Literature Library
Articles
and essays listed on this page address the fundamental doctrines of
Christianity, and of living within the laws of God. If a disciple's
righteousness does not exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt 5:20), the disciple
will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus of Nazareth labeled the Pharisees
as hypocrites and vipers; He said their father was the devil. Their
righteousness was not of faith, and they were woefully short on love for their
neighbors.
Although rabbinical Judaism contends that the
Pharisees of the Second
Temple were very good
readers of Scripture, the truth is that they read only with their eyes and
heard only with ears. They pursued a law that would have led to righteousness
if it had been pursued by faith rather than by the works of hands (Rom 9:31-32);
so they stumbled over the cornerstone of the temple that would be built without
hands, a euphemistic expression of those things that are of the
supra-dimensional heavenly realm.
Disciples are, by faith, to keep and teach the
least of the commandments (Matt 5:19) if they want to be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. They are to live by Paul's law of faith (Rom 3:27), which Paul
identifies as the righteousness that comes from faith (Rom 10:6-8), and he
cites Deuteronomy 30:11-14, from the second covenant (Deut 29:1) mediated by
Moses on the plains of Moab.
In this covenant, God promises circumcision of hearts (Deut 30:6) following
demonstrated obedience by faith (vv. 1-2).
This second covenant will have the laws of God written on hearts and minds of
uncircumcised Israelites following obedience.
When the mediator of this second covenant changed
from Moses to the glorified Jesus, better promises were added. Instead of
physical life and blessings, and return to a geographical Promised Land,
disciples will receive everlasting life and a place in heavenly Jerusalem.
In the first century CE, when the waters of
humanity were divided between those born of Spirit and those who were not,
receipt of the Holy Spirit and circumcision of the heart preceded obedience.
But as the natural body of Christ Jesus died, His spiritual Body, crucified
with Him, also died. But the gates of Hades could not prevail over His natural
body; the gates of Hades cannot prevail over His spiritual Body. And as His
natural body was resurrected after three days, His spiritual Body will be
resurrected after three days, the first three spiritual days of the Genesis one
creation account [the “P” account].
A disciple is no longer under the law written on
stone tablets for this same law of God will be internalized when the heart is
circumcised—the disciple is now under Grace, which remains outside the
disciple as the garment of Christ’s righteousness, put on daily as a
person puts on clothes. Therefore, the articles and essays on this page
advocate the necessity for living by the spiritual laws of God. The
relationship between the visible physical law and the invisible spiritual law
is the relationship between the act of murder to the
desire of the heart to hate; the act of adultery to the thought of the mind
that produces lust.
Christ bears the sins of all who remain within this
covenant of faith--no sin will be imputed to those disciples who remain within
the covenant. Jesus said, however, not to be surprised when some disciples are
resurrected to life and some to condemnation (John 5:29). Disciples who leave
the covenant will experience the second death.
of David