80sU2isBest said:
Great info, Dreadsox. I knew all of it (and I don't say this to be bragging, or proud; just stating a fact), but I don't see how any of this refutes my position that the law was created as a pointer to Christ, and that no one's actions under the law meet the perfect standard of God.
The Galatians passage I included earlier sums it all up:
Galatians 3: 21-24
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
My hangup is not with the Law being a pointer to Christ. In context, the entire Chapter 3 is not about God creating Law so that man can fail. The Law according to Chapter 3 is about identifying sin. The fact that God's covenant was with Abraham, who achieved righteousness without the LAW, but through FAITH. FAITH in Christ and in God's promise to Abraham is what entitles the new converts to becoming part of the covenant.
I guess what I am saying is that when I read this, I believe that Paul is saying that RIGHTEOUSNESS existed in people like Abraham before the LAW, and that Christ came to bring us back to that point.
I am not trying top refute your saying the Law points to Christ. I just do not believe that God set man up for failure for thousands of years. I guess maybe I am saying is tough luck for those that tried to live up to the law for thousands of years?
80sU2isBest said:
I'll ask you this: Do you believe that God knows man's heart and knows the future? If so, then he knew when he gave the law that no one would be able to fulfill it. Why would he tell people to obey teh law when he knew they couldn't, if the purpose wasn't to show them how unholy they are in their own flesh, and to point at the coming Messiah as their only hope for salvation?
I would say that yes God knows man's hearts, did he not create them? When I build robots with my students, we know how they operate, and move. YEt, the robots do not have free will. If he gave us free will to choose to obey or disobey, doesn't that mean EVERYONE could chose something that God did not expect? I think of Judas for some reason. If he was predestined to betray Christ, is he responsible for his actions?
Maybe I am way off track now.