The Point of the Gospel
Abolishing
the Law vs. Fulfilling It
Personal
Thought:
I’ll get back to parables next week. This just has been coming up a lot lately
on Facebook posts that I’ve read. Completely my own opinion—reminder I’m not a
theologian or Bible scholar.
I
think the passage where Jesus says he did not come to abolish the law but to
fulfill it is quite often a stumbling block for Christians. It’s used to
justify popular beliefs even when they no longer make sense. I wonder if people
forget the point. Jesus did fulfill the law whose whole purpose was to help
people atone for their sins in order to have a relationship with God. Jesus was
the final sacrifice and atonement for sin and enabled us to receive the Holy
Spirit. Catholicism notwithstanding, we no longer need a priest to intercede
for us to God or to sacrifice animals and harvest products. That’s a major
change by itself.
After
Jesus’ death, he came to Peter in a vision and showed him unclean foods Jews
weren’t supposed to eat. He said that it wasn’t what went into a man’s mouth
that made him unclean but what came out of it—obviously ungodly words. Without
that concession, bringing Christianity to the gentiles would have been near to
impossible. The law was abolished. Early Christians quite often compromised,
something fundamentalists have forgotten.
Even
before his death, Jesus said not to follow the Levitical law regarding an eye
for an eye, rather if someone strikes you, turn your other cheek to him as
well. Moses gave the law allowing a man to divorce his wife, but Jesus said he
did so because of the Jews’ hard headedness and not to divorce except for
unfaithfulness because that caused the woman to become an adulteress and anyone
who married her, an adulterer. Few mention this teaching when talking about
rules we should obey. On a side note, it really bothers me that no provision
was made for women to divorce their husbands when they became abusive or refused
to stop addictive behavior.
So
Jesus did abolish—or if that seems too harsh—change some laws to better reflect
the spirit of the Old Testament laws.
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