Thursday, February 21, 2008

Is the Law bondage?

I have a few more words about Hebrew Roots theology in light of an article I recently read, claiming that we are a devious cult, who are putting ourselves under the "bondage of the Law."

First off, lets look at the Israelites.
Do you remember when Moses lead them out of Egypt? The Israelites had been held in bondage by the Egyptians for 430 years. They were slaves; beaten and subject to forced labor.

God, who had revealed himself to Moses on the mountain, told him that he was to go back into Egypt and demand that they be let go. God told Moses to say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness" (Exodus 5:1).

Before I go any further, there is a paradox that needs to be addressed here. God's Feasts are all in the Torah, and they are all commandments that were given on Mt. Sinai. Do you see the problem here? His Feasts are part of that "Bondage of the Law" I keep hearing so much about. So, the Lord is freeing them from bondage to put them back under bondage again?

As if that wasn't enough of a contradiction, He then goes on to give them the rest of those "Laws of bondage" at Mt Sinai.

All of this business about the Law being bondage , or the Law being given only to the Jews, or the Law being impossible to do are all non scriptural?

Lets look at each.
  1. Law being impossible to do: This is the same as saying that the Law is too "hard" to do. This statement is so ingrained in us that we don't notice how wrong it is. As a mater of fact, if this statement is true, then Moses, Paul, King David, King Solomon, and James are all liars. Each one of these people wrote about either how much they loved the Law, or how it "is not to hard... you can do it (Deut. 30)" and the "Perfect Law of Liberty (James 1 & 2)"
  2. It was given only to the Jews: This is simply not true. Go back and read the story of the Exodus again. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, there was a "mixed multitude" of people and "strangers" with them, and all were to be under one Law (Exodus 12:49), which means that there were people among them who were not Israelites who were expected to adhere to the same Law. These people were still with them at Mt Sinai. They heard the Law, agreed to do it, and they were not Jews.
  3. The bondage of the Law: I already went through some of this, but it is called the "Perfect Law of Liberty", and the love of David's life. David said that it those who walk in it are blessed (Psalm 119).
That's all I have time for now, but there is more coming. For instance - how is it that Christians use Paul's words as proof that the Law is no longer valid, and then they quote Paul's passages in Romans - passages where Paul is quoting Torah to make his point?
We need to get back into the scriptures and let them tell us what they mean by the context of the entire book.
We also need to look at these things through the eyes of a 1st Century Christian if we are going to be able to understand what is being said; which is why we do what we do.

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