Posts

Showing posts with the label Torah

The Greater Lawgiver

Image
In the  Gospel of Matthew , the life, words, and deeds of Jesus echo key events in the history of Israel; not that he reenacts them, but rather he brings the things that God began in the past to their intended fulfillments. He is the Greater Lawgiver foreshadowed in the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. By presenting parallels between Moses and Jesus, Matthew sets the stage for the teachings of the “ Coming One ,” especially as represented by his ‘ Sermon on the Mount ’.

Authority over the Sabbath

Image
Religious leaders from Jerusalem began to object to the looseness of Jesus to their Sabbath traditions, but he used the opportunity to show that the “ Son of Man ” is “ Lord ” even over that day. God did cease His creative activities on the seventh day, but its formal establishment as a regulated day on which no work was to be done did not occur until the Torah was given through Moses at Mount Sinai (“ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy ”).

Even an Angel

Image
After a curt introduction, Paul began his  Letter to the Galatians  with a stern warning and a sharp rebuke. What some members of the congregation were contemplating would replace Jesus with a false messiah and a counterfeit gospel. Abandoning the “ faith of Jesus Christ ” by engaging in circumcision and other “ works of the law ” for justification before God would lead inevitably to being severed from Christ. Thus, the seriousness of his language.

Law and Prophets

Image
Fulfillment is a prominent theme in the  Gospel of Matthew . With the arrival of Israel’s Messiah, the time of fulfillment commenced. But with his advent, what were the implications for the Law? In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus provided clear answers. He did not come to adjudicate the interpretive disputes between competing Jewish sects over the details of the Law, or to validate which oral traditions were correct, but instead, to fulfill the “ Law and the Prophets .”

The Works of the Law

Image
Sin is the Great Leveler that places everyone in the same predicament: Bondage now, death and “ wrath ” later. No one is exempt from the penalty of sin, and no one has a legitimate excuse for trespassing the commandment of God who will “ render to each according to his works .” But what, precisely, did the Apostle Paul mean when he brought “ works ” into the discussion? Good deeds and human efforts in general, or something more specific?

Why, Then, the Law?

If a man is not justified from the works of the Law, what was the purpose of the Law given at Sinai?  –  Galatians 3:19 .  In his letter to   the Galatians, Paul declares that we are set right with God from the “ faith of Jesus Christ ” and not “ from the works of the Law .” But if keeping the “ works of the Law ” does not justify us, inevitably, this raises the question - What was the purpose of the  Torah ? Paul answers this question in the third chapter of his letter.

Doing the Whole Law

Anyone who is under the Law of Moses is obligated to keep all its required deeds and rituals, and therefore, risks coming under its curse .  In  Galatians , Paul responds to teachings from certain “ men from Jerusalem ” who are disrupting the churches by claiming that male Gentiles must be circumcised to “ complete ” their faith.  This group may also be promoting calendrical observances and the Levitical dietary regulations.

Controversy at Galatia

The key issue in Galatia is whether Gentiles must be circumcised and keep some, at least, of the deeds required by the Torah .  Paul’s letter to the Galatians is his response to a controversy in the churches of Galatia. The issue is the status of Gentile believers. Must they conform to Jewish practices and submit to the regulation of the Mosaic Law, especially the rite of circumcision?

Fullness of Time

Image
In his  Letter to the Galatians , Paul argues that adopting the rite of circumcision would constitute regression to something rudimentary, a reversion to an earlier stage in the redemptive history of God’s people. If Gentiles adopted a  Torah -compliant lifestyle, they would return to bondage and once more experience the social divisions inherent in the Law. They would forsake the great and many benefits they had acquired through the “ faith of Jesus .”

Limits of the Law

In responding to claims that Gentiles must be circumcised, Paul appeals to the common experience of the Spirit received by the Galatians. Did they receive the gift due to a “ hearing of faith ” or “ from the works of the Law? ” Having begun in the Spirit, why do they now seek “ completion ” based on “ flesh ” by submitting to circumcision?