HOW CAN A PERSON RELATE TO THE LAW?
Matthew 5:17-19

Friends, we have reached some very interesting verses in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Let me read verses 17-19 of Matthew 5:  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.  I tell you the truth, 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.  Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, in the preceding verses we have just examined, has affirmed that our lives are to be so lived that those around us will be affected by our good deeds and give glory to God.  How are we to accomplish this?  How will people know that what we are doing is right?  By whose standard are we to be measured?  The answer to each of the above questions is found with these words, “by the law.”

Much has been written about law and its affect upon people.  Former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes, in an 1885 speech, stated:  The law, wherein as in a magic mirror, we see reflected not only our own lives, but the lives of all men that have been!  When I think on this majestic theme, my eyes dazzle.  The French philosopher Rosseau, in his book titled, The Social Contract, wrote:  Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.  As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State, “What does it matter to me?” the State may be given up for lost.  Even the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and stated that the law is good, if a man would use it lawfully.

Someone has calculated that we have 35 million laws trying to enforce the Ten Commandments.  Wow!

Before we examine the interpretation of these verses, let me share what the word law implied in Jesus’ days.  The Jews used this term to refer to the Ten Commandments and also in reference to the entire Pentateuch, which was to them the most important part of the Bible.  But, by the time of Jesus, they used the term law to refer to the oral or scribal law.  They had come to the conclusion that everything for life was implied, either explicitly or implicitly, in the law, so the scribes began to reduce the great principles to thousands of rules and regulations.  It was this law which Jesus condemned. 

In our next study, I want to share with you one of the consequences which came because of this use of the law by the Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ day and its impact upon our own day.

Father, First, I want to thank You that You have given us Your Word wherein You have shared with us Your desire for our lives.  Thank You for those eternal principles, such as our need to love You first with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and then, to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Help us not to become legalists, as were the religious leaders at the time of Jesus, but help us to live with freedom under Your law.  I pray this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

 

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