Jesus vs. Torah: How the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel redefined God’s Law

3/3/2017

The way things are said often communicates more than what is said. We know this rule of communication is true when we are talking, but we often forget it when listening to Jesus’ written words in the Gospels.

If you have ever seen a “Red Letter” Bible, you know how easy it becomes to pick out the words of Jesus in the Gospels. You may also know that the Gospel of Matthew has a ton more red font than Mark. Why? Because Mark focuses more on Jesus’ activity while Matthew is focused on his teaching.

If you skim through Matthew in a “Red Letter” Bible, you will find a few long sections of uninterrupted red font. Sayings that Luke spread out across many chapters about Jesus’ life are gathered into lengthy sermons in Matthew. Most people have heard about the first one: the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). However, 4 other sermons have been formed out of Jesus’ sayings around common themes: Instructions for Disciples in Matthew 10, Kingdom Parables in Matthew 13, Dealing with Sin in the Church in Matthew 18, and the Judgment Sayings of Matthew 23-25.

In total, Matthew created 5 long sermons out of Jesus’ sayings. We know the 5 sermons were created intentionally because they all have the same ending: “when Jesus had finished saying these things” (Matthew 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). This literary marker gets the attention of the careful reader. It brings up the important hermeneutical question: Why did Matthew organize Jesus’ sayings into 5 sets of instructions?

The Way God Gives Instructions

The Gospel according to Matthew organizes Jesus’ sayings into 5 sets of instructions to mirror the 5 books of the Law—the first 5 books of the Bible that Jews call “Torah.” Jesus’ words are being put on par with God’s words first revealed at Mount Sinai. That is significant. Jesus' teaching has become what Moses' instructions were: God's law for God's people. When put in that light, you can see the way Matthew’s Gospel structures Jesus’ sayings actually says quite a lot in itself.

The allusions to the laws of the first covenant become even clearer when you investigate the form and content of Jesus’ first and most famous sermon given on a mountain. Have you ever thought about the fact that Matthew situates the first long sermon on a mountain? Do you think it is intentionally meant to mimic God’s first giving of the Law on Mount Sinai? Absolutely it is. If you have overlooked that detail your whole life, it’s because you were not immersed in the Torah as a child and did not participate in the Law’s required Jerusalem pilgrimages to worship as an adult. The Jewish audience of Matthew’s Gospel wouldn’t miss these subtle connections between the Law of Moses and teaching of Jesus.

The Sermon on the Mount begins in Matthew 5:3-12 with the Beatitudes. Why? It’s not an historical accident. The beatitudes intentionally echo the blessings of Deuteronomy 28:1-14 that Israel proclaimed from Mount Gerizim after entering the holy land. According to Deuteronomy 27:11-12, Moses commanded half of Israel to stand on Mount Gerizim and recite the blessings of obeying God. It is believed the Israelites repeated this corporate act every seven years when they gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 31:9-13; m. Sotah 7:8). Since the structure of the blessings and the mountain setting is similar for both Jesus’ beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12 and the traditional Jewish recitation of Deuteronomy’s blessings, the relationship must not be overlooked. The Gospel of Matthew is purposefully connecting the two events. What’s the purpose? Jesus is gathering Israel on a mountain to declare the new characteristics of those who will be blessed. The covenant requirements for God’s people are changing. Jesus is redefining Torah.

Jesus Did What Some Jews Expected

Some Jews expected a significant change to the Torah and Temple practices at God's next great act in history. The Dead Sea Scrolls recovered from the Qumran caves describe a community of zealous first-century Jews waiting for a climactic moment in salvation history. They expected God to rearrange the power structure, cleanse the Temple, and revise the Law of Moses.

The Temple Scroll (11QTS) records the expected changes to the Law. Columns 48-66 of the Temple Scroll provide a revised version of the Law (framed after Deuteronomy 12-26) designated for the time when a new Temple is constructed and a new Davidic king reigns in an age to come (see Wise, M. O. "Eschatological Vision of the Temple Scroll" JNES 49 [1990]: 155-172). Why should you care? Because…

Jesus did exactly what the Temple Scroll anticipated.

Jesus revised how teachers of the Law had told people to apply the Law of Moses. Whereas the Temple Scroll decided to apply priestly standards to everyone, Jesus attacks human traditions that distorted the original intent of the Law. He trashes specific regulations and instructions that are antithetical to God’s mercy, justice, and faithfulness in Matthew 5:31-47.

Divorce: Even though Moses created a written divorce certificate to protect the rights of a woman (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), Jesus made it clear divorce is not God’s plan (Matthew 5:31-32)
Vows: Since Jesus’ contemporaries had devised a complicated system of making public oaths that no longer honored the intent behind the commands about oaths in Deut 23:21-23 to do what you say, he called for an end to vows and a return to letting your “yes” mean “yes” and your “no” mean “no” (Matthew 5:33-37)
Retribution: Issuing punishments equal to the offence (“an eye for an eye” in Deuteronomy 19:21) had morphed from the positive outcome of ending cycles of vengeance to a negative outcome of excusing retaliation. So Jesus taught his followers to “turn the other cheek” and return good for evil (Matthew 5:38-42) to motivate oppressors to repent.
Enemies: Commands to annihilate enemies who attacked Israel (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) became an excuse to hate all foreigners. So Jesus instructed people to love and pray for enemies to truly embody God’s mercy (Matthew 5:43-47).

All these revisions to established practices that distorted God’s character lined up with Jesus’ thesis statement in the Sermon on the Mount: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill it.” The Hebrew word “to fulfill” means “to obey” in Rabbinic teaching from Jesus’ day. “To fulfill the Law” means Jesus’ teaching better represented God’s intent behind the original instructions. That is what the Sermon on the Mount and the entire teaching of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel is doing. It redefines the Torah as people understood it. It redirects people to faithfully represent and enact God’s will on earth.

Expanding God’s Story beyond Jerusalem

Jesus reoriented the entire Jewish world. Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Torah had been the center of their theological and political world. Jesus was changing the loci of divine activity with his subtle yet powerful allusions to the Jewish world.

In Jewish tradition, Jerusalem was the “light of the world” (Isaiah 2:2-4; 42:6; 49:6; Micah 4:1-3; Sib. Or. 5:420-423; Gen Rab 59:5; Pesiq. R. 20:7). But Jesus expands that role. Jesus applies that title to anyone who follows his teaching: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14-16). That changes a centuries-old storyline. It’s a new and radical revision to the story God is writing.

In Jewish worship at the Temple, every offering had to be sprinkled with salt (Leviticus 2:13; Ezek 43:24; Jub 21:11; 11QTemple 20). Salt was so integral to Israel’s obedience to the Law that it earned the label “salt of the covenant.” It became representative of proper worship to God and atonement for sin in the Old Covenant. But Jesus leaves interest in the Temple sacrificial system behind and calls his followers the “salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). What does that mean? Jesus’ followers become the way in which God’s forgiveness and proper worship can be brought to the entire world. That role nullifies the necessity of the Jerusalem Temple.

Jesus’ final blow to the Torah comes in a closing parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He tells the story of a wise man who builds his house on the rock and a foolish man who builds his house on sand. The house built on a rock would make his Jewish audience think about the Temple on Mount Zion. Israel believed the Temple could not fall. God would not let his house crumble. But Jesus is undermining their beliefs in the same way Ezekiel had to challenge fake prophets who denied Jerusalem’s coming destruction (Ezekiel 13:8-16).

The house on the rock that does not fall when the storm comes is not Jerusalem’s Temple, but rather those who hear and do the words of Jesus. As Jesus states plainly, “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” The one who changes his allegiance from the Temple and the current interpreters of Torah to become one who follows Jesus will remain. His words are the new Torah that will outlast the impending destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and its Torah-mandated sacrifices. That’s an unbelievably offensive claim to Jews in Jerusalem. No wonder the religious leaders there had him killed.

Teacher of a New Torah

This structural and historical analysis of the Gospel according to Matthew dramatically elevates the significance of Jesus’ sayings. Matthew’s structure tells an informed Jewish audience that Jesus is the new Moses. His words are the new Torah. His 5 sermons now do what the 5 books of Moses did. The covenant is changing and therefore the content of God’s commands change as well, just like the Temple Scroll anticipated.

The Gospel of Matthew shows how Jesus’ ministry marks a new day in God’s relationship with his people. It is the only Gospel to describe how the veil inside the Temple ripped when Jesus died. It is a symbolic statement that the old way is gone, and the new way of directly encountering God through Jesus has arrived. The Temple’s role has been disrupted. The darkness, earthquake, and resurrections recorded in Matthew 27:45-54 were all eschatological signs of a change in the ages. Many Jews had expected those events when God stepped into human history to revolutionize the way he related to his people. And God sent those signs so they knew it was happening.

Jesus is the teacher of a new Torah. His words replace the books of Moses. His sacrifice undermines the Temple. His people become the locus of his presence rather than Jerusalem. They are the light of the world bringing a priestly message of atonement for all. The way Matthew’s Gospel organizes Jesus’ life for a Jewish audience makes all these moves clear.

We must pay careful attention to how and where his message is delivered, not just what is said, to understand its significance. Jesus doesn’t just add on some extra points to Mosaic Law. Jesus rewrote what God requires of you. He reenacted the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and the recitation of blessings on Mount Gerizim to redefine God’s instructions for his people. He revised God’s Law to recapture the intent of God’s heart. That’s a big deal we better not miss. We better take those red letters as seriously as the Gospel of Matthew meant them.

Article based on chapter from Dr. Paul Penley's forthcoming book

23 Comments

Anne Kraemer

9/18/2017 05:58:38 pm

I can't tell you how much I appreciate this article. No one has ever intimated or tied Matthew's gospel to a pattern in the Old Testament comparable in Torah to my understanding. But you have done so. I would very much like to read your book

Martin Ryan

5/16/2018 04:24:02 pm

I learned a lot from this article, but have a couple of questions. Since Matthew is a book written primarily to Jews and to reveal Jesus as the Messiah, how do these ideas translate to Gentiles - who never had the Torah, never were Jews, and how do you understand Paul's writing in 2 Corinthians 3, where he refers to the commandments written on stone as the ministry of condemnation and death? I struggle with the idea that Jesus came to "update" the Law, as you seem to put it - "Jesus rewrote what God requires of you" - I wholeheartedly agree that the meekness, peaceableness, etc described in the Beatitudes should characterize our lives as believers - indeed, they are part of the fruit of the Spirit. How do you reconcile God "revising" the Law with Paul's emphatic statements that the Law brings death, and is the strength of sin? Thank you for any feedback and again, I enjoyed the article.

Paul Penley (author)

6/24/2018 09:29:43 pm

Paul does say the “law brings death” in Romans, but he explains with great nuance that the Law is not the problem. Sin within us is the problem. As Romans 7:10-13 says, “I discovered that the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. 11 Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. 12 But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. 13 But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.” What the Law reveals about us shows us that we need JESUS. And JESUS taught us how to truly become what we couldn’t on our own with just the Law. Much more could be said, but I believe that answers your immediate question. Thanks for working hard to put all these pieces together that both Jesus and his followers put into the New Testament.

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 09:02:45 pm

I suggest you read---------The Torah in the Sermon on the Mount - Whole Stones. It explains Jesus as a Jew would view his statements and what they meant in context!

Buddy Silver

5/17/2018 05:03:37 am

Hi,
Philo Judaeus of Alexandria was a member of what has been claimed to be the wealthiest family in the Roman Empire. Philo's brother, Alexander the Alabarch, was a builder of the Jerusalem temple, while Philo's nephew, Tiberias Julius Alexander, served as a procurator of Judea and later a prefect of Egypt. After inheriting the Alabarch's fortune, Tiberias later helped the Roman emperors Vespasian and Titus, along with the Jewish general and historian Josephus, to destroy his father's sacred building.

Philo's written works were highly influential on the Christian effort, which patently built upon Philonic notions, themselves in turn representing a synthesis of Judaism and paganism.

It is clear that Philo's writings on behalf of the Jewish people and their religion, including Moses as the great law giver, was extremely successful, as many of Judaism's ideas have been spread around the world via Roman Catholicism/Protestantism, which holds up Moses as one of the greatest men of God who ever lived. (See Numbers ch 31).

Despite ongoing efforts to anchor it into history, The Bible constitutes a cultural artifact containing large swathes of mythology and some history that should be viewed on the same level as the mythological and historical accounts of other cultures, not a sacrosanct subject to be raised above all others. There is much allegory in the Bible and only a fool would take it literally i.e., Exodus 24:9-10. Try and reconcile that with John 1:18 and John 4:12.

Buddy Silver

5/17/2018 05:06:15 am

MATTHEW 15
Jesus DEMANDED the death penalty for the son who curses his parents:
MATTHEW 15:1-9
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition”?

For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy. 5:16] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[Exodus 21:17; Leviticus. 20:9]

But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[Isaiah 29:13]”

Charissa

8/16/2018 05:46:41 pm

This would all make a lot of sense except that God says of Himself that He does not change (Malachi 3:6), and He also warns His people to test any prophet who comes, and the test had to do with whether the prophet taught in accordance with Gods Laws (true prophet), or against His Law (false prophet). This is in Deuteronomy 13.

To be fair this is the only article on your site I have read, and perhaps you do not maintain that Jesus is God. If you do believe that Jesus is God (as He professed to be, see John 1), and He does not change, and Jesus is a true prophet (like into Moses), He absolutely can not have come to preach against (or add to or take away from) Gods Law. In fact, it seems far more likely the religious leaders wanted Him dead because He was constantly pointing out the ways in which they were following their own (manmade) laws at the expense of following God’s Law (see Mark 7). Note they had to bring in FALSE witnesses to testify against Him. They were attempting to have Him killed under the Deuteronomy 13 instruction.

Jesus is the Word made flesh... which is why He walked out His life living under Gods Law perfectly, He corrected those who weren’t keeping it and were teaching the people to do the same, and He preached and taught Gods Law. All of His teachings are Torah. He is the embodiment of the Torah, and we are told to walk as He walked (1 John 2:6) and that to love God is to keep His commands (1 John 5:3).

So I just can’t agree with your conclusion here, although I do appreciate your perspective regarding Matthew and the parallels between it and the Old Testament. I believe your conclusion relies too heavily upon the Temple Scroll assumptions of what the Messiah would do, and not heavily enough on what the Torah says the Messiah will do.

Paul Penley

8/16/2018 06:26:28 pm

Charissa -
Thanks for reading some of my biblical research. It can be difficult to put together each part of the biblical narrative into a logically consistent story. God’s character doesn’t change, but his methods of connecting with people in each culture to lead humanity towards his original desire do adapt to most effectively accomplish his unchanging mission. Deuteronomy 13, which you cite to undermine my conclusion that Jesus’ words are the new Torah from God, cannot be consistently applied today, or you would be calling for me to be stoned to death. You can’t pick out one part you can agree with, ignore another part of God’s instructions in Deuteronomy 13, and then argue that God’s instructions don’t change because God is consistent. That itself is inconsistent, violating your own stated principles. If you read Deuteronomy 13 closely, you will also find that “false prophets” are determined by whether or not their predictions take place, not how their teaching relates to the Torah. Ezekiel spoke of a radical change coming in terms of how people received God’s instructions. I did not explore Ezekiel or the broader OT prophetic trajectory that pointed to what Jesus did by replacing the Torah with his words since it is more commonly known than The Temple Scroll and blogs need to stay short. Thanks for thinking through these tough hermeneutical decisions with me.

Michael

3/2/2022 10:23:07 pm

“For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.”

I suppose GOD never changes anything he ever does vs his nature and his morals simply never change , a just and righteous GOD which he is , will simply never become corrupt and evil , if he did not ever change anything , the way things existed since the garden would always be however thats clearly not so . I am taking Pauls interpretation on this one and as I said , I pray GOD reveals his word and truth to us ALL in the name of the LORD JESUS

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 09:10:26 pm

Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount: “building fences around the Torah” was a common practice. The Pharisees (unlike their primary opponents the Sadducees) observed many oral traditions and believed numerous handed down interpretations of Torah. This “oral Torah” was passed down from teacher to student for the generations. These unwritten teachings laid a foundation for the dominant expression of Judaism which emerged after the Jerusalem Temple’s destruction. After 70 CE, without the Temple, Jewish worship was focused on the Holy Scriptures more than ever, and teachings about interpretations of ancient texts became crucial. An essential component of this “oral Torah” was the practice of “building fences around commandments” – formulating additional observances and practices in order to prevent possible disregard of the commandments.

The idea is simple. By observing the “fence rules” one will not be able to come close to accidentally violating the actual commandment. One of the most famous, and most misunderstood, “fences” that Jesus constructed around the Torah is his teaching on anger and murder, found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 5:21-22: “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”

The readers of these verses scratch their heads, thinking “How can anyone never feel anger?” But this is not what Jesus meant. He is telling his disciples that if they entertain anger towards someone, that anger can grow until it becomes verbal abuse. Further unchecked, and allowed to fester one’s thoughts and words can lead to violence and even to murder. So if one observes “Yeshua’s fence” and is careful to control one’s anger, he or she will not end up violating the commandment against murder. Murder usually does not just happen without some conflict and provocation.

Other “fences around the Torah” that Jesus constructs can be seen in the famous Sermon on the Mount:

Vows: Matt. 5:33-37
Justice: Matt. 5:38-42, 38-42
Sexual Morality: Matt. 5:27-30
Mercy: Matt. 5:43-48

All of these passages typically begin with the words “You have heard it said…” followed by a commandment. Then Yeshua says “but I say to you…” and articulates his “fence rules” to safeguard the commencement. Jesus is not changing the original commandment, but instead, he reinforces it by building a “fence” around it and his fence is stricter than the original commandment. The teacher is giving his disciples practical advice will help them to keep the commandment, not to replace it with something new.

Louis

8/24/2021 08:16:45 am

So what is the New Covenant? After Christ was killed on the Cross, we have Hs Blood sacrifice to save us from sin. Or do you not believe this. He who keeps the law shall be judged by the law, and if you break one law, you have broken them all. Christ fulfilled the law because no one but Him can keep it. There are over 600 laws in the Torah, Mosaic, Levitical right, so is that for Gentile and Jew?

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 08:32:55 pm

Nowhere is that true, God throughout the Torah and the Prophets says turn your heart and return to ME! I recommend you see NT Scholar DR James Tabor, and what he says about Paul and his twisting the interpretations. Tabor an EX Christian now Noahide is a professor at Un of North Carolina.

Michael

3/2/2022 10:11:24 pm

I agree with you on the identity of JESUS however I am curious , are you saying here that I need to be following 613 laws of Moses time as a current age gentile OR that YOU are? And so then , If i miss a sabbath , I should be stoned to death? do you know how rare it is for a job not to require weekends and so then GOD expects us all to observe his old law anyways or die? I am wondering then what Paul was saying essentially through out the entire NT about the law , the law of Christ and using words like dead , done away , abolished , fading in glory , not under the law , under no law , what was all this talk about , do I need a strongs book to make those words mean something else? what did colossians 2 16 mean? this is confusing to me , if I am self righteous still by the law as they would have been , JESUS never came yet , then , what would I need JESUS for? Just to simply abolish animal killings for sin? thats it? thats all you're saying his life amounted to and all his teachings? Can you please lead me to the passage it tells me as a gentile to follow the law of moses for salvation or even righteousness? is there a single passage in the entire NT telling ME as a gentile whos faith is in JESUS alone that i need the law of moses or to observe the sabbath , can you find me a single one? or is it like peter said "to which we gave NO SUCH COMMAND" regarding that very topic . Can you find me a passage that I as a gentile for all the generations of gentiles to ever come must follow the sabbath or even a gentile ever having to follow it , ever ? not the old testament which will stop you in your tracks regardless as the statements always start with "children of ISRAEL" and never "gentiles and all believers alike" and so I am curious why the entire NT is silent on the topic? they preached everything about GODS moral laws and commands yet , not one command for gentiles to observe the sabbath or how to properly follow 613 laws of moses? I am confused.... please find the passages to help me understand better. I pray we all get better understanding of his WORD , in JESUS CHRISTS mighty name .

Rigo Chavez

3/3/2022 10:14:51 pm

Should you keep the Sabbath?
Hebrews 4:9 - So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

What was Paul saying using certain words? You answer the question first:
Romans 3:31 - Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
Romans 7:14 - For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
James 1:25 - But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
I could keep going, but 3 witnesses is enough. For every negative word, I can find a positive. What lines up with the rest of Scripture is the question you must ask.

What does Colossians 2:16 mean?
It means don't let anyone judge you in how you do those things OUTSIDE of what Scripture says. It doesn't mean you don't have to do them anymore. Verse 17 verifies. It says they are a shadow of things TO COME (future tense, not past tense).

What did Jesus die for?
For people who TURN from their sin. How can one turn from a sin if they no longer define it as sin? Man is attempting to change the definition of something that can't be changed. This will keep them from repenting of certain things.

Did Jesus die simply to abolish animal killings?
Ask that question the other way around - Did Jesus die just so you could stick a pork chop in your mouth? Is it really that hard not to eat pork? Same could go for all the Law. What God says is good and is not for me to say is not good.

Where is a passage that tells a gentile to follow the Law for salvation?
The Law is not for salvation. Even our Jewish brothers know that.
Exodus 12:49 - There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.
How many times does Scripture repeat that?

Where does NT say to keep the Law?
John 5:46 - If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. (To believe doesn't mean to think it happens. It is an action word meaning to apply it to your life).
Luke 16:31 - He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. (Hearing in the Hebraic mindset means to hear AND DO, not just for it to go in one ear and out the other.)

Stop reading the OT as if it is for a DNA child of Israel. To be a child of Israel is to be a believer. Romans 11 confirms that. You are grafted in. So in the words of Romans 11, they didn't stumble to fall (to show that it couldn't be done), they stumbled to bring YOU into the fold! May God bless you in your journey to Truth!

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 08:35:15 pm

There is a growing group of EX Christian called Noahides. They follow the 1 G`d of Israel, however, they follow the Laws of Noah, just like as preached by James the Brother of Jesus.

David Kesselring

6/15/2022 06:28:43 am

You mention the 613 laws of Moses. I never saw any link to following Gods instructions (laws) and salvation. That is putting the horse before the carriage. Once you are saved, you should have the desire to follow God's instructions. How many times did people get stoned for not following the sabbath in the first 2/3rds of the scriptures? Did those that accused Jesus' disciples of violating Sabbath stone them? Did Jesus defend the actions of the disciples? Keep a couple of things in mind. All 613 laws don't apply to everybody. Some are for men, some for woman, some for children, some for other specific people groups. Let's just estimate there might be 250 laws specific to you. There are well over 1,000,000 laws, statutes, ordinanced, etc. in America. An extremely large number of these laws were written by very corrupt individuals and many of them violation God's instructions in one way or another. Do you consider yourself a "law abiding" citizen?

Ric Maxson

11/2/2018 01:41:14 pm

I was doing research for preaching the Beatitudes for this Sunday (per lectionary)...I found your article above most helpful in giving academic structure to my original musings. Coupled with your reply to Martin's comments re: the Law I don't have much else to do to round out my message. Thanks - Ev Xpistw, Ric

Bob Jackson

11/4/2018 11:50:31 am

Thanks for tackling this topic as many scholars seem to avoid it.
Charissa makes a good point and I would go further than you have.

In Mark 7 9-13 Jesus describes honoring your Father and Mother as a command of God. Look at how He describes the laws he mentions in the Sermon on the Mount. ‘You have heard that it was said’, no mention of God.

The laws on murder and adultery are inadequate and the laws on Divorce, Oaths and Retribution are plain wrong. God does not change, therefore I find it inconceivable that God gave these laws in the form we now have them. Jesus is obviously not talking about these flawed laws when He says Heaven and earth will pass away etc. You can imagine the confusion in the minds of the Jewish listeners as they hear this. Jesus then gives them and us the simplicity of God’s Eternal Law in the Golden Rule Matt.7:12. The Greek is more emphatic than most translations . . ‘this(οὗτος) indeed(γάρ) is(ἐστιν) the law and the prophets’. The NIV addition of - ‘sums up’ is not in the Greek.

As you correctly point out, Jesus has taken them up the mountain to reissue God’s Law in its uncorrupted form.

Manohar James link

9/9/2020 03:08:30 pm

Beautifully expounded how Jesus unfolded the law in his sermon on the mount ! Fruits vs Roots. Jesus touched the root (the basis) of the law and redefined it. Thank you.

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 08:37:42 pm

Odd that in some respects he makes the Law harder. That is called building a Fence around the Torah.

Andrew

11/28/2021 02:57:36 pm

I kinda feel like this article helps me to better grasp without confusion what Paul meant in Romans 3:31 when he said:
“Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”

Rigo Chavez

12/18/2021 10:34:45 pm

The connection between the 5 discourses of Jesus and the 5 books of Torah is spot on! Dig deeper though. Why did Matthew do this? You argue it's to bring us a new Torah. Is that how someone fully submits just as Jesus said he, the son, fully submitted to the Father? By clarifying what the only One who is good says? Far be it! God doesn't need clarification. What God needed Jesus to do is to get man out of the way. This is done by Jesus being the example of how to walk out what God said. No change in what God said is needed. Only an example of how to do it. Now I ask again, why would Matthew make these connections? It is to firmly establish the Torah already given! Each of the 5 discourses has Torah from each of the 5 books hidden within it. Search it out and you will see what I mean! May you be blessed in your pursuit of Truth!

Kenneth Brownsher

6/1/2022 08:42:05 pm

God says there is NON Before him or after him! He says this throughout the Torah and the Prophets. He says he does NOT share his Glory. So how can Jesus be part of the Godhead! Also in Judaism the word Messiah is used 39 times. it can mean a King or Judges. Even Cyrus the Great is called a Messiah in Isaiah! In Judaism the Messiah is merely a Man!

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Jesus vs. Torah: How the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel redefined God’s Law

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