by digderidoo 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
DD,
I think you read too deeply into the statement and beyond the context of the discussion of Mosaic Law.
Under Christianity there is no other salvation but through Jesus. Christianity is not suppose to be forced but rather preached and accepted personally by individuals. Each individual makes a choice to believe or not to believe upon knowledge of the 'good news'.
The expression "law and the prophets" in Luke means "the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures" (OT). See the words that follow that expression, to see what has taken their place. Then thoroughly study what those two key words of "gospel" and "kingdom" mean. (The WTS places an undue focus on the "law and the prophets".)
Colossians is talking about the forgiveness of our sin. "He forgave us all our sins" (NIV). Read the preceding and following verses (say verses 9 to 16, for a start).
The meaning of the word "Law" in each instance in the NT must be determined by its immediate context, since it (nomos) covers a range of nuances, some of which are not completely translatable into English. For example, there is a difference in the intent of nomos when it is not preceded by the article ("the"). In that case the term can mean "any works of obedience" (we are not save by law).
Do not look at Scripture through the eyes of a 21st century mindset. Consider the texts in the immediate context of the times they were written in. Each was written for an immediate audience only, for its local and immediate need, not for people living 2000 or 3000 years later. Do not look for computer technology in an agrarian community.
Doug
yknot
Jesus new covenant is optional as well.
So how is the new covenant "optional?
I think what yknot is saying is that the Law was given to the Jews, as God's chosen people. Never was the law given to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were under no obligation to follow the law because it was not for them.
The new covenant is optional in the sense that we (Jew or Gentile) can accept (to our benefit and God's glory) or reject it (to our detriment and God's sorrow). I highly doubt that yknot is saying that there is another way to attain salvation (not that I want to put words in her mouth).
slappy
Please let me repeat myself: the expression is "the law and the prophets", and it means the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures (which were not at that time canonised). All of them, not just "the Law" (meaning the Pentateuch).
These Scriptures were replaced by the good news of the "kingdom of God", ushered in at the baptism of Christ by John the Baptiser. The "kingdom" was the most common topic on Jesus' tongue, because it refers to the rulership possessed by God. It is not a rulership possessed by any man or group of people. A relationship with God is not obtained through legalism or prophecy but in a dynamic living direct relationship with the kingdom/kingship of God. It is not euphoric, or emotional, it is factual and forensic, based solely on faith. Jesus was giving his kingdom message to those people, his hearers. They could adopt it then and there, while he was speaking with them.
Much of what we call the "Hebrew Scriptures" (OT) was written and edited during and after the Babylonian Exile. The people wanted to understand why God's chosen people had been treated like this. These exiles -- who were the elite and powerful of Judah, not the "people of the land" -- decided they had been exiled because the Israelites and Judahites had not followed the Commands and Laws, and this is what they wrote and what coloured their written record. So when the descendants of this upper echelon returned to the people of the land who had been left in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, the elite set about imposing their will upon the people, to force them into a legalistic regime of obeying laws and commands. That is what Jesus wanted to bring to an end: the "law and the prophets" did not give life.
I believe that Jeremiah was a prophet more to the people of the land, as against the priestly class in the cities and in the Temple at Jerusalem. He spoke about a heart relationship with God, in which the laws are written within a person. When Jesus Christ ministered, he worked with the "people of the land", not with the upper echelon. He spoke like Jeremiah did.
Doug
