Does Paul Contradict Himself ?

[NorthStar]

 Galations  3:24   Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 
  3:25   But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. 

And yet, over in Romans we read:
Romans 3:31   "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law". 
 Is one right and the other wrong ?

[Rookieupgrade1]

The 2 compliment each other not contradict.

most believers will tell you that the bible which is the word of God can not contradict itself so upon closer examination the assumption that a superficial out of context contradiction is reveled to be seemless.

Gods law was refereed to by Christ Himself and should be obeyed, Christs commandment is in addition and while we are saved by Him, we can not ignore the moral law of God.

At the same time we have to keep some things in context, like why eating of some things was forbidden in the OT and OK in the new.

Social conditions have to be accounted for when interpreting the bible, just as today.........however moral law never changes


The short version.

[Shammu]

The 2 compliment each other not contradict.

most believers will tell you that the bible which is the word of God can not contradict itself so upon closer examination the assumption that a superficial out of context contradiction is reveled to be seemless.

Gods law was refereed to by Christ Himself and should be obeyed, Christs commandment is in addition and while we are saved by Him, we can not ignore the moral law of God.

At the same time we have to keep some things in context, like why eating of some things was forbidden in the OT and OK in the new.

Social conditions have to be accounted for when interpreting the bible, just as today.........however moral law never changes


The short version.

AMEN rookie something few people think about, is the differences between the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

[airIam2worship]

AMEN rookie something few people think about, is the differences between the Old Testament, and the New Testament.

Amen DW, another thing people often forget is that God NEVER contradicts Himself. Further study of the Scriptures and reading the contexts teaches us exactly what God wants us to know. The Bible is God's Word, He wants us to understand it, He has given us many Scriptures that will prove His desire for us to know Him. If we don't understand what we are reading all we have to do is ask God, the Author to give us the wisdom to know.

Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

[Brother Jerry]

You should always take a look at the verses before and after specific verses that you quote.  THey usually contain the answers that you are looking for.  We should always take things in their context.

Paul is clearly explaining that it was the law that was to guide Israel to Jesus.  God provided the law in order to pave the path to righteousness through Jesus.  In Vs 21 Paul even states that there is not a law that can give life.  "for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law."

And even in Romans  you had quoted if you read the chapter, even just the last half of the chapter you will find your answer.

Paul again lets us know the law was for Israel.  And in Vs 21 he tells us that "righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets".  The law was designed to prepare the Jews for Christ.  And even at the time of Paul after Christ's death the law is being fulfilled.  The prophecies of the law are there and have been filled and are being filled.

Even the saints of the OT were not justified by simply following the letter of the law.  And Paul mentions that here in vs 20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight" and 28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law"

Now take a look at Hebrews Chapter 11 and notice something down through here.  By faith Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Moses, etc, etc.  And as you read these versus it does not say that by faith so and so followed the law.  Nay they say they did great things or were blessed.  It was not their adherence to the word of God that these people are mentioned and blessed. But it is their willingness to do God's will that gained them God's favor.  They were justified in their faith just as we are today.  Rom 3:28 "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

Noah could not have built the ark if he simply followed laws.  He had to have faith.  Moses could not have parted the Red Sea simply by following laws, he had to have faith.  The walls of Jericho would not have fallen if the people just followed laws, they had to have faith.

Faith is what makes us or breaks us.  Giving up 100% for Jesus and trusting in him completely.  If we even assume that our salvation is 10% us and 90% Jesus we have failed.  If we even think it is .0000000001% us we have failed.  All to Glory and Jesus, 100% trust and faith in Him that redeemed us, and justified us.

There is no contradiction.  Further study reveals that these verses go hand in hand, when you put them into their context.

Sincerely
Brother Jerry

[airIam2worship]

AMEN

[friendship bunch]

   God gave the law, so the law must be good.  I think that in general Paul says to follow the law, but it is not the law that saves you.  Back in his day there were people who thought that if they upheld the law perfectly then they would go to heaven.  What he is trying to say is that we are to follow the law unless it contradicts what god said in his word.  Paul says in Romans 7:13 that the law is there so that we will reconize sin as sin.  I don't know if any of this makes sense, but those are my thoughts on the matter.

[Soldier4Christ]

God gave the law so that we would see that we are not righteous on our own and incapable of keeping the law. To obtain righteousness we need Him and His wondrous plan of Salvation.

[airIam2worship]

Hello Frienship Bunch, God did give the Law, but He also gave His Son so that we are not condemened by breaking the law, we as imperfect humans are incapable of living in the flesh and not sining in one way or another, thank God for His gracious mercy and for His unspeakable gift to us, Salvation thru the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus, Who fulfilled the Law. We are now living under Grace. God's Grace. Which is better than the law, it is a New Covenant. Yes we should always do what is right, but it is by God's mercy and grace and by the shedding of the Blood of Jesus that we are made righteous.

[1Tim]

How would you communicate to a man born blind, what ' sight ' is?  How would you communicate what ' love '  is, without describing the actions it prompts us to do?

In Deut. 6:4, God prefaces His law with the words Jesus echoed in Mark 12:29, as the greatest commandment. In the parallel passage in Matt. 22:36-40 Jesus said,  "...All the law and the prophets hang on these". 

In the OT, God described the behavior we were to have, that was a behavior prompted by love.  It wasn't obedience (behavior modification) God wanted, it was the state of being that prompts those actions in us that He was shooting for, and revealing that we don't have...

Psalm 51:15-17
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise. 

Jesus also revealed to us the state of being we are expected to have, but not by describing it, but by illustrating it for us, and demonstrating what it looks like.

Paul is trying to relay to us that that state of being, though it is required by God that we have it, is not achieved by obedience, but by receiving a gift Jesus won for us, and offers freely to us.

Once Jesus resides in us, the state of being requirement is fulfilled, and the behavior falls in line with it.  Put another way, receiving Jesus comes first, then Jesus causes us to be right with God, and the natural consequence is our behavior follows.

[NorthStar]

The 2 compliment each other not contradict.

most believers will tell you that the bible which is the word of God can not contradict itself so upon closer examination the assumption that a superficial out of context contradiction is reveled to be seemless.

Gods law was refereed to by Christ Himself and should be obeyed, Christs commandment is in addition and while we are saved by Him, we can not ignore the moral law of God.

And is one of the reasons I keep the 4th commandment, the 7th day sabbath.
I do not keep the 7th day sabbath to be saved, but because I am saved, and love Jesus enough, to do what He says to do. Because the 7th day sabbath is the test of loyalty, towards God Himself...as He says it is

At the same time we have to keep some things in context, like why eating of some things was forbidden in the OT and OK in the new.

Just remember that when Christ comes again, He will destroy those people eating pork and other unclean items, (Isaiah 66:15-17)

Social conditions have to be accounted for when interpreting the bible, just as today.........however moral law never changes


The short version.

[Shammu]

And is one of the reasons I keep the 4th commandment, the 7th day sabbath.
I do not keep the 7th day sabbath to be saved, but because I am saved, and love Jesus enough, to do what He says to do. Because the 7th day sabbath is the test of loyalty, towards God Himself...as He says it is

So then you don't worship God on any other day then??  Sorry I worship the Lord, every single day I draw breath.

Resting in the hands, of the Lord.
Bob
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The teaching of E.G. White are not allowed on this forum NorthStar.
Moderator

[Soldier4Christ]

Just remember that when Christ comes again, He will destroy those people eating pork and other unclean items, (Isaiah 66:15-17)

Northstar you are taking this out of context just as you are the other verses.

Col 2:16  Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Col 2:17  Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.


You have been warned enough.


moderator

[Brother Jerry]

The short version Northstar

The sabbath was for the Jews.  It was created for them, kept by them, traditionalized by them, and a part of the covenant that God had with them.  That covenant was done away with at the time of Christ's death.  Symbolized by the tearing of the curtain in the Temple at his death. Just as the Passover was created for the Jews as a symbol of the sacrafice that is to come with Jesus.  That sacrafice is done, why should any continue to follow those precepts?

We have Easter as just a holiday.  We know that it is no holier than any other day of the week.  NOw do not get me wrong I am grateful that we have Easter and Christmas and wish that Jesus' name would show up more on those days and create more days in His honor.  But they are just days and not once in the Bible are we directed to establish a holiday celebrating His death or His resurrection.  INstead we are to celebrate His resurrection each and every day.

I believe that if you sit down in earnest prayer and start to study a Bible.  KJV or even NASB then you will begin to see the truth of the Sabbath as well as many other eye opening revelations.  It is there and it is all that we need to see the truth that Jesus has brought us.

Sincerely
Brother Jerry

[Soldier4Christ]

The Bible is very careful to warn us
about people who “advocate abstaining from foods, which God
created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know
the truth” (1 Timothy 4:1-3). The apostle Paul asks with dismay,
“Why . . . do you submit yourself to decrees, such as ‘Do not handle,
do not taste, do not touch’?” (Colossians 2:20-21). He is
jealous for the full enjoyment of Christian liberty. Like a great
declaration of freedom over every book on fasting flies the banner,
“Food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse
if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat” (1 Corinthians 8:.
There once were two men. One said, “I fast twice a week”; the
other said, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Only one went
down to his house justified (Luke 18:12-14).

The discipline of self-denial is fraught with dangers—
perhaps only surpassed by the dangers of indulgence. These also
we are warned about: “All things are lawful for me, but I will not
be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). What masters us
has become our god; and Paul warns us about those “whose god
is their appetite” (Philippians 3:19). Appetite dictates the direction
of their lives. The stomach is sovereign. This has a religious
expression and an irreligious one. Religiously “persons . . . turn
the grace of our God into licentiousness” (Jude 4) and tout the
slogan, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food”
(1 Corinthians 6:13). Irreligiously, with no pretext of pardoning
grace, persons simply yield to “the desires for other things [that]
enter in and choke the word” (Mark 4:19).

“Desires for other things”—there’s the enemy. And the only
weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness
of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavory, but
because we keep ourselves stuffed with “other things.” Perhaps,
then, the denial of our stomach’s appetite for food might express,
or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God.
What is at stake here is not just the good of our souls, but
also the glory of God. God is most glorified in us when we are
most satisfied in him. The fight of faith is a fight to feast on all that
God is for us in Christ. What we hunger for most, we worship.