The Intent of the Law

Did Jesus come to replace the covenant of God with Israel or renew it? Did He come to give us a new and better covenant that would supersede the old (Heb 8:6), or did He come to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven and just start all over by keeping the law (the Covenant with Israel and all 613 of its commandments) again? What really was Gods intent of the Law?

 

In Matthew (5:17-20) Jesus proclaimed, "Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.". Here he was actually amplifying the message of both Moses and the prophets, though His interpretation was contrary to various 'traditional' views of the day. Many times He would be recorded as saying "You have heard that it was said [in the law or by the sages…]; but I say to you …

When the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the Law, He responded not about the letter of the law but the inner meaning of the Torah (Matt 22:34-40). Through this, His doctrine was a continuance of the Torah's foundational message; however, Jesus clearly extended the reach of the Torah to include the 'inner heart attitude' of the person. Observing the law was not a matter of adhering to various external codes of conduct, but clearly involved the rigorous self-examination of the heart and soul.

The Jews are commanded to teach the Law …"to their children, talking about them when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers… (Deut 11:19-21)." There, they were to be continually reminded of the words that the Lord spoke to them, giving them rituals, prayers, blessings that they had to remember and devices that helped them remember. And if they forgot, or sinned they had to provide sacrifice (korbanot) to God for those missteps. Whether great or small, sin required sacrifice.

But how can we gain eternal life, if we have to live our lives according to the law, when we know our fleshly desires sabotage us at every turn? The Disciples themselves questioned this when the rich young ruler asked what else he needed to do to gain eternal life (Matt. 19:16-26). They were astonished at Jesus response because according to tradition of the times, the more you gave to the Temple the more 'good' you were (you could essentially buy your way into heaven). The one thing missing in this young man's observance of the law was the heart; Jesus requires a radical change of heart (teshuvah – repentance). When Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor, it wasn't the act Jesus was looking for; it was the inner change of true compassion and love for those less fortunate. It's the inner intent of the commandments that matter, not the mere conformity to an external ideal.

God's law in His Covenant with Israel is a flawless mirror, reflecting the stark truth of our moral and spiritual depravity; revealing our need for salvation. As we stand looking into this mirror we view the law as too harsh, unforgiving, and living righteously (tzadick), within it as totally unattainable.

From the beginning God had our salvation planned, a 'New Covenant' (Heb 8:6-13, Jer. 31:31-34). This is the ultimate gospel message itself—that God sent His Son (John 3:16), as the final sacrifice to save us from the just verdict of Gods law (John 3:17) and to provide our hearts the means to live righteously within it (1 Peter 2:24). This provision is Holy Spirit. He writes the laws in our minds and on our hearts, serves as counselor (John 14:26), and helps to remind us that we do not have to participate in the sacrificial rituals that never saw an endpoint. "IT IS FINISHED" (John 19:30)