We Can be Sure of This One Thing

And it shall be righteousness for us if we diligently observe and do all of this commandment before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 6:25 (LEB)

I recently heard a minister preaching on Romans chapter five where Paul is contrasting the work of Adam and Jesus. This minister’s conclusion was that Jesus practiced being righteous, therefore we don’t have to. This is a common belief system within Christianity due to a distorted doctrine derived from misunderstanding what Paul wrote to the churches.

Romans 5:18–21 (LEB): ¹⁸ Consequently therefore, as through one trespass came condemnation to all people, so also through one righteous deed came justification of life to all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous. ²⁰ Now the law came in as a side issue, in order that the trespass could increase, but where sin increased, grace was present in greater abundance, ²¹ so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sure, if this Romans chapter is the only part of the Bible that one reads because some preacher told us that we do not have to do anything the Creator said to do, by using these verses, then we are able to carry on with the lawless gospel and see how it works out. However, all one needs to do to debunk this interpretation is to read Paul’s conclusion in the next verses. Paul’s letters were never meant to be verses and chapters. It was a letter, and someone broke it up in sections for easier reference. Chapter six is not a new thought, it is a continuation of chapter five.

Romans 6:1–2 (LEB): 6 What therefore shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, in order that grace may increase? ² May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Once we are freed of our sinful nature through the work of Jesus, our lifestyle should reflect the way Jesus walked. He walked by pleasing the Father and was the example of God’s instructions, or Torah. This is what fulfilling the law looks like. “How can we who died to sin still live in it?“

1 John 2:3–6 (LEB): ³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. ⁴ The one who says “I have come to know him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. ⁵ But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. ⁶ The one who says that he resides in him ought also to walk just as that one walked.

These verses from John are the reason hyper-grace dispensationalists had to create a doctrine that says that John was not talking to “gentile” believers, he was only speaking to the “Jews”. They manufactured a complete alternate universe of doctrine so they do not have to be obedient to God. Then they will say, “follow Jesus”, all the while not doing what he said to do. This type of Christianity believes they should only do their distorted view of what Paul says in his letters-aka “rightly divide”.

Let’s look at Paul and Peter’s letters to see to whom they were writing. First, Paul to the Galatians:

Galatians 1:1–2 (LEB): 1 Paul, an apostle not from men nor by men but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead, ² and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia.

This letter was written to the churches in Galatia. Next, here is Peter’s greeting:

1 Peter 1:1–2 (LEB): 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Peter wrote to “the chosen temporarily in the dispersion”, including those in Galatia. Was Peter excluding “gentile” believers by using the word “dispersion”? Many will say “yes” meaning there had to be two different camps of believers in Galatia. Paul wrote to the non-Jewish believers and Peter wrote to the Jewish believers in this belief system. This is what dispensationalism theology teaches quietly behind the scenes in many denominations. However, in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, as in others, he tells us there is only one kind of believer. There is no such thing as a “gentile” believer because “gentile” means foreigner to God, or “from the nations”. In other words, not Israel. Once we become believers through Jesus, we join ourselves to Israel, the family of God. This is not to be confused with the religion of Talmudic Judaism, which many Jews practice today, or the country of Israel formed in 1948 by UN resolution 181.

Galatians 3:26–29 (LEB): ²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.

The best way to explain Paul’s letters, what they are telling us, and to whom they were written is by heeding Peter’s warning in his letter to (in part) the Galatians.

2 Peter 3:15–17 (LEB): ¹⁵ And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom that was given to him, ¹⁶ as he does also in all his letters, speaking in them about these things, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the scriptures. ¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, because you know this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you do not lose your own safe position because you have been led away by the error of lawless persons.

Peter told us about all of these erroneous, lawless doctrines almost 2000 years ago in a letter to those “in the dispersion” of Galatia and other places in Asia. “The ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the scriptures.” These are the same people Paul and John wrote to. They were the believers in Jesus. The only difference between the Jew and non-Jew believers was that the Jews were well versed in scripture. They were raised believing the law and prophets. Most Jews understand they cannot be justified by the law, which is what the original argument was about. The first century non-Jews or “gentiles” were not raised knowing scripture. They came from polytheism religion and philosophy, much like believers today. With no grounding in scripture, they will believe anything someone in authority will tell them. A belief system where one can keep sinning and not regard the instructions of God taught by Jesus was very appealing in the first century as it is today.

Jesus made it possible for all of humanity to not have to die from sin by raising from the dead. There is nothing in the law that will keep us from becoming eternally dead, no matter how righteous we live. There were no offerings for adultery, murder, breaking the Sabbath, etc., in the law. There was only judgement and death. Jesus died and rose to set us free from the penalty of death which the law defined. This in no way nullifies the law because the law defines sin. Once we come to faith we should be living in the Spirit with the law in our hearts. If one remains carnal and fleshly, or disobedient, despising God’s instructions, then they will still bump into the law because they do not walk in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:11–22 (LEB): ¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, the so-called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, ¹² that you were at that time apart from Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, not having hope, and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you, the ones who once were far away, have become near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, ¹⁵ invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus* making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself. ¹⁷ And coming, he proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to the ones who were near, ¹⁸ because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ Consequently, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are built up together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

This is the mystery of how God was going to reunite the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The house of Israel, sometimes referred to as Ephraim, was cast into the nations becoming “gentiles” for idolatry and adultery by mixing traditions from other religions. This is the same as Christians today using symbols of other gods in their worship. I am talking about such things as wreaths, pine cones, easter eggs and trees.

In order to fulfill the promises given to all of Israel, there had to be a way for them to come back into the family. By making a way for them to come back it reconciled the whole world with God through Jesus the Messiah.

Hosea 1:11 (LEB): ¹¹ Then the children of Judah and Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint for themselves one head; and they will take possession of the land, for great is the day of Jezreel.

This is a huge gift to the world and today we have Christians whose main theology is “we don’t have to ‘do the law’ or ‘practice righteousness’ because Jesus did it for us”. Acts chapter ten is not about whether Christians can eat a ham sandwich or not. It is about removing the dividing wall.

1 John 3:6–8 (LEB): ⁶ Everyone who resides in him does not sin. Everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you: the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as that one is righteous. ⁸ The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this reason the Son of God was revealed: in order to destroy the works of the devil.

The entirety of the Bible is written against anyone that claims we should not practice righteousness. Christians have been lulled into a lawless religion with no regard for the instructions of the Creator. He even sent His son to make it possible for those cut off by disbelief to be brought near, thus allowing the whole world to be saved. In return the church will not even consider looking at all the blessings there are in obedience.

Psalm 119:1–8 (LEB) Aleph 119 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of Yahweh. ² Blessed are those who keep his testimonies; they seek him with a whole heart. ³ They also do no wrong; they walk in his ways. ⁴ You have commanded your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. ⁵ Oh that my ways were steadfast, to keep your statutes! ⁶ Then I would not be ashamed when I look to all your commands. ⁷ I will give you thanks with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous laws. ⁸ I will heed your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash