[ Note: We begin our foray into the New Testament! You’re likely breathing a sigh of relief to be out of the Torah itself at long last. Today, we are looking at how Jesus reimagines the heart of the law on the Sermon on the Mount. We will begin going through the highly disputed comments made by Paul surrounding the law in Galatians and Romans in our next article.]
Most of us, whether we know it or not, have probably heard Jesus’ iconic “Sermon on the Mount.” This crucial moment as Jesus begins his public teaching features his longest and most thorough discussion of Jesus’ own ethic and reading of Scripture. Scripture, as it was in Jesus’ day, was the Old Testament. Specifically, the most common form of Scripture was the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. Scholars debate whether Jesus would have relied upon the Hebrew text or the Greek, but Jesus’ thorough knowledge and appreciation for the Old Testament, and Torah in particular, is obvious.
Why, then, does Jesus seem to be at odds with the Torah?
In Matthew 5, near the beginning of Jesus’ message, Jesus himself would seem to disagree with that assessment:
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. For truly I tell you, 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. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.1
Yet, Jesus goes on to issue six statements that reinterpret the law. Each beginning with “You have heard it said…”, Jesus covers murder, adultery, divorce, making oaths, eye for an eye, and loving one’s enemies.
In each instance, one thing is held in common: Jesus says more forcefully what Torah has already instructed. These are not new.
The ethical constraint, however, is increased in each case. By this, I mean that in every instance the reader or listener is invited to pursue further and deeper into the heart behind what God has already commanded. Jesus is not saying that hating your brother or lusting after a woman was fine before. He is not inaugurating a new way of thinking or a new morality. Rather, he is drawing out the conclusions to which the Torah always pointed and always intended. The purpose of Torah was to reveal God’s own character so that Israel might know and imitate him. The Prophets reflect on this same fact. Hosea 6:6 declares about Yahweh, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” This is not to say that the sacrificial system had no purpose, but its purpose was to lead Israel into deeper knowledge, love, and fidelity towards Yahweh.
But what about an eye for an eye? Loving your enemies? Isn’t Jesus here reversing previous precedents set by the Torah?
Well, if you haven’t read last week’s article on an eye for eye, you should do so here: An Eye for an Eye. What we learned, though, is that the practice of an eye for an eye was not meant as a means of barbaric punishment, but was instead meant to be a limit placed upon retaliation. The punishment must fit the crime. You are not permitted to kill the one who struck you, yet such behavior must be curbed.
If we read an eye for an eye this way, then what Jesus says makes perfect sense. Just as Jesus tightens the grip of the other five practices, so too does he do so for an eye for an eye. He takes the limiting of retaliatory violence even further. Instead of giving people their “just deserves,” you are meant to show mercy. This is what fulfillment of the law looks like. It is not disposing of the law, but it instead is getting at what the heart of the law was all along. Jesus, being God, gave the law to the people. He has not changed his mind here. He is simply underscoring the driving purpose that was behind these laws all along.
Perhaps the most glaring “change” from the Torah to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount comes in loving one’s enemies. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”2 Wait a second, does the Torah (or the Old Testament in general) command hating one’s enemies?
No. It doesn’t. There is no command in the Old Testament to hate your enemies.
Love of neighbor is a clear admonition, as we discussed here: The Golden Rule. Hating your enemy, however, is nowhere to be found. What can we draw from this? Is Jesus misquoting Scripture? Likely, Jesus is refuting a commonly held notion and interpretation of his day. The fact that this section also begins with the phrase, “you have heard it said” means that this was something being taught commonly by the religious leaders of the day. The reversal that Jesus is making is not against the law. Instead, he is reversing the false interpretation of his day.
The image of the hippie, rule-breaking Jesus that is often conjured in our minds is not the Jesus we find in the Bible. Yes, Jesus cares about love, but Yahweh has always desired mercy over sacrifice. And, fundamentally, the Torah is love, it is grace. The two need not be opposed. Jesus simply underscores the heart behind the law and its true intent all along. Jesus came to fulfill the law, not abolish it, so nor should we.
Matthew 5:17-20 (NIV).
Matthew 5:43-44 (NIV).
Great insights as always!