From a Friend and Brother

This post was written by a fellow brother in the faith. It is a response to someone who wrote a very brief essay which downplayed the significance of the law/torah of Yahweh. Hope you all enjoy!
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What is sin? According to 1 John 3:4 sin is the transgression of the law. If the Messiah destroyed the effectiveness of the law, then how do we define sin? I think all one must do is read the verse above. I agree that the law will not justify anyone; it is a schoolmaster to bring people to the Messiah, but I don't agree that it condemns us. As a matter of fact, it liberates us. Hence the reason James says, "...the one who look intently into the perfect law of FREEDOM and perserveres in it, and is not a forgetful heaer but a doer who acts - this person will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25).

The author of the email says, "the law is perfect" but then goes on to say that it condemns us. The law only condemns those who break it. I don't for one minute think that there is a man alive who keeps the law perfectly, but there are many who do not care if they keep it at all. By not acknowledging this perfect law that the Messiah himself kept, we place ourselves into bondage over an over again, trampling the blood of our precious Savior in the ground. Just because the law does not justify you doesn't mean it doesn't provide a plan for active holiness. If we say that we live by the spirit we must walk by the spirit (Romans 7). Furthermore if our Messiah kept the law perfectly, and we are supposed to model our lives after him, then why would anybody not want to keep the law? Once again, it is not the law that condemns us, but the debt we owe to the law that nailed the unblemished lamb to the tree. Our sin put him on the tree and if we are to repent and turn from it we can't continue to break God's law, knowing that's the very reason Christ died. So if Christ died for our sin, "Do we then cancel the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary we uphold the law." (Romans 3:31)

From our own Messiah's mouth we hear this, "For I assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all things are accomplished." (Matthew 5:18) It baffles me to think that this sinless Messiah (God's annointed) would be lying. I think it would be wise to look at Paul's writings again and rethink this view. By the way, Paul was a law keeper too. In Acts 21:24 the apostles are talking to Paul and they says this: "Take these men, purify yourselves with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. The neveryone will KNOW that what they were told about you amoun ts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the LAW."

This email is not meant to be critical but to rebuke false teaching. Paul tells Timothy, "I solemnly charge you: proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2) I am afraid that "...certain men are turning the grace of our Lord into a license to sin and denying our only Master and Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. (Jude 1:4).

Sorry for the lengthy reply, I hope this give you another angle to look at things. I encourage you to be like the Bereans and search the scriptures daily to see if these things are so (Acts 17:11).

With so much love,
TJ Martin