Featured The Sabbath, the "threefold Law" and theological escapology

Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

There is nothing "moral" about keeping the Sabbath or even the "Christian Sabbath."
There is nothing "immoral" about not keeping it.
Holding a service on the first day of the week has nothing to do with the Sabbath. It is done in remembrance of the resurrection of the Lord, and patterned after what the apostles did, not what they commanded.

 

I see it as Moral Law because it is in the midst of the Decalogue which is moral law.
If I love the LORD my God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, how can I place other gods before Him, worship Him as something I ( or a baker!) have created, take His Name in vain or go my own way on the day that He has commanded me to keep? The Sabbath Commandment comes under that first table of the law, though, like the other commandments, it predates the giving of the law (Gen. 2:2; Exodus 16:21-26. Also possibly Genesis 4:3).

You might do worse than read Philip Ross' book, From the Finger of God (Mentor Books, ISBN 978-184550601-8). It is quite hard going; he interacts with all sorts of obscure theologians whom I've never heard of, but his conclusions are sound IMO.

 

The tithe is not a part of the Decalogue, and whilst we have the example of Abram paying a tithe to Melchizedek, I can't think of a positive command to tithe before the law. Certainly to give to God's work is a requirement of the Christian and a tenth is set before us as a positive example, yet I would be cautious of laying a tithe as absolutely the set amount.

I believe the Decalogue is a special set of commandments written on the hearts of all men (Romans 2:14-15), by the finger of God Himself on stone tablets (Deuteronomy 5:22) and a second time in the hearts of Christians (Hebrews 8:10 etc.). I personally don't see any way of getting around these facts.

I also believe that the decline in the observance of the Lord's Day has been an absolute disaster for the churches. Far too many professing Christians regard coming to church as entirely optional for them with the result that they are not benefitting from sequential expository preaching. God gives His commandments for a purpose.

 

???? How so? What justifies you to 'cherry pick' 'the law' in vv. 14-15 to have a different meaning from 'the law' in the rest of the context?:

11 for there is no respect of persons with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law;
13 for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified:
14 (for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves;
15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them);
16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.
17 But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God,
18 and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
19 and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness,
20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth;
21 thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?
23 thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God?
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written.
25 For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.
26 If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?
27 and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?

 

"....do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves; in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts...."

I see no distinction made here. They are indeed doing "the things of the law". What are these "things of the law" that they're doing?

 

I make the 'division' of the law from this stand point:

3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they that were with him;
4 how he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?
6 But I say unto you, that one greater than the temple is here.
7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. Mt 12

God stated more than once in the prophets that he derived no pleasure from the sacrificial/ceremonial portions of the law. It's those 'merciful' towards our fellow man as Paul outlined in Ro 13:8-10 and Christ condensed in Mt 7:12 that He has regard for.

 

I replied to this. I seems like the post went missing.

 

But you'll agree that David and his band that ate the showbread and the priests that profaned the Sabbath were guiltless, right?

Works are NOT a by-product of our faith. Works AND faith are products of the regenerate heart.

 

Wrong. They are evidence of the heavenly birth:

21 But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God. Jn 21

14 (for when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves;
15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them); Ro 2

 

Yes, God's grace:

7 `Thou mayest not wonder that I said to thee, It behoveth you to be born from above;
8 the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.` Jn 3

13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Jn 1