Xulonjam's Blog

Then Jesus called the crowd, along with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)

What does it mean for the Christian to “bear his cross”? I have heard people “modernize” the thought by saying “take up your electric chair” but never felt that compelled by it. Likewise, there are those who wear nooses as jewelry (because jewelry crosses are too commonplace I guess). Some people key on some “consider yourself dead” lesson as if taking up the cross is a parallel thought to “deny yourself”. Let me suggest that the expression “take up your cross” was a very specific word picture in Jesus’ day – one which perhaps will not find exact correspondence in our day – the understanding of which makes the teaching far more practical than evoking electric chairs. We will start by looking at the practice of crucifixion. Continue reading →

Therefore do not let anyone judge you with respect to food or drink, or in the matter of a feast, new moon, or Sabbath days —these are only the shadow of the things to come, but the reality is Christ! (Colossians 2:16-17)

These verses contain one of two uses of the word Sabbath in the New Testament Epistles. The other is Hebrews 4:9 which says there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God (Besides this, the word is used 9 times in Acts and 49 times in the Gospels). Combined, these two verses teach us that the Sabbath Rest provided for the believer is the Gospel of Christ (or, if you wish, Christ himself). But they also teach that the keeping of the Sabbath was a shadow, now fulfilled. Continue reading →

In my previous blog, I taught that the Bible reveals that the Law of Moses has been done away. A common criticism of this is that if you eliminate all of the Law of Moses, you have eliminated objective morality and is often followed by the charge of antinomianism (anti=against+nomos=law). This “weakness” is often remedied by dividing the Law into sections; the Ceremonies, which are fulfilled in Christ and not for the believer and the legal code to which, though Christ did keep them perfectly, the believer is still obligated. Key in this regard are the Ten Commandments. “Certainly”, they object, “you are not saying that the Ten Commandments are done away with? Are you saying that God now allows people to commit Adultery?” As mentioned in the previous post, the Law is a unified whole and cannot be divided like this but another part of the answer is found in 2 Corinthians: But if the ministry that produced death — carved in letters on stone tablets (2 Corinthians 3:7). What is to be noticed here is that the only part of the Law of Moses which was engraved on stone tablets was the Ten Commandments. This whole section which declares the Law of Moses to have been replaced by the Ministry of the Spirit has here a direct reference to the Ten Commandments. Continue reading →

The teaching of this blog was summed up by Dr Lightner: “The Law of Moses in its entirety has been done away with as a rule of life” (Robert Lightner, “Theological Perspectives on Theonomy”, Bibleotheca Sacra 143, P235)
Further, being done away with, the Law of Moses is not a path to higher
sanctification so that keeping any part of the Law makes you more spiritual,
nor does it mean you are more closely imitating Jesus who lived his life “under
the Law”. Done away means it is no longer God’s will for the believer. Choosing
to do what God does not require does not mean that one is “really going all out
for God”. Indeed, it could indicate that one is ignoring what God says and
substituting the wisdom of men. This does not mean that one is forbidden to
follow any part of the Law as a personal or cultural preference but it would be
a preference (Covered by Romans 14) and not requirement. Continue reading →