God never offered man a choice, Gup20.
" See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 in that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, [and that] ye shall not prolong ]your] days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, [and] that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he [is] thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." ( Deuteronomy 30: 15-20 )
No part of the above applies to mankind as a whole, it only applies to the Jews as a nation.
God is speaking through His prophet Moses to His chosen nation of Israel, under the covenant He made with them, for the sake of their fathers...Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He is telling them that under the covenant that He has made, they will have life or death, blessing and cursing...it is an earthly covenant, with earthly commandments.
That's exactly the notion Paul sought to correct in Romans when he quotes Deuteronomy 30:
Rom 10:5-9 NASB 5 For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6
But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "
DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), 7 or '
WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." 8 But what does it say? "
THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Paul himself quotes Deuteronomy 30 and says it is speaking about the righteousness based on faith.
Deu 30:11-15 NASB 11 "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12 "It is not in heaven, that you should say, '
Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 13 "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, '
Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 14 "
But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. 15 "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;
Additionally, we know that Deuteronomy 30 is speaking about faith-based salvation because it speaks of circumcision of the heart:
Deu 30:6
“Moreover the LORD your
God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
Paul says:
Rom 2:28
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.
29 But he is a Jew who is one
inwardly;
and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
So we know this circumcision of the heart is actually the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Rom 4:9-11 NASB 9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, "
FAITH WAS CREDITED TO ABRAHAM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS." 10 How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised,
but while uncircumcised; 11
and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be
the father of all who believe without being circumcised,
that righteousness might be credited to them,
Eph 1:13-14 NASB 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed,
you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a
pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of [God's own] possession, to the praise of His glory.
So Abraham is the father of all who believe. All of us are his children if we have the same faith in the gospel that Abraham had. If we look to his example, God preached the gospel to him, and he believed and he was made righteous for his faith. But look - Paul makes the point that circumcision came AFTER he was made righteous, not before. We are circumcised in heart, meaning the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This comes AFTER we have believed, just as it did for Abraham, not before. Also note that the covenant God makes with Abraham - giving him righteousness for his faith and then promising that he would be the father of many nations and those descendants from many nations would inherit the everlasting covenant - came 430 years before the law... so the covenant is outside of the law. Once it was ratified, no further conditions can be added to it, so we know that salvation by faith is apart from the law and contains no conditions from the law.
