Why dont Christians follow everything the Bible says?
First, the reason there is confusion on this because the unsaved [spirirually blind] cannot understand the Scriptures as the born again do, [see with spiritual eyes; by the Holy Spirit].
Here are a few verses about spiritual blindness:
2 Corinthians 4:4 - "The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
John 9:39-41 - Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see... [given Spiritual sight]
Isaiah 6:9-10 - [people can be] ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving. [Spiritual blindness]
Proverbs 4:18-19 - The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
John 12:39-40 - For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says ...they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn to God to be healed
Romans 11:7-8 - What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened... [having a] spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.
Secondly, Scripture explains of Christians
“… Always be prepared to give an answer to ... to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" 1 Peter 3:15
And God uses Scriptures [both the truth it contains and the Gospel] to reveal what he wants people to know. God uses Christians as messengers of truth and salvation to bring the Word of God to men.
So perhaps God sent you here today to gain a little light into the truth, and perhaps He is drawing you to himself for salvation. People have questions, and God can open their eyes to a few things to understand some, and give more light to them as he draws them to himself. Those trapped in the sin nature, held captive by it and Satan, have no interest in the things of God, the Word of God, Salvation nor Righteousness. But, I pray that if you are reading this, that God draws you. Ask God to reveal the truths to you that he wants you to know. Be open minded and read with an open heart, genuinely wanting to know the answer to this question.
Psalm 119:130 - The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
Psalm 18:28 - "You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."
James 1:17-18 - Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'
Psalm 43:3 - "Send me your light and your faithful care, let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell."
Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool."
Ephesians 1:17-18 - I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know
A: What non Christians don't grasp:
We need to look at the basics and not take random verses out of context.
That is what Satan does. He twists Scripture, decieves & blinds people to truth.
Look:
* For 2,715 yrs, from Creation until Israel the nation was founded, there were no Israeli Laws. However since humans fell, all had the sin nature; sin was known and people sinned. Sin is when we do not measure up to God's perfect nature and fail to live perfectly in righteousness.
*The Laws of Israel; the Moral, Judicial and Ceremonial, were given to Israel to keep; they failed miserably, but they still were to uphold them. (1)
*Jesus kept the Law in our place, so believers are free from that. Plus those other kinds of laws [while they did have a purpose] were only for Israel not for Christians. So Jesus fulfilled both what was required for Israel and lived perfectly for all other humans who fall short of God's perfect standard; perfect nature. Sinless.
*Israel was supposed to point the world to God and the Messiah and failed to do so. But after the Messiah came he opened salvation to all [as promised in Eden], and His Light now shines to the world thru the Redeemed ones; Christians. Messengers of God's Word.
(*Which as noted in this article, includes anyone saved including any Israelites who turned to Jesus for salvation.)
Moral laws or revelations from God about "what sin is" are all over the OT [even before Israel was created] and in the NT. They were given by God to show how God is perfect in nature and that fallen mankind is not. The sacrificial of the OT beginning in Eden and Laws put in place in Israel were to point to the coming Messiah who would end the "covering up of sin with a temporary shedding of a substitutes blood" by being the actual promised & perfect sacrifice God would accept for mans redemption. Only a perfect one could & did complete this mission. (2)
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
1 Peter 2:24: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
Hebrews 9:26: " Christ ... has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself."
Hebrews 10:12: "But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God."
*Jesus is both the sacrificial Lamb and the High Priest offering the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. For Believers, He bought us and paid for our forgiveness, cleared our debt and gave us freedom.
The OT had the old mosaic law given to Israel. Jesus fulfilled the OT laws (3) in the place of believers. He also took the sin punishment for believers on the cross.(4) His righteousness is then able to be given to us and we exchanged places in the transaction where He redeems us; buys us back.
The NT has a new covenant for those who are Christian, they follow the Law of Christ; the Law of Liberty. Since Christ came all has become new.
It isnt a "obligated to obey" the things in the Bible - like works and legalism done by world religions as they obey & practice their religion. But simply obeying "The Law of Christ" is done by the righteous nature Christians have thru the new nature [given at conversion by God]; we walk in our faith "by the righteous nature". Unlike those who still have the sin nature [and are trapped by it] and are not saved; they have not been transformed by God. We believers have been. We live in a new nature; righteous nature. Christians are not required to follow the OT Law, but because of the new nature we follow the Spirit of the Law by nature which is simply living in righteousness; wearing the righteousness of Christ. We do so by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. As a regenerated or converted one we have no desire to sin, as we are no longer enslaved to it. We love what is right and good, and hate sin and what is wicked and evil.
We are not perfect but with God indwelling us we are able to live rightly, thus we by nature naturally live in & by Law of Christ, which gives freedom. (5)
Since the Messiah came he opened Salvation to mankind [as promised in Eden], and His Light now shines to the world thru the Redeemed ones; Christians. The Gospel goes out and is proclaimed.
Matthew 5:14-15: "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."
Matthew 5:16: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may... glorify your Father in heaven."
2 Corinthians 4:6: "For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ."
"And [Jesus] said to them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to everyone." Mark 16:15 , Matthew 28:19-20
Related Resources
Understanding the Gospel
How to be made right with God
Man's Greatest Need
Footnotes:
(1) A. What are these Laws actually about?
B. Free from the Law
(2) Hebrews 10:1-4: "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." *Reminds of sins, and need of God's forgiveness.
Hebrews 10:10-12: "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God."
Hebrews 9:11-14: "But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"
Hebrews 6:20: "where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered [the Heavenly Temple] on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
Hebrews 8:1-2: "Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human being."
Hebrews 7:24-25: "but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Romans 3:23-25: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all [who will be saved] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith."
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins
1 John 2:2
(3) Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Romans 10:4: "Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Colossians 2:16-17: "Therefore ... These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."
Galatians 3:23-25: Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under it
Christ has fulfilled “all righteousness”. Matt 3:15.
The New Testament calls “the law of God” (1 Cor 9:21), that divine standard of absolute righteousness to which all are universally held accountable. (Cr: Cripplegate).
(4)
Rom. 7:5-6
For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Colossians 2:13-14: "When you were dead in your sins... God made you [believer] alive with Christ. He forgave us [believers] all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross."
(5) topics on sinning after salvation & being perfected when entering Heaven:
(6) clarity on
what Jesus "redeems us from" And more on "Freedom".
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