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From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Whats wrong with this eqation? (Paul=Jesus)
Message-ID: <1352@shark.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Apr-85 19:21:07 EST
Article-I.D.: shark.1352
Posted: Wed Apr 24 19:21:07 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Apr-85 01:48:28 EST
References: <765@ccice5.UUCP> <700@mako.UUCP> <493@hou2b.UUCP> <720@mako.UUCP>
Reply-To: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison)
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 47

In article <720@mako.UUCP> seifert@mako.UUCP (Snoopy) writes:
>In article <493@hou2b.UUCP> gkm@hou2b.UUCP (G.MCNEES) writes:
>> The Spirit within me bears witness that what is written in the Bible
>> is all from God.  ...  However, all that is written is not binding
>> upon Christians today.  For example, the various laws that were given
>> to the Jewish people were specifically NOT GIVEN to us Christians
>> to follow.
>
>Agreed.  And it is precisely the fact that Jesus did away with "the Law",
>that makes it seem so odd that Paul would be making up a bunch of new rules
>(e.g. not wearing braided hair) for us to follow.

AAARRRRGGGGHHHH NO NO NO NO!  This is precisely what Jesus did NOT do.
Read Matthew 5:17 ; "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prohets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.  For truly, I say
to you,  until Heaven and Earth pass away, not the smallest letter or
stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished."

In fact, as far as He told us, He didn't even come for the Gentiles.
The fact that we are even let into the Kingdom is an act of mercy.

The authority for our not having to follow the Law is the same authority
that allowed us into the Church at all:  When the question came up of
whether to allow Gentiles to join, some churches required the Gentiles to
convert to Judaism first, including following the entire Covenant.  The
apostles, however, came to the concensus that this was a bad idea.

The theology of the Holy Spirit maintains a degree of equivalence between
the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit
means we have a way to access the Word of God.  However, this does not
guarantee that we will do so.  The Law is, at least to the Jews, the Word
of God and His Covenant.  Paul even went so far as to assert that there
are parts of the Law which are "self evident" in Nature.  There are some
schools of thought which suggest that we OUGHT to follow all the Laws
because they are the Word of God.  Others suggest that we ought to follow
the Spirit of those Laws, because that Spirit is the Holy Spirit.
Yet others suggest that we have no requirement to follow ANY of the Laws
because we are now FREED from that requirement by the liberating death
and resurrection of the Lord.  However, when early churches began to be
self-indulgent and rowdy, they were rebuked for it, since the Lord came
not to destroy but to complete the Law.  "Everything is permitted, but
not everything is beneficial."

If you mean to say "Jesus completed the Law" go right ahead.  But don't
make the mistake of saying He did away with it; He Himself denies it.

Hutch