So then, in my last post we looked at some scripture to form a base for Paul, whether he really preached that the law was done away with or not. Today I would like to begin to explore Jesus' relationship with the law.
Some will say that we don't need to follow the law because it was the shadow that lead us to Christ (Hebrews 10:1 and Colossians 2:17, we will discuss these deeper on a future post). And many would say that the only commands that we are to follow, the ones being spoken about in 1 John, are simply the commands of Jesus, not the Old Testament commands. So let's jump right into the scripture and see what the Messiah's actions and words say about the law and what his commands actually were.
Matthew 8:4 (Jesus healed the leper) Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
Matthew 23:1-2 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
John 7:19 "Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law."
Mark 7:6-13 "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
(I'll be revisiting Mark 7 concerning dietary law in a future post.)
Doesn't sound like Jesus is speaking against the law of Moses. Sounds like he is angry that the Pharisees DO NOT PRACTICE IT PROPERLY! The truth is, they constantly added their own traditions on top of the law and made it too hard for the people to keep.
Note he is referring to Mosaic law as "the word of God" here. Mosaic law is still considered an authoritative word of God according to Jesus, and he is angry that the Pharisees are letting it go, setting it aside and nullifying it because of their man made traditions. According to Deuteronomy 12:32, the Pharisees were breaking the law of God when they added their oral laws to it .
Some will say that we don't need to follow the law because it was the shadow that lead us to Christ (Hebrews 10:1 and Colossians 2:17, we will discuss these deeper on a future post). And many would say that the only commands that we are to follow, the ones being spoken about in 1 John, are simply the commands of Jesus, not the Old Testament commands. So let's jump right into the scripture and see what the Messiah's actions and words say about the law and what his commands actually were.
Matthew 8:4 (Jesus healed the leper) Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
Matthew 23:1-2 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matthew 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
John 7:19 "Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law."
Mark 7:6-13 "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
(I'll be revisiting Mark 7 concerning dietary law in a future post.)
Doesn't sound like Jesus is speaking against the law of Moses. Sounds like he is angry that the Pharisees DO NOT PRACTICE IT PROPERLY! The truth is, they constantly added their own traditions on top of the law and made it too hard for the people to keep.
Note he is referring to Mosaic law as "the word of God" here. Mosaic law is still considered an authoritative word of God according to Jesus, and he is angry that the Pharisees are letting it go, setting it aside and nullifying it because of their man made traditions. According to Deuteronomy 12:32, the Pharisees were breaking the law of God when they added their oral laws to it .
The Messiah and the Law - Part 2
Luke 11:27-28 ...a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
In Matthew 4 -- We find Jesus standing against the temptations of Satan by quoting Deuteronomy. Interestingly enough, two of those quotes are from Deuteronomy 6, which was a clear warning and reminder to Israel that they MUST obey the commands, decrees and laws of the LORD God, "so that it may go well" with them.
In Matthew 4:4 he also quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
John 8:54-55 "My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me... I do know Him and keep His word."
John 17:16-17 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth."
While talking about "the word", consider this:
John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
If Jesus is the Word, and we think that he did away with certain laws, in essence doesn't that mean that he did away with a part of himself?
AND if the law is a shadow, the reality of which is Christ, why do we think that the shadow could somehow not be a fair representation of his person? If I saw a shadow of a person on my driveway and walk around the corner of the house to find it was cast by an elephant I would know something was terribly wrong. But somehow it seems that many are fine with the shadow not being an accurate representation of the Messiah. Maybe we just never think about these types of things? But clearly, something is not right.
In Luke 16 is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And in Jesus' parable, Abraham is speaking to the rich man in Hades who wants his brothers to be warned about his torment by the dead poor man, Lazarus. "He [Abraham] said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
Luke 18:18-20 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"
It is important to note, the list Jesus gave are examples of the law, not the exclusive list showing that nothing else is required anymore. Do you think that by not mentioning beastiality that he is allowing us to have relations with animals? Or that because he does not mention idol worship that we may now commit idolatry? Of course not! He is clearly mentioning these to give a clear reference the commands God gave Moses.
Matthew 5:17-20 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."
I have heard people try to explain this verse away. They say that Christ fulfilling the law means "brought it to it's end or conclusion". That means Jesus would have been saying that he didn't come to abolish (put to an end) the law, but to fulfill (conclude, thereby end) the law. So he didn't come to end the law, but to finish it? Isn't that the same thing or am I missing something? And wouldn't Jesus be contradicting himself when he says that even though he came to end the law, that none of it will disappear until heaven and earth do? Heaven and earth are still here! Umm... Jesus are you feeling okay? If he was saying he came to end the law, then why would anyone who teaches another to break the least of the commands have to be least in the kingdom? I am sorry, but I don't buy this interpretation. In my opinion, this verse means exactly what it says.
For a deeper look into this verse, the Greek word for "fulfill" here is "pleroo" it can mean to bring to an end, but it's foremost definition is "to make full, to fill up, to fill to the full, to cause to abound". The context of the rest of the passage really makes it clear which way Jesus is using the word.
Look for yourself:
www.blueletterbible.org
Stay tuned The Messiah and the Law - Part 3 is coming soon!
Upcoming topics:
Jesus a Sabbath breaker or Sabbath keeper?
Is our Christian theology keeping Jews from accepting Jesus as their Messiah?
What qualifications does Jesus have to meet in order to be the Messiah?
In Matthew 4 -- We find Jesus standing against the temptations of Satan by quoting Deuteronomy. Interestingly enough, two of those quotes are from Deuteronomy 6, which was a clear warning and reminder to Israel that they MUST obey the commands, decrees and laws of the LORD God, "so that it may go well" with them.
In Matthew 4:4 he also quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
John 8:54-55 "My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me... I do know Him and keep His word."
John 17:16-17 "They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth."
While talking about "the word", consider this:
John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
If Jesus is the Word, and we think that he did away with certain laws, in essence doesn't that mean that he did away with a part of himself?
AND if the law is a shadow, the reality of which is Christ, why do we think that the shadow could somehow not be a fair representation of his person? If I saw a shadow of a person on my driveway and walk around the corner of the house to find it was cast by an elephant I would know something was terribly wrong. But somehow it seems that many are fine with the shadow not being an accurate representation of the Messiah. Maybe we just never think about these types of things? But clearly, something is not right.
In Luke 16 is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. And in Jesus' parable, Abraham is speaking to the rich man in Hades who wants his brothers to be warned about his torment by the dead poor man, Lazarus. "He [Abraham] said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
Luke 18:18-20 A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good — except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"
It is important to note, the list Jesus gave are examples of the law, not the exclusive list showing that nothing else is required anymore. Do you think that by not mentioning beastiality that he is allowing us to have relations with animals? Or that because he does not mention idol worship that we may now commit idolatry? Of course not! He is clearly mentioning these to give a clear reference the commands God gave Moses.
Matthew 5:17-20 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."
I have heard people try to explain this verse away. They say that Christ fulfilling the law means "brought it to it's end or conclusion". That means Jesus would have been saying that he didn't come to abolish (put to an end) the law, but to fulfill (conclude, thereby end) the law. So he didn't come to end the law, but to finish it? Isn't that the same thing or am I missing something? And wouldn't Jesus be contradicting himself when he says that even though he came to end the law, that none of it will disappear until heaven and earth do? Heaven and earth are still here! Umm... Jesus are you feeling okay? If he was saying he came to end the law, then why would anyone who teaches another to break the least of the commands have to be least in the kingdom? I am sorry, but I don't buy this interpretation. In my opinion, this verse means exactly what it says.
For a deeper look into this verse, the Greek word for "fulfill" here is "pleroo" it can mean to bring to an end, but it's foremost definition is "to make full, to fill up, to fill to the full, to cause to abound". The context of the rest of the passage really makes it clear which way Jesus is using the word.
Look for yourself:
www.blueletterbible.org
Stay tuned The Messiah and the Law - Part 3 is coming soon!
Upcoming topics:
Jesus a Sabbath breaker or Sabbath keeper?
Is our Christian theology keeping Jews from accepting Jesus as their Messiah?
What qualifications does Jesus have to meet in order to be the Messiah?