Obeying the Law

Galatians 2:16
A person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law." (NLT)

Law as defined by Wikipedia is "a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible."

The Jewish law caused followers to be a moral god fearing nation believing they became righteous simply by abiding by the laws and traditions handed down over generations and defined in their Torah, "the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts."

Then came Jesus, their Messiah who came to fulfill the law. He came to show them and now us the way to righteousness. He took us away from traditions, special seasons and holidays, and works to obtain salvation.

We are made right simply by our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Only through Him can we be declared righteous. Only through Him do we obtain salvation.

Now I am not saying we are to ignore the Ten Commandments. We are to do what is right and holy in all our dealings here on earth. Even traditions and celebrations are still good for us. But only when what we do is not placed above God. We are to worship Him and not the events we organize and participate in. Only He is holy.

Are we to do good works? Yes, Jesus tells us so, but they alone do not get us to heaven. It is only belief in Jesus that does that.