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To: trebb
If any of us could keep His commandments, His Son would not have had to die on the cross.

Even if we are not able to keep them perfectly, God still requires us to follow his commandments:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. (Genesis 17:1)

"You shall be blameless before the Lord your God." (Deuteronomy 18:1)

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. (Job 1:1)

If you will, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is a matter of your own choice." (Sirach 15:15)

"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechari′ah, of the division of Abi′jah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." (Luke 1:5-6)

"Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)

God would not give us commandments and moral precepts to obey if we were not able to keep them. Before the Cross, it was almost impossible to do. As I said, it was the Cross through which we are given grace that we are able to keep them, if not perfectly, at least to the extent we can.

30 posted on 12/13/2023 8:00:46 AM PST by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: fidelis
Sigh - you keep citing Old Covenant law and folks - and you miss that the while of the Old Covenant was not just for history - it was to show us "stiff-necked so and sos" that our pride would do us in as we could not, without His Grace, be worthy of Heaven by our own devices - He brought the Commandments into the world to show us by increasing sin and using His Laws to make it trackable and reportable and also increasing His Grace. And because, before Jesus' death on the cross - a father's son was passed to his children so one sinner in a bloodline condemned the rest of the bloodline

From Romans 5:
A Comparison between Adam and Christ
12 Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned. 13 Sin was in the world before there were any laws. But no record of sin can be kept when there are no laws. 14 Yet, death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. Adam is an image of the one who would come. 15 There is no comparison between ⌞God’s⌟ gift and ⌞Adam’s⌟ failure. If humanity died as the result of one person’s failure, it is certainly true that God’s kindness [a] and the gift given through the kindness of one person, Jesus Christ, have been showered on humanity. 16 There is also no comparison between ⌞God’s⌟ gift and the one who sinned. The verdict which followed one person’s failure condemned everyone. But, even after many failures, the gift brought God’s approval. 17 It is certain that death ruled because of one person’s failure. It’s even more certain that those who receive God’s overflowing kindness and the gift of his approval will rule in life because of one person, Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, everyone was condemned through one failure, and everyone received God’s life-giving approval through one verdict. 19 Clearly, through one person’s disobedience humanity became sinful, and through one person’s obedience humanity will receive God’s approval. 20 The laws in Moses’ Teachings were added to increase the failure. But where sin increased, God’s kindness increased even more. 21 As sin ruled by bringing death, God’s kindness would rule by bringing us his approval. This results in our living forever because of Jesus Christ our Lord.
For some reason - certain religions ignore certain parts of the Bible to give their own laws and priests more power... "The poor in spirit will inherit the kingdom of Heaven" What doe sit mean? It means that in order to be open for Hid Grace, we have to be aware of our own sinful natures and know that we cannot, by our own devices be worthy of His Grace - His Grace has to be given and we have to realize that we need it on order to sincerely ask for it.
31 posted on 12/14/2023 4:46:26 AM PST by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
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