I say Amen to our brother Jack K. in all he said in his post on this thread and I add
"Religion" in the new sense (the sense understood by most non-PB folks in Western societies today) means doing your best to follow a set of principles that will win points with God or bring you some spiritual enlightenment. Understood that way—the way most people we know use the word most often today—Jesus is indeed against "religion." And it can be of great help to say this when explaining your faith to people.
When we've had discussions about this here in the past, there've always been many who resist giving in to this definition of "religion." They want to preserve a better one. I can see their point. There've also been some who object to the idea that "Christianity is not religion" on the grounds that it smells antinomian or probably reflects shallow thinking of some sort. No doubt it does for some who use the line.
But the importance of speaking to others about Christ in their language, the way they use it and understand it, should not be undervalued. Likewise, the importance of showing that faith in Christ must never be about winning points with God—that, in fact, it is the very opposite of this—cannot be overstressed. So I'm generally okay with the language that Jesus brought Good News, not "religion." I've used such lines myself (always explaining further what I mean).
That said, the particular example in the link is probably not as well thought out or expressed as it should be.
I say Amen to our brother Jack K. in all he said in his post on this thread. I especially agree when he said “ So I'm generally okay with the language that Jesus brought Good News, not "religion." I've used such lines myself (always explaining further what I mean).
The New Testament Gospels, Letters and Books demonstrate in every way that Jesus saw the old laws and its rules as not the essential message God wished to convey in sending His son to be the messiah. The new Testament is not about organized institutional religion and all the laws of the many books of the Old Testament. Instead Jesus in all the Gospels tells us that God wishes us to be like His son and Love the Lord your God with your whole heart and soul and Love your neighbor as thyself.
Love everyone, forgive everyone, and only do good.
Luke 6:27-28 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” that is a substantial message of the New Testament.
With the coming of Christ, God has established a new covenant with mankind. Jesus and His apostles gave us a radically new understanding of the true intent of the Old Testament Law; they brought a new era of the rule of love for all people and spiritual truth instead of rule by law Luke 10:25-28, John 13:34-35
Luke 10:25-28 (New International Version)
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Jesus wanted us to be His disciples and spread the Good news , not be as the old testament of laws and organized religion. I will note I left the roman catholic church and become a reformed protestant because the RC church in my experience is like the old churches of organized= religion , following many laws but not living as the disciples of the Lord which I believe is what the Reformed faith is all about; not an organized religion as the Jews knew it; but living the teachings of Jesus about Love and the spirit of the law.
John 13:34-35 (New International Version)
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Ephesians 2:14-18 (New International Version)
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
John 13:34-35 (New International Version)
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The teachings of Jesus, the Council of Jerusalem, and other New Testament teachings make it clear that Christians are not required to follow the Old Testament rules about crimes and punishments, warfare, slavery, diet, circumcision, sacrifice, feast days, Sabbath observance, ritual cleanness, etc.
Christians still look to the Old Testament scripture for moral and spiritual guidance. (2 Timothy 3:16-17). But when there seems to be a conflict between Old Testament laws and New Testament principles, we must follow the New Testament because it represents the most recent and most perfect revelation from God (Hebrews 8:13, 2 Corinthians 3:1-18, Galatians 2:15-20).
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (New International Version)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Footnotes:
2 Timothy 3:17 Or that you, a man of God,
Hebrews 8:13 (New International Version)
13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
However, freedom from the Old Testament Law is not a license for Christians to relax their moral standards. The moral and ethical teachings of Jesus and His apostles call for even greater self-discipline than those of the Old Testament. The organized church as Jesus intended is there for moral guidance.
Corinthians 3:1-18 (New International Version)
2 Corinthians 3
1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
The Greater Glory of the New Covenant
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Footnotes:
2 Corinthians 3:18 Or reflect
New International Version (NIV)
Galatians 2:15-20 (New International Version)
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of 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[a] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Footnotes:
Galatians 2:16 Or but through the faithfulness of … justified on the basis of the faithfulness of
I end by again reiterating what Jesus said through the new testament. “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me“.
