I recently had a discussion related to the use of scripture. My position is that Jesus’s statement:
“A new command I give you: Love one another”
supersedes the old law when conflicts arise, and that if someone claims to be a Christian, the Gospel of Jesus contains the scriptures that they should rely on. Someone that disagreed, continued to use scriptures outside of the Gospel to make his point.
This made me think of a “Cake” sitting on a plate covered in icing as an analogy when considering the “Bible”.
The plate is the Old Testament, The Cake is the Gospel of Jesus and the Icing is the remaining books of the New Testament.
The plate is the foundation, the cake is the sustenance and the icing enhances the cake.
My belief is: You can have Cake without a plate or the icing and receive all the sustenance needed to follow a “Christian Lifestyle”.
Those that rely on the plate or the icing for sustenance devalue the Cake, when the Cake is all you need.
To follow a “Christian Lifestyle” appreciate the plate, enjoy the icing, but rely on the Cake.
John 13:34-35
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.”
Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
Matthew 10:34-39
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
