Torah

The Law & Prophets

/ David R Maas / 1 Comment

Fulfillment is a prominent theme in Matthew’s gospel – with the arrival of the Messiah, the time of fulfillment has arrived. All that was anticipated in the Hebrew Bible began to come to fruition. But with his advent, what are the implications for the Law?

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus provides clear answers and examples of just what he means. He did not come to adjudicate the interpretive disputes between competing Jewish sects over the details of the Law or to validate which oral traditions were correct.

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SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE LAW

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To pursue a Torah-observant lifestyle is to re-erect the old social barriers – Galatians 3:26-4:7.

The final paragraph of the third chapter of Galatians is pivotal to Paul’s larger argument, for it stresses the oneness of the people of God established by Jesus. In this new order, the old social divisions are inappropriate, especially now that the promised “seed of Abraham” has arrived. To now return to the regulations of the Law would erect the old social barriers.

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FOOD AND CALENDARS

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Paul argued for tolerance within the church on food regulations and the observation of holy days – The “shadows” have found their fulfillment in Jesus.

The law of Moses specified what foods the people of God could eat by distinguishing between the “clean” and the “unclean,” with the consumption of the latter being forbidden. A comprehensive description of the dietary regulations given to Israel is found in the eleventh chapter of the book of Leviticus.

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CONTROVERSY AT GALATIA

/ David R Maas / 4 Comments

SYNOPSIS – The key dispute at Galatia was whether Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep some, at least, of the required deeds of the Torah. 

The Letter to the Galatians is often read as a broadside by the Apostle Paul against “legalism,” the belief that right standing with God is “earned” through good works and human effort.  This reading stems from the influence of Reformation theology, which tends to see Divine grace and human obedience in constant tension, if not inherently incompatible with each other.

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PAUL’S MAIN DISPUTE AT GALATIA

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SYNOPSIS – Paul presents the points of agreement and disagreement with his opponents at Galatia – Galatians 2:15-21.

In the first two chapters of his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul explains how he received his gospel for the Gentiles by divine revelation, a commission confirmed by the leaders of the Jerusalem church. He also details how certain “false brethren had slinked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus” in an earlier but similar controversy at the church in Antioch of Syria – (Galatians2:1-5).

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