Jesus Did Not Abolish the Law
Faith alone solves nothing, but works are not what you believe
Today, I was lurking through the forests of Medium again, and I came across a real “gem”. A Lutheran pastor-in-training claimed — and I loosely paraphrase here— there is no way for anyone to do what is right even if they know what they should do because it’s impossible; but it’s OK, because Jesus already abolished the Mosaic law anyway and there is nothing else to do.
I was like, “Sure man. Talk for yourself … Wait. Jesus abolished the Law?!”
Well, for starters, guess what you find in Matthew 5:17–18 (emphasis mine):
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Notice the “until heaven and earth disappear” — which means that whatever Jesus “finished” on the cross, it was not everything to be accomplished (most probably he was just referring to his life and his ministry).
So, even if I go just all Biblical and theological on you, Mosaic law still stands.
You may ask then, why Saul argues so vehemently against it, and it may appear that even Jesus decries it.
First, let’s not forget that Saul found (only) Jesus and not Kingdom of God as I argued elsewhere, second, even Jews nowadays have no clue what the Law really is. They are stuck with their 613 commandments that mix tradition and Law together (but, ironically, they have a hard time to keep even the Ten Words which are in fact the Torah in its entirety — I elaborated on it here).
This is nothing new. Even Jesus was apparently well aware of it, as can be seen in Matthew 15:7–9, where he talks to Pharisees:
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.”
As a side note — the fact that the Law is the Ten Words is clearly reflected just few lines below, in the same chapter of Matthew, where Jesus explains that e.g. washing one’s hands has nothing to do with “God’s doctrines” and Kingdom of God:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts — murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.
Repetition is the mother of wisdom, so again, if you missed it:
murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander
That’s the second half of Covenant, the Words (or commandments) 6–10. Mm, what was it again? Abolishing the Law of Moses?…
To sum it up — if you cannot do what is right even if you know what it is, it is just because you don’t want to sacrifice that which tempts the hell out of you, but in the end just defiles you. Period.
And by the way, (as should be obvious) “works” never meant tithes, conversions, etc.
But as I said, and I will repeat it ad nauseam — don’t take my word for it. Don’t just blindly believe me (or anyone else for that matter).
Know thyself, know God — then you can make up your mind.
