Is it Right: The New Perspective on Paul?

[footwasher]

However, when pressed, he says he recognizes also that Paul is against doing the Law for justification.

It’s true. Both John the Baptist and Jesus wanted the Jews to repent, change their mind set, from thinking God would bless Israel if she made her people like Abraham through circumcision, dietary habits and ritual purification through washing of hands etc. They needed to observe these minor points of the Law without neglecting its more important requirements, justice, mercy and faithfulness:


Luke 3:7So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9“Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” 11And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” 12And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” 14Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

These are the fruit which when produced would result in Israel would escape wrath, not becoming extinct like Sodom and Gomorrah. We must remember that Elizabeth and Zacharias were found righteous in the eyes of the Law, they followed it perfectly, fully. In Scripture, perfect means complete, and even better explained, followed in all its aspects, minor as well as more important requirements, unlike the Pharisees who only followed those requirements that identified them as Jews, distinguishable from the other Nations.

However, after following John, Israel must follow Jesus, because Mt Sinai only protects Israel from wrath, till the Jerusalem from above comes amongst men:

Acts 19:4Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

Luke 11:20But if I cast out devils by the finger of God, the Kingdom of God has come near to you.

They must drive out the slave woman, because the son of the bondswoman can never inherit what the son of the free woman can, the Kingdom of God:

John 8:33“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?” 34 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

In the above, Jesus is saying that those who do not enter into the New Covenent with him are sinning, because as long as they are in the Old Covenant, they are not cleansed from sin, because the blood of bulls and goats are only a type, a foreshadowing of what His blood will do:

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We may return to the same conclusion that we reached before: the sacrifice of animals is inadequate to achieve final cleansing, nor can it cleanse anything more than the copies of heavenly things. Then who will bring the definitive sacrifice? A man must do it. A similar point is made indirectly in Num. 35:33-34: “Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.” When a man had shed blood, the man must die. But there is one exception, when the blood of the death of the high priest releases a manslaughterer to return home (Num. 35:25-28). The blood of the high priest has special value. In agreement with this principle, Zech. 3 uses all the symbolism of a defiled human high priest Joshua and then speaks mysteriously of the Branch in connection with which “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” (Zech. 3:9).

The final atonement must be simultaneously like a sheep who dies and like the high priest who presents the sacrifice. This final high priest is described in Isa. 53 as the servant of the Lord. He presents his own body as a guilt offering (Isa. 53:10) and dies (Isa. 53:9). Like a sin offering where the body of the animal is carried outside the camp, he dies outside the camp (Heb. 13:11-14). Then he will “see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:10). He will live again. As the high priest now living he goes through the rest of the steps in the sacrificial system. That is, he presents the blood of the sacrifice, his own blood (Heb. 9:12). The blood has already been poured out on the earth as he died, cleansing the ground itself.


https://frame-poythress.org/ebooks/t...-law-of-moses/


So its not surprising that Paul criticises those who would want to continue in the Old Covenant. It was a babysitter (pedagogos is substitute guardian, not tutor), till the real guardian came. It could protect, but could not give an inheritance, the real Rest, IN Christ. It’s no surprise that the writer of Hebrews, mirroring the words of Christ, exhorts all believer to enter the inheritance which was not available before, a rest that remained to be entered, because Joshua had not produced that Rest:

Hebrews 3:5Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,b testifying to what would be spoken later. 6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmlyc to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

[mikewhitney]

Well the text says otherwise: God intentionally created problems and made Scripture difficult to explain, so that when these problems were solved, people would be drawn to Him. These are the works God created in advance, that believers may do them.
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You need to clean up the text you are pasting into tweb. There is far too many font selections in it.

You definitely have a different concept of how scriptures comes together. it is hardly likely that we will come to the same view point.

[footwasher]

You need to clean up the text you are pasting into tweb. There is far too many font selections in it.

You definitely have a different concept of how scriptures comes together. it is hardly likely that we will come to the same view point.

This is a problem Admin should clean up: the new platform is really buggy. If there is no time window limit for editing, I would correct the formatting for each of my posts, but the limit does exist.

Your job is to "demolish the principalities and powers that seek to obstruct the Gospel" and so is mine. May the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth. Wait a minute, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptised?

[mikewhitney]

This is a problem Admin should clean up: the new platform is really buggy. If there is no time window limit for editing, I would correct the formatting for each of my posts, but the limit does exist.

Your job is to "demolish the principalities and powers that seek to obstruct the Gospel" and so is mine. May the Holy Spirit lead us into all truth. Wait a minute, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptised?

You can copy into notepad if you are using Windows. Then copy and paste from there to here.

Yes. I got the Holy Spirit.

[footwasher]

You can copy into notepad if you are using Windows. Then copy and paste from there to here.

Yes. I got the Holy Spirit.

Thanks for the formatting tip. I use Android phones.

Unlike having unorthodox beliefs, not getting the Holy Spirit will really lead to a bad outcome:

Matt 7:23And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

Just as those who refused to switch from the Old Covenant to the New were called sinners, those who refuse to switch from whatever belief they had, to believing Jesus's words as recorded in Scripture, will be called law-breakers, non-compliant, in infraction. So it's important to be certified, baptised into what Scripture teaches. How do you know you received the Holy Spirit?

[footwasher]

It's telling that no one knows the way to check if we have received the Holy Spirit or not. There is no Scripture directly teaching it. So, how do we know if we have the Holy Spirit?


If you try to find out, you will get many answers, which though not right, do give some RELATED information about what happens when we receive the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying to prove they are not the main signs that we have the Spirit, let's state what is the main sign, and use a Biblical method to prove this view.

The main indication we have received the Holy Spirit is: if our trust in God to always rescue us, is increased.

The Biblical way to prove this view is true is by looking for frequency, consistency. For example, the Holy Spirit does make us have "love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”, these being given as the signs that we HAVE received the Spirit, BUT THIS DOES NOT ALWAYS HAPPEN. We do NOT always receive these gifts. Not immediately.


However, SCRIPTURE says that those who received the Holy Spirit, by believing, witnessed miraculous works of God, immediately:

Gal 4:5So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?


Abraham witnessed miraculous works of God:

Gen 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”


Caleb witnessed miraculous works of God:

1 Cor 10:1For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3and all ate the same spiritual food; 4and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

The believers in Acts 19 witnessed miraculous works of God:

Acts 19:6And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.


These works of God can cause results: our trust in God to always rescue us, is increased. This is called being born again, having a different spirit:

Num 14:24“But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.

John 3:5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.


It is important to enter the Kingdom of God, because this is how we become blessings to the world. Only in the Kingdom of God can we pick up a cross, attempt to do difficult things (which can be dangerous if we fail), and succeed. And when we succeed, the world is impressed and is motivated to turn to God:

John 3:1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Joshua 2:8Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. 10“For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11“When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

John 12:32"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."


Why is trust in God tested, like Abraham and Caleb were tested, and like we will be tested, as described in Luke 14:33? Because in the Kingdom of God you need to die on the cross everyday so that you can be raised up, and draw the world to you.

It's true that entering the Kingdom of God enables us to be always raised up, but the the risk that it may not happen is always there. Imagine the danger of claiming to be able to solve a difficult problem, either removing physical or spiritual blindness, for example, and failing! Those who oppose you can easily persecute you.


This is the Way:

God creates works in advance, makes people blind, darkens Scripture, so that we may walk in them, solve the problems.

Isaiah 45:7The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

John 9:3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

Ephesians 2:10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.


When we do these works, pick up the cross

1 Cor 15:3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.


The world is drawn to God:

1 Cor 15:6After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.