The Old Testament testified of Christ and was a tutor leading to Christ, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The Law of the Old Testament was a mere shadow of the things to come. The fulness belongs to Christ, of whom the Old Testament testified would come. It is in this way the Law was fulfilled. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” Romans 10:4.
There is no righteousness in man, only in Christ is there righteousness. Not one of us can be in Christ because of our sins. It is only after our sinful flesh is destroyed and we are born again in a new body that we can be in Christ. That new body is the body of Christ. We are born again into the body of Christ. Our old sinful body of flesh was crucified with the physical body of Jesus on the cross where he bore our sins and fulfilled the law of commandments by which we were captive.
Those of us who have been born anew are free from the letter of the law and live by the perfect law, the law of liberty. And we are to speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
James 2:1-13,
1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?
7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?
8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?
22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
25 And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
John 15:4-5,
4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Ephesians 2:16,
10 For we are His workmanship, created IN Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Matthew 5:16,
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
James 2:26,
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Those who are in Christ find themselves doing the works God prepared for them to do. Those who are not in Christ do not do the works God prepared for them to do, because apart from Christ they can do nothing. Thus, without Christ, faith is dead; with Christ, faith is proven by works God prepared beforehand.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
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