Quote:
Originally Posted by A little brother
Was my point really so difficult to understand? Micah 6:8 said God declared something but Lee said it was Micah's own concept. There was not a single word mentioning Law in the verse (even the whole chapter) and Lee said it was about keeping the law.
Who was more trustworthy? Simple as that.
I repeat, it has nothing to do with the rest of the footnote.
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Verse 8 is about keeping the moral law for moral righteousness (the right-standing with God which comes by morality, the apostle Paul even suggests that people who have not heard of Christ may be saved by this if they follow their good conscience). Verse 7 refers to the written law (sacrifices etc) which the Jews were in the habit of putting more importance on written law than morals. Jesus sought to correct their thinking about this as stated in the 4 gospels. Based upon Hosea 6:6 and Matt 9:13, moral law is more important than written law - mercy is better than sacrifice.
But it doesn't stop there. Any born again Christian knows that keeping the moral law as specified in verse 8 is not enough to be saved - one must accept Christ. Moral righteousness is not enough to be saved, one must receive (imparted, imputed, infused, let's not debate that here) the righteousness of Christ, and this righteousness ends the moral and written law for righteousness:
Romans 10:4 - Christ is the end of the Law, in order to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.
Both moral and written law depends on ourselves. It is
our righteousness.
But the righteousness from God, is God's righteousness (or Christ's, to be more specific):
Phil 3:9:
and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--
the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Therein lies the difference. Micah only mentions the moral and written law which is "our righteousness" and does not say anything about the righteousness from God and God's plan to save mankind by the righteousness of Christ.
To show you the difference I have found examples of old testament passages which DO contain divine revelation (about the future righteousness of God):
Isaiah 54:17, Isaiah 46:13, Isaiah 51:5, Isaiah 56:1, Isaiah 45:24-25, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 51:6, Psalm 89:16, , Daniel 9:24, Jeremiah 23:6.
Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah contains divine revelation about God's future righteousness whereas Micah does not. Contrast these verses with Micah 6:8 and you will find that 6:8 is void of any such language about God's future righteousness. It is possible to relate any of the previous verses directly to the epistles of Paul, the book of Acts etc. However Micah 6:8 takes us only as far as the gospels (e.g. Matt 9:13).
For example, these two verses are not a good match, since 6:8 is about being a good boy by our righteousness to please God, and Eph 2:8 is about pleasing God by accepting His righteousness, despite being a naughty boy.
Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves
In contrast, these two are a good match, because one says righteousness is only in the Lord, and the other says righteousness is not of ourselves (implying righteousness is only in the Lord).
Isaiah 45:24-25
They will say of Me, '
Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves
The divine revelation about Christ will relate to the epistles of Paul, as I have shown.