No Favorites Romans 2:12-16 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34), their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. The English word “Law” is used to translate the Greek work “Nomos” here. By it, most narrow the meaning to Commandments only—a specific Torah given to Moses on Mount Sinai, which is the basis of the Old and New Covenants. Yet some, including me, do not go along with this restriction of the word. “The Word Torah in the New Covenant-- …. When the Jews translated the First Covenant Hebrew into Greek in the Septuagint they had to choose a Greek word which was closest in meaning to the Hebrew word Torah. Unfortunately there was no exact word to match the meaning of the concept of the Torah. The only Greek word that came close was nomos… When the New Covenant writers wrote the New Covenant, they continued to use the Greek word nomos for the Hebrew word Torah. Let us compare the Old and New Covenant uses of these two words. Deut 31:26 - The Book of the Torah; Gal 3:10 - The Book of the Nomos 1 Kings 2:3 - Written in the Torah of Moses; 1 Cor 9:9 - Written in the Nomos of Moses Josh 24:26 - The Torah of God; Rom 7:22 - The Nomos of God When the word nomos was translated into English, it was translated as ‘law’. We could say that the original meaning of Torah has been ‘lost in the translation’” ancient-hebrew.org/holyassembly/chapter12.html Nomos or Torah is the complete teaching of the Bible. Paul taught: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: ‘Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My Law [‘Nomos’ in Greek and ‘Torah’ in Hebrew] in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD, for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’(Jeremiah 31:31-34) In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:7-13) For as many as have sinned without Torah will also perish without Torah… If this were not the case, the best thing that we could do for savages living in the remote areas of the world is to stay out with our Bibles. Then they would have no occasion to stumble. But we know that they will be condemned too. and as many as have sinned in the Torah will be judged by the Torah for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified… Some aspire to be religious—to keep the moral code of the Ten Commandments and / or do other good deeds, like keeping a kosher home. There are, according to experts, 613 commands of the LORD and many man-made traditions based on different parts of Torah. These will likewise perish without Jesus. For Jesus said “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.” (John 12:47-48) He taught as no other man- as one with authority and made the Way of life manifest for all who desire to find it. Let us not only seek Jesus, but seek to have the faith of Jesus. If He is our Savior let us take His side on matters. for when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, by nature do the things in the Torah these, although not having Torah, are a torah to themselves… Yes the Gentiles are not the ones entrusted with the safeguarding of the Old Testament Scriptures, but many have adopted a Jewish mentality and have put on biblical glasses. They then too become workers with “the Repairer of the breach.” (Isaiah 58:12) “The important thing for everyone to understand, Jew or Gentile, is that the judgment of God has no place for favoritism or exceptions but is based strictly on the response of the individual to the knowledge of truth that has been made available. That obviously means that the more privilege a person has, the more responsibility he holds.” (J Stuart Briscoe) who show the work of Torah written in their hearts… this is a reference to Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the promise of Jesus to His followers in the New Testament book of Hebrews chapter 8 verses 7-13. their conscience also bearing witness… “Some things are right, and some things are wrong, within themselves. If a man never had revelation from God, he would know that it was wrong to murder his fellow man, or to rob him of his possessions, or in any way to infringe on his rights. Cain sinned in killing his brother and felt his guilt, though we have no record that God had told him not to kill. God’s moral law is the same to all nations…. they [the Gentiles] did have an idea of right and wrong (1988, p. 57).” (Robertson Whiteside)… and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them ... Human reasoning is a risky barometer of belief or practice. in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel… “Anyone who has a picture of Christ which does not include Him as Judge of the earth is laboring under a serious misrepresentation of the true identity of the Savior. The babe in the manger, the healer of the sick, the One who welcomed the children, the teacher of parables, the silent prisoner of the judgment hall, the pitiful victim on the Via Dolorosa, the agonizing sacrifice on the cross, the resplendent Lord in the garden, the triumphant leader in the Upper Room—all are pictures of a Lord that, in one form or another, appeal to the human heart. But Jesus as Judge is foreign to many. Yet it should not be, because He repeatedly announced His own Judgeship during the days of His ministry…. His insight into human nature was such that ‘He knew what was in man.’ (John 2:25) Nicodemus’s need was obvious to Him, the woman of Samaria’s condition was not hidden from Him, Judas’ dark schemings were clear to Him, Peter’s twisted loyalties were uncomplicated to Him—He truly knew what was in man. Yet this knowledge of man’s true nature was touched with a compassion which came from His deep empathy with man in all his struggles, for He, too, had lived and struggled, been tested and tried, and yet had never succumbed. He was Himself not only the ideal Judge, but He was in Himself the very standard by which the judgment should be made, in that He had fulfilled all the Law’s demands.” (J Stuart Briscoe)
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:22:44 +0000
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