PARADOXES AND CONTRADICTIONS

PARADOXES AND CONTRADICTIONS

                “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain- if indeed it was in vain? Does He then who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do it by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?

                Using the Bible, I could make a very strong case for why we should keep the Law and likewise I could make a very strong case for why we should not keep the Law. And as fate would have it, we see the Christian world divided over this issue as some choose one side of the issue while others choose the other side.

                But if we believe that the Bible is divinely inspired and infallible, then we need to understand something: WHENEVER WE FIND APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS OR PARADOXES IN THE BIBLE, IT MEANS THAT THERE IS A DEEPER TRUTH TO BE TOLD THAT RECONCILES THE TWO SIDES OF THE ISSUE.

                We have an Old Covenant of Law and a New Covenant of the Spirit. We could call the New Covenant a covenant of Grace, but the subject of Grace has been so severely abused that it no longer means anything. So let’s cut to the chase and do what Paul did here in Galatians. He made it an issue of Law verses Spirit and that forces us to think about it more accurately.

                Both covenants require faith. Hebrews 11 lists all of the Old Covenant people who lived by faith, but bear in mind that at the end of the chapter he also says: “And all of these, having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” Heb. 11:39, 40.

                But then Paul seems to contradict himself altogether by saying to the Galatians: “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, the righteous man shall live by faith.  However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary He who practices them shall live by them.” Galatians 3:11, 12.

                How can Paul contradict both himself and the scriptures so flagrantly and get by with it? Believe me, there are some people even among Messianic believers and others that think Paul should have been booted out of the Bible.

`               But Paul tells us this: “For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Gal.1:12 So what Paul is saying here is that He is not just batting around theological ideas; he did in fact receive his message directly from the Horse’s mouth so to speak.

                So it was Yeshua Himself who was telling Paul that believers must turn from the works of the Law in order to live by His Holy Spirit which He had died to bring to them. So if we are going to rightly understand this Law/Spirit issue we must first of all realize that this was not Paul’s issue, it was Yeshua’s issue. He had given everything including His own life in order to bring us a New Covenant in the Spirit and yet, people were going back to a covenant of Law as if the New Life that Yeshua had provided for them was not adequate… not enough.

                In Paul’s writing to the Galatians we don’t merely see Paul spouting off, rather we see the anguish of Jesus Christ as He sees the church losing His Spirit and falling back to living in the flesh and trying to make up for their lack of spirit by keeping the Law.

                So… what is the real issue here that would reconcile both sides of this controversy between Law and Spirit to each other?

                As I have said before, the real issue here is the New Birth. The true New Birth is when by faith we join Yeshua on His cross and we die with Him there. That death takes us out from the jurisdiction of the Law. Death is the end of the Law’s jurisdiction. Then by faith we are resurrected in the power of Yeshua’s resurrection where our flesh remains dead, but our new life is empowered by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.

                From this point on we will no longer live by the flesh, but by the Spirit and the Spirit will produce in us His fruit, which is love in all of its aspects, (Gal. 5:22, 23) and this love derived by the Spirit of Christ fulfils the Law in every way. But now, it not only fulfills the letter of the Law, but it also fulfills the spirit of the Law. Now not only is our outward behavior changed, but our heart and our inner motives are changed as well and we move from being slaves to being sons and daughters of the King.

                In the latter half of Galatians 3 Paul goes on to tell us about the covenant of promise made to Abraham before the Law was introduced 430 years later. So, as He explains it, the Law was never intended as an instrument of salvation. It was written to keep the whole world under custody until the promised Seed should come to whom all of the promises were written. So, we don’t go independently to the Bible to receive these promises for ourselves. They were all written to Yeshua and so the only way we can receive them is to receive Yeshua… and that means death to the flesh and new life in the Spirit.

                Paul then says: “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”  Gal. 3:24, 25

                Picture if you will a dark and fallen world that is under the jurisdiction of Satan. Adam sold Satan his birthright and so Satan now rules this fallen Penal colony we call “Earth.” We are all born as citizens of this fallen world. We are born of the flesh and the only way of escape from this prison planet is through death.  But what good is that? If we die we are free from the jurisdiction of the Law, but we are not alive to enjoy our freedom.  So being set free from the Law by natural death does us absolutely no good since, since we have died, never to experience one minute of freedom.

                It doesn’t matter whether we know about the Law or not. We are all born of the flesh and therefore we are all under law.

                So it is in this context that we begin to understand just what Jesus did for us. He came into our fallen penal colony, He died in our place and then as we accepted His death on our behalf, He placed a new Spirit in us that the devil cannot touch. As long as we live by that Spirit, we experience freedom from the bondage that the rest of the world is suffering under. Love, joy, peace and so on are the new currency that we live by and as such we are free indeed. We have died, to the flesh and as long as we keep living in the Spirit we are free and since we are alive, we get to enjoy our freedom at last.

                So this new birth involves death to the flesh and a new life in the Spirit in which the fruit of the Spirit fulfills the Law in every way, but much more than fulfilling the Law, The Spirit is transforming us into the image of Christ.

                As I look at the various denominations in the world today I see people on both sides of the Law/Spirit issue and not very many of them are really right. Some think we can become Christians by accepting the right set of doctrines and keeping the Commandments, while others teach that the Law was done away.

                The big problem with both of these views is that those who have traditionally based conversion upon a list of right doctrines and obedience to the Law have been very weak where the Spirit is concerned. For them the Holy Spirit has become a Mascot of sorts, whose name we only invoke during Baptism, while avoiding any manifestation of His presence in us otherwise.

                But on the grace side, we have people becoming Christians, even calling it being born again, even though they have never stopped living in the flesh. They are merely church groupies, Christians in name only. Not only do they do away with the Law, but they ignore the fruit of the Spirit as well. They are living in the flesh and as such they are back under law, whether they keep the Law or not.

                Paul closes this chapter by saying: “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” Gal.3:29

                Notice if you will that it doesn’t say that we become Moses offspring, but Abraham’s offspring and as such we live by the promises that were made to Abraham 430 years before the Law even existed. In Christ, all of God’s promises are yes and Amen. Everything that was written to Jesus becomes ours through Him. But they come to us through the Spirit of Christ and not through the flesh, so if we are to experience freedom, the flesh must remain dead and the spirit alive in Christ.

                The reconciliation of Law and Grace, or Law and Spirit is that in Christ we die to the flesh and in Christ we are resurrected from the dead to live by His Spirit. This transaction takes us out from under the jurisdiction of the Law, and places us in the realm of the Spirit that now causes the Law to be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

                Can you see it? Can you see what a very big deal being born again really is? When you exit this penal colony through death in Yeshua, you are born again into the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

                In this new birth, we are not only enabled to fulfill the Ten Commandments through love, but we are also commissioned to do the works of Christ in order to demonstrate the realities of this eternal kingdom into which we have been born.

                It is largely because of the weakness of the church on both sides of the issue that we are largely unable to do the works of Christ in the world. We have fallen so short of demonstrating the powers of the Christ’s Kingdom that the world no longer takes Christianity seriously. They despise us for our unsubstantiated claims. We claim to be followers of Christ and yet we can’t do His works or demonstrate His holiness and righteousness. In fact, most of the church is just like the world, having neither power, nor Christ-like character, nor do we bear the fruit of the Spirit. We no longer have an identity as followers of Yeshua. We are just church members. And the world despises our weakness and our empty claims.

                It is this powerless Christianity that is largely responsible for the great falling away, or apostasy. We no longer carry the unmitigated presence and ministry of Christ.

                Jesus said: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come. It is neither the preaching of Law, or the Sabbath, or right doctrine that must be preached, but the Gospel of the Kingdom that must be preached.

                And it is by doing the works of Christ that the powers of His kingdom will be demonstrated as God’s final display through His remnant people. They will know we are Christians by our love, not by carrying signs and protesting against gays or abortion or some such. When the church gets its power back and we begin to demonstrate the powers of Christ’s kingdom, then the lost will see something worth leaving the penal colony for.

                Jesus said to His disciples: “And whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Jesus did not say to people, “Accept me as your Savior and Lord and join the church and I will pray for your healing.” No, He used healing and miracles as calling cards to draw the crowds and then He would preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to them… which they were now ready to take seriously, because they had seen a demonstration of its power.

                Today we try to win people with theological arguments. We seek to bring them in with information, rather than a confrontation of the power of the Gospel to deliver and heal and restore sight to the blind or raising the dead or casting out demons. We offer a form of godliness even as we deny the power therein. 2Tim. 3:5.

                We have largely become satisfied to make it to church once a week and otherwise to wait for Jesus to return. We are not engaged in the Gospel of the Kingdom and we have replaced that power with busy work in the flesh, when we could be doing the great works of Christ in the world.

                The Law WILL be fulfilled in us who walk by the Spirit and the Spirit will do much more, because we will begin to take a proactive part in setting others free, first physically and then spiritually.

                Revelation 19:10 identifies the Testimony of Jesus as the spirit of prophecy. But the spirit of prophecy is not a matter of “What” but of “Whom.” Who is the Spirit of prophecy? He is the one who now animates you to fulfill the prophetic purposes of God, namely announcing the Gospel of the Kingdom, while demonstrating its powers to a dying world.

                We may pride ourselves in keeping the Commandments of God, when in fact as long as we are in the flesh we are not keeping them at all. We are once again bringing a death sentence upon ourselves because that is the Law’s job. The Law brings us to death in Christ, while the Spirit brings us new life in Christ. All paradoxes and contradictions are solved in the Person of Yeshua.

                “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63