"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written."
In today's lesson, Paul said a person simply being born a Jew means nothing because they had failed to obey the laws that God gave them.
Until Jesus came, if a Jew sought salvation under the law he/she must needs be entirely obedient to the law while having faith in God that He would eventually send a redeemer, very few of the ancient Jews ever did.
The latter part of the lesson relates the hypocrisy of the Jews as they held themselves up above all others simply because God had chosen them to be the people through which our savior would come.
There are many heretical groups today who still, just like the ancient Jews, hold fast to the fallacy, pomp, and ritual of what they perceive to be Christianity. They bind themselves to the old law on the surface and pretend they obey it, but in their daily lives use Christianity as a mask to cover their true sinful core.
In truth, obedience to the old law will not save a soul. Salvation can ONLY be achieved through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Jesus gave the perfect example in Luke 18:18-22, "And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me."
That "ruler" was a Jew, and had obviously lived his life according to the law, however, Jesus in essence said, that if the man obeyed all the rules of the law, he would still come up short of salvation. Then Jesus told him what it would take for him to have eternal life, "sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me." Which very simply means that all one need do to inherit eternal life is to give up on the material things of this earth and have absolute faith in Jesus Christ crucified.~
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