Matthew's Exile motif, and the Sermon on the Mount

[Solly]

I have now preached through chapter 4 in my exposition of Matthew's Gospel, and I am struck by his use of the Exile/Restoration motif, not just in the way he highlights it in the genealogy - rather than focussing on the return under Zerubbabel (and has anyone noticed how Matthew completely ignores the Maccabbean independance movement?), but also in the fulfillment texts that are spread through the first four chapters, which either relate to exilic prophecies, promises of restoration, and references to obedient sons in the light of Israel's disobedience, and hence Exile.
It seems that to Matthew the exile is still continuing, as evidenced by the decline in the Davidic line into near obscurity after the national exile. It seems that the promised restoration is not a simple matter of returning to some piece of land, but that more important is reason for the Exile, and thence Saviour who will deal with this: he shall save his people from their sins and effect the restoration of fellowship with God. There seem to be a lot of tie ins with malachi, esp in reference to John Baptist s as the promised foreunner in the spirit of Elijah, and the Lord coming suddenly to his temple - to undo what had been done in Ezekiel, when he left. This also links in with the wider Biblical Theological theme of humanity's exile from Eden, and the movement at the end of the book (though characterised throughout) of obedient Israel, through the Son, going out into the world - from apostate and finally judged Israel under Jerusalem - to fulfill the other prophecies of universal restoration (not universalism, just a restoration that affects Gentiles as well as jews).

With this in mind, and if you think it is there, then how do you see it affecting our interpretation of chs 5-7, the "sermon on the mount". Straight off, it seems to undermine the idea of interim ethics, or of a new law along the lines of the Mosaic law.

[Solly]

So, like, nobody is interested? No input from out there? ch08

Anyway, I read The Sermon on the Mount lecture by Joachim Jeremias last night; that's pretty good, since he angles in on the gospel nature of the SotM, and objecting to the New Law, Interim Ethic, and Lutheran Impossible Ideal views, and showing that it does not provide prescriptions but descriptions of life in the Kingdom, and to be found in disciples of Christ. I think that will fit in nicely with my own inklings with regard to it.

[Ian Potts]

Yes, that's pretty much how I view the Sermon on the Mount. It isn't a 're-emphasis' of the Mosaic law by Christ where he simply sets forth a fuller understanding of that law as opposed to the corruption of it by the Pharisees (It can't be that because He so often quotes 'as it is written' and what he quotes is what is ACTUALLY written in the law, not some distortion of it by the Pharisees).

Nor, as you say, is the Sermon on the Mount some impossible ideal of what we should be like which we never can manage to attain to. When it says that our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees it doesn't mean that we have to work twice as hard as they do at being righteous! We would never manage it.

I agree with you that what it really sets forth is the character of true believers as they are in Christ. By being in Christ, born again of the Spirit, washed in His blood, justified by faith, we have the 'new man of grace' within. That new man is born of God, born of the Spirit, and is perfectly righteous as God is righteous. That new man has a righteousness which exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees - a perfect righteousness. What the Sermon on the Mount describes is THAT righteousness and how it will be seen in all true believers as evidence of their being saved. Yes, those believers still have the flesh which wars against the Spirit and their outer conduct will be marred by sin, they won't always do those things which they will to (see Romans 7) but overall their conduct and their walk is in the Spirit, not in the flesh, and is characterised by the qualities seen in Matthew 5-7. They hunger and thirst after righteousness. They are persecuted for righteousness sake. They are poor in spirit, they mourn, they are meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers. This describes the CHARACTER of the new man within them, that new man of grace which bears fruit in their life and evidences their salvation.

Matthew 5-7 gives us a wonderful 'litmus test' to compare ourselves with. To see if our faith really produces works. Do any of these qualities actually shine forth in our lives? Obviously all true believers will often mourn and feel poor in spirit because they recognise the sin in their flesh and how they often fall and fail their Lord, but they will also be able to say that they do 'hunger and thirst' after righteousness. That they long to do the Lord's will, to love Him, to follow Him, to walk in the Spirit. And in so doing (by God's grace) they will indeed be salt with savour, and the light of the world.

Well, that my two penny's worth on this passage. (But Solly, I expect you knew already how I probably felt about it! :teeth: )

[Solly]

Thanks Ian. Actually I didn't know for sure, since the Lutheran "Impossible Ideal" (this-is-the-Law-applied-in-spades-despair-and-die, or convert) is a stratum in our circles - even JCP preached such at times - but a Biblical Theological view avoids making everything conform to Romans 7. I have been interested to see how Luther's Copmmentary on Galatians is more widely read in our circles than Calvin's Institutes, for example.

I hadn't realised how much the post-exilic theme plays a part in Matthew, including in his two ages/law-gospel schema; notice how John the Baptist is got out of the way in ch 4, and his call for repentance that awaits God's judgment, rather than Christ's call to repentance in the face of God's grace.

The main issue, of course, is how legalistically parts of the SotM have been used, because people haven't realised that it expresses the fruit of our restored relationship in the New Age of the Kingdom (if only proleptically), rather than the chidings of the Old Age.

[Ian Potts]

Yes, I definitely don't subscribe to the 'impossible goal' idea. It just leads to continual despair and, well, turns what is 'pure gospel' righteousness in Matthew 5-7 into some legalistic rule. Our fathers couldn't bear the rule of the law we are told, so why then put a 'higher' law upon believers? ie. in the sense of making it a law that they strive at.

No to me this describes the actual fruit, the actual character which is in the new man, and is manifested when the believer walks in the Spirit. Obviously when the flesh is sown to, rather than the spirit, then the flesh will be more evident and so will sin. But if we feed the new man on the word of God, if we look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, if we walk in the Spirit and mortify the deeds of the flesh, reckon it to be crucified with Christ, if we are under grace, not under law, then sin won't have dominion over us, and the character of the new man will shine through.

Mind you, regarding what you say here: "(this-is-the-Law-applied-in-spades-despair-and-die, or convert)". Although I don't accept that Matt5-7 is to be used in this way I do believe that the law should be preached as part of the Gospel to demonstrate to fallen man that he is a sinner and has failed hopelessly to attain to that righteousness, is condemned and needs someone to pay his debt for him, that someone being Christ. So the law, as with John the Baptist prepares the way of Christ. It is a schoolmaster to lead us unto Christ. But when faith is come we are no longer under that schoolmaster. (Gal 3) But I think you probably aren't disagreeing with that here are you?

You said "but a Biblical Theological view avoids making everything conform to Romans 7". Could you expand on that a bit please? I quoted Romans 7 in my last post, but I don't consider that it applies all over the place as some kind of constant flesh/spirit tug of war where the flesh is as dominant as the spirit. No, if the spirit is sown to, if it is fed, if our gaze is constantly towards Christ, in grace, then the Spirit will dominate and the good that we would, we will actually do (not all the time, but it will be dominant, as opposed to a prior life of sin being our dominant character).

You also say "I hadn't realised how much the post-exilic theme plays a part in Matthew, including in his two ages/law-gospel schema; notice how John the Baptist is got out of the way in ch 4, and his call for repentance that awaits God's judgment, rather than Christ's call to repentance in the face of God's grace.".

Yes, it's wonderful the more you look into the word how there are greater depths and riches to it than is first apparent. Evangelical repentance is indeed of grace, whereas John the Baptist's was a more of a legal repentance, a turning from sin, as part of the transition between the Old Covenant and the arrival of the Messiah. The people were to repent of their sin, and were therefore in a state ready for the coming of Christ, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. John's ministry prepared the way for Christ by whom came grace and truth.

:smile:

[Solly]

Just you and me on this it appears Ian. bs06


Mind you, regarding what you say here: "(this-is-the-Law-applied-in-spades-despair-and-die, or convert)". Although I don't accept that Matt5-7 is to be used in this way I do believe that the law should be preached as part of the Gospel to demonstrate to fallen man that he is a sinner and has failed hopelessly to attain to that righteousness, is condemned and needs someone to pay his debt for him, that someone being Christ. So the law, as with John the Baptist prepares the way of Christ. It is a schoolmaster to lead us unto Christ. But when faith is come we are no longer under that schoolmaster. (Gal 3) But I think you probably aren't disagreeing with that here are you?

No, I am not disagreeing with you. :thumb: There is obviously that which our forebears called "law-work"; my only problem is when this idea is applied to parts of scripture where it has no place to be. One of the pitfalls of coat-hook text sermons.

Btw, I disagree with the "schoolmaster" bit, in the sense that it does not lead us to Christ - it only leads us to sin. The emphasis is on the bondage of the child under a slave, until the child comes to years and freedom. Pædogos is not a schoolteacher, but a guardian that takes the child to school. It's an inadequate image in some ways of course - but it serves Paul's purpose here - in that the law had elements that pointed to the remedy, even though it is not the remedy itself.

Btw 2, by Biblical Theological I mean that which was initiated by the work of Geerhardus Vos and Herman Ridderbos, and is encapsulated in the IVP New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, a book I can't recommend too highly. Plus Graeme Goldsworthy's books.

[Ian Potts]

Sorry I didn't explain the schoolmaster bit well.

I agree with you. The law doesn't lead us TO Christ. What I meant is that we are under it until Christ comes. Nothing leads us unto Christ except the Spirit, except the Father draws us by the Spirit. The law just condemns us.

What I meant is what you have said, that the law condemns our sin and therefore brings us down to a state where we feel our depravity and our need of Salvation. The Spirit actually uses the law to do that, because carnal man, even with the law, can just ignore it on his own, but the Spirit brings us to an end of ourselves under the law and prepares the ground ready for the good seed of the Gospel. He prepares us for Christ and brings us to the point of crying out "God be merciful to me a sinner".

Much like the preparation of John the Baptist for Christ's coming.

And yes, the law has elements in it (especially the ceremonial side) which point to Christ and His atonement. But we still need the Spirit to use that law to show us its meaning, apply its condemning force to us. And then for the Spirit to point us to Christ.

So, as you say, the law is a schoolmaster unto Christ, meaning UNTO in time, until Christ comes to us in Salvation.

Also, sometimes a 'law work' isn't always used. Sometimes just the preaching of the Gospel, and the setting forth of Christ's work on the cross is used by the Spirit to convict of sin and save, because the 'law work' is all contained in that one message. A sinner can be convicted of his sin in seeing that Christ suffered in his place on the cross because of his failure to keep the law, his unrighteousness.

Finally, yes it seems to be just 'me and thee' in here!

[Solly]

:thumb: Verily, you are not far from the Kingdom of God :solly: ms16

[Solly]

sm32

[adam.naranjo]

TO ALL

5-7 is not a NEW LAW, it IS the mosaic LAW with a focus on certain aspects over others. (As needed in that day). Christ is not changing the law that HE himself gave. Certainly the Law is not some unatainable joke from God, nor is it a interim law.

I strongly encourage, in fact I plead with you, to find Dr. Greg Bahnsen's classic exegesis of Matthew 5:13-20. You can find it in His classic books on Christian ethics. Bahnsen of course hold to the traditional interpretation (Calvin etc.). His arguments are rock solid, and I have come to embrace theonomy after studying the issue for about a year.

>By This Standard: The Authority of God's Law for Today (http://www.cmfnow.com/product.asp?0=339&1=340&3=8848)

>No Other Standard (http://www.cmfnow.com/product.asp?0=339&1=340&3=8852)

>Theonomy in Christian Ethics (http://www.cmfnow.com/product.asp?0=339&1=340&3=674)

And or Download it from
MP3 Greg Bahnsen> Theonomy and Its Critics> (http://www.cmfnow.com/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=207&1=372&2=-1)
OR
MP3 Greg Bahnsen> Theonomic Approach to Ethics (http://www.cmfnow.com/subcatmfgprod.asp?0=207&1=370&2=-1)


OR If you would like, I can start a thread on it and we can "duke it out"...haha.

---
Adam

[Jaltus]

Solly,

You might want to look at a book by Rikki Watts on the Exile Motif in Matthew (cann't recall the name of the book off the top of my head) and there is also a book by a different author which talks about the Isaianic Messiah in Jesus of Matthew's Gospel.

Both of those books deal with the theme of return from exile, etc. Also you should read David Pao's Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus where he deals with the theme as it appears in Luke-Acts, though mostly in Acts.

[Solly]

12-01-2003 @ 08:14 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=322131#post322131)
adam.naranjo:

TO ALL
5-7 is not a NEW LAW, it IS the mosaic LAW with a focus on certain aspects over others. (As needed in that day). Christ is not changing the law that HE himself gave. Certainly the Law is not some unatainable joke from God, nor is it a interim law.

OR If you would like, I can start a thread on it and we can "duke it out"...haha.


Adam, It is clear to my mind, from what I have read and posted, that it is not a new law; but I also think that is not a revived Mosaic Law, since he is showing how the New Covenant realisation, post-exile, leads beyond that. It is not primarily a matter of changing a law, but of showing forth what following Christ, and therefore becoming like Christ, is all about, and it is not about following laws. The changing of the law comes into it in that Christ is not a new Moses as a Lawgiver, but as a Prophet. Moses was a Levite, Jesus of Judah - thre is of necessity a change of law.

Btw "unattainable joke" I would say that that is not exactly how you could clarify the Lutheran position, since the whole point of that view is that, through the law coming as in Romans 7, oneis lead to Christ in our spiritual despair, having realised that we can't keep the law, and that there is no salvation through trying to do so. Luther has his methodology - which I agree with - but I think he overplayed it at times, esp in regard to the Sermon on the Mount.

[Solly]

12-01-2003 @ 09:15 PM post located here (http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&postid=322249#post322249)
Jaltus:

Solly,

You might want to look at a book by Rikki Watts on the Exile Motif in Matthew (cann't recall the name of the book off the top of my head) and there is also a book by a different author which talks about the Isaianic Messiah in Jesus of Matthew's Gospel.

Both of those books deal with the theme of return from exile, etc. Also you should read David Pao's Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus where he deals with the theme as it appears in Luke-Acts, though mostly in Acts.

Thanks Jaltus, that's helpful. :thumb:

Would the untitled one be : Isaiah's Christ in Matthew's Gospel (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)
Richard Beaton ?

[Jaltus]

Solly,

Yup, that is the one.

[adam.naranjo]

(I don’t know if you noticed, but I deleted my original post because I really had to much in mind when I wrote it, and I think it came out slightly jumbled)

Solly

Thanks for the interaction. I'm not sure I totally follow you on this. Let me attempt to understand, and then critique what I think you're saying. :)


it is not a new law....but I also think that is not a revived Mosaic Law, since he is showing how the New Covenant realization, post-exile, leads beyond that...It is not primarily a matter of changing a law, but of showing forth what following Christ, and therefore becoming like Christ, is all about, and it is not about following laws. The changing of the law comes into it in that Christ is not a new Moses as a Lawgiver....there is of necessity a change of law.

Excuse me for saying so, but this sounds like a jumble of confused assumptions. First it's not a new law, then it’s not about following law at all, and then Christ is not a new lawgiver, then the law is changed by necessity. Hold on a second, I'm dizzy.

Your comment about, "moving beyond that" is rather troublesome, and I'm not sure I know what you mean? Can you elaborate? It seems to be a bit naive - especially your statements about "following Christ...is not about following the Law". Christ did exactly that...he followed the Law, and lived as an example that we might follow in His steps.(Gal 4:4, Speaking of Christ: IS 11:5, “righteousness is the belt around thy loins”, Hebrews 10 quoting psalm 40, “thy law is within my heart”, Christ said, “which one of you can convict me of sin?” and “I have kept my fathers commandments and abide in his love”, Christ directed people to follow the law. When he healed people he told them to go offer the gift commanded by law. He wore the tassels. He paid the temple tax. He regarded the purity of the temple. He told the rich ruler to keep the law. He reinforced the law by summarizing it in the love commandments. He called out the Pharisees for making god’s commandments void through the traditions of men. And taught the Law, and explicitly said that he did not come to abolish it.


The theme of redemption from exile is about God redeeming his people UNTO an (re)establishment of covenant which includes Law. Essentially, we are saved UNTO the Law. I know that some might not “like” the sound of that, but its true. God’s people are redeemed for a purpose.
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Here’s an example of God’s recounting of His redeeming Israel and their disobedience to His Law. It’s obvious that God redeemed them unto his Law “which gives life”, and that they continued to reject it, and were thus chastened by God.

Ez 20 So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 “And I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live. 12 “And also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. 13 “But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they rejected My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; and My sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them. 14 “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out. 15 “And also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 16 because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their idols. 17 “Yet My eye spared them rather than destroying them, and I did not cause their annihilation in the wilderness.

There is no lack of prophetic passages speaking of the New Covenant period in terms of Obedience to God’s Law -- particularly the Moral and Civil Laws of Moses. Jer 31 is doubtless the most commonly quoted, “I will write my Law on your hearts”. PS. As you may know this was not an absent concept in the Old Covenant. The law was written on hearts in the Old Covenant as well. Duet 30:14 “But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

The new covenant will bring the indwelling, which will bring about obedience to God’s Law. God’s Moral Law given through Moses, or in other cases in the O.T., is still binding in the New Covenant. Matt 19:16-19 , 1 cor 14:34, 1 cor 9:9, Matt 5:17-20, Romans 8:4 etc.,etc.


My point? God, as far as I'm concerned, redeems his people unto obedience to His Law. Clearly the idea of exile as typified in the Old Covenant, and transferred in the New Covenant, is the moving out of bondage to SIN, not bondage to obedience. The NORM for redemption out of Exile has always been a redemption that leads to obedience to God’s Law.

So then we see a NORM for God’s law being perpetuating.
Gen 18:19 19 “For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”

Before the Mosaic Law God required and blessed obedience to His Law:
“And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; 5 because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.”


Deut 12:28 “Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, in order that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.”

“All His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever;”

Psalm 119:160 “The sum of Thy word is truth, And every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting.”

Speaking of the day of Judgment God says in Malachi 4:4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him”



God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah before the mosaic law says that homosexuality is sin. The stipulation was given to Noah that murderers are to be executed before the mosaic law was given. (the mosaic law against murder was more specific in its dealing with accidental murder) My point here is simply that we see a norm for God’s moral law as perpetual from pre-moses, to moses, and beyond.

Furthermore the The law of God is central to the covenant of Grace. Often the Law could stand for the covenant itself. Similar to the way circumcision stood for the covenant, so the law stood for the covenant.
Exodus 24:3-8 3 Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Deut 9:9,11,15 9 “When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the LORD had made with you…” 11 “And it came about at the end of forty days and nights that the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant…” 15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
Jer 31:33 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…I will put my laws into their mind and on their hearts will I write them”

The Mosaic Law served the Abrahamic covenant and was not antithetical to it. Some today would like to see the Law as a temporary ‘damage control’ of sorts, rather than God’s eternal moral code. Some would have it that the Law was against the covenant of Grace made with Abraham. Not So.The law served the covenant, the covenant needed the Law.
Ex 2:24, 3:6 2:24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 3:6 “6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

It was the law of the covenant. The Law was given to serve his covenant people. Exodus 6:7 ‘Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God”

The Abrahamic promise was to reward the people for obedience to the mosaic law. Leviticus 26:3,12 3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out,…12 ‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.”

The Abrahamic covenant and the mosaic law served each other. Deut 6:1-3 “NOW this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.


Again the Law is perpetuating, even to the present reign of Christ:
Isaiah 51:4-8 Is 51:4,8 “ “Pay attention to Me, O My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation; For a law will go forth from Me, and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. 5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait expectantly. 6 “Lift up your eyes to the sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment, And its inhabitants will die in like manner, But My salvation shall be forever, And My righteousness shall not wane. 7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,”

The New Covenant does not Annul the Old.
Gal 3:17 What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God. Here you see a principle regarding covenants, they do not operate to supercede on another, they supplement one another. They serve on another. These covenants are seen in harmony. The later developed the former covenant.

Eph 2:12 “strangers to the covenants of the promise” That is, the covenants (plural) of the promise (singular). It seems to me that the covenants are a developmental part of the promise of God. They build on each other, and nowhere in the New is the Moral law of Moses rejected. There is no reason to assume this when Christ says, “I have not come to abolish the Law”. This word [katalusai] abolish is the Greek legal term “to rescind” , “repeal”, or” Abrogate”. It doesn’t get more simple than that.

Finally, at the outset of His sermon Christ discusses the concept of being the Light of the World. This was Israels calling. To be a light. How were they a light? Christ adresses the problem the sameway the Old Testament prophets would have. By calling out their disobedience to God's law, particularly in their hearts. There is no doubt that the prophetic calling for God's people to be a light to the nations through obedience to God's Law (Deut 4:6) was on Christ's mind.

God redeems His people unto covenant renewal – which includes a renewal of obedience to His Law.(Jer 31, Ez 36, Heb 8, Romans 8:4)


-
Adam
Ps…I will deal with the rest of your post later.

[Solly]

Adam, I have just discovered your reply, and will try to get to it. Having started several threads like this, and seen them fall stillborn from the press due to lack of replies, I had ignorned them after that.