Subject: Does the OT apply to us as christians? |
Bible Note: To "make full" the meaning of the Torah "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete." There is no conflict between Moses' commandments and Jesus' teachings on them in which He gives the 'complete, full spiritual sense to be understood and obeyed'. For example, where is the conflict between a command to not murder your brother and a command to not be angry with him or call him a fool? Far from there being a conflict, both of these commands -- don't be angry and do not murder -- are in harmony with each other. "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." Matthew 5:17 'Replacement theology likewise understands that Yeshua at his first coming fulfilled the Torah, so that we don't have to do so (the logic leading to this conclusion is unclear);... 'But the word usually translated "fulfill", Greek pleroo, does not necessarily convey this specific sense. Rather, it is a very common word which simply means "fill", "fill up", "make full", as in filling a cup or a hole. It should be evident that the actual meaning is as rendered in the Jewish New Testament: "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete" -- that is, to "make full" the meaning of what the Torah and the ethical demands of the Prophets require. 'In fact, this verse, so understood, states the theme of the entire Sermon on the Mount -- in which six times the Messiah says, "you have heard of old time" the incomplete meaning or a distortion, "but I say to you" the complete, full spiritual sense to be understood and obeyed.' (David H. Stern, "Restoring the Jewishness of the Gospel", 1988, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc.) |