[Thought questions for Christ and the Law in the Sermon on the Mount April 23, 2014]
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
1. Destroy or fulfill? If you make a promise and keep it, does the promise still exist? Or has it vanished? Since the law points to our errors and mistakes, what is there to love about it? Do you love the law? Are you relieved when you see traffic laws such as speed limits and traffic lights? What about God’s law? [...]
(Matt. 5:38-48)
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
It appears that the common theme here (Matt. 5:38-48) is revenge. This first theme concerns the many commandments in the Mosaic law that are built on the principle of repaying a crime with an equal punishment, an idea called lex talionis, a Latin term meaning law of retaliation.
As we see in a number of passages (Exod. 21:22-25, Lev. 24:17-21, Deut. 19:21), the law called for the offender to suffer the same experience as [...]
(Matt. 5:33-37)
Image © Providence Collection from GoodSalt.com
The first two antitheses (murder and adultery) are based on the Decalogue. The antithesis regarding divorce and the ones that follow are taken from other sections of the Mosaic law, including the one about swearing falsely and performing oaths to the Lord.
Read Leviticus 19:11-13. What specific points do we find here? See also Exod. 20:7.
The Mosaic law, from which Jesus quotes, is listed in a section of Leviticus that condemns a number of deceptive [...]
(Matt 5:27-32)
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
Jesus’ next example involves commandments concerning adultery. He first cites the seventh commandment, You shall not commit adultery. In the context of the law of Moses, adultery took place when a married person was sexually involved with someone other than a spouse. The law was very clear that both parties found guilty of adultery should be put to death. As with the sixth commandment, Jesus gave the deeper implications of this particular commandment.
Adultery [...]
(Matt 5:21-26)
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
After He clarified His intention to uphold the law, Jesus started to explain a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. He begins by citing the sixth commandment (Exod. 20:13) and summarizing, from the law of Moses, the penalty for violation (Exod. 21:12, Lev. 24:17).
The sixth commandment does not include all cases in which one person kills another. In cases of manslaughter, a person could flee to a city of refuge [...]
Read again Matthew 5:17-20. How interesting that Jesus would greatly emphasize the law here, while at the same time making the statement that He did about the scribes and Pharisees, who so greatly emphasized the law, as well. What important lesson does this passage teach about true obedience to the law?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Jesus begins this section with the assurance that He has not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (Matt. 5:17, NKJV). Although there [...]
Read for This Week’s Study: Matt. 5:17-20, Luke 16:16, Matt. 5:21-32, Rom. 7:24, Matt. 5:33-37, 5:38-48.
Memory Text: Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot, or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:17-18, NKJV).
When most people think about the Sermon on [...]
Current lesson of the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. (Adobe Flash Player version.) A Youtube version of the Hope Sabbath School “Christ and Religious Tradition” is below. You can download the video, the MP3 audio, and the lesson outline from the HopeTV Sabbath School Site. You might want to bookmark the HopeSS Youtube channel.
Informal discussion regarding this week’s Sabbath School lesson with author Dr. Keith Burton on Vimeo in less than 30 minutes:
You can view the same video on Youtube if you
When I was a child, my family lived near the Adventist church in our town in northern Namibia. Mother took us to church, though we weren’t Adventists. I liked church. On Sabbath afternoon, we’d go to Himba villages to sing and talk to them about God. Then when I was 8 years old, we moved away, and I couldn’t go to church anymore.
Willem HifikepunyeCourtesy of CG Adventist Mission
As I grew up I began bullying other kids at school. [...]
