walsha@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com (07/01/91)
this must be an obvious question, but it's been on my mind and i was hoping someone could answer. if Jesus said: "i came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it" and "not one tittle will drop away from the law until the end of time" (or quotes to that effect), why did christianity immediately upon the death of Jesus throw out the law? ando. [Historically, the answer is that it came from dealing with the problem of Gentiles who wanted to be Christians. Read Acts 15 and Galatians for a couple of views. Jesus' ministry was primarily to Jews. I think you have to understand his insistence on the Law in that context. Many Jews in the 1st Cent., as Jews now, did not believe that non-Jews were necessarily called on to accept the Law. Thus there were a class of people (called proselytes) who accepted the Jewish concept of God, and had a loose connection with the synagogues, but had not been circumcized, and were not bound by the Law. The Centurion in Luke 7 seems to have been one of these. He was a benefactor of the Jews, but seems not to have been a Jew himself. Jesus didn't call on him to accept the Law. Thus at the very least, the decision of Acts 15 seems justified. It says that Gentile Christians are not under ths Law (or in the more common current interpretation, under the "ceremonial" parts of the Law), but I think assumes that Jewish Christians still are. Paul's view may be somewhat more radical. He portrays the Law as a schoolmaster leading up to Christ. He considers the Law as holy. But what he says has left many Christians with the impression that it no longer applies. There's general agreement that he says you can't depend upon the Law *for salvation*, and that he rejects some parts of the Law. (The kosher rules and the Sabbath are the most commonly cited examples, though some of our readers don't agree about the Sabbath.) Mark 7:19 traces the abandonment of kosher to Jesus himself. Paul never says "the Law is hereby null and void", but manages to leave that impression with many readers. We're now getting into points where there are lively discussions. (If he did intend to say that the Law no longer applies, he might have meant it only for Gentile Christians. The comments that leave this impression were probably written to Gentiles.) Some people believe that Paul used a Jewish concept that the coming of the Messiah would free the people from the Law. One could take this as being based on Jer 31:31 ff, which says that God would make a new covenant, not like the old one, but written in their hearts. There's been a persistent Christian interpretation that Christ fulfilled the Law, but that in doing so he brought it to an end. Mat 5:17-18 can be read this way. Note "until all is accomplished". As far as one can determine, the exact relationship between Christianity and the Law was a matter of debate for the NT church, and this debate continued through the period of the Church Fathers (including a debate as to whether the OT belonged in the Bible at all), and is still a hot topic in this newsgroup. --clh]