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NASB | Matthew 5:17 ¶ "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:17 ¶ "Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. |
Bible Question:
Greetings MJH! What are your sources for this idiom? Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
Bible Answer: I’ve spent several hours digging this up, and have yet to complete my task, but I hope that this will be adequate at least for right now. The Sources are at the end of this post. The reason I’m digging into this source and taking time to follow this thread is so that some can appreciate the value of knowing the language, culture, and contemporary teachings of Jesus time. When Jesus is placed back in His Jewish roots, the scriptures come alive in ways they do not when Jesus is taken out of His original Jewish culture. Case in point: A denominational Sunday school curriculum had a picture of a young boy walking up stairs into a building and the words with the picture said, “Jesus was a good Christian boy who went to church every Sunday.” Three things are wrong with this: 1) Jesus was not Christian but Jewish; 2) Jesus went to Synagogue, not Church; and 3) Jesus went on the Sabbath, not on Sunday. I suppose when children are taught such things, it is no wonder that there is such an uphill battle to help adults place Jesus back into His true setting. Why do I harp on this stuff? Several of you asked what this has to do with Salvation. First and foremost, when I began to study along these lines my life changed dramatically. It is not uncommon for a newly saved person to try and convert all his friends because of the Joy they have found. I too, feel this way in a sense and want everyone to experience the exhilaration of meeting Jesus in a fresh and real way, as He was and is. My goal is to know God and Jesus more and more to enjoy Him and live in the fullness of His Kingdom. Second; I do not believe that God’s only purpose in the story of the Bible was to simply get people saved and out of hell. We too often have the attitude that our job is to “get people in” when Jesus’ life and ministry was far more than just that. He practiced a first century discipleship that was not only common to His day, but ended up changing the Roman world in ways the Zealots of His time couldn’t have imagined. Jesus did this by studying immense amounts of information from the Old Testament to Oral Law and many other extra-Biblical teachings. Jesus debated with other respected Rabbis (not just those “white washed tombs” he chastised.) There were eight great debates in Jesus time and Jesus addresses all eight of them. (7 times he sides with Hillel and 1 time with Shammi, the leading Rabbinic schools of the day.) Jesus discussed the most minute law of the day as well as the greatest. I feel that when we ask, “What does this have to do with Salvation.” we devalue much of what God wants for us and from us. We cheapen the scriptures and what they can do in our lives. We forget that God is more interested IN us than in what we can do for Him. That being said, I am not one to participate in polemic divinity. I feel I side with Benjamin Franklin on this account. SOURCES: First the English ones: “Jesus the Jewish Theologian”, by Brad H. Young page 264-265 of ISBN 1565630602 “Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus”, by David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr. page 111-115 of ISBN 156043550X “Our Father Abraham”, by Marvin R Wilson, page 117 of ISBN 0802804233 En-Gedi web site: http://www.en-gedi.org/articles/rtb/rtb2002apr.html “Heavenly Torah”, by Abraham J. Heschel page unknown (I do not have this book yet) ISBN 0826408028 Non English Sources: W. Bacher, Die exegetische Terminologie der judischer Traditionsliteratur (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1905; Hebrew translation by A Rabinovitz; Erche Midrash, Jerusalem: Carmiel, 1970) Rabbis of today! This is a current common saying in the schools of Jewish theology found throughout the world, particularly in Israel. Also, I do have notes from an article by Bivin that come from the earliest sources (Mishnah written in the 200’s AD and is the Oral Traditions that were common during Jesus time.) These notes are all but meaningless if you do not know Hebrew and since the article they are attached to is copy protected, I can only post the notes. I am not posting the notes because they are long, but should you want them, I can post them in a separate response. And finally, the following was emailed to me by a wonderful man who helped me track some of this down: “David Bivin and the other Jerusalem School Scholars are experts in Koine Greek (even conversing in that ancient language on occasion), Mishnaic Hebrew, Aramaic, Biblical and Modern Hebrew, Syriac, and other languages used in Biblical scholarship like German, Latin, and French. I have not found the equal of their scholarship and linguistic capabilities among other Biblical scholars.” I hope that this helps in our walk with God, not just in some stupid disagreement about interpretation. Anyway, the most common interpretation of this text, even though wrong when used in Matt. 5:17, is a correct belief and teaching of the Bible, but that point is made elsewhere in the New Testament. |