I know this is controversial topic but I would like to know what anyone else thinks on this topic. Personally I think men should have beards. According:
Lev 19:27: You shall not round off the corner of your head, and you shall not destroy the edge of your beard.
Any other scriptures that confirm or change this?
"Any other scriptures that confirm or change this?"
yep........
"Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus , so that they might bring us into slavery—"
Galatians 2:4
Paul continues
"But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew , live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."
Galatians 2:14-16
amen an amen. wanna grow a beard? perfectly fine.
wanna hit the ole Barbasol an a razor?
its fine with Messiah Jesus.
This was a requirement of the old covenant, the law. Paul and the writer of Hebrews are very plain about how we should treat the carnal ordinances of the old covenant. (I say carnal in that it was up to us to keep them in our flesh. This was the weakness of the law. See Rom. 7)
Col 2:14-17
(14) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
(15) And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
(16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
(17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
The ordinances of the law, be it the ten commandments (2 Cor. 3:7) or the other various ordinances (Col. 2:14-18) were only shadows of that which is to come. If you really study Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews we find plainly stated in no uncertain terms that we are no longer bound by the old covenant to keep the laws and ordinances of that covenant.
So, if you accept that you must not shave your beard, then you must also accept that you must keep ALL of the ordinances of the law. Did you offer sacrifices at the last new moon? Are you wearing clothing that is a blend of fabrics? Do you eat of anything unclean? Did you perform the required purification rituals the last time you attended a funeral or disposed of your dead goldfish? Are you keeping the true sabbath day? Are you keeping all of the sabbath feasts and festivals? Did you let your land lay fallow the seventh year? James 2:10.
I have only worn a beard once in my life. It was so itchy and irritating that I wonder why anyone would want to wear that ball of hair around on his face continually. :-)
I think that hair on your face is not at all relevant to salvation or to relationship with God. God is pleased with you through your faith in what Jesus did, hair or no hair.
Edit: By the way, no controversy here. If you want to have a beard, go for it. But if the beard is grown in an effort to please God by keeping law, Paul says you are bewitched and have believed a lie. He says to return to law from grace is to fall from grace. I guess it all has to do with your motivation. According to Paul in Colossians, if you desire to wear a beard (or keep feasts and sabbaths) simply out of your own will to worship God, then that is great. Under the new covenant, if I think keeping the law is my way to relationship with God, I am into legalism and am not in grace. If I want to keep a law simply because I love God and desire to separate myself in some way, that is fine and I should not let anyone condemn me for this voluntary act of will worship.
Only if you're Amish!!
If you want to obey that command as a personal thing for yourself, by all means. But if you push it upon others, your treading on areas that provoke God to anger.
Thanks.
I still think men should have beards. It makes them look manly.
It is true that Leviticus is part of the law. I still wonder what the reason behind this law was though.
Pagan's of the time had shaved faces and so to sperate God's peope from the Pagan world it was set up as a social law. Or at least that is what I was told when I asked this question :)
Gee whisakers, that is okay for some. I tried growing the thing, it's just too itchy. A goatee is better, or a moustache. To each his own.I still think men should have beards. It makes them look manly.
As for reasons why it was included in the law, beats me.
If you are growing a beard as a form of righteousness or keeping the law then you are in plain error. The gospel sets us free from the mosiac laws requirements. But it is not bad to see some good principles from the law and obey them by the Spirit.
As for the beard it makes more sense to grow it then to shave it. Less work in some ways. Also its more natural and the way men of old lived.
But it has no value biblically for a new testament Christian and do not fall into that error.
I'm sorry. I dont use that scripture and force it on people. I just showed it, to show why i have a beard.
I dont have a beard to follow the law, but because the law said people should have beards i believe that there is a purpose for a man having a beard but not because it would be a sin not to have one.
Hope that makes sense.
If you are growing a beard as a form of righteousness or keeping the law then you are in plain error. The gospel sets us free from the mosiac laws requirements. But it is not bad to see some good principles from the law and obey them by the Spirit. As for the beard it makes more sense to grow it then to shave it. Less work in some ways. Also its more natural and the way men of old lived.
Thanks. This is what i was trying to say.
We don't have to obey the Mosaic Law.
"For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." (Heb 7:12)
I don't think men should resist the growth of their beards by shaving.
"male and female created he them." (Gen 1:27)
I still wonder what the reason behind this law was though.
Here are some scriptures for you to read in context and study.
Gal 3:19-25
(19) Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
(20) Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
(21) Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
(22) But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
(23) But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
(24) Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
(25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Rom 7:7-13
(7) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
(8) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
(9) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
(10) And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
(11) For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
(12) Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
(13) Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 3:19-23
(19) Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
(20) Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
(21) But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
(22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
(23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Really, all of Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews deal with the law and grace. I suggest also spending some time in Hebrews 9 and 10.
As for the beard it makes more sense to grow it then to shave it. Less work in some ways. Also its more natural and the way men of old lived.
To each his own I guess. Also makes more sense to bathe once a week. Less water usage and less work. But the stench???? :-) Actually, I could never have been Amish. I grow a very poor beard.
I think you understand me wrong.
I dont have a beard to follow the law, but because the law said people should have beards i believe that there is a purpose for a man having a beard but not because it would be a sin not to have one.
Then it sounds to me like you have a proper perspective on things. I am not sure why the beard was part of the law either.
Reminds me of a joke. Punch line...Once shaved, always shaved. :-)
Beards originally come from God.
Little girls don't have beards.
Women don't have beards.
Little boys don't have beards.
Grown (post-pubescent) men have beards.
Some women are exceptions to God's general design and have more facial hair than average. Some men are exceptions to God's general design and have less facial hair than average.
It seems like beard shaving came from ungodly idolaters.
Beard shaving makes you look more like a boy or a woman if you remove it completely.
Partially shaved beard styles look frivolous, vain, silly, etc.
Nature teaches that men should have beards.
But to each her own. ;)
"male and female created he them." (Gen 1:27)
Amen. the simple truth is women should have long hair and men beards for the fact that it sets us apart. Let us not legalistically inforce this but it is good to have a clear distinction between men and women and that is the way God desires and designed it.
Modern culture and even church culture blurries the lines between the male and female.
Just an interesting tidbit. Many native American peoples, such as the Cherokee, do not grow facial hair, or much body hair for that matter, due to their genetic makeup. This is not just a few men here or there, but the majority of the population. It was only when they began to be genetically mixed with people of European descent that they began to be able to grow beards. Would nature not have taught these people that men cannot grow beards?
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