8th Response to Legalism
We begin again with the common understanding of what legalism is, doing works of the Torah, or law, to gain salvation, as defined by the bone of contention around the First Church Council: Acts 15:1, 15 (NKJV) “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” . . . 15But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.””
It is an absurd and foolish statement to claim that all the law of the Torah, or the entire Tanach, was nailed to the execution stake. Think about it. Yahshua taught and demonstrated giving and receiving, sowing and reaping. Paul taught and demonstrated sowing and reaping, giving and receiving. If the law of the tithe, the foundational law of giving and receiving, was nailed to the execution stake, the entire corporate Church around the world would collapse. If the law of sowing and reaping were nailed to the cross, humanity would have gone extinct shortly after Yahshua was crucified. Grace embracing pastors and teachers still teach tithing, and hopefully demonstrate giving and receiving, and sowing and reaping. Why teach tithing if the law is done away with? Do you see the absurdity of an unscriptural extreme grace teaching? So, are grace Christians hypocrites? Well, we’re all hypocrites on some points. We all just need better understanding of the spiritual Kingdom of Yahweh.
Romans 7:1-25 (NKJV) “Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law [Torah]), that the law [Torah] has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law [Torah] to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law [Torah] of her husband. 3So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law [Torah], so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law [Torah] through the body of Messiah, that you may be married to another–to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to Yahweh.”
We are the ones who were nailed to the execution stake with Messiah, along with the death penalties and eternal curses that were against us! We were sown in sin and are raised with Yahshua to continue sowing and reaping in the spirit, making disciples. Pretty cool, huh? The Law didn’t die, we did. So reckon yourself dead to the Law of sin and death, but alive to Messiah. ”5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law [Torah] were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6But now we have been delivered from the law [Torah], having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 7What shall we say then? Is the law [Torah] sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law [Torah]. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law [Torah] had said, “You shall not covet.” 8But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law [Torah] sin was dead. 9I was alive once without the law [Torah], but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died [condemned to eternal death by the curses and penalties of the Torah]. 10And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12Therefore the law [Torah] is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14For we know that the law [Torah] is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law [Torah] that it is good. 17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22For I delight in the law [Torah] of Yahweh according to the inward man. 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law [Torah] of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”
Whereas the law of sin was dealt a death blow at the execution stake, it is obviously still running rampant on earth. We won’t be able to rest from our war against sin, until the law of sin is thrown into the Lake of Fire. ”24O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25I thank Yahweh–through Yahshua HaMashiach our Master! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law [Torah] of Yahweh, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
See, I told you Paul was Torah observant!! We must agree with Paul and reckon ourselves as crucified with Messiah, dead to the law that was against us, the death penalties, and eternal curses of the Torah. The whole teaching of death to self, death of self, is what brings balance to the law of grace, faith, and liberty in Messiah.
Galatians 2:19-21 (NKJV) “For I through the law [Torah] died to the law [Torah] that I might live to Yahweh. 20I have been crucified with Messiah; it is no longer I who live, but Messiah lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of Yahweh, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of Yahweh; for if righteousness comes through the law [Torah], then Messiah died in vain.”
We know Messiah did not die in vain. Now we know that WE DIED, NOT THE TORAH, OR LAW, OF YAHWEH!! Messiah’s death on the execution stake, along with our death with Him, proves the justice, holiness, and goodness of the Torah! If Yahweh did not reckon us as dying on the cross with Yahshua, we’re screwed, for all eternity! Do you understand that if the Law, or Torah, of Yahweh were not eternal, NONE OF THE GOSPEL WOULD WORK, EVER? The Law has to outlast sin, or we might as well give up now. Messiah had to meet the justice side of the Torah, and we reckoned in Him on the stake, or we could NEVER experience the grace side of Yahweh’s Law. Yahweh’s Law, His Torah, His Word, is eternal, and I’m glad it is. Praise His Holy Name, Yahweh!!
Gene Benjamin II
February 18, 2013 CE