^_^ said:
You can poke fun at me if you wish
From your point of view, I sit condemned.
I’m sorry if it sounded like I was poking fun at your beliefs. I now realize that you were being serious, but I’m afraid I can never agree with an upside-down interpretation of John 5:17-18. Yahushua clearly admits He was
working on the Sabbath. The very next verse states that He was
breaking the Sabbath. Personally, I cannot subscribe to any interpretation that makes a verse mean precisely the opposite of what it actually says, unless the context clearly supports it. I respect your freedom to do so, however. I certainly didn’t mean to suggest you were being “condemned” for anything in any event.
As fellow brothers in Messiah, I would leave you with this warning, however. Remain vigilant. I’ve studied this subject at length over many years, and the path this line of reasoning leads to is always the same. It starts out innocently enough with wanting to honor God by obeying Torah, then slowly moving away from
unconditional faith in Messiah, eventually disavowing Paul’s writings altogether and finally enveloping full-on Judaism. Even if you don’t think this can happen to you, carefully watch those you associate with and keep your heart guarded. This is where it begins.
If there’s one thing I’ve read, over and over in the New Testament, it’s the
contrast between Torah observance and faith in Messiah. Trying to follow Torah, even with the best of intentions, will always result in spiritual death. Torah observance, under the guise of trying to obey God, is ultimately deadly to one’s faith, because it will inevitably lead you away from the substance and back to the shadow. The two cannot be mixed. Obedience to God is VITAL as a New Covenant believer, but attempting obedience to Torah will only bring about death.
You’re either married to Torah or you’re married to Messiah. If you haven’t been released from Torah, you cannot be married to Messiah. It's slavery or freedom. Death or life. Choose life.
Romans 10:4: “For Messiah is the
telos (
G5056: end, termination, cease, finish, closure) of the Torah unto righteousness to everyone who believes.”
Romans 4:4-5: “And to
him who IS WORKING, the reward is not reckoned as a favour but as a
DEBT. And to
him who IS NOT WORKING but believes on Him who is declaring right the wicked, his belief is reckoned for
RIGHTEOUSNESS”
Romans 3:19: “And we know that
whatever the Torah says, it says to those who are
in the Torah, so that every mouth might be stopped, and all the world come under judgment before Elohim.”
Galatians 3:2-3: “This only I wish to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of
Torah, or by the hearing of
belief? Are you so senseless? Having begun in the
Spirit, do you now end in the
flesh?”
Galatians 3:10: “For as many as are of works of
Torah are
under the curse, for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in
ALL that has been written in the book of the Torah, to do them.”
Galatians 3:12: “And the
Torah is NOT of belief, but “The man who does them shall live by them.”
Galatians 3:23-25: “But
BEFORE belief came, we were being guarded under
Torah, having been shut up for the belief about to be revealed. Therefore
the Torah became our trainer unto Messiah, in order to be declared right by belief. And
AFTER belief has come,
we are no longer under a trainer.”
Galatians 4:21-26: “Say to me, you who wish to be under Torah, do you not hear the Torah? For it has been written that
Abraham had two sons, one by a
female servant, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the female servant was born according to the
flesh, and he of the free woman through
promise. This is allegorical,
for these are the TWO covenants: one indeed from Mount Sinai which brings forth
slavery, which is Hagar, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to Yerushalayim which now is, and is in slavery with her children. But the Yerushalayim above is
free, which is the mother of us all.”
Love in Him,
David
I’m going to HOPE you’re just yanking my chain now. Is this truly how you understand the plain sense meaning of this passage when you read it? Where does that leave us regarding the inspiration of God's Word? If we don’t want to believe what it says, it probably doesn’t really mean it anyway?