BEYOND RELIGION PART 2. FREEDOM AND ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST

BEYOND RELIGION  part 2. (FREEDOM AND ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST)

In the First part  of this series, I established some basic things that makes having Jesus to be beyond Religion. After pointing out some of those  things, I explained that THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD is only in Christ. God is the creator of everybody but is only a father to Those in Christ.(to read more on this, Click part ONE, Beyond Religion ).
In this part Two, I want to establish that In Christ we HAVE FREEDOM and we HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY GOD IN CHRIST As God’s  DELIGHT.
No religion in the world has freedom as We have in Christ.

Galatians 5: 1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

We are to stand in the LIBERTY we have been made free. We are made free inside freedom. The yoke of bondage in the above verse refers everything concerning the law.  If you read the verses after, it explains that Christ has made us free from anything pertaining to the law.
Galatians 5:2  Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
In Christ Jesus, we are not under the law for justification. What does this mean? 
It means that it is not what we do that makes us to be accepted before God. It is base on strictly what Jesus has done. Not accepting this is pride and insult on what Jesus has done. Notice Verse 4 above. Christ is  of no effect if a man can be justified  (declared not guilty) by the works of the law. This is what is called FALLING FROM GRACE. Grace is in what Jesus has done. It is base on unmerited favour. What the Bible calls falling from Grace is trying to be justified by what you do. Falling from Grace is not sinning according to the Bible. If you sin you actually fall into Grace. . “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Romans 5:20.    I didn’t say sin is good, neither did I say you should go ahead and start sinning.  I only say Grace is available if you sin because God is not counting your sins on you. God doesn’t deal with you according to what you do. This is one of the greatest freedom we have in Christ. We are free from the law. We are free from anything that says we must do before God will do. There are benefits of good works, but we must understand that God doesn’t respond to us base on what we do. For example, some people believe until they sow “dangerous seed” God cannot answer there prayers. That is not true in Christ. Though giving is very crucial and has benefits. 

But man of God, since we are free from the requirements of the law, does it mean we should not keep the law? The Bible answers this very well.
Romans 5: 4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Christ is the END of the law. The word end is the Greek word “telos”. It means termination, the limit at which a thing ceases to be. So Christ is the TERMINATION OF THE LAW, when it comes to righteousness to believers. That is when it comes to acceptance before God, it is only BY BELIEVING.  Let’ look at another scripture.
Galatians 3:
10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11  But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

Notice Verse 10 above, to be under the law is to be under a curse. This is because NO MAN can actually fulfil all the requirements of the law and be guiltless before God. The law is not of Faith. It doesn’t take believing to obey “dos” and “don’ts”. In Christ justification is only by Faith. It can never be by Man’s effort.  “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21). Frustrating the Grace of God is trying to be guiltless before God by what you do. If men could be made righteous before God, then Christ wouldn’t have came to die. Even from the time of Abraham, justifications has always been by believing. Abraham believed God and God credited It as righteousness(the most moral thing to be done). 
But, man of God What of Jesus saying I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it. Relax let’s look at the scripture.

Matthew 5: 17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Notice, no where in the verse above did Jesus said you should keep the law. Read it again. It only said Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it. The question an intelligent person should ask is what does it mean to  ‘destroy’ and to ‘fulfil’? We must think. We don’t need to be crafty. We don’t read the Bible with already conceived meanings, but we take the meanings from the Bible.  Now looking at verse above, the statement in the verse is use to begin a discuss where Jesus showed His audience the law in its pristine state. In the verses after this, Jesus corrected Moses. To destroy simply means to dissolve, to disunite, throw down. It is from the Greek word kataluō. It was used 20times in the Greek text (New Testament ) of the Bible. It was used as ‘be thrown down’ in Mat 24:2; Mar 13:2; Luk 21:6. Used as  ‘were dissolved’ in 2Co 5:1.  It was also used as destroy in other places. So when JESU said He has not come to destroy the law, He was saying He has not come to dissolve or throw down, or disunite the law. This is why He started correcting the law in the preceding  verses. Then what does fulfil means? To fulfil means to accomplish, to end, to do all the requirements,  to perfect, to consummate. The word is from the Greek word plēroō. The word was used 95times in the Greek text of The Bible. It was used as ‘complete’  in Col 2:10; Col 4:12, used as ‘accomplish’ Luke9:31 used as “were expired’ in Act 7:30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush. Stephen  recounting what happened to Moses.  The word was also used as fulfil in some other places.
JESUS was actually saying that He did not come to scatter or through down the law, He came to end it, to fulfil, to accomplish it. How can you keep a law that has been fulfilled or accomplished? So man of God, do you mean we have no laws to keep in Christ? You just read it, CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW. Unlike other religions In Christ, we are not under the law. We have been made free in Christ. What we do is not a requirement for acceptance in Christ. We are accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:6  he hath made us accepted in the beloved.   it was God who made us accepted in the Beloved  (in Christ ). The price has been paid for everyone to be accepted. Only those who receive the offer in Christ are beneficiaries. This makes Believing in Jesus for Salvation Unique and beyond Religion.

One of the greatest freedom we have is freedom from the devil and all his works. Christ in His death defeated the devil. The devil is only seen in ignorance and unbelief. To read more on this visit my most THE POWERLESSNESS OF THE DEVIL. 

WHY CHOOSE TO LIVE IN BONDAGE OF RELIGION WHEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY BE FREE IN CHRIST?

But man of God, does it mean we can live anyhow now that we are in Christ? I never said so.
Watch out for PART 3(BEYOND RELIGION :GOOD WORKS).
There is what morality can do, there is what Christ can do through you.


                      By OBIAZIKWOR EMEKE MODESTY 

                              www.emekemodesty.com

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