7. The Gospel and the Law Cannot Be Mixed

 

7. The Gospel and the Law Cannot Be Mixed

 

The law was a commandment given by God to the people of Israel. The purpose of this commandment was twofold. First, it tells you that you are all sinners. Second, it tells you that you are making the mistake of condemning others through the law. This is the act of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is the same as sitting in God’s seat.

God made us keep the commandments and, when we break them, receive forgiveness of sins through sacrifice. The reason for this is that through sacrifice, he made us realize that humans are beings who cannot escape from sin no matter how hard they try. Therefore, through sacrifice, he made us remember the promise to the offspring of the woman. The offspring of the woman is none other than the last man, Adam, who is Christ. The last man, Adam, redeemed the body of sin on the cross and gave the body of resurrection (the clothes of Christ) to those who are united with him. This is the gospel. Therefore, we can enter the path of salvation where we receive forgiveness of sins all at once, rather than through daily sacrifices.

1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit." Hebrews 9:28 "So Christ, having been offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to bring salvation to those who are eagerly waiting for him."

The gospel is to go from the law to Christ. The only way to go to Christ is to believe in dying with Jesus Christ and rising again with Him. Romans 6:6-7 says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin and has been justified.” It is to receive the glory of resurrection through the death of the old self.

It is said that the dead are completely free from sin. Therefore, baptism means death. In John 3:5, Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” The first death is death to sin at the water judgment. The problem of sin is solved. The second death is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Therefore, the saints also die from the old self that was revealed from the flesh. Therefore, they become those who are born from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is testified in 1 John 5:7-8: "For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are one." Water is water baptism, and the Spirit is fire and the Spirit baptism. Blood signifies the death of Jesus Christ. All of these are words that testify to the death of Jesus Christ and those who have entered into Christ.

A saint is someone whose old self dies and becomes a new person, and the death of the old self means that one’s identity has changed. A saint is someone who lives as a new person, not an old person. The kingdom of God is established in the soul. So the temple is established in the heart, and God enters that temple and becomes the master. However, the old person remains. As long as the body exists, the old person torments the new person. That is why they fight a spiritual war. God tells us to focus our hearts, stay awake, and always focus on the temple and pray in the Most Holy Place.

And God tells us through the Bible not to worry about the problem of sin. In Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” The reason is that saints must preach the gospel, but there may be cases where they stumble due to their weak flesh, so God embraces this. If someone intentionally abuses this, he is not dead to sin.

However, there are those who return to the law despite having entered the gospel. They are called legalists. Legalists say they believe in Jesus, but they are like Judaizers who argue that keeping the law is helpful. Representative examples of legalism include keeping the holidays, keeping the Sabbath (Sunday observance), paying tithes, repenting daily for sins and being forgiven by the blood of Jesus, deceiving people by calling church buildings temples, and demanding money. In addition, humanism is prevalent. There are those who believe in God and seek worldly blessings, as well as pastors. Gnosticism is about those who say that the image of God can be improved through hard work. And they deceive people into thinking that they must live a holy life to become like God. They must become one with God, not like God. There is no other way to become one with God than to die with Jesus.

Also, those who speak untruths say that the resurrection is the body received from the parents dying and coming back to life again, and they proclaim untruths such as the rapture. They also say in words that the kingdom of God is in our hearts, but this is only a theory, and they do not actually believe that God is present in the hearts of the saints. Also, they teach tongues and prophecy, making strange sounds and calling them tongues. Speaking in tongues is proclaiming the gospel of truth, but if someone does not understand it, it becomes a foreign language to that person. That is speaking in tongues. At Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came, they spoke in tongues, and the content was speaking the great things of the kingdom of God. If someone understands it, it becomes their own language, and if they do not understand it, it becomes speaking in tongues.

The gospel of truth is that the kingdom of God is established in the hearts of the saints, and they become the people of the kingdom of God and sons of God. This is the purpose of the gospel. If you deviate from this, it is not the gospel but lies in untruth, and you become one who is imprisoned in the law. When the words of the Bible are heard as ho logos, it becomes the gospel of life, and when read as rhema, it becomes the law. The gospel is life, but the law has no life. In addition, there are metaphors such as the new man and the old man, heaven and earth, the first man Adam and the last man Adam, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life, the tree of wine and water, etc.

In conclusion, the law is the gospel that tells us to find Christ, but legalism is a false truth that destroys the soul. This was the case with the Judaizers at the time of Jesus.