The Daily Word of Righteousness

Saved by Faith Alone?, #4

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation [in all your behavior]; (I Peter 1:15)

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (I John 3:7)

To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:15)

Notice, in Jude above, that the judgment is upon those of the churches who have practiced ungodly deeds and have spoken harsh words against the Lord. No reference is made to their lack of belief in the Lordship of Christ or His triumphant resurrection.

The viewpoint today is that while the Apostles indeed did exhort us to righteous behavior, in the final sense we are saved by the unconditional favor of God whether or not we obey the Apostles. This belief removes all strength and urgency from the commandments of the Apostles of Christ.

Because the current teaching of "grace" often neglects initial repentance and then the necessity for the transforming aspect of redemption, it is an error that has destroyed the testimony of the Christian churches. Those who are propagating this error must repent and preach the truth or their talent shall be taken from them and given to another. The blood of the guilty will be on their hands because they did not warn God's people concerning their sins against God.

The new covenant.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inner parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:33)

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)

It is fashionable to state we no longer are under any law now that grace has appeared. But such a doctrine is opposed to the true nature of the new covenant. The new covenant did not abolish the eternal law of God, it established it.

To lift the Law of Moses from the tables of stone and write them in the mind and heart is not an abolishing of the Law. Rather it is an infinite strengthening of the moral intent of the Law of Moses.

It is true that the Ten Commandments and the Levitical statutes are not a mature representation of the eternal moral law of God, and do not produce the desired result because they make demands on our evil adamic nature that our old nature is not able to fulfill.

But to then teach that God has discarded the moral law in favor of a plan that receives and blesses people who are walking in lawlessness is to misunderstand the new covenant.

To be continued.