Morality-forming in the Age of Conscience

[donfriesen1]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

Abraham lived between the Garden and Sinai.

Here is what God said of His friend:

Genesis 26:5 (ESV),

5 ...Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws...

The Hebrew text for "laws" is וְתוֹרֹתָֽי - wə·ṯō·w·rō·ṯāy, from the Hebrew word torah.

See: https://biblehub.com/interlinear/genesis/26-5.htm

The LXX uses νομιμα - no·mi·ma, from the Greek word nomos.

See: https://biblehub.com/sepd/genesis/26.htm

How did Abraham achieve this obedience to God's law, if as you have claimed in this thread, as your opening point no less, that people in this time "had no law of God"?

Awesome point you make. Thank You.

Scripture says that God was not known by the name Jehovah until a certain time, Exodus 6:3. Yet we see the name Jehovah mentioned at the Beginning. The explanation for this seeming contradiction is that the writer of the Torah, Moses, applied the terms common in his day to events which had preceded his existence. And does this explain why the terms applied to Abraham's obedience were Law terms? Maybe. Maybe not.

Paul says (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. It is Paul who says there is no law, and somehow we must reconcile what he says with what we see in other places. How do you, votivesoul, reconcile Paul's statement with your claim, when they are contradictory.

God speaks words to individuals in the Age of Conscience. Noah, being one. Abraham and Hagar being others. But does personal communication to one constitute giving of law, applicable to all? If God speaks to an individual is it not right to think it is truth? Yes, truth which may or may not be applicable to another. What God said to Hagar was meant for her alone. Does God have covenant with Hagar? Does God only speak with those he has covenant with?

Moses wrote the Torah containing the words God spoke to Abraham. God borrows the methods used in the language of the day - repetition for clarification and emphasis. The words God first said to Abraham, were hundreds of years later applied to what was given at Sinai. What you have said does not prove that there was law between the Garden and Sinai. It proves God's commendation of Abraham was so noteworthy that the words were memorialized in uses in other instances.

Plz try again to disprove Paul concepts (not mine), by showing that he was wrong to say there was no law. I only refer to what he said when saying there was no law between the Garden and Sinai. Good luck with effectively contradicting Paul. You'll need it.

Plz, votivesoul, also comment on the source for morality for those of that time, if you would plz.