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There was another event, in which a rich young
man came to Yesus Kristos and asked Him:
"What must I do to get eternal life?"
Yesus answered Him by saying that he had to
keep up with the whole law. The rich man then
claimed, he was doing exactly that. So the Lord
told the rich man some more. He said: "Go and
sell everything that you have, give it to the poor
and follow Me".
The rich man turned away from Yesus. He knew,
he could never do it.
The Bible Teachers of that time were -among
other groups- called the Pharisees. They loved to
study the bible. They knew every verse by heart
and they would even add a few of their own.
Yesus told them: "You study the Bible
because you think there is eternal life in that
Bible, but you do not know Who is talking to you
and you do not want to come to Me".
The Bible in that time was what we now call the
Old Testament. The New Testament had still to be
written. And there is a huge difference between
the two, even though they do not contradict.
Where the OT speaks about orders and
condemnation, the New Testament explains to the
fullness just why the law was given and how we are
supposed to deal with it.
Where the Old Testament starts with the Law,
the New Testament starts with Grace!
You see, the law is good and contains nothing
but truth.
Still, it is not designed to be
obeyed.
It is designed to be broken by all, and
fullfilled by One.
What Yesus told the rich man, was a thing this
rich man was unable to do. He had already fooled
himself into thinking how he was somehow a
follower of the Law and so he was convinced of his
own righteousness, as the law also says: "He
who keeps the Law is Perfect".
What Yesus told the people who wanted to stone
the woman (and not the man), was a thing these
people did not want to know. He showed them how
hypocrite they were, thinking they could use the
law to kill other people where they themselves were
as sinful as the woman they were about to kill so
violently.
What Yesus told the Pharisees, was that you
could not find eternal life in the Law. In the
Books. In the Bible. You can study all you
want, and know all there is to know, even
"believe it to be true", and still miss
out on that eternal life.
Yesus showed the people without the shadow of a
doubt, that they (we!) are all unable to do what
we are supposed to do according to the Law.
But He showed more!
He showed Himself. Everything we cannot do, is
what He did!
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