Ye Have Heard That It Was Said…

MHA: Of the multitude of moral topics discussed in the Old Testament, Jesus selects six: (1) murder and anger, (2) adultery and struggle with temptation, (3) divorce, (4) swearing oaths, (5) not resisting evil, and (6) love for one’s enemies.

DMLJ: Our Lord’s chief desire was to show the true meaning and intent of the law, and to correct the erroneous conclusions which had been drawn from it by the Pharisees and scribes and all the false notions which they had founded upon it.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.2 - The Sermon on the Mount, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

In this part of the Sermon, Jesus enters into specific teachings, using applications to present the outcome of the Christian who lives into the earlier teaching in the Sermon: through the Beatitudes, a general description of the Christian’s essential nature; through salt and light, the function and purpose of the Christian in this life and world; finally, before coming to these examples, the relationship of such a person to the law.

In each example, Jesus offers His own positive exposition of the law and He contrasts it with the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees.  His concern is to give a true account of the law.  The six examples hold something in common, a set of common principles: first, that this is what the people have heard said by their teachers – the scribes and Pharisees.  In other words, it was the Law as interpreted and taught by these teachers, and not necessarily as God intended for the Law to be understood.

Next, Jesus says “But I say unto you….”  An extraordinary statement, as He sets Himself up as one with more authority than the scribes and Pharisees.  Per Lloyd-Jones, it is almost as if He is saying, I am the one who gave the Law; I am the one who can rightly interpret it.

MHA: Jesus, being God, considered it his right to expand on the commandments that were given to “them of old.”

While agree with the reference that Jesus is God, it strikes me that Jesus is doing nothing more than straightening out faulty interpretations and understandings, not “expanding.”  Lloyd-Jones is certainly of this view.

Lloyd-Jones offers: taking all of this together, the idea that in some manner Jesus was introducing a new law, setting it up in the place of the Law which God provided, in completely in error.  He is not introducing a new law, nor some detailed code of ethics.

Jesus is emphasizing that it is the spirit of the Law that is primary, not the letter; the Law was not intended to be mechanical.  The scribes and Pharisees concentrated on the letter and ignored the spirit. 

DMLJ: The whole purpose of the letter is to give body to the spirit; and the spirit is the thing that really matters, not the mere letter.

The leaders in Israel thought they were living the Law perfectly: having not committed murder, they ignored that what mattered was their attitude toward their fellow man; having not committed adultery, they ignored their inner desires.

DMLJ: It is clear then, that if we rely only upon the letter we shall completely misunderstand the law.

Thoughts, motives, and desires are as important as actions.  Perhaps more important, if one considers that actions follow thoughts, motives and desires.  Which leads to the idea that the Law was not intended to be merely negative: “Thou shalt not….”  Its real object was to lead us to do what is right, not merely to not do what is wrong.  Even more, the Law is to lead us to love to do what is right, to desire this.

The Law was not intended merely as oppressive rules; it was designed to promote and develop our spiritual character.  Sanctification does not mean ever-increasing servitude, but an ever-increasing freedom and a love for that freedom. In other words, the Law is not an end in itself; it is the means through which we come to know God.

DMLJ: The one test which you must always apply to yourself is this, “What is my relationship to God?  Do I know Him.  Am I pleasing Him?  Has God been supreme in my life today?  Have I lived to the glory and honour of God?  Do I know Him better?  Has there been anything in me that has been unlike Christ – thoughts, imaginations, desires, impulses?”

Conclusion

DMLJ: These six examples are nothing but illustrations of principles.  It is the spirit not the letter that matters; it is the intent, object and purpose that are important.

Following the Law is certainly important, and nothing taught by Jesus changes this.  But following the Law and holding to a harmful spirit is not satisfying the Law.  We do not at all grow closer to God in such a state. 

While there is value in following the letter of the law when it comes to our actual, physical, interactions with our fellow man, in this condition, there is no value in following the Law in terms of our relationship to God or in terms of growing more like Christ.