fulfilled the Law for believers then...
What Law do believers follow?
A Law existed from beginning that's how Adam and Eve knew they sinned.
The 10Commandments didnt exist yet.
So... Which Law was it? Let's look....
The Scripture says we would not know sin but by the Law. So whichever Law is being talked about here will still lead back to a law of righteousness.
So we have 3 Laws to point us to perfect righteousness. If we view these as The Law then there is no problem.
Looking at these laws:
1. The Law of Righteousness
*The Law God wrote on our hearts.
*This is the Law given to every human
>This is the righteous law Scripture regularly points to. God has written this on our hearts (in our design as humans).
2 points. 1. We were made in God's image, 2. We are not God. So, where did the Laws point us to? The perfect moral character of God. We can reflect His moral righteousness if we have the nature of Christ.
This is what is known as Communicable Attributes.(2)
God's communicable attributes are attributes that He shares with us, since we are created in His likeness, however, we, as humans [in our human body] will never share in these fully, but as believers we can imitate this Christ-likeness, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We can live them out once we have the new nature that comes when we are born again; gain spiritual life, by obeying the Gospel.
This points to all the moral charateristics traits a human can live out.
Romans 2:14-15 says:
For when Gentiles, who do not have the Law, by nature do the things of the Law, these, although not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.
*This is the Law that was violated in Eden.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 8:2:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death
2. The 10 Commandments
*This is the Law God gave to Israel.
It does point to 9 moral characteristics.
Romans 7:7 says:
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet"
3. The Law of Christ
This is called the Law of the spirit of Life. Born again believers have recieved spiritual life, and follow this law.
This law, like the 10C, points to the moral righteousness which means we can rightly "love God and love Mankind". It is lived out "naturally" by all who are born again. The born again have Christ's righteousness. So they live out righteousness.
Matthew 22:37-39 & Luke 10:27
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Romans 8:2 says:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death
(Add other Verse here)
Believers have spiritual life. Scripture speaks in ways to say we wear or have the Righteousness of Christ - which enables us to "live out" righteousness.
This shows the universal communicable character attributes, includes 9 of the 10C, and is lived out by the Law of the spirit of Life - in us since conversion.
Having Christ's Righteousness:
Romans 3:21-22
But now [again as was in Eden] the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.
Wearing Christ's Righteousness:
Romans 13:14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its cravings.
The "putting on" is also seen when God clothes Adam and Eve with the blood stained animal skins, which was sacrificed for their sins. It was a temporary covering until Christ.
We also see "putting on" the righteousness of Christ in putting on the armor of God.
Being Led by Christ's Righteousness:
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Philippians 3:9
and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith
Romans 6:16
Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
Galatians 5:16
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Romans 8:4
in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit
Galatians 5:18
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
If there is Christ, there is no need for the Law, because He writes it on our hearts, meaning the fruits of the Spirit will manifest from our hearts into our actions, and against such actions there is no law. (Hebrews 8:6-12, Galatians 5:23)
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man... (1 Timothy 1:9)
We are made righteous by Christ.
So it is clear what law we believers live in.
Now, In Evangelism...
When we evangelize we are pointing people to the inner law that God has written on the hearts, how we sin and fail to live perfectly and righteously. We can use some examples which God will use to convict them, even if they seared their conscience(1) in most areas.
Note, the OT & NT do point to many many examples of moral righteousness. It is not just what is in the 10C. But is in truth the moral perfection of God's character. He is the Standard.
He is the standard (by which sinful unsaved people will be judged).
That is why all sin is a crime committed against God. It is an assault on His character and he will hold them to account, [but for those born again... Jesus paid this in our place].
Here are examples in a humans life we can hold up and compare to His Standard, to help the unsaved see themselves in truth:
Those examples can be:
*Lying
*Stealing
*Disobedient to parents
*adultery
*Lust - God sees our thoughts, knows our hearts, (as well as what we say and do).
*Using God's name in vain, (there's a myriad ways to do that).
We can also point to righteousness in general by showing sins of:
*abortion (murder)
*sexual sins such as fornication or any of the lgbt sex cult lifestyles sins, or bestiality or porn
*not living as God created us as a male or female (trans or furry or otherkin sins)
*or even of discontentment, ingrattitude, or any number of problems people need counseling helps on.
*divorce is even a valid sin too since marriage is a illustration of the Gospel; Christ and his Bride shall never be divorced/seperated/unsaved etc.
*marriage; anything outside 1 man and 1 woman [human to human] (born that gender, living rightly as that gender). Not marrying multiple people, not marrying a dog, a tree, a building, a robot, an ai etc. Those are not "marriage" as God designed it. Anything in rebellion to it.
*anything not lived in righteousness.
So the point is it isnt only the 10C Christians are saying is The Law when witnessing, but the moral sins they commit do include those.
We do have to be careful not to say the 10C but that we can see ourselves in truth even by looking at the mirror of the moral standards by looking at some of the 10C.
What we dont want to do is have an emphasis placed only on the 10C because thats how cults like SDA start trying to push people legalistically under that Law to obey the Sabbath command (given to Israel). So we need caution here!
And having a firmer fuller grasp on the Law or basically on knowing the perfect righteous holiness of God (His character and nature) helps us show how far we (as sinners) are from His otherly (unchanging) perfection.
Once one has a better understanding of what (basically) the Standard [God] is, or Law of Righteousness is, you are able to evangelize effectively.
For believers we live out this righteous law in our Christian life:
We live out that righteousness in your life in the new nature as a born again believer). We posess, through the new nature, all the attributes of God that are the Communicable Character Attributes.
To understand
God's attributes, is to help you have a greater grasp on what
righteousness is.
God's character points us to true moral perfection. And our faith in Christ helps us live it out, since we have spiritual life now and the Holy Spirit lives in us.
We believers are not perfected at salvation. We grow in holiness and righteousness, and become more like Christ day by day over our lifetime and upon shedding this sin stained body, are then free from sin, obtain a sin free eternal body and enter into eternal life in eternity where sin will never enter again [the new Heaven & new Earth].
Hope this helped.
Footnotes
(1) on sinners searing their conscience
1 Timothy 4:2 says
by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron
Isaiah 5:20: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Ephesians 4:18-19: "(They are) hardened in their hearts, having become callous and committed to indecent behavior for the purpose of gratifying the lusts of impurity..."
These reject truth because they are trapped in their sin nature and are blind to the truth
Titus 1:15-16:
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but by deeds they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for any good deed
Paul speaks of the “good conscience” as opposed to the seared conscience. “Advancing God’s work,” he says, comes by faith, and love “comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:4–5). A good conscience has the capability to tell right from wrong and is free from guilt. A person with a good conscience maintains his integrity. He enjoys fellowship with those who “walk in the light, as [Jesus] is in the light
So the born again walk in righteousness naturally by nature (and by that new nature) live out loving God and living others. And because of it, we are useful to God who can do good works through us.
(2) Below are books that help us understand what righteous living looks like and to help us grow more and more to that way of living. We can only do this if we have been born again because without spiritual life - having the new righteous nature- we cannot walk in it.
This is not about moralism like unsaved people attempt to be, but true righteousness lived out from within: by the new nature.
Believers are able to live out what are Communicable Attributes.
God's communicable attributes are attributes that He shares with us, since we are created in His likeness, however, we, as humans will never share in these fully, even as believers, we can only imitate Christ-likeness, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
Books:
On God's Attributes:
Show me Your Glory, Steve Lawson
Attributes of God, Steve Lawson -workbook
Who God Is, by Wayne Grudem
*Goes in depth. See also in the Communicable Attributes for humans (2 chapters).
On Believers living out the Communicable Attributes:
Pillars of Christian Character, J.Mac
In the pursuit of Holiness, J Bridges
The Practice of Godliness, J Bridges
Respectable Sins Confronted, J Bridges
Sanctification: The Christians Pursuit of God-given Holiness, Mike Riccardi (no audio)
There are some good Audio books here on how to live our lives rightly by reflecting his moral character traits as believers.
*These can be found on Amazon too, in print and audio.
Books and Sermons:
*Look for ones that point to the character traits believers reflect of God's holy character.
Fruit of the Spirit
*Walking by the Spirit
*Fruit of the Spirit. Pt1. Pt2. Pt3. Pt4
Beatitudes
*The Only Way to Happiness, J Mac
Books Specifically for Women:
Becoming A Woman After God's Own Heart, Elizabeth George
Loving God with all your Mind, Elizabeth George
10 ways God calls us to reflect His character, Elizabeth George
Walking In His Image, Jenn Wilkin
A Woman who reflects the heart of Jesus, Elizabeth George
Moral Character series, Elizabeth George
A Womans Walk with God; Fruit of the Spirit
12 Extraordinary Women, JMac
Here is a free Study on Christian living
*(Scroll down to those sections)
God bless.
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