An Allegory About the Old Testament and New Testament Law

Before the allegory begins there is a brief introduction.  The allegory consists of a dialogue between Clarity and Sincerely Confused.  I originally wrote this in an article I had been working on to teach marriage, divorce, and adultery. However, I haven't finished that and other who have read the allegory have requested to send it to others. So I decided to publish the allegory here before the teaching on marriage, divorce, and adultery is finished.  Shalom to the children of God.

The Law of the New Covenant Concerning Marriage, Divorce, and Adultery

“The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”  (Luke 16:16-18)

 

Here are mentioned two laws, of which two, one was temporal and the other eternal:  

The Law of Moses, which permitted divorce and another marriage (Deut. 24:1-3), was temporal, “until John” (the Baptist). “It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made.” (Galatians 3:19)

The Law of Christ, of which it is said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail,” this is the Eternal Law, which teaches, that not only those who divorce their wives and marry another commit adultery, but also men who have never been married, if they should marry a divorced woman, that they too are guilty of adultery. 

Men have invented all kinds of “irrationalizations” to explain that if God’s morals changed for the better, then His character was originally flawed.  They cannot reconcile God’s unchanging (eternal) nature and character as revealed by Jesus with the Old Covenant moral laws.  They think “If a new moral law replaced the old, then God’s character has improved over time and that He is, therefore, no different than man, making Him not God at all”.  

If that was reality their reasoning would be right.  But any sincere Bible reader cannot avoid noticing the differences between the morals of the Old and the New, so theologians have established a school of “systematic irrationalizations” to explain that there are no differences.  

Now whether they are sincerely confused, adamantly ignorant, or have an evil eye concerning this following statement (God knows): That the Law of Moses contained both eternal truths from the Law of Christ (consistent with God’s unchanging character) AND (according to Jesus) temporal precepts given by Moses for the hardness of people’s hearts.  

The early Christians however, (who learned from Christ, His apostles, and their disciples), understood what Jesus meant when He said, “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so…”  (Matthew 19:8)  What Moses said was temporary…not eternal.  Moses gave Israel the precept of divorce and remarriage.  (Mark 10:5) This temporal law he prescribed was not consistent with the Eternal Law of Christ. 

Jesus asked, “What did Moses command you?” [Mark 10:3] What did he say?  I am going to tell you what was from the beginning, and I Who am speaking to you now, even I, am He that spoke to Moses in the burning bush, who was before Moses, Abraham, and even before the beginning! “For, before Abraham was, I AM.” [John 8:58]

Sound Conclusion:  What Moses permitted does not need to be reconciled with God’s unchanging (eternal) nature and character, when Jesus said, “From the beginning it was not so.”  

Below are some quotes from Justin, an early Christian commonly known as “Justin Martyr”.  Justin lived during a time when Christianity was against the law of the land and punishable by cruel tortures and death.  He began his pilgrimage as a philosopher, phileo meaning “to love” and Sophia meaning “wisdom”.  Justin was searching for truth.  He studied philosophy under different scholars and schools of theology, but saw the emptiness, contradictions, and worthlessness of the doctrines and teachers.  “And while I was thus disposed, when I wished at one period to be filled with great quietness, and to shun the path of men, I used to go into a certain field not far from the sea,” says Justin, (Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew) as he explains his conversion to Christianity.  It was during that time that an “Old Man” conversed with Justin and turned him to the Scriptures; and Justin (being a lover of truth), investigated into those things which he heard, and found the Pearl of great price, which he joyfully bought with his life, (having endured to the end) and was finally flogged and beheaded with six other Christians around 165 A.D. for being a Christian: 

“For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined you,—namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your hearts… (Chapter 18)

“You perceive that God by Moses laid all such ordinances upon you on account of the hardness of your people’s hearts, in order that, by the large number of them, you might keep God continually, and in every action, before your eyes, and never begin to act unjustly or impiously… (Chapter 45)

“For what in the Law of Moses is naturally good, and pious, and righteous, and has been prescribed to be done by those who obey it; and what was appointed to be performed by reason of the hardness of the people’s hearts; was similarly recorded, and done also by those who were under the law. Since those who did that which is universally, naturally, and eternally good are pleasing to God, they shall be saved through this Christ in the resurrection… (Chapter 46)

“God promised that there would be another covenant, not like that old one (and said that it would be laid on them without fear, and trembling, and lightning’s, and that it would be such as to show what kind of commands and deeds God knows to be eternal and suited to every nation, and what commandments He has given) suiting them to the hardness of your people’s hearts, as He exclaims also by the prophets.”  (Chapter 67)

The New Covenant Law given by Christ was not “suited to the hardness of people’s hearts,” as were many of the Old Covenant Laws given by Moses.  Only those commands and deeds contained in the OT which “God knew to be eternal” were given by Christ. 

Concerning the subject at hand:  Marriage, Divorce, and Adultery, the only OT laws that were eternal according to the words of the New Covenant are these:  Thou shalt not commit adultery…Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife.  (Exodus 20:14, 17; Deut. 5:18, 21)  These two laws would be an example of what Justin meant, when he said, “For what in the Law of Moses is naturally good, and pious, and righteous… universally, naturally, and eternally good,” these two commands are “suited to every nation”. [A “law suited to the hardness of people’s hearts” permits a man to retain unforgiveness, to strike the man who struck him first, to curse those who curse him, to hate those who hate him, to divorce and to marry another]

Justin furthermore declared, “For [God] sets before every race of mankind that which is always (eternal) and universally just, as well as all righteousness; and every race knows that adultery, and fornication, and homicide, and such like, are sinful; and though they all commit such practices, yet they do not escape from the knowledge that they act unrighteously whenever they so do, with the exception of those who are possessed with an unclean spirit, and who have been debased by education, by wicked customs, and by sinful institutions, and who have lost, or rather quenched and put under, their natural ideas.”  (Chapter 93)

To further illustrate this point, a dialogue has been created between “Sincerely Confused” and “Clarity” as though these two were a part of everything already shared. And rather than addressing all of the doctrines that Jesus did not fulfill in the Law of Moses, the doctrine at hand will be attended to: Marriage, Divorce, and Adultery:

Sincerely Confused:  I can see what you are saying about the temporal and eternal laws, because that is what the scriptures reveal…but didn’t Jesus fulfill the Law?  

Clarity:  Scriptures are clear that Jesus did not fulfill the Law of Moses, but only those laws which were eternal, and the prophecies concerning Him.  

Sincerely Confused:  But Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”  (Matthew 5:17)  How do you judge between the temporary laws of Moses and the eternal laws of Christ?

Clarity:  In the Matthew 5 account the words are "The Law, or the Prophets", everywhere else it is recorded as the Law and the Prophets, because the Law Jesus was referring to in Matthew 5 was the Eternal Law not the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses commanded, “The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death,” (Leviticus 20:10) and, “If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.” (Deuteronomy 22:22) What did Jesus do when those zealous for the Law of Moses brought to Him a woman caught in the very act of adultery? Did He condemn either the adulterer or adulteress to death as the Law of Moses demanded?

Sincerely Confused:  No.  

Clarity:  Then He didn’t fulfill the law did He?

Sincerely Confused:  Not that law. 

Clarity:  So was that law temporary or eternal? 

Sincerely Confused:  It must have been the temporal Law of Moses.

Clarity:  Exactly! Some say that the putting to death of the adulterer and adulteress was only a civil law, but it is was to put away the evil from Israel which is a moral law. "Bad company" the apostle said "corrupts good morals", and in 1 Corinthians 5 the same apostle taught to put away (not to even eat with) the evil person (one named a brother). Jesus taught, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.” (Luke 16:16-18) Was Jesus enforcing the law (of Moses) by immediately teaching that to divorce your spouse and marry another is adultery?  

Sincerely Confused:   No!  The written law of the Old Testament permitted divorce and another marriage:  “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.”  (Deuteronomy 24:1-3)  

Clarity:  If Jesus was not enforcing the Old Testament law (of Moses) by what He said about divorce and remarriage, then what law was He referring to in these words “And it is easier for HEAVEN and EARTH to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail”?

Sincerely Confused:  Well…He could not have been referring to the Law of Moses because Moses CLEARLY allowed divorce and remarriage.  He must have been referring to a law that is as ancient as HEAVEN and EARTH.  

Clarity:  You mean to say an eternal or unchanging law?

Sincerely Confused:  Yes!  That must be it.

Clarity:  Jesus clearly, as the previous scriptures prove, did not fulfill the Law of Moses.  He did however, fulfill the eternal law—the law of God which existed before Moses—as Jesus taught when asked about divorce, “And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?  And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.  And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he (Moses) wrote you this precept.  But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.  What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”  (Mark 10:2-9) 

Sincerely Confused:  Hmmm.  I understand that clearly…but…uh…not to be contentious, what about when Jesus told the multitudes, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:  All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not”? (Matthew 23:2-3)  

Clarity:  Jesus told many people to do many things that the Pharisees told many people not to do (which is a major reason why they crucified Him).  Are they to obey the Pharisees or Jesus?  The rulers of the people “commanded them (Peter and John) not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus,” and they replied, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.”  (Acts 4:1-23)  And Saul (whose name was changed to Paul) received authority from the rulers to persecute the Christians, and compel them to blaspheme… (Acts 26:10-11) were they to obey him and reject Christ because he was a Pharisee?  Or, was Jesus exposing the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees?  

Sincerely Confused:  Hmmm.  That they were not to obey all things commanded by the Pharisees you have made obvious. He was definitely exposing them.  And only that which is eternal in the Law of Moses is what men must keep is made evident by all that you have said previously.  I see it CLEARLY for what it is now, Clarity!

Clarity:  Any sincere person will see these things.  However, to further your understanding, hear the Gospel of Matthew:  “And, behold, one (a rich ruler) came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he (Jesus) said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.  He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:16-24; Mark 10; Luke 18)  What laws did Jesus…

Sincerely Confused:  Clarity!  Clarity!  Ohhh, I know what you are going to ask.  May I interrupt for a moment?

Clarity:  Yes.  Go ahead.

Sincerely Confused:  You were going to ask what laws did Jesus tell this man to keep if he wanted eternal life…am I right?

Clarity:  Yes…you are right.  But go ahead and tell those laws to me.

Sincerely Confused:  Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  If you seek eternal life, you must obey the eternal law.

Clarity:  Very good.  Now pray, tell me, did Jesus say that you must be perfect to enter into the kingdom of heaven? And was what the ruler lacked a law or a proper understanding of a law? 

 

Sincerely Confused:    Hmmm…uh…well, Jesus did not say in exact words that you need to be perfect to enter into the kingdom of heaven; but after the ruler refused the Lord’s counsel, the Lord said in relation to the rich man and his response, “That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven,” implying to be perfect was necessary. Because, even though the ruler had kept all of the eternal laws Jesus named, which were contained in the Law of Moses (from his youth up), it was this one thing (Jesus said to His disciples) that would keep that ruler from the kingdom of heaven.  I see this much, but I am still confused as to what you meant when you asked, “Was what the ruler lacked a law or a proper understanding of a law?”

Clarity:  The one thing Jesus told the ruler that he lacked was, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.”  The rich ruler testified of himself that he kept all of the laws Jesus mentioned from his youth up.  The wealth this man possessed must have been obvious (he was a ruler), for Jesus knew He had riches, and yet, this ruler testified that he loved his neighbor AS HIMSELF.  When Jesus told the ruler to, “go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor,” He was not giving a new law, but was defining what the eternal law to love your neighbor as yourself means.  If a man is living beyond need (in luxury) then how can he love his neighbor as himself?  

Sincerely Confused:  Ah!  I see…I see.  

Clarity:  One reason why people remain in confusion is because they are not sincerely confused.  Through deceit they refuse to know the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:6)  They are content with being confused, from having deceived themselves that (because of the confusion) God will be merciful to them.  However, this confusion is akin to obstinacy.  And because of these sins (presumption and obstinacy) God would send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.   (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12)  

Sincerely Confused:  Those who hold onto their sins, God will give them a delusion to believe into, (that though they will be damned), they think themselves safe.  However, the pleasure they have in unrighteousness already shows forth their belief in a lie.  But what is so powerful enough, as to make a man think himself saved, or that he is a Christian, when he is living in sin, and not obeying the Christ?

Clarity:  The strong delusion is a theology suited to the hardness of people’s hearts. *3

Sincerely Confused:  I recognize what you are saying, because, concerning Jesus’ teaching on marriage, divorce, and adultery it is often said, “I just cannot believe that God isn’t more merciful than that,” meaning that He is too merciful to punish those living in adultery and that He is too merciful than to forbid a second marriage.  But to believe that God is more merciful than He really is, is to say that He is not merciful enough.  By teaching this they exalt the power of sin, and accuse God of being merciless, imputing to Him (their Maker) the sin of their own hardness of heart.  And while they speak of a Judgment to come, and a punishment of sinners, they excuse themselves from all contradiction through their belief (in a lie) that God is too merciful to punish this sin i.e. adultery, while believing that He will punish other sin i.e. fornication & homosexuality, which is beyond contradiction…it is a strong delusion.

Clarity:  Exactly!  Mercy would not be an attribute of God, of Goodness, of Righteousness, of Love if it allowed divorce and remarriage for the hardness of people’s hearts…in fact, it would be an attribute of malevolence.  Adultery is, therefore, an apostasy from God, from Goodness, from Righteousness, from Love, and from your lawful spouse.  For, “Love worketh no ill towards his neighbor.” (Romans 13:10)  Many, upon the words of Jesus pertaining to marriage, divorce, and adultery tend to only feel the pain of the two who are living in adultery when imagining the two having to separate. But there is often a third party involved who desires to have his/her lawful and God joined spouse back. The pain of this person is rarely considered. You see, if everyone lived by Jesus’ teaching then no one would marry a divorced person. The divorced person would be forced to remain alone or be reconciled. The two, though there may be strife, would possibly learn to work things out. The law of Jesus is the law of love, but not how the world understands love. Jesus taught us to love until it hurts and this is what each one of us needs to learn in order to be His disciple.  The third party I spoke of earlier whose pain is rarely considered, if he remains faithful to God and to his spouse, will remain alone his entire life, and there are often many both women and men who are choosing to be faithful: to endure all things, hope all things, trust all things, verily, in this matter, their love is unfailing. Should God then have a law to accommodate adultery? Certainly not! Rather He will bless the faithful and punish the adultery. For those who marry those divorced from a lawful marriage work ill to their neighbors. 

Sincerely Confused:  I think the reason why some are confused, is because of things Paul said.

Clarity:  It is, perhaps, the most common mistake.  The apostle Peter said, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”  (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Sincerely Confused:  Which scriptures do you suppose the ignorant and double-minded most commonly twist to their own damnation?

Clarity:  Any scripture to do with law.

Sincerely Confused:  Such as this: “That a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified”?  (Galatians 2:16)  The theologians and pastors I’ve heard interpret this to mean “That no matter how perfectly you obey Jesus you are not justified by that…only faith in Jesus can justify you.”  

Clarity:  I have heard it dozens of times, and only very few have been sincerely confused enough to seek for clarity.  In fact, it was after hearing the scripture you just shared taught by a pastor, and then reading the teachings of Jesus that these became sincerely confused.  They think because the thief on the cross didn’t obey anything, that he was justified by faith alone…but an honest and single eye can easily see that his faith was no small thing, and that he did obey some commands.  For he obeyed the commands to repent, believe on Jesus, reprove the works of darkness, fear not him who can kill the body but fear God, confess Jesus before men; he worshiped the Father in spirit and in truth, and more than all of this…he risked being hated, reviled, taken down from his cross only to be tortured then crucified again by those who tortured Jesus, which were standing there mocking, and reviling Him, as He was in agony.  Yea, what that thief did on the cross (in perhaps a few moments) is more than what many [who profess Christ] will do in a lifetime.

Sincerely Confused:  Hmmm…I never thought about that.  But was Paul telling the Galatians that obeying the Law of Moses cannot justify you, or that obeying any law cannot justify you?

Clarity:  It is certain that obeying the Law of Moses cannot justify you, because Jesus said, “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:20)  Paul specifically said, “That a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.”  To understand this better proceed to verse twenty of the same chapter and you will see a picture of what the faith of Jesus Christ looks like:  “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20)  Paul didn’t live after the Law of Moses, but by the faith of the Son of God, meaning, that he lived according to what Jesus believed, taught, and demonstrated: what was important to Jesus was important to Paul; what was unlawful to Jesus was unlawful for Paul; what was righteous to Jesus was righteous to Paul.  

Sincerely Confused:  So if a man divorces his lawful wife and marries another woman he is not living by the faith of the Son of God.

Clarity:  True.  Paul, who was “justified by the faith of Jesus Christ” said, “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife… the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”  (I Corinthians 7:10-11, 39)  This doctrine was to Paul, an aspect of the faith of the Son of God by which men are either justified or condemned.

Sincerely Confused:  Marriage was important to Christ, so marriage was important to Paul.  Divorce and remarriage was unlawful according to Christ, so the same was unlawful to Paul.  Paul simply lived by the faith of Jesus Christ.  In this light the scriptures are clear.  I only need to follow Jesus.  I can think of many scriptures now that make sense, whereas before I was confused.  And there are other scriptures that come to my mind that still appear a little hazy but I am sure that if I walk in this light, I will figure out the rest.

Clarity:  Living by faith, justified by the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of faith, believing in Jesus, is harmonizing your life with every word of the Christ:  “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.  And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”  (John 12)

Sincerely Confused:  That is exactly what Moses predicted:  “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”  And the prophets too declared:  “And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha, art few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Juda; yet out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings forth were from the BEGINNING, even from ETERNITY.”  (Deuteronomy 8:15-19; Acts 7:37) (Jeremiah 38:31 and Micah 5:2; Septuagint)

Clarity:  Ah…the beloved prophet Micah.  Men today are quite ignorant of this prophecy though they quote it during their winter celebration on December 25^th every year.  Micah foretold of a Ruler, whose beginnings were even from eternity; yet, the notion of Christ as a Ruler is foreign to them, for only His sacrifice seems to enter into their minds.  However the prophet also declared, “And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”  (Micah 4:2) 

Sincerely Confused:  JESUS IS A RULER AND HE GAVE US A LAW!  THIS WAS A FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY!  It is strange how nearly everyone I know thinks that the New Covenant has no law or that the new covenant has freed men entirely from law.  But perhaps they are not sincerely ignorant of this, they are just ignoring.  For the Law of Moses was indeed until Christ came, which law was added because of transgressions; but Christ came and gave us a law for a guide and to be a lamp unto our feet, to teach the will of God, true worship, wisdom to avoid wrath, and how to love and serve Him with the whole heart and soul and mind; to show us the way to the Father.

Clarity:  Well said.  But He did teach it in such a way, as to cause men to exceedingly fear God,  “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” (Matthew 10:28) and, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death,” (John 8:51) [that is, eternal death] and the word “saying” in this passage is from the Greek word “LOGOS” which is translated throughout the Bible as “Words”. 

Sincerely Confused:  Good point Clarity…the word “saying” seems to take away from the significance and force of the original Greek word.  Many take the word “saying” as a singular, and not as a plural, thinking he was referring to a particular saying in that chapter, when He was really referring to the keeping of all His words…and He didn’t mean to keep them in your pocket, on the coffee table, or the book shelf, or even only in your “heart”, but to actually “do” them, as Matthew told us.  (Matthew 7:24-27)

Clarity:  Amen…Faith is hearing and obeying God…this is why a man is justified by faith.

Sincerely Confused:  That’s right!  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house…By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. (Hebrews 11)

Clarity:  You have been a blessing, and from now on you will be called Sincerity:  Your sincere desire for truth has been made manifest by your delight in it…for when confronted, you neither rejected it nor were indifferent; but more than that, you sought it with all your heart…for I am aware that you spurned that which the world seeks because of your love for truth, and how you determined to give all that you have for it.

Sincerity:  Yes!  The Pearl of great price is worth more than we can afford; however, God is merciful to give us that Pearl in exchange for ALL that we have!

Clarity:  “Ask and ye shall receive,” Jesus said.  However many pretend to ask for clarity, which is evidenced by sins they hold on to; therefore, all they receive from Him is a strong delusion.  (Ezekiel 14:7-9)

Sincerity:  Thank you for your patience Clarity.  May the Lord prosper your labors.

Clarity:  Godspeed.