Hi Auggy!
I’m sorry, I have been distracted lately and haven’t been here on the forum. I did not mean to ignore your response.
I obviously don’t know everything but, I try to walk in the understanding I have until God gives me more. So, when I say “stealing is wrong” for example, I intuitively know that to be true and the Bible confirms it to be true. It is God that speaks this truth, it is not me that says what is right or wrong. If I am uncertain about my intuition or do not hear in the Spirit, I check the only other authority I have - the Bible. So, I agree with God that stealing is wrong. If someone steals, I would say that is a wrong thing to do and I can show them a source outside of myself that confirms that. I don’t judge or condemn the person - I only try to speak truth to show them a better way. A person can turn (repent) and choose not to steal anymore. A person can confirm that truth intuitively by the Spirit and with the Bible. When I say a thing is good or wrong, I am not using my own logic or deciding I know a better way than what the Spirit speaks to me or through the Bible. It is our job to stand in truth, imo. It is not my job to change hearts, to bend others or to judge hearts - only to stand in truth. I think (please correct me if I’m wrong) that EU even agrees that any sin will be burned off in the purifying fires. I think standing in truth is loving. It is a loving thing to do it now, imo.
I do think everything still matters. And, the symbols were/are there for us to understand Christ better. Imagine if we didn’t think anything of Him being the Passover Lamb because it is only a symbol. We would miss knowing who He is in that symbol. Now, imagine knowing all the symbols and how Christ fulfills them. Wouldn’t that bring greater understanding of who He is? Wouldn’t it help us to have a closer relationship with Him because we know Him better? I can say conclusively, Yes! I understand all of us are at different places on the path and I think God gives us a chance to walk that path and grow. I think that is why He has reserved that judgment until the end. I also think He has called us to be transformed into His likeness daily as we walk with Him. Therefore, I conclude that it must necessarily be impossible to remain in the former sins we used to walk in and that should be obvious outwardly if there is transformation inwardly.
I do embrace a “literal”, by that I mean a physical view how we must look outwardly if we are transformed inwardly. However, the inward transformation or “spiritual” is where the transformation takes place first. I am therefore not bound to a “literalist” only view of Scripture or outward living but, adhere to the idea that the outward man will necessarily be changed by the inward transformation. I simply am not bound to one or the other as a matter of doctrine.
Ah. Yes, I suppose you could use the same argument about tithing or helping the poor, or any literalist, physical thing we do as a matter of living out faith. My main area of concern is that I live out my faith. That manifests outwardly in my physical person as well and in my inward person. I love God and my neighbor and so I help my widowed friend, my cousin’s orphaned children, etc. My “intuition” or conscience compels me to and my physical hand reaches out with provision and love. For me, it is natural to obey God any way I can. In the matter of pork, I know it can not make me godly not to eat. I already have the righteousness of Christ by way of His finished work on the cross on my behalf. I don’t do anything to earn God’s love, I obey simply because He loves me. If it is the faith of a child that He desires us to have then I have to be honest and say a child obeys most of the time without understanding why. I walk in most all things without complete understanding. You? I did not mean to defend the law. I only meant to share with others what God has shared with me to this point and I hoped that something would be a benefit to someone else, even as I have benefited from others here. As far as health reasons, I said there certainly is merit in considering what is good for the body. If pork is bad for the body then that shows the Creator made us in a way that does not align with pork consumption and then it may be said that all living things are created for a purpose, swine are garbage eaters and the Creator did not design them for our consumption. The logic could continue . . . that it is our desire for that which the Creator did not give to us eat that compels us to eat. That could be called greed. It could be said the same thing happened in the garden. However compelling the idea may be, I don’t eat it simply because God said not to and I trust Him in this thing.
Spiritually, I believe ultimate judgment and the refiner’s fire happens at the end of the age, as I stated above. I think the flesh is a shadow. Shadow’s mirror the image of the real thing. It is thus with the shadow of Messiah and it is thus with us. The shadow mirrors dimly what is going on inside the real being. No transformation on the inside means no change outwardly. Although as I said, we are all at different places on the path.
If we are transformed we are being freed from sin. Because Christ died for us we ARE being set free from sin. Intuition (witness of the Holy Spirit) and the Bible concur that stealing is a sin. When we confess our sin and, by the aid of the Spirit, stop stealing we are set free from the sin and are now free to serve Christ. Thus, following the “law” of God does set us free. God’s law is just law. How could it not be? Torah makes allowances for honest ignorance and unintentional sin - even for a murderer. There was and is now a sacrifice for those who sinned and repent. God’s law is only harsh for those who intentionally sin and don’t want to be accountable for it. Without just law anyone who didn’t care about doing right according to God, could commit any atrocities they wished and there would be no way for the innocent to plead for help from the hurt or oppression. God has a law, in part, for those who can not defend themselves, who can’t take care of themselves and yes, it means making those who would show no mercy accountable for the way they treat the weak. It calls for restitution to the widow (or anyone else) who has had their provisions stolen. A few ways why God’s law is good.
I’ll have to look closer at the context of the passages and get back to you on this Auggy. Sorry, it’s late and I feel like I’m probably already bogging down the system here. Here are a couple I thought of when I read your fear passages above. Don’t know if they mean anything here but . . .
“FEAR of Yehovah is a beginning of knowledge, Wisdom and instruction fools have despised!” (Pro 1:7)
" . . .giving thanks always for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the God and Father;
subjecting yourselves to one another in the FEAR of God." (Eph 5:20-21)
" . . .that which I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and that which you hear at the ear, proclaim on the house-tops. `And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but FEAR rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna." (Mat 10:27-28)