Monday, February 25, 2019

Spiritual Formation and The Law (pt. 5 Jesus did not come to abolish the Law)

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“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Matthew 5:17-19)

Often times people want Jesus to be on their side of a debate. This can be seen when a person takes a quote from the Bible and supposes that it shows their view is identical to Jesus’view. In this way, Jesus becomes a republican, a democrat, a feminist, a communist, an anarchist, a liberationist, a humanitarian, and just about anything else you want Jesus to be. However, He was a first-century Jew and lived under Imperial Roman occupation during the Second-Temple period. Therefore, you can force anachronistic ideologies on Him; but perhaps it would be better to meet Him in His first-century world. Moreover, listen to Him in His Second-Temple context, because after all, that was the audience He was speaking to.

[In next week’s blog, we’ll explore more of the context of Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount]

What then did His audience hear? “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Ibid. Matthew 5:17). Jesus sets the Law alongside the Prophets, which in His Second-Temple setting was a common way of saying, the whole of Jewish Scriptures (Norman L. Geisler and William E Nix, Kindle Location 1483). Jesus also sets fulfillment as the contrast to abolishment. Therefore, Jesus understood Himself to be the fulfillment of Judaism.

Jesus goes on to say, “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Ibid. Matthew 5:18). His listeners heard, that not one yodh or dot would disappear from the Hebrew Bible until its fulfillment. The yodh is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet, in fact it’s the smallest and looks like an apostrophe [ ’ ] . The dot is what is called a serif. Look at these English letters, b, p, d, and q. Notice that they are essentially the same shape, but we know which letter it is because of which way it’s facing and weather the line goes up or down from the o shape. In Hebrew, the serif does something similar, the letter bet ℶ and kaf כ are essentially the same shape, but the serif distinguishes. The same is true for the letters vav ו and resh ן. So, not the smallest ’ or slight variation of a letter can disappear from the Hebrew Scriptures until their fulfillment. (Boice, 43)

A good question would be, when is their fulfillment? Perhaps a good follow up question would be, what did Jesus understand about their fulfillment? Remember what He said on the road to Emmaus? “[Jesus] said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Ibid. Luke 24:25-26). How did Jesus start His public ministry?

[Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Ibid. Luke 4:16-21).

Jesus’ role was to fulfill the Laws and the Prophets, the whole of Judaism. Do other New Testament authors understand Him in the same way? A definitive yes. Consider what Paul writes, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Romans 10:4).

With that, this blog is getting to very close to ‘Too Long Didn’t Read’. We’ll pick it up there next week.

Written by Pastor Ozzy

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Works Cited

Boice, James Montgomery. 1986. Foundations of the Christian Faith: A Comprehensive & Readable Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.

Norman L. Geisler and William E Nix. 2013. From God to Us How We God Our Bibles. Matthews: Bastion Books.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Spiritual Formation and The Law (pt. 4 What did the Early Church preach?)

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You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Romans 2:22-23)?

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all (Ibid. James 2:10).

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near (Ibid. Hebrews 10:1).

On Pentecost following Christ’s resurrection, the Jesus movement morphed from a Galilean Messianic movement into an assembly that preached Christ risen from the dead and the reconciliation between God and mankind. Between seventeen and twenty years later, that assembly was facing a dilemma. What does the Old Testament Law have to do with people under the New Covenant instituted by their risen Messiah?

For years following that Pentecost, followers of Jesus had preached Him as the Messiah, but mostly to other Second Temple Jews. They were an audience that had lived by Kosher laws their whole lives. For them, it wasn’t something you did on a certain day of the week, it was their lives. Then something changed. They preached the good news of Jesus to the Samaritans (Acts 8:4-25), a group that most Second Temple Jews hated and saw as half-Jews. However, God gave this group the Holy Spirit (8:17), and the Church accepted them. This was a stretch, but the cultic practices of the Samaritans were similar to those of the Jews, including circumcision (Pummer and Tal, 58).

Then another change, God used Peter to spread the message to uncircumcised Gentiles (Acts 10). As Peter was speaking the message to them, the Holy Spirit fell upon them (10:44), before they were baptized and without becoming Jewish proselytes. The message of reconciliation to God through Jesus continued to spread, first to Antioch and then further into the Gentile world. Emphasis on the fact that it was the good news of Christ and not the Law of Moses that was reconciling people to God.

This is what caused the church to face the dilemma. What does the Old Testament Law have to do with people under the New Covenant? At the church council, Peter reminded them about God using him to spread the message to the Gentiles (15:7-11). Paul and Barnabas told about conversions among the Gentiles to Jesus, but not to the Law (15:12). Finally, James cited the Old Testament itself has indicating that Gentiles would seek God (15:16-18). Then the council came to the conclusion, Gentiles did not need to be circumcised, but only to abstain from foods sacrificed to idols, from fornication and from eating blood (15:19-20). This seems to implicitly suggest that people reconciled to God through Jesus are not obligated to follow the Old Testament Law.

Is this decision in line with the teachings of Jesus? In the Gospel of Matthew, didn't Jesus say that He had not come to abolish the Law? Next week, we’ll examine Jesus’ words on this topic.

Written by Pastor Ozzy

For more information, visit our website

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Works Cited

1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.

Pummer, Reinhard, and Abraham Tal. 1992. Samaritan Marriage Contracts and Deeds of Divorce, Volume 1. Wiesbanden: Otto Harrassowitz.

Monday, February 11, 2019

Spiritual Formation and The Law (pt. 3 The Old Testament's view of The Law)

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For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Romans 2:25).

So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left (Ibid. Deuteronomy 5:32).

It should come as no surprise just how complicated the relationship between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant is. In fact, as was mentioned in the last blog, the early church had to have a Council and debate Old Testament commands in the light of New Covenant theology (Acts 15). Since the majority of the Jerusalem Council leadership was most likely made up of 1^st century Jews, it is likely that we get a historically accurate 1^st century Jewish understanding of the Law. Although circumcision can be understood as the crux of the issue, notice that the sect of Christian Pharisees argue that gentile converts need not only be circumcised, but also instructed to follow the Law of Moses (15:5). Therefore, it seems these 1^st century Jews did not think of the Law of Moses as something which one could segment and pick and choose from.

This mindset is also seen in the Old Testament and specifically in the Law itself.[1] A few examples will suffice, “… do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left…” (Ibid Deuteronomy 28:14). The Law promised penalties against the Israelites and it must be noted what would bring about those penalties, “But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments” (Ibid. Leviticus 26:14). Hence, the Law does not allow for picking and choosing.

There are examples in the Old Testament where people attempted to disregard some laws and follow others. King Jeroboam, amongst other changes, installed priests who were not from the tribe of Levi (1 Kings 12:31). The Law indicated that only Levites could be priests (Deuteronomy 18:1-8, Exodus 29:9). Ezra records that after the deportation, he was upset at some of the exiles, because they had been taking wives from non-Israelite nations (10:10-43), which was against the Law (Exodus 34:15-16, Deuteronomy 7:3). Then, it seems that the Old Testament did not have a segmented view of the Law, but that violating one part was breaking the whole. It also seems that that perspective was handed down in second Temple Judaism, which is why the Pharisaic party in Acts 15 believed this.

So far, it does not seem that Paul or the Old Testament support a segmenting view of the Law, next week we’ll return to the New Testament as we continue to ask, “What is a Christian’s relationship to the Old Testament Law?” (Click Part 4)

Written by Pastor Ozzy

For more information, visit our website

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Works Cited

1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.

[1] This work assumes Mosaic authorship and thus rejects the documentary hypothesis.

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Spiritual Formation and The Law (pt. 2 Law Segmented)

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So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord. (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, Leviticus 22:31)

What you have been taught by your church, denomination, upbringing, parents, or whatever your background, it will inform how you answer the question, “What is a Christian’s relationship to the Old Testament [OT] Law?” Some denominations or groups have taught a segmenting of the OT Law into categories like judicial, ceremonial and moral laws. They would perhaps argue that OT sacrifices and offerings (Lev. 1-7:38) are examples of ceremonial laws, but sexual relationship laws (Lev. 18) are moral. They may reason that the same way the Articles of Confederation were superseded by the U.S. Constitution in 1789, ceremonial laws under the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 19-24) were superseded by the ceremonial rite of the New Covenant (Lk. 22:20, Heb. 8). They may then maintain that the moral laws of the Mosaic Covenant are still obligatory under the New Covenant. This may be an example of ingrained theology, and if you were raised in a denomination or group that taught this, perhaps you’ve never questioned it. Also, questioning such a position may quickly raise party loyalties, but since it will have a direct bearing on answering our question, “What is a Christian’s relationship to OT Laws?”, we must bring it up.

A good starting point may be with the idea of segmenting the OT Laws into judicial, ceremonial and moral groups. This is a feature found in the 16^th century reformation, but does it reflect the mind set of New Testament authors? In the first century, we know of a faction within the NT Church that thought that when Gentiles come to faith in Christ, they need to be circumcised according to the Mosaic Covenant (Acts 15:1).[1] Regardless of if Paul wrote the book of Galatians before or after this Acts 15 council, he wrote that, “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law” (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible, 5:2-3). Please understand that in the mind of the Judaizer, the proselyte undergoing circumcision was the initiation act to join the Covenant community, meaning an adaption of the Jewish lifestyle as a whole (Dunn, 265).

In this passage, Paul’s use of language is an attempt to emphasis that he is speaking with full force, “I Paul say to you” (Witherington, 366). And Paul’s argument is clear, if a person submits to this one ceremonial law, then they are obligated to observing the whole Law (Ibid.).

With such language, does it seem that Paul thought of the Law as being something that could be segmented? Next week, we’ll examine the Old Testament. (Click Part 3)

Written by Pastor Ozzy

For more information, visit our website

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Works Cited

Dunn, James D. G. 1993. The Epistle to the Galatians. Black’s New Testament Commentary. London: Continuum.

1995. Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible. LaHabra: The Lockman Foundation.

Witherington, Ben III. 1998. Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

[1] Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 17:11); however, in the Lucian text Moses as opposed to Abraham, is specifically referenced.