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OT: Rebelious reopening of locked topic 25-Aug-2010 At 11:37:00 PM dave h.

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I'm a Christian.

In terms of the church's position on performing gay marriage, I agree broadly with what Sabu said earlier. There is more that could be said (for instance I'm in favour of legal recognition of gay marriages, but I don't support them having the right to be married in a church of their choice).

Pensionerpower - gee, I never thought of that before....Or not...

I agree again with Sabu. I wouldn't say Jesus came to nullify the law, but that he fulfilled it. But whatever word we use, Sabu and I agree that Christians are not saved by obeying the law of the Old Testament (OT).

The Bible is a series of books which have been written to different audiences at different times throughout history. The prophets of the Old Testament foretell the coming of God's 'suffering servant' (Isaiah 53) and the Messiah. The early church (IE post-Jesus) was divided about whether or not it was necessary to obey the OT laws. Paul's letters address this question, as does the letter to the Hebrews. Some references in support of this are:

Romans 3:20-22 "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe..."

Galatians 2:15-16: "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."

Hebrews also addresses this.

Neil -
the Old Testament is included because without a knowledge of God's dealings with Israel history it'd be impossible to understand what's going on in the New Testament. For instance, all the stuff Paul wrote to the Galatian and Roman churches (cf above) would make little sense if you didn't know about the 'Law' that he was referring to. Similarly a reader of the New Testament would not be able to see how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy. Further, Jesus quotes the Old Testament - again, need to know what he's getting at. And finally, because we believe it's the word of God.