Free in the Spirit?

  It goes something like this:  “I am free in the Spirit because Jesus died to set me free. He set me free from the laws of the Old Testament that no longer bind me.  I do not have to keep the commandments that are listed in the Old Testament because I am a New Testament Believer, not a Jew.  To keep the laws written in the Old Testament is going back under the law and giving up my faith in Christ so that I will be condemned by trying to do this because I can’t keep them; they are too hard!”

   People often ask how is being “Messianic” or a “Hebrew Christian” different than what I believe, from a main stream traditional Christian perspective?

   I might say, we believe the whole Word is still true and valid for us all today. 

   They say, “yes, I believe that, too.”
 
   I might say that we believe that the whole Word is true, inspired by God, from Genesis to Revelation.  And add that we believe that this is one of the ways He reveals Himself to us; providing the general information that all who follow Him need to know.

   “Yes, I believe that the whole Bible is true and inspired by God. Paul told us that in his letter to Timothy, right there in the New Testament!”

   “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”  (2 Timothy 3:16-17  KJV).

   Ok, you believe that all Scripture is inspired by God, both Old and New Testaments.  

   Great!  Then why aren’t you doing what He said to do: honoring His weekly Shabbat or keeping the holidays/Feasts that He commanded His people to keep?   That is part of honoring/guarding/keeping His Whole Word, from Genesis to Revelation. We do try to work from His Word to confirm any understanding we have.

   “Oh, Jesus said they aren’t for us today. They are only for the Jews. They are the ones who never accepted Christ so they have been put away from God and He has accepted us in their place.  I am free in the Spirit! We have new days to worship and have holidays that were added later.”
   So you believe that Jesus came to set you free from the Jews and their law?  

    “Yes, He came to set us free to live by the Spirit!  We don’t have to be constrained by what God had said before in the new church that Jesus established.”

   So you don’t believe that Jesus and the Father are one and the same?   

   “Yes, I believe that!”

   “I and the Father are one.”  (John 10:30).

   If you do believe they are One then, it should be obvious that the Son would say what the Father says because they are One in understanding and purpose and character and plan to say the least. 

   “Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”  (John 17: 24).

   “Well, I think I agree there! But my family and my church have always said that Jesus changed things.”

   What do you do with:

   “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.”  (John 1: 1-3  KJV).

   Jesus is the WORD. He has been with God and IS God from the beginning.  And God says that He doesn’t change.

   “For I, the LORD, do not change...”  (Malachi 3:6  NASB).

   “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it?  Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?”     (Numbers 23:19   ESV).

   By the way, we do agree with the traditional Christian creeds that declare that the Holy Spirit is together with and proceeds from the Father and the Son. So they are one as well. Do you?

   “Yes.”

   And do you remember Jesus’ prayer, which is called the High Priestly prayer, in which He asks that we all become as one with Him as He is with the Father?

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word; That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.  And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” (John 17: 21-23 KJV).

   “Yes, I agree with this.”

   And we do agree with traditional Christian teaching per multiple Scriptures that our God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (in all places at all times.) Do you?

   “Yes.”

    But you think that God changed His mind about how He wanted His people to live by sending Jesus? That He decided He made a mistake?
   “Yes, He saw that the law was too hard for us to do so He freed us from it through Jesus.”

   “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”  (2 Cor. 3:17 KJV).

   You believe then, that God made a mistake and fixed it. If I thought my God could make a mistake it would really frighten me! But let’s look at a few more things.

   Well, you do know, don’t you, that the plan for Jesus to come in the flesh to die to atone for our sin was established long ago, long before the first century, before the foundation of the world was laid? It is noted in Genesis as a prophecy:

   “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  (Genesis 3:15).

This is confirmed in the New Testament as well.

   “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”  (Colossians 1:17).

   “He was handed over by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”  (Acts 2:23).

   “...but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.  He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.  Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.…”  (1 Peter 1:19-21 Berean Study Bible). 

   “On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.”    (Hebrews 1:1-2).

   And do you know that when Jesus was asked where His teaching came from, He said it was not His own?

   “So Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.’”  (John 7: 16   ESV).

   His teachings are one with the Father because HE is one with the Father. He revealed in the flesh more of the Father but he didn’t change anything. 

   To Be Continued...

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