Paul prepares Christians to give up their RIGHT to LAW to Roman Empire

Paul prepares Christians to give up their RIGHT to LAW to Roman Empire

Chevalier des Mots·8 Ocak 2016 Cuma

As you know Thomas Aquinas wrote an extensive treatise on Law and in it he reflected the then common Christian understanding about law when he distinguished between human law and Divine law.

Human laws are those laws needed by governments to enforce good order and provide access to justice for those in a society etc., etc.

Divine laws are both natural laws and moral laws that do not originate from human governments, but constitute the being of both nature and humans.

There are other lesser laws, like statutes for example that set a level of taxation, or customary

practices about weddings and burials, or Church laws about liturgical procedures, etc., etc.

For Christians the Mosaic Law is seem largely as Divine moral laws including some statutes about religious practices, like resting on the Sabbath (food statute laws came later than Moses).

In living this human life, most Christians feel bound to follow properly authorized human laws and Divine moral laws (eg., no murdering, no stealing, no lying, no adultery, honour your parents, worship one God), but Christians do not feel they need to follow the Mosaic statute laws since they refer to Jewish practices that were abrogated for non-Jewish Christians, according Paul's arguments.

However, when it comes to eternal justification in front of God, most Christians say that following any law is largely irrelevant, because God has already saved us from death and damnation, we only need to realize that we are already saved by the gift-grace of God love for us as shown in Jesus' death and resurrection.

The issue of following laws was discussed at length in early Christianity under the debate about Pelagianism, which was the position that humans need to earn our way into eternal life by doing good works, this position was rejected by the Catholic community, though it keeps trying to make a come-back!

In James 2:24, St. James clearly says, “Man is justified by works and not by faith alone"

St. Paul's discussion of justification in Romans, specifically Romans 3:28, where St. Paul says precisely the opposite of St. James: "We hold that man is justified by faith apart from works of law."