AquilaChrysaetos, on 31 January 2013 - 03:48 AM, said:
This has been a personal quandry of mine for some time now, and I'm simply curious as to what other people interpret this as...
You ask some very good questions, and here's my take on them. First, Matthew 5:17-18 states that Jesus came not to abolish the Law but to "fulfil" the law. I think it important to know what Jesus meant by fulfilling the Law. For as soon as he says this (two verses later), he says "You have heard that it was said, "do not murder".... but I tell you that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murder". Did Jesus "change" the Law? Yes, but he did not abolish it. What he did was give the Law a deeper meaning. The physical Law "do not murder" has been "fulfilled" to a new spiritual meaning - be not angry with your brother ("brother", being anyone you come across, not just your blood kin).
Jesus goes on to fulfil several other laws, giving spiritual meaning to physical laws. This is punctuated by the repetition of "You have heard it said.... but I tell you....". Thus the physical rule of adultery now has a new spiritual meaning - do not lust after that beautiful woman (sorry, no more internet porn). It is in this context that your next Bible quote comes - "You have heard that it was said, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", but I tell you....". This Law was intended for magistrates when dealing with judicial law, back in the Old Testament. However, Jews in the 1st Century had adopted this rule to try and use it as justification for revenge. Jesus said that this was not the way to be, and in fact if someone is unjust to you then you should not seek revenge, instead you should be humble and show them your humbleness.
Your next quote refers to the Sabbath. What you read here is an example of Pharisaic Legality. You see, it was long believed by the Jews that their conquering by the Babylonians back in 590-580 BC was due to their sin and unrighteousness (that is how the Old Testament describes it). Thus when the Jews were allowed to repopulate their homeland and rebuild the Temple, the priests put preventative measures in place to ensure that they could never displease God in such a way again. They began to add stipulations to the Law to ensure that they kept the Law to the letter. The ambiguity of "do not work on the Sabbath" was added to with little stipulations so people knew exactly what did and did not comprise "work". If you saw a man dying of thirst in the street, you could not rush out to give him water for that would be work. However, if the man knocked on your door and came inside, you could offer him water as a matter of hospitality. By using these rigid laws, the Pharisees hoped that they would not break God's law, not even accidentally.
In doing so, however, they lost the intention of the Law. Keeping the Law became more important than Loving your neighbour. Healing a man on the Sabbath became wrong, no matter how much good it did. Jesus rallied against such Pharisaic righteousness, teaching love rather than strict obedience to the rules (not even God's rules, the rules of the Pharisees that were added to God's Law).
Also there is a small matter of Hebrews 4, whereby it can be argued that just as murder has been given a spiritual meaning, so too has the Sabbath been given a spiritual meaning, no longer setting aside a single day in the week to devote to God but through the deposit of the Holy Spirit we have a continuous Sabbath rest in heaven. But that's really beyond the scope of this post (which is already overly long, I think).
Finally you bring up your last quote from Jesus, where Jesus is asked which commandments to follow. He only quotes six of the ten commandments. I would not say he is "selective" in which ones to keep. Rather you need to look at a broader context. Which of the ten commandments did he quote and which did he leave out?
Commandments quoted:
* Do not murder
* Do not steal
* Do not commit adultery
* Do not steal
* Do not give false testimony
* Honour your father and mother
Commandments left out:
* You shall have no other gods before me
* You shall not make an idol
* You shall not use God's name in vain
* Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy
Do you notice what these four left out have in common and how they differ from the other six? These commandments deal with how people are to relate to God, whereas the other six deal with how people are to relate to each other. So Jesus quoted only those commandments related to people, to which the rich man declares "All these I have kept since I was a boy". Jesus then says one more thing (you didn't quote this, so I thought it would be helpful):
Quote
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The passage then goes on to say that the man walked away sad, for he had great wealth and therefore didn't do as was asked. Selling his possessions and then following Jesus could be said to encapsulate the four commandments Jesus did not quote - since these dealt with how the man related to God. In this case, the man cared more about his money than he did about God (no other gods before me - money can be said to be a god if you put all you have into acquiring it). This is a sharp warning for us today, especially in the West, since we have so much. Do we care more about our acquisition of wealth, our internet and our lifestyle, or do we care more about God? I'm not advocating we all give up all we have and sell it to the poor, but for some people if they really are so attached to what they own, that may actually be one way to get back to following God.
In any case, Jesus was not being selective in his choice of commandments, he chose the six commandments related to dealing with other people and then hit directly at the heart of things - the man's relationship with God.
Well, those are my thoughts on the passages you cited. I hope you don't get bored reading this, I do apologise for the length. Unfortunately, it's not a quick thing to answer something such as this
~ Regards, PA
Edited by Paranoid Android, 31 January 2013 - 07:58 AM.
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