In recent days, I have had some interesting dialogue among friends regarding how we are to live, how to follow Christ and where does the "law" as defined in the Old Testememnt comes to play.
This may be a bit lengthy, and no doubt it will become a reason to spark debate. I am not writing to enter debate. I am writing to state a truth...a truth that was established by God, was fulfilled by His son and is perfected in His children. There is no debate in which to engage.
John 13:34 states: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus, whom the Pharisees and keepers of the law deny, made this statement to the disciples. He was establishing that there was a new and better way being put into motion. He was about to offer Himself as the final sacrifice - something that once occurring would eliminate the need to continue the law's practice of sacrifice. To eliminate part of the law and to keep other sections is to pick and choose what part of the law will be followed. Such action would later prove in scripture to be a source of great confusion. God is not the author of confusion.
In John 9, Jesus healed a blind man. He apparantly made a mistake because He healed the man on the wrong day. It was the Sabbath. Jesus ignored the law. The Pharisees were furious! They declared that Jesus was NOT ofGod because He ignored the law. Then, they turned their judgmental attack to the man who had the misfortune of being healed on the wrong day. They excommunicated him. Their reason: "You are a disciple of Jesus. We are disciples of Moses." They made the distinction between those who are true Christians and those who are not. Jesus bypassed the law of Moses and the follower he converted in that moment was an outcast.
The Law of Moses is the previous covenant. The Law of love is the law of Christ. His covenant supersedes the covenant.
In Matthew 5, Jesus communicated that He did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it.
To fulfill: The Greek word fulfill is πληρόω (pronounced pla-ro'-o). It means to make full, accomplish, make complete, to perfor or execute.
This is the same Jesus who healed on the Sabbath, violating the law. His next statement was that "...not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled." That would include among other things animal sacrifice. At the cross, the contract of the Old Covenant was fulfilled. The contract was paid. The first indicator of the change from Old Covenant practice was immediate. The veil in the temple - the barrier between God and man - the wall for Holy of Holies, where the priests would sprinkle the blood that was offered by the law - was ripped open. It demonstrated that the Holy of Holies was no longer holding court in the temple. There was now no place to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice of the law! The disciples of Moses had no means of fulfilling their lawful responsibilities.
But wait! The next thing Jesus said was this:
"Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:19
See. Perhaps the law is still on track. But what is missed is that He said whoever breaks the least of these shall be called the least in the kingdom. But this would mean that such a person is still connected to the Kingdom. You are either part of that Kingdom or you are not. The context of what Jesus was communicating through His entire message is ignored as these verses are 'cherry-picked" and taken out of context. He was offering "commands" or, in Greek, (en-to-la') which is defined as an order, a precept, or a charge. Even the Strong offers that by Jewish tradition, this word infers the Mosaic law. Again, you cannot dismiss that Jesus intentionally violated that law.
He was referring to all that He had just taught. He had just offered detailed instructions or "commands" on how to fulfill the Law of Christ which is the Law of Love. It is defined in the first 15 verses of Matthew 5. It is an exposition on how to be salt and light, and how to let people see the love of Christ.
Righteousness is not found in what you eat or in making certain that your clothes are not made of blended fabric. It is not found in making certain that animal you are about to sacrifice is truly unblemished. That is the righteousness of Pharisees and ours is supposed to exceed that righteousness. You cannot exceed that righteousness by trying to live by that law. You have to live by a superseding covenant: a New Covenant that is addressed in the heart.
Do not murder. Yet murder begins in the tongue. The very word "murder" finds its roots in the "word of your mouth". It is the wrong judgment of those who live "less than" you live. And even if you do not actually say it, according to Jesus, are commit it of you are carrying it in your thoughts. Because those thoughts run contrary to the Law of Love.
Under the Old Covenant, I have to sell my car. The seats are made of blended materials, including the leather of unclean animals. I have to replace my wardrobe because my clothing also has blended materials. I need to stop everything at sundown on Friday until until sundown on Saturday. Or, since the Pharisees ignored that one, (after all, Jesus reminded them that if their ox fell into a ditch, they would violate the sabbath to rescue it...apparantly as long as it wasn't blind and needed healing) perhaps we can let that go.
Under the Old Covenant I must make certain that I have appropriate housing for my slaves, which now allows me to consider that Old Covenant reality allows me to have slaves. And you can try to wordsmith this but the Old Testament minced NO WORDS about the definition of a slave. Ask ANY Jew their opinion of that sort of oppression.
I am also now heavy in my heart because after being involved in a ministry wherein we have had to deal with rape cases, if I am to fulfill the law, there are a number of women who did not disclose their rape to anyone before they married. As it became apparent that their virginity was not intact, we must now fulfill the law and kill them.
The "Law" leaves NO room for forgiveness...only atonement when the correct steps and sacrifices have been processed.
Micah 6:6-8 was an Old Testement prophetic word that spoke of the "New Requirement" - the one that Jesus would teach in under the New Covenant.
"With what shall I come before the LORD, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:6-8
Micah was prophesying that the Old Covenant measures were being made obsolete by God because a New Covenant was about to be established.
Consider this. Peter brought specific correction to the Christian leaders of the early church. He admonished them because they were forcing those who embraced Christ to subject themselves to the law. He told the leaders that they were wrong to enforce the requirements of the law.
"And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Acts 15:7-11
Paul and Barnabus followed up in this manner:
"For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." Acts 15:28-29
No one can keep every part of the law. It is impossible. But it is NOT impossible to fulfill the Law of Christ - the Law of Love. It is the New Covenant.
