| Author | Message | ||
| Bruce H |
What does the Bible mean when it says the word Law | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
The Torah? | ||
| Bruce H |
LAW - TORAH - NOMOS What do the writers of the Bible mean when they say the word Law (Greek = Nomos. Hebrew = Torah) MATT 5;17-18 17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the LAW or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the LAW till all is fulfilled. Adventist will tell you that the word Law here means the Ten commandments. However they change the meaning of the word to fit there beliefs as you go through the Bible, For instance Rom 10:4. Rom. 10: 4 For Christ is the end of the LAW for righteousness to everyone who believes. Here they say it means the ceremonial LAW. Well what does the word LAW mean. In the Septuagent (Which is the oldest Greek version of the old Testament) the word LAW or Greek word Nomos is used for the Hebrew word Torah which is also translated into English as Law. So the Greek word law (Nomos) is the same as the Hebrew word Law (Torah). The Torah is the first five books of the bible and it includes 613 Commandments, these are referred to as the Book of the Law. 1. Genesis has 3 commandments. 2. Exodus has 111 commandments. 3. Leviticus has 247 commandments. 4. Numbers has 52 commandments. 5. Deuteronomy has 200 Commandments. This is a total of 613 commandments. The Torah also includes the Ten Commandments or Decologue (Example A) which is a subset of the Book of the law (Whole Law). Example A -------------------------------------------------- Ten Commandments-----Book of law (13 Commandments) #1 No other Gods------#26 No other Gods #2 No carved image----#27 No carved image ---Not bow down-------#28 Not bow down ---Not serve ---------#29 Not serve #3 Name Lord in vain--#30 Name Lord in vain #4 Sabbath keep Holy--#31 Sabbath keep Holy ---Do no work---------#32 Do no work #5 Honor Mom & Dad----#33 Honor Mom & Dad #6 Shall not murder---#34 Shall not murder #7 No adultery--------#35 No adultery #8 Shall not steal-----#36 Shall not steal #9 No false witness----#37 No false witness #10 No coveting--------#38 No coveting So the Ten Commandment's which are a subset of the Book of the Law went inside the Ark of the Covenant, while the Book of the Law (Torah or first five books of the law) was put in the side of the Ark of the Covenant. What did Jesus and the Apostles mean by the word law. I have found out that the best way to understand what a word in the Bible means is to go through the whole Bible and see how it is used and then you will find out what it means, and since Jesus said it many times, let us just look at the word as he used it, and then the apostles. JESUS 1. MATT 12:5 5 "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Here Jesus uses the word Law to refer to a ceremonial law in the book of numbers and moral or ceremonial law the 4th Commandment of the Decologue. NUMBERS 28:9,10. = COMMANDMENT 402 in book of the law. EXODUS 20;8 = COMMANDMENT #4 in the Ten Commandments or Decologue. 2. MATT 22:36-38 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," `You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Here Jesus uses the word law to refer to a moral law found in the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus. DEUTERONOMY 6:5. = COMMANDMENT 418 in book of the law. LEVITICUS 19:18 = COMMANDMENT 243 in book of the Law. (NOTICE THAT THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENT ARE IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW AND NOT THE TEN COMMANDMENT'S OR DECOLOGUE.) 3. LUKE 2:22 22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord Here Jesus uses the word law to refer to a Health or Ceremonial law found in the book of Leviticus. LEVITICUS 12:2-8. = COMMANDMENT 166 in the book of the law. 4. JOHN 7:19 19 "Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" Here Jesus uses the word law to refer to the Ten Commandments or a Moral law found in the book of Exodus. EXODUS 20:13. = COMMANDMENT #6 IN THE DECALOGUE OR TEN COMMANDMENTS. THIS IS ALSO COMMANDMENT # 34 In the book of the law. 5. JOHN 7:23 23 "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Here Jesus uses the word law to refer to both the Sabbath or Ten Commandments or moral law or ceremonial and the ceremonial law of circumcision in the book of Genesis and Exodus. GENESIS 17:10. = COMMANDMENT 2 in the book of the law. EXODUS 20:8-11. = COMMANDMENT Number 4 in the TEN COMMANDMENTS. THIS IS ALSO COMMANDMENT #32 in the book of the law. 6. JOHN 8:5 4 they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 "Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" Here Jesus uses the word law to refer to both the Moral law or ceremonial law of the Ten Commandments and the civil law in the book of Exodus and Leviticus. LEVITICUS 20:10. = COMMANDMENT #260 in the Book of the law. EXODUS 20:14. = COMMANDMENT number 7 in the TEN COMMANDMENTS. THIS IS ALSO COMMANDMENT #35 in the book of the law. 7. JOHN 8:17 17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. Here Jesus uses the word law to refer civil law in the book of Deuteronomy. DEUTERONOMY 19:15. = COMMANDMENT # 523 in the book of the law. APOSTLES 8. I COR 9:9 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." Is it oxen God is concerned about? Here the Apostle uses the word law to refer to a civil law in the book of Deuteronomy DEUTERONOMY 25:4. = COMMANDMENT # 596 in the book of the law. 9. GAL 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." The Apostle uses this word law to refer to a curse. This is a curse not a Commandment. DEUTERONOMY 27:26. = CURSE NOT COMMANDMENT. If you do not obey all in the Book of the Law. COULD THAT BE WHY THE ADVENTIST ARE CURSED. 10. HEB 7:5 5 And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; Here the Apostle uses the word law to refer to the ceremonial law in the book of Numbers. NUMBERS 18:21-26. = COMMANDMENT # 396 in the book of the law. 11. James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. Whole Law refers to Book of the Law. -------------------------------------------------- So the Word law as used by Jesus and the Apostles is this. CEREMONIAL LAW - Example# 1,3,5,10. MORAL LAW - Example# 2,4,5,6. CIVIL LAW - Example #6,7,8. HEALTH LAW - Example # 3. It includes all five books of the Torah. GENESIS example # 5. EXODUS example #4,6. LEVITICUS example #2,3,6. NUMBERS example # 1,10. DEUTERONOMY example # 2,7,8,9. or the whole Torah or Book of the Law. So the word Law as used by Jesus and the Apostles mean's the ceremonial, moral, civil and health law's, that are in the Book of the Law that is GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY. It includes the 613 commandments in the Book of the Law and the tables of stone the Ten Commandments. So the word Law according to Jesus and the Apostles means the whole law that was given at mount Sinai. MATT 5;17-18 17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the LAW or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the LAW till ALL is fulfilled. So not one jot or one tittle or the whole Book of the Law was fulfilled in Christ or it still binding. In a nut shell it includes the whole OLD COVENANT Law given at mount Sinai (Exodus 4:9-13). So the word ALL (till all be fulfilled) means the whole law Just as James and Paul says (James 2:10 and Gal 5:3) . Amen!!!! BRUCE H BH | ||
| Darrell |
Why did God write the 10 commandments on stone? The answer may be suprising. We often use the term "written on stone" to refer to something that we consider unchanging or permanent. But God's desire has always been to write His law on our hearts. Abraham, the man of faith, understood this when he "beleived God, and He credited it to him as righteousness." (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3) David, the man after God's own heart, understood this when he prayed, "create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me." (Ps 51:10) Paul understood this when he wrote to the Corinthians: "... you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Cor 3:3) The prophet Jeremiah understood this when he wrote for God, "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." (Jer 31:33) Likewise Ezekiel wrote: "I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ez 36:26) Other Bible writers understood about the "heart of stone" that God wants to replace. Zecheriah wrote, "They made their hearts as hard as flint." (Zech 7:12) The author of Hebrews quoted Psalm 95, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." (Heb 3:15;4:7) So the 10 commandments was written on stone because of the hardness of their (our) hearts. What do you think? | ||
| Onesimus |
Darrell: What a picture. If I follow your idea out a little, then that might explain why the tablets of stone were place INSIDE the ark of the covenant. They weren't just there for safe keeping but to portray a picture for us. Stoney hearts INSIDE but covered OVER with the atonement cover, the blood of Christ. What do you think? | ||
| Lynn W |
Also, notice the law was placed inside, out of sight, with the lid on, never to be seen again. The lid was the mercy seat, which covered and hid the law. This brings up another false teaching. Ellen White "saw" the ark in her first vision. In her vision, the covering of mercy was removed & she could "see" the law with a halo around the 4th. In John's vision in Revelation, he saw the ark intact, as it should be - no mention of the law. | ||
| Colleentinker |
Darrell--I like your "stone heart" analogy! I think you're right. I also think the metaphor was powerful because it was a literal reminder of an eternal spiritual reality: the law couldn't be written on our hearts until Jesus mended the separation sin made between us and God. It had to be written outside of us. And stone is cold and unmoving and unforgiving--a perfect metaphor for both our sinful hearts separated from the Spirit and for the law separated from the Spirit. Jesus' death allowed our hearts to be reconnected to the Living Law and and Spirit--one and the same thing! That reconnection became the living reality of Sabbath rest. The unmoving, unforgiving 4th commandment of the stone tablets was made alive in us, eternally, every day, when the Holy Spirit came to live in his new temple. |
