bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron C. Howes) (10/11/85)
In article <1721@akgua.UUCP> rjb@akgua.UUCP (R.J. Brown [Bob]) writes: > Christians are anti-nomian in that >respect in that we look to Jesus as the fulfillment of the >Law. This is a phrase which gets bandied about from time to time on the various religion related newsgroup. I find I simply don't understand it. Logically, one can do many things to laws, but "fulfill" is not one of them! One can obey, disobey, make, retract and a host of other things, but not fulfill. Clearly something else is meant here, with the usual host of hidden assumptions. Clarification anyone? (Don't give me the narrative. I know that! Explain to me the meaning.) -- Byron C. Howes ...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch
lisa@phs.UUCP (Jeffrey William Gillette) (10/12/85)
[] Byron Howes recently questioned the phrase "Jesus [is] the fulfillment of the Law". > Logically, one can do many things to laws, but "fulfill" is not > one of them! One can obey, disobey, make, retract and a host of other > things, but not fulfill. The common Protestant theological interpretation of this statement is something like, "Jesus fulfilled the demands of the Law" in some type of substitutionary sense. St. Paul probably had something like this in mind when he wrote that "Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe." The term "end" (telos) can mean goal / fulfillment as well as termination. Historically, however, I doubt that this was the primary meaning of the phrase in the early church. Rather, Luke expands it in this way, "All things written in the Law of Moses must be fulfilled" (Luke 24.44). For the early church, the primary significance of their "bible" (what we call the Old Testament) was its prophectic announcement of Jesus. Not only in the "prophets", but also in the "Law" and the "writings" one could find many prophecies which, claimed the apostles, found their fulfillment in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Matthew carried this idea a bit further, claiming in the Sermon on the Mount, "Do not think that I have come to destroy [katalusai - loosen or nullify] the law or the prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For truly I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, neither iota nor mia [references to the Hebrew yod and tittle] will by any means pass away from the law until all things have come to pass" (5.17-28). The way Matthew develops this idea through the rest of Jesus' sermon shows his concept of "fulfillment." On one level the life and actions of Jesus were predicted by the prophets. On another level, however, the ethical teachings of Jesus were "predicted" or foreshadowed by the Mosaic Law. Thus the moral demands and ethical expectations of Jesus are the "fulfillment" of the intentions of God set forth by God in the legal code of Moses. Interestingly enough, the contemporary Protestant sense of the phrase, working out of a particular interpretation of St. Paul, was not the majority opinion of the early Church. Rather writers such as Justin, Clement of Alexandria, and, above all, Origen, argued that the Mosaic Law as interpreted and amplified by Christ prescribes the truly philosophical life after which Pythagoras, Plato, Xeno and the rest earnestly sought. Thus Jesus "fulfilled", i.e. interpreted, kept, and served as a paradigm for, the highest standards of God's Law = the [morally] good life. Jeffrey William Gillette duke!phys!lisa The Divinity School Duke University
mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) (10/12/85)
In article <903@mcnc.mcnc.UUCP> bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron C. Howes) writes: >> Christians are anti-nomian in that >>respect in that we look to Jesus as the fulfillment of the >>Law. [Bob Brown] >This is a phrase which gets bandied about from time to time on the various >religion related newsgroup. I find I simply don't understand it. Logically, >one can do many things to laws, but "fulfill" is not one of them! One can >obey, disobey, make, retract and a host of other things, but not fulfill. >Clearly something else is meant here, with the usual host of hidden >assumptions. Clarification anyone? (Don't give me the narrative. I >know that! Explain to me the meaning.) Well, there's no getting around that word "fulfilment". It's in the text. This is probably one of the most hotly debated statements of Jesus, right up there with "not one iota of the law will pass away...". It first must be pointed out that, as far as Gentile christianity is concerned, this passage is of little direct import. The Acts of the Apostles clearly states that we are not bound to Mosaic law. Period. So the chief importance of the passage today is how it depicts Jesus' relationship to Judaic law and custom. I don't think I will attempt to explain the passage. As I said, it is much argued about, and there are numerous commentaries on the passage. THe only comment I have is that Jesus prefaces the passage with "I am not come to destroy [the law]," even though in another place he says that nothing a man eats can defile him, in violent contradiction with the dietary laws. So perhaps there is no simple answer to be given on this point. Charley Wingate
emery@fluke.UUCP (John Emery) (10/16/85)
God did not create man to place him under the law with its
rules and regulations. He created man so that He could share
His glory with him and that man might experience God's unending
love, joy, and peace so that man might worship and love Him
throughout eternity to His glory. He created us in His image
so that we might love each other the way He loves us and graciously
gives us everything. God is love! God's nature is not forceful
so He gave man free will to love Him and each other and thus
make love perfect. But Satan used this gift of God to tempt Eve
to break the one simple command not to eat of the tree of life.
Well, we all know what happened next and to make a long story
short, man became murderer, adulterer, hater, liar, etc. He
exalted himself above God and God hid his face from man. So
where did the law come from?
In order to show His majestic glory to all nations, God raised
up a nation to be His chosen people so that through them all
nations might praise God and fear Him. He delivered this nation
out of bondage with great miracles and drove out all nations
out before them. He did this not because of their righteousness,
but because of His mercy and to fulfill the promise He made to
one man, Abraham, who against all odds trusted God through faith.
This nation, however continually refused to trust God and have
faith in Him regardless of all He had done for them. And although
He demonstrated His great patience and mercy, they continued to
disobey Him time and time again, unlike Abraham. Instead of destroying
this rebellious nation, God chose to show His fairness and give
the nation a set of commands, known as His law. This law put
rules on just about every aspect of their life. And God promised
that if they obeyed all His decrees, they would prosper in their
land. To break any part of the law was to sin and to make provisions
for their mistakes God allowed the slaughtering of an inocent animal
in their place. Although Israel promised to obey all the laws, they
soon fell into sin.
Then, in a moment in time, the perfection of God's grace appeared.
The revelation to the world of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Although
he shares perfectly in His Father's nature and is like Him in every
way, he was humiliated in the form of a servant to come to us. He
became flesh as we are and was born into the Jewish nation under the
full reign of the law. Although he was weakened by his humanity and
faced all the trials and sufferings of the flesh, he demonstrated
his glorious love for his Father by living a sinless and obedient
life under the law. He glorified his Father by his words and actions
unlike any human in all history. He showed his love among men
with a love that could only come from God. Rather than losing us
forever because of our stubborn sin, Jesus loved us enough to
become our sin and die the death we deserved so that we would turn
to God's mercy and receive eternal life and be with Jesus and his
Father forever. This was not because of anything we did. In fact,
when Jesus died for the sins of the world, we were God's enemies.
It is a gift to us that God counted Jesus' death as ours. He did
this so that we would fix our eyes upon Jesus and surrender ourselves
to him. The Father's love for his Son is unconceivable and he
gave to Jesus all of us so that he could be our Lord and Savior and
that we could become God's adopted children through him. And
Jesus did not die and leave us on our own but when we receive him
as our Lord and Savior and surrender ourselves to him, he comes
and lives with us united with our spirit. He pours out on us
God's Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit we experience the
Father's love for Jesus and Jesus' love, joy, and peace. The Spirit
actually transforms our sinful nature into a nature of love for
God and others and a will to serve the Lord. He helps us to stand
strong in faith and to trust in God for everything in our lives.
Through the Holy Spirit, we grow more and more into the image of
Jesus because he lives in us and shares his nature with us. Unlike
the law, this does not depend on our righteousness or good deeds
but is a gift from God. It depends only on our will to surrender to
God and his power to perform the miracle inside us through Jesus.
How perfect! We become as God originally intended us to be. Why
is there any need for the law? What good would it do? The law was
given because of sin. It was added so that sin would increase
because of man's sinful nature and man would become aware of his
sin and repent to God. It served to demonstrate that only God
could take away sins. And Jesus takes away our sinful nature.
He nailed it to the cross.
Why did Israel fail? Because in order to live the righteous
life God called us to, there needs to be a change of heart. Because
God is love, those who live for him must walk in love. The law
itself has no power to change one's heart but through Jesus we
experience God's love deep inside our hearts because he gives us
his love. Therefore with the love of Jesus inside us there is no
need for the law because Jesus himself fulfills the requirements
of the law inside us.
In His Name,
John Emeryswc@cbsck.UUCP (Scott W. Collins) (10/18/85)
My understanding is that fulfillment of the Law means completion of the requirements outlined by the Law. In Leviticus 26:14 and on, it states what will happen if we "will not hearken to (God) and will not do all the commandments...". We must fulfill the Law, i.e. abide by His commandments and statutes...all of them! Because we could not fulfill the Law ourselves (works), which is my impression of the reason for the Old Covenant with God - to see that we cannot do it ourselves, God sent Himself as the Son to fulfill the Law for us. Well, you didn't want a monologue, so I will end with "and etc., etc." (which is tough to do when you get to the best part!). In Christ's Name, Scott W. Collins