Bible Discussion Thread

 
  • Eric on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Which commandments does Christ ask us to follow if we love Him and we are His friends, John 14:15,15:14? The rich young ruler who came to Christ seeking to know what he should do to gain eternal life, Christ read from the decalogue, Matthew 19:16-22. The only commandment the young ruler found hard to keep was loving God with all his heart, might, and soul, Deuteronomy 6:5 which even us find hard to keep. The human nature is of sin and what we do best is sin and doing good by God is something foreign to us, Romans 7:14-16, Read Romans chapter 7

    Do you think that the ten commandments are supposed to be kept?

    Is there anywhere in the Bible where you find the doctrine you have upheld?
  • Jesse - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Eric,

    What you are saying makes perfect sense, especially with the rich young ruler. In John 14:15, Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." What commandments? I like to look at is as one command. Jesus said, "Follow me." That is a command. And I believe that if we are truly following Him, everything else lines up. Now here's something that I find interesting about John 14:15. In some of the Greek texts, instead of a command, it is written in the future tense. If you love me, (YOU WILL) keep my commandments. It's a statement of fact.

    Everything in our relationship with Jesus Christ is based on love. People make decisions based on who and what they love the most. That's just a normal way of life. When I have to make a decision between two things, I make my decision based on which one I like the most, or which one I love the most. Jesus might be leading me to do something at the same time that there is something else I want to do instead. So now I have to decide, which one do I love the most?

    But Jesus says if you love me, you will keep my commandments. The reason why we don't obey the persuasion of His Spirit leading us to do something is that we love something or someone else more. The Lord might want me to study the word, but there's a football game I want to watch. I've got to choose!

    With the rich young ruler, his riches meant more to Him than leaving everything behind to follow Christ. As for loving God with all our heart, mind, and soul, we could not do that without the Spirit of Christ living in us. It's His Spirit that gives us that type of love and ability.

    You are correct about the human. All the flesh can do is produce flesh. Paul said that in my flesh there is nothing good. The flesh cannot produce anything spiritual and is at constant war with the Spirit of Christ that lives in us. I don't believe that the 10 Commandments were given as a set of rules for us to keep, but were given to convict man of his sin and his need of a Savior.
  • Eric - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Everything is based on love, even the 10 commandments are based on love. Love for God and love for your neighbour, Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. If you say that one does is not required to keep them, but yet they should convict you of sin. When you choose anything else above Christ, then you make it your idol.

    In a nutshell you say that one can commit adultery, steal, kill, take God's name in vain, have other gods etc because Christ's love is there to forgive them. When we are told not to sin then what should you do so that you sin not, 1 John 2:1. But also in Hebrews 10:26, we are forbidden to sin knowingly. Unless you keep them, then you are convicted of sin.
  • Carleton - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Saul held the coats. Paul was fully converted and had peace in his soul.
  • Jesse - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Eric,

    That is not what I am saying in a nutshell at all. No believer has a right to commit those acts just because they are saved. A person who has received Christ, their sins are forgiven, past, present, and future. I am not saying that they are free to continue on in sin. I would never tell anyone that they are free to sin because Christ will forgive them.

    You bring up 1 John 2:1 so I will share my understanding of that Verse. He says my little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. The term sin is a verb and it is called the Subjunctive Mood. That might not mean anything to you, but it represents committing an act of sin. It is Aorist, single act, Subjunctive, possibility.



    If we should commit an act of sin, then God has a provision for us. We can compare this to 1 John 3:9, where he says whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed, that is, God's seed remains in him, and he cannot, or more literally, he is unable to sin because he is born of God.

    In John's writings, and especially in the bible, there's a difference between an act of sin and a continuous lifestyle of sin. And that's what he's saying in Chapter 3. Whoever is born of God does not commit, that is, does not continuously live a lifestyle of sin because God's seed is in him. And he's unable to continually sin because he's born of God.



    So he's telling us as believers that we do sin, but not habitually as a way of life like we did before we were saved. A person who is genuinely born of the Spirit of God and belongs to Christ continues to sin, but they are acts of sin. A true believer cannot continuously live a lifestyle of habitual sin.

    And I don't think that Hebrews 10:26 is talking about saved individuals.
  • Eric - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2:11 - 4 years ago
    First, receiving Christ does not mean that your future sins have been forgiven. That is why John says, "...but if we sin we have an advocate with the Father...", you have to repent to be forgiven as 1 John 1:9 assures us.

    Those are not just acts, they are transgressions of the 10 commandments. And sin by definition is transgression of the Law 1 John 3:4 and Romans 4:15. It is a verb with a meaning. Without the commandements, the how do you know that you have sinned, because even Paul in his epistle to the Romans 7:7-13 says that it was because of the law that he knew sin. And there are so many verses from him that forbids us to commit that act of sin.

    James in his epistle 2:8-14, tells it very well that we should keep all the 10 commandments and quotes two of them. Having being saved by Christ is by faith, but you show this faith by keeping God's law so that people know that you are saved and through your actions they may get to know God.

    With this in mind, there are two kinds of laws in the Bible, the 10 commandments and the Mosaic Law. The Mosaic Law is what Christ nailed on the cross and that we have no obligation to follow. But the 10 commandments are perpetual, even Christ Himself says they will never change until heaven and earth come to pass, Matthew 5:18-19.

    In the Hebrew nation, before Christ they used to sin knowingly because they knew in the Mosaic law there was a provision that if you sin, you take a lamb or any other animal as prescribed by that law, take it to the priest, confess to it and when it was sacrificed you were forgiven of your sins. But now with Christ, all that was no more, and this applies to us too. That when we sin knowingly we grieve the Holy Spirit because He convicts us of sin, Ephesians 4:30, Matthew 12:30-32.
  • Yeah - In Reply on 2 Thessalonians 2 - 4 years ago
    Why did people write laws against God's work....David had more than one wife..Therefore the law is of God not man...



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