BP: The Law

The Law

Script References

Intro to the Law

Jon: You are most likely familiar with the 10 commandments in the Bible—stuff  we generally take as good advice: don’t murder, don’t steal, honor your  parents. The list goes on.

Tim: And those are just the first 10. There are actually a total of 613 commands,  all given to ancient Israel, found in the first five books of the Bible, which in  Hebrew are called the “Torah.”

Jon: Now the word torah is usually translated in English as “the law” because it  has all these laws in it. And as you read through them you wonder, “Am I  supposed to obey some of these? All of these? I mean, what’s the purpose  of the law?”

Tim: Well that translation is kind of confusing because while the Torah has laws  in it, the book itself is fundamentally a story about how God is creating  new kinds of people who are fully able to love God and love others. And  when Jesus taught about the Torah, he said that he was bringing that story  to its fulfillment.

Jon: So walk me through the story and how it’s fulfilled.

The Story of the Torah

Tim: So the story begins with God creating humanity, who rebels. And God  chooses Abraham to bless all of the nations through his family, who end  up in slavery down in Egypt. And so God rescues them. Then at Mount  Sinai, God makes a covenant with Israel, like an agreement. And all of the  laws that Moses gives to Israel are the terms of that agreement. They’re  like a constitution. And so some of the laws, they’re about rituals and  customs that set Israel apart from the nations, other laws are about social  justice or morality. And by following these, Israel would show the other  nations what God is like.1

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00:54–02:43

1. Exodus 24:4–7 Deuteronomy 31:9

Jon: Okay, so the rest of the Torah is just the complete list of laws that Moses  gives Israel?

Tim: No. The rest of the Torah just continues the story, and the 613 commands  are only a selection from that original constitution. And even these have  been broken up and placed at strategic points within the story. Now pay  attention, because you’ll see a really clear pattern. Moses gives the first  laws to Israel.

Jon: Don’t worship other gods. Don’t make idols.

Tim: And then right after there’s a story of Israel breaking those very laws. Jon: Yeah. They worship the golden calf.

Tim: And so Moses gives some more laws. And then you get more stories  of rebellion, some more laws, rebellion again, some more laws, more  rebellion, and you start to see the point.

Jon: Right. No matter how many laws, they are just going to continue to rebel.

Tim: So at the conclusion of the Torah’s story, Moses gives this final speech  to Israel as they prepare to go into their new home. And he tells them,  “You guys, I know that you’re not going to follow all of God’s laws. You’ve  proven to me that you’re incapable.” And Moses says the problem is that  their hearts are hard and that they’re going to need new transformed  hearts if they’re ever going to truly follow God’s law.2 And he was right. I  mean, the story goes on to recount Israel’s total failure.

Jon: They go into the land. They break all the laws.3

The Prophets

Tim: Right. Now the next section of books in the Jewish tradition are the 15  books of the prophets, and they reflect back on the story. For example,  Ezekiel, he said that if Israel was ever going to obey the law, God’s Spirit  would have to transform their hard hearts into soft hearts. And Jeremiah  said that’s when obedience to God’s commands wouldn’t feel like a duty,  that they’d be written deep in their hearts. And Isaiah, he promised a  future leader, Israel’s Messiah, who will lead all of the people in obedience  to the law.4

Now, in Jewish tradition all of these books together are called the Prophets,  even the historical books, because they are continuing the story, told from  the perspective of the prophets.

Jon: Okay, so we have the law and the prophets, and they’re telling one  connected story about God’s desire to bless the whole world through a  people, Israel, who, it turns out, needs a new heart.

2. Deuteronomy 30

3. Judges–2 Kings 02:44–03:34

4. Ezekiel 36

Jeremiah 31

Jesus Fulfills the Law

Tim: Yes! And Jesus saw himself as continuing that story. So he agreed with  the law and the prophets when he taught that it’s out of the human heart  that come the most ugly parts of human nature. It’s like the default setting  of our hearts is opposed to God’s law. But Jesus also said that he came to  solve that problem and, in his words, “to fulfill the law.” 5

Jon: So what does he mean there, to “fulfill the law”?

Tim: Well, first he said that the demand of all the laws in the Torah could be  fulfilled by what he called “the great command,” that we are to love God  and to love others.6

Jon: So that seems pretty easy. I mean, we all want to love.

Tim: Well, we think we want to love. But Jesus showed how love is far more  demanding than we realize. So he quotes the law, “Do not murder,” and  he says, “Yes. Not killing someone is a very loving thing to do.” But then he  also says that when you treat someone with disrespect or when you nurse  resentment against them, you’re also violating God’s moral ideal because  you are not treating that person with love. And so Jesus said true love  ought to extend even to our own enemies. So even though this command  seems very simple, Jesus showed how our hearts are not currently  equipped to fulfill even this basic command of God to love others.

Transformed Hearts

Jon: That’s kind of a downer.

Tim: But where Israel failed, Jesus brought the story to its fulfillment. As Israel’s  Messiah, he fully loved God and others, and he showed all of the nations  what God is truly like. He did this through his acts of compassion and  mercy and ultimately by loving his enemies even unto death. And after  his resurrection, he told his followers that he would send God’s Spirit to  transform their hearts so that they could follow him and fulfill the purpose  of the law—to love God and to love their neighbor. So this fulfills the story  of the law and the prophets, or in the words of the apostle Paul, “The one  who loves fulfills the law.” 7

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5. Matthew 5:17

6. Matthew 22:34–40

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7. Romans 3:19–20; 5:20; 7:13–14; 8:1–12

Galatians 3:13–14