Did Jesus teach us to disregard God's laws?
Did Jesus trivialize and even advocate disobedience to God’s laws?
Here is a List of some verses that have been MISINTERPRETED as Jesus encouraging
trivialization of and even disobedience to God’s laws.
1.
Matthew 15: 10-11 “Jesus called the crowd to him. He said,
"Listen and understand. What goes into your
mouth does not make you 'unclean.' It's what comes out of your mouth that makes
you 'unclean.' "
Jesus was teaching that sin
comes from within. Many biblical scholars and ordinary Christians incorrectly
interpret this statement of Jesus to mean that Jesus was authorizing them to
eat anything, drink anything because it doesn’t make you unclean.
What Jesus was stating here is that
disobedience to laws starts from the heart.
They immediately justify their lack
of adherence to the health laws in the Bible based on this statement that Jesus
made – they completely took this statement out of its context. And a few other
statements from Paul compounded this misguidance. I will demonstrate how the
following verses written by Paul sowed more confusion.
“One person’s faith allows them to eat anything,
but another, whose faith is weak, eats
only vegetables.”
b. 1
Corinthians 10:25-26
“Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of
conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and
everything in it”
c.
Romans 14:20
“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.”
“Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.”
d.
Romans 14:14
“I am fully convinced that no
food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for
him it is unclean.”
To put what Jesus said into
its proper context – we have to understand that he wasn't teaching us to DISOBEY God’s health laws. He was
showing that obeying the law on the outside didn't mean the heart was clean of
filthy thoughts, wrong intentions and hate.
He was trying to teach the teachers of the law who kept the law to the
notch with no understanding as to the reasoning of love, compassion and trust
behind it.
Jesus was saying that in
keeping the law in itself without the spiritual component of love, compassion,
humility etc. made the obedience just an act void of meaning.
Some Christian’s interpret
this to mean – forget the law – just love.
This teaching is also wrong as it contradicts the whole narrative of the
Bible itself which focuses on obedience and submission to God’s laws.
To teach that you can just LOVE God and not
keep his commandments is just as wrong as teaching that you follow the
commandments without loving God. Both
are needed to make the act correct in full.
This is what Jesus was
emphasizing as demonstrated in the following verse:
2. Matthew 12:10-12 “ A man with a weak and twisted hand was there.
The Pharisees were trying to find fault with Jesus. So they asked him,
"Does the Law allow us to heal on the Sabbath day?" 11 He
said to them, "What if one of your sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath?
Won't you take hold of it and lift it out? 12 A man
is worth more than sheep! So the Law allows us to do good on the Sabbath
day."
Here the Pharisees just don’t see the purpose
of the law. If you were in the middle of
praying and someone’s house was on fire and they were shouting for help – for sure
your prayer would not be accepted of you if you continued praying because you
wanted to keep the law even at the expense of someone’s life who needed your
help. You have missed the whole
point. There are certain laws that take precedence
over others given exceptional circumstances.
“Instead of Jesus violating the law as these false
teachers and the Jews claim, he was simply violating the Jew's prejudicial
misapplications of the law. There is nothing in the Old or New Testament that
implies that using God's power to heal was any kind of violation of the
Sabbath, neither was walking through the grain fields eating grain.
It is one thing to show from the Bible that God
himself allows exceptions to His general rule (which He does on more than one
occasion), in accordance with principles which HE defines, and another to teach
that we have the right to make our OWN EXCEPTIONS in terms of principles which
WE ASSUME are satisfactory.” (T. Pierce Brown)
Let’s look at some more verses where Paul
trivialises the day of worship, the Holy Sabbath as etched in the 10
commandments, he also says that new converts shouldn’t follow the laws as Jesus
had done – rather – they should keep their old practises and just believe.
Paul even says clearly that that is his own
opinion – with no such authority from Jesus or God. He was not speaking for God or for Jesus but
of his OWN OPINION as the following scriptures written by him prove.
a.
Colossians 2:16
“Therefore do not let anyone judge
you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New
Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.”
b. Acts 15:10
"Now then, why are you
trying to test God? You test him when you put a heavy load on the believers'
shoulders. Our people of long ago couldn't carry that load. We can't
either. 11 No! We believe we are saved through the
grace of our Lord Jesus. Those who aren't Jews are saved in the same way."
c. Acts 15:19
“Now here is my opinion. We should not
make it hard for the non-Jews who are turning to God”
Here is another verse that
has been misinterpreted as Jesus commanding us to disobey or cancel the health
laws.
3. Matthew 15:1-9 “Some Pharisees and some teachers of the law
came from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked, 2"Why
don't your disciples obey what the elders teach? Your disciples don't wash
their hands before they eat! You pretenders! Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you. He said, ”‘These people honour me by
what they say. But their hearts are far away from me. Their worship
doesn't mean anything to me. They teach nothing but human rules.' “—(Isaiah 29:13)”
Jesus wasn't teaching that you shouldn't wash
your hands before you eat. What he was
teaching was that the washing of the hands was to be done in obedience and love
for God without spite and self-righteousness towards others.
However – if you will notice - What Paul is
teaching that his reason behind not
following some of the laws is purely for the sake of winning people over. Every law has logic and reason behind it but
to compromise God’s laws for the sake of winning people over makes no sense. Everything
one does has to be for the Glory of God.
The logic Paul uses to justify or advocate
this trivialization of the health laws is the “salvation” of the weak. This
argument makes no sense as salvation
lies in repentance and adhering to God’s laws as God stated in the Old
Testament and as Jesus had affirmed.
Here are a few more verses that display how
Paul further sows the seeds of confusion.
a.
Colossians 2:20
“The people of the world believe
certain basic things. You died with Christ as far as things like that are
concerned. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? Here are the
rules you follow. 21"Do not handle! Do not taste!
Do not touch!" 22 Rules like that are all
going to die out as time goes by. They are only based on human rules and
teachings.”
b. Acts 15:28
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit (now Paul
is speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit) and to us
not to give you a load that is too heavy. So here are a few basic
rules. 29 Don't eat food that has been offered to
statues of gods. Don't drink blood. Don't eat the meat of animals that have been
choked to death. And don't commit sexual sins. You will do well to keep away
from these things.
c. Hebrews 7:18-19
“The old rule is done away with. It was weak
and useless. The law didn't make anything perfect. Now a better hope has
been given to us. That hope brings us near to God.”
Paul and Peter rationalised that it was an
‘inconvenient burden’ to obligate the new Christians to the practice of
circumcision and keeping of the Law of Moses. (Acts15:1) In essence what Peter
is saying is:
"If you
teach that there are any rules or commandments we must follow besides just to
love God and your neighbour, you are putting an unbearable yoke on the neck of
the disciples and are judged thereby."
Peter’s thesis is, "If you love God, none of
the commandments of God have any binding effect, for you can express that love
any way you choose and it is just as good as the ways God chose!!!."
And that is the teaching that most Christians
believe in today. Instead of teaching such a false doctrine, the Bible teaches us
what God wants us to do, and how He wants us to do it, and we express our love
by doing it, not by substituting something else for those commands or
disregarding them.
Peter repeats the kind of
mistake that is so difficult to discern, but which underlies most of his
misapplications when he says "Love seeks the good of others instead
of seeking to comply with regulations." If he had said "instead of
MERELY seeking to comply with regulations," there would be no fault with
his statement.
The truth is, "Love seeks the good of others while it also
seeks to comply with God's regulations."
The way Peter puts it, if
one seeks the good of others one does not need to regard God's regulations as
binding, since all of God's regulations were merely given to show love! This is
incorrect! Jesus did not teach this and
the Bible itself does not support this teaching!
“When enlightenment is
bestowed upon the wayfarer’s heart in his journey to his Lord, a person would
act with greater observance of the manifest forms of religion. This falsifies
the claims of pseudo spiritualists, who say that the inner perfection can only
be acquired by relinquishing outer accomplishments, or, that after acquiring
inner excellences, necessity of observing outward forms does not remain obligatory.
This is a mistaken conception born of ignorance about the stages of worship and
the different grades of human progress.”
Imam Khomeine 40 Hadith -
The following scripture
verse confirms that obedience to God’s laws (regardless of what kind of laws)
is paramount to prove your belief in God’s sovereignty. Obedience and submission is evidence that you
recognize His Lordship
1. Ezekiel 22:26
“Her priests do violence to my
law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and
the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the
clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am
profaned among them.”
2.
Zechariah
7:12
“They made their hearts as hard as the hardest stone. They wouldn't
listen to the law. They wouldn't pay attention to the Lord's messages. So
the Lord who rules over all was very angry. After all, his Spirit had spoken to
his people through the earlier prophets.”
3. Hosea 8:12
“I wrote for
them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign.”
4. Matthew 5:19-20
“Do not
break even one of the least important commandments. And do not teach others to
break them. If you do, you will be called the least important person in the
kingdom of heaven. Instead, practice and teach these commands. Then you will be
called important in the kingdom of heaven. 20 "Here
is what I tell you. You must be more godly than the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law. If you are not, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of
heaven.”
Obedience and submission to
God’s laws demonstrates that you trust that He knows what is best for you for
His laws are there to guide you and benefit you – not to harm you. He created
you and the whole universe so He knows what is best for you – yet we challenge
Him with no knowledge.
God's will is made evident in his laws. Submission to His will means obedience to His laws. Paul taught that faith was sufficient but it is not...faith is proven through submission. Paul laid the foundation for Christianity as it is today - not Jesus.
CONCLUSION:
God's will is made evident in his laws. Submission to His will means obedience to His laws. Paul taught that faith was sufficient but it is not...faith is proven through submission. Paul laid the foundation for Christianity as it is today - not Jesus.
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