TITHE OR HELL YOUR CHOICE, Mike Peralta [reading list txt] 📗

grace, Paul gives his own explanation in verse 15. He says, “What then?” This simply means, “How are we to understand this?” Then notice his answer. In anticipation that some would misinterpret his words to mean that you can break the law because you are under grace, he says, 

“Shall we sin [break the Ten Commandments law or the other Moral Laws] because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.”

In the strongest possible language, Paul states that being under grace does not give us a license to break the Ten Commandments or the other Moral laws. Yet this is exactly what so many believe today despite Paul's specific warning.

Those who seem to have no desire for loving obedience to God typically quote Romans 6:14 alone and never verse 15 which informs us that being under grace is not a license to continue in sin. You will also be unlikely to hear the two verses previous to it, which say,

Romans 6:12-13, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

And how about the verse after verse 15 which states that grace is not a license to continue in sin. Romans 6:16, “Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

So what does one choose? To continue in sin unto death? Or to obey the law, that is, obedience unto righteousness? An easy choice for those who truly love God and desire to spend eternity with Him and have access to the tree of life. Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they that do His Commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

 Paul's words are clear and simple in that being under Grace does not mean we can continue to sin which is transgression of the law. The section below on “Are We Saved By Faith Alone” reveals that we still uphold the law and the prior section on “The Laws And The Prophets Were Not Abolished” shows that Jesus said He did not come to do destroy the law, and that we are not only to obey it but to teach it also. So the scriptures are consistent and there is no contradiction.

 

Are We Saved By Faith Alone?

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

So when we have faith in the saving grace of Jesus we are, by the unmerited grace of God, forgiven. So why is it that we are not saved by keeping the law? Because Paul said, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” If we were relying on keeping the law to be saved, then we would be eternally lost because there was only One who kept the law perfectly. Also only by the power of the Holy Spirit – one of the gifts following salvation - can one keep the law and obey the perfect will of God.

It is no wonder so many get confused with this teaching and Paul is certainly not easy to understand at times. Paul also said in Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” And a few verses later he also says in Romans 3:28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

After reading these scriptures alone, we could mistakenly conclude that we no longer have to obey the law or is there more that our enemy and those who teach against our Lord’s instructions are not telling us? There is no doubt that we are saved by faith in Jesus and the grace of God but does this make the law null and void?

If we continue reading Romans chapter 3 to its conclusion, we find that Paul does not leave us in the dark and answers this question leaving no uncertainty. Using the NKJV for clarity, Paul says: Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”

Praise God for Paul's clear and unmistakable words in verse 31. Since we are not saved by keeping the law as we would have to keep it perfectly to do this, then who is just before God. Romans 2:13 says, “For NOT the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

As you can see, we are not saved by keeping the law as we would be hopelessly lost if we were trying to. This is why we are saved by the Grace of God by faith in Jesus' redeeming sacrifice, but Paul makes it quite clear that we do still uphold the law as one would expect and to this there can be no mistake.

 

What Was Nailed To The Cross?

It is wise to look at more than one verse to determine what, for example, was nailed to the cross.

There is only one scripture that uses the "nailed it to the cross" expression (NKJV), it is Colossians 2:13-14, in which Paul states,

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross". (Col 2:13-14)

We will look at what it does and does not say. First though, let's look at what the last chapter of the last book of the Bible teaches:

"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14, NKJV).

Since it is only "those who do His commandments... [who] have the right to enter... the city" (Revelation 22:14 NKJV), the ten commandments could not be "contrary to us". Actually, it is those who will not keep the ten commandments that are denied access. Revelation specifically shows that those who break God’s commandments will be outside God's city (Revelation 22:15).

So then, if the ten commandments were not "nailed to the cross," what was?

Look again at what the Bible actually says (two translations):

“14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14, NKJV)

“14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14, NASB)

The handwriting of requirements (often also called the handwriting of ordinances) or certificate of debt was wiped away and nailed to the cross.

Which requirements were wiped out?

 

 Please understand that the expression "the handwriting of requirements" (cheirógrafon toís dógmasin) is a Greek legal expression that signifies the penalty which a lawbreaker had to pay - it does not signify the laws that are to be obeyed - only the penalty. It is only through the acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that the penalty was wiped out ("the handwriting of requirements"). But only the penalty, not the law!

Even some Biblical commentators realize this is so. Notice what Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible states about Colossians 2:14:

Whatever was in force against us is taken out of the way. He has obtained for us a legal discharge from the handwriting of ordinances, which was against us (v. 14), which may be understood,

1. Of that obligation to punishment in which consists the guilt of sin. The curse of the law is the handwriting against us, like the handwriting on Belshazzar's wall. Cursed is every one who continues not in every thing. This was a handwriting which was against us, and contrary to us; for it threatened our eternal ruin. This was removed when He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, Gal 3:13. (from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.).

In addition, let us look at the Greek term exaleipho translated as "wiped out" in Colossians 2:14:

NT:1813, exaleipho (ex-al-i'-fo); from NT:1537 and NT:218; to smear out, i.e. obliterate (erase tears, figuratively, pardon sin) (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)

In other words, exaleipho has to do with wiping out sin. This is also confirmed in Acts 3:19 where Peter also uses the term exaleipho, which is translated as "blotted out" below:

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19)

Hence, it is sin and the related penalties that are to be blotted or wiped out. And the penalties could vary from "being unclean to the evening" (Leviticus 11:24-28) to making an offering (Leviticus 5:5-6) to being "cut off from his people" (Leviticus 7:27) to the death penalty (Exodus 31:14).

This is also confirmed elsewhere in the New Testament: “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).

The curse of the law is related to the penalty. And Jesus paid it.

But what about the law of God? Was the law of God to be wiped out?

Remember that the Bible clearly teaches that sin is lawlessness: “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.” (I John 3:4-5).

Notice that Paul wrote: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2).

Thus the New Testament makes clear that the law of God continues, thus it was not nailed to the cross or somehow wiped out.

The Bible, however, also shows that the requirements of the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 9:1,6-10) sometimes called the ceremonial law, which were part of the penalty of sin, were fulfilled by Christ. And why?

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins... By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus once for all" (Hebrews 10:4,10).

Jesus' one sacrifice was and is sufficient - we do not have to sacrifice animals any more! As clearly spelled out in the New Testament (Colossians 2:16), neither do we need to undergo physical circumcision, follow unclean food laws, nor observe the special festivals as the Old Covenant followers were commanded to do.

However, we are still commanded to obey the moral laws which includes the Ten Commandments, Tithing, and the other moral laws in both the Old and New Testaments. And notice that no-where in the New Testament did Paul, nor any other apostle, tell us to stop obeying the tithe, or the Ten Commandments nor the other moral laws in the Old or New Testament. On the contrary, they strongly exhorted us to obey the moral laws throughout the bible – both Old and New Testament. Any exceptions, usually involving ceremonial laws, are clearly spelled out in the New Testament. And to repeat, no-where in the New Testament are we told that we don’t have to