The Law and the Christian

[jordan]

Shalom... I love your website, and as a yet immature Christian I’m really beginning to love and value our Jewish heritage. That being said, I’m having an incredibly difficult time accepting, or at least fully grasping, your take on the relationship between a Christian and the Law. I understand that our salvation rests solely on Yeshua, but there are a number of things that seem contradictory to me about this absolute freedom. What then would stop us from being homosexual, having multiple wives, premarital sex, getting drunk, or any number of things traditionally regarded as amoral, so long as these things are done with love for God and neighbor somehow?

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

I hope I don’t come off as brash, I’m just diligently seeking God’s will for my life. Now that I know Christ I’m, to be modest, horrifically afraid of teaching false doctrine, lest I be accursed (Gal. 1:9).

[admin]

There is always a danger of being misunderstood on this question - as the Apostle Paul was misunderstood and accused of teaching that since we are not under the law, but rather are under grace, we are "free to sin" (Rom. 3:8; Rom. 6:1-2; Rom. 6:15-16). That this doctrine is anathema should be clear from a careful study of Paul's thinking on the subject... We are indeed free from the law - that is, its covenant terms and obligation - but not from the Holy character of God.... The law is holy, just, and good, but it is ineffectual to save the sinner, and therefore God calls all people to repentance (teshuvah) though the "new way" of becoming right before God, that is, by trusting in sacrificial death of Yeshua as your personal Sin and Guilt Offering before the Father. And though we are justified by faith alone, it is important to understand that none of the moral law has been abrogated by the terms of the New Covenant, and indeed, the standard of holiness and purity have been reaffirmed and amplified. Followers of Yeshua have the inner meaning and intent of the law "written on their hearts," and they are therefore able to fulfill the inner meaning of the law by the power and agency of the Holy Spirit... Shalom