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The Expounding of the Law ( or the Prophets ; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." The teachings themselves are not literal antitheses to the law. ''Salt and light'' was a common nickname for the Mosaic Law, and hence the metaphors of salt and light form a sort of introduction to the expositions. Despite being less commonly known, the expounding is at the core of the argument about the relationship between the views attributed to Jesus (or the Gospel or Grace ), and those attributed to Moses (or the Mosaic Law ), and hence how the relationship between the New Testament and Old Testament should be interpreted, including whether either the extreme of Antinomianism or that of Legalism has any validity. This issue would have been a central one to the Jewish Christians , a group that the Gospel Of Matthew is widely believed to have been directed at, or written by, as the Jewish Christians would have accused other Early Christian groups like the Pauline Christians , followers of Simon Magus , Gnostics , Marcionites , Montanists , and Manichaeists , of abandoning Mosaic customs, as for example in the Acts 15 record of the Council Of Jerusalem or , , , . ADHERENCE TO THE LAW on a monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol]] See Also: Old Testament#Christian view of the Law : "the 's version of Luke 23:2 {Link without Title} states: "We found this fellow perverting the nation and destroying the law and the prophets." See also . Some argue that Jesus rejects some of the accepted tenets of recounts that they continued to worship in Herod's Temple .For example, see ; ; ; ; ; . See also . According to used the analogy of a race saying that Jesus had added extra distance for the Christians to run, but the beginning remained the same; Theophylact Of Bulgaria used the image of an artist colouring in an outline, and Thomas Aquinas saw it as how a tree still contains the seed. This view became the accepted Roman Catholic position, but was challenged in the Protestant Reformation , with leading Protestants such as Martin Luther , John Calvin , and Huldrych Zwingli rejecting the idea Jesus had added to the Law, and instead arguing that Jesus only illustrated the true Law that had always existed, but that the Law had been badly understood by the Pharisee s and other Jewish leaders. The Anabaptists took the opposite view and felt that Jesus had greatly reformed the Law, and rejected anything that the Bible doesn't mention him as having confirmed. states that "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled". ''Jot'' is the King James Version 's translation of '' Iota '', the smallest letter in the Greek Alphabet , as the parallel letter Yodh (י) is the smallest in the Aramaic Alphabet . '' Tittle '', the KJV translation of '''' (a word which literally means ''horn''), is a small mark of some sort, generally considered by scholars to refer to minor projections (''horns'') that differentiate certain letters, such as hooks in Aramaic - ב versus כ for example. Hence the phrase refers to even the tiniest minutiae being unaltered (see also ,), and it is this meaning that ''not one iota'', a common English phrase deriving from the statement, has taken. (Some view the statement as Eschatological , regarding that "till heaven and earth pass" means that Mosaic law would be superseded in the End Times , though (most view it simply as an Idiom for the inconceivable. Likewise "till all be fulfilled" is somewhat debated, with some viewing it as a reference to end times (i.e., "fulfilled" having the same meaning as "heaven and earth pass"), others as a reference to such a time as all of Mosaic law is completely adhered to, and others still that it means that the law would only last until a messiah arrives, i.e. that the time had arrived with Jesus' existence and hence the Law Is Superseded already. Many view the last interpretation as somewhat doubtful, since it is unlikely that Jesus would state ''till'' if it had already occurred, or would contradict his prior statement that heaven and earth must first pass before the law does. As for "till all be fulfilled", it is widely believed that Jesus has not yet fulfilled all Messianic Prophecy (such as the Resurrection Of The Dead , Last Judgment and establishment of the Kingdom Of God ) but that he will in his Second Coming . An exception to this belief is Preterism#Full Preterism . A parallel to this verse is found in . condemns those who preach the ''commandments'' but do not uphold them, i.e. people that today we would refer to as '' Timothy (), and he was in the very act of observing the Mosaic ritual when he was arrested at Jerusalem ( sqq.)." See also New Perspective On Paul . A parallel to this verse is found in . subtly condemns the ". Matthew generally condemns the manner in which the Pharisees adhere to the law (), portraying it as excessively Legalistic , and here is no exception. This begins a pattern, repeated later in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Discourse On Ostentation , where outward and public adherence to religious behaviour are condemned as being hollow, in favour of private and internal adherence. ANTITHESIS OF THE LAW See Also: Law and Gospel Dispensationalism New Covenant The Law of Christ believe that ''' representing Mount Zion is considered by many Christian scholars to be the Antitype of the proclamation of the Old Covenant by Moses from Mount Sinai .]] This section of the sermon is sometimes called the ''Antithesis of the Law'' (on ; that is, they are mutually exclusive ideas." The 1577 Lutheran . Adolf Von Harnack in his 1894 ''History of Dogma'' vol. 1, ch. 5, p. 269 states: Marcion "accordingly supposed that it was necessary to make the sharp antitheses of Paul, law and gospel, wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, death and life, that is the Pauline criticism of the Old Testament religion, the foundation of his religious views, and to refer them to two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the world, and the God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is only love and mercy." Cyrus Scofield in his 1896 ''Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth'', ch. 6 LAW AND GRACE states: "The most obvious and striking division of the Word of truth is that between law and grace. Indeed, these contrasting principles characterize the two most important dispensations: the Jewish and Christian. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). ... Law kills; grace makes alive. ... Law says, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; grace says, "Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Law says, "Hate thine enemy"; grace says, "Love your enemies, bless them that despitefully use you." Law says, do and live; grace says, believe and live. ... Law stones an adulteress; grace says, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." ... Everywhere the Scriptures present law and grace in sharply contrasted spheres. The mingling of them in much of the current teaching of the day spoils both, for law is robbed of its terror, and grace of its freeness." According to the 1911 ; but it must be added that he misunderstood him. The profound reflections of the apostle on the radical antithesis of law and gospel, works and faith, were not appreciated in the 2nd century. Marcion alone perceived their decisive religious importance, and with them confronted the Legalizing , and in this sense Judaizing , tendencies of his Christian contemporaries. But the Pauline Ideas lost their truth under his treatment; for, when it is denied that the God of redemption is at the same time the almighty Lord of Heaven and Earth, the gospel is turned upside down." Paul believed Jesus fulfilled his relationship with the Law of Moses at his death. (, , , ) The death of a spouse terminates the marriage relationship and makes the surviving spouse free to have a relationship with someone else. The death of Jesus made him free to have a relationship with his bride or the church. (). Paul believed Christians participated in the death of Christ and in his new life by baptism. () See also Antinomianism In The New Testament . SPECIALISED FOCUSES As well as a more general discussion about adherence to the law, the expositions individually cover the following aspects in greater detail:
Each of these specialised sections begins with a scriptural quotation that indicates how the law officially regards each of these issues, and then goes on to, depending on one's interpretation, either extend the law's commandment to its most radical extent, or make a radical assertion opposing it. Though sometimes not as radical, Jewish sentiment in the period was much more in keeping with the exposition than the law itself, partly due to the influence of was at this period just becoming crystallized, and that much variation existed as to its definite form; the disputes of the Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai were occurring about the time of his maturity." Anger The first exposition is on the subject of Murder . Beginning by quoting The Commandment ''thou shalt not kill'' (), Matthew describes Jesus as going on to condemn the anger which lead to it as being just as bad. This view is not particularly new to Jesus, appearing in the Old Testament at places such as Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus , as well as in the Slavonic Enoch , Pesahim , and Nedraim . Jesus is also described as condemning people who insult each other, specifically identifying the insult of calling someone a Raca . Scholars seem divided on how grievous an insult it was - for example Hill feels it was very grievous while France thinks it minor. What ''Raca'' means is unknown though there have been frequent attempts to explain it, particularly in the context of fool , the next insult to be mentioned. Despite condemning the use of the term ''fool'', according to Matthew, Jesus himself used it to deride the and ''moros'' referring to a homosexual aggressor, and so Jesus could here be seen to be condemning Homophobia . Halsall repeats this argument but concedes that it is less than conclusive.(Halsall, 1999) Those that are angry with their brother are then said in Matthew to be subject to judgement, sent to the ''council'', which some consider a reference to a Sanhedrin ,NIV, NAB, YLT for using the insult of ''Raca'', and sent to '' Gehenna '' for using the insult of ''moros''. Gehenna the rubbish heap south of Jerusalem which was permanently aflame, and had in the past been the place of cremation for Human Sacrifice . Despite the vivid unpleasantness of this, traditionally scholars have read this as only a metaphorical reference to Damnation to Hell , though other scholars see the literal reading - being thrown into the rubbish heap south of Jerusalem - as the accurate one. Early manuscripts of Matthew are divided between some that state it is anger ''without cause'' that is being condemned, and those that state that all anger is condemned, with most modern scholars feeling that ''without cause'' was an emendation added by a later scribe (see '' Lectio Difficilior Potior ''). The exposition then goes on to state that even if one is in the middle of making the Korban Sacrifice (see also Korbanas ), whenever one realises there is a dispute with one's brother, it is better to immediately stop what one is doing and try to resolve the dispute. Although the theme of asserting that "worship devoid of moral life is useless" occurs throughout the Old Testament, several scholars see Matthew here as attacking the overly ritualised Pharisees , with those scholars, for example Schweizer, thinking that the Pharisees believed sacrifice should not be interrupted. That Matthew here mentions the korban, which came to a halt in 70AD when the Temple was destroyed ( Siege Of Jerusalem (70) ), is taken by a few scholars, like Albright and Mann, as evidence that Matthew was written before that date. |
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