No Spiritual Benefit in Keeping the Law
Galatians 6:15 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
1 Corinthians 8:8 “But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.”
Romans 14:5-6 “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. (6) He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.”
God is not unjust. If there was any benefit to their keeping of the law, it would be unjust of God to disallow gentile believers from keeping the law, and yet allow Jewish believers to keep the law. But as we can see from the above quoted passages of scripture, there is absolutely no benefit for the one who keeps the law. Being circumcised has no benefit in the kingdom of God. Eating kosher food also has no benefit in the kingdom of God. Observing the Jewish calendar of Sabbaths, new moons and various feasts, has no benefit in the kingdom of God. You say, if there is no benefit to the Jewish believer in keeping the law, why do they keep the law? Look at Romans 14:14 again. The scripture says that, “to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean”. There may not be any benefit to their keeping the law, but those who are weak in faith would be sinning if they did not keep the law. And so we see that to keep them from sin, it is essential for Jewish believers that are weak in faith, to keep the law. This is another reason why the Holy Spirit allows Jewish believers to keep the law.
Michael E.B. Maher
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