Anchor My Faith

Our Relationship to the Commandments

Scripture: Matthew 5:19-20

In the previous lesson, we learned that Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the teachings of the Prophets. In this lesson, we will consider how we are to relate to these commandments of the Old Testament. “Therefore, whoever relaxes (or breaks, NET) one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19).

Jesus now gives a warning to anyone who would relax, break, violate or disobey, even the least of the commandments of the Old Testament. These commandments refer to all the commandments of the Old Testament; referred to as lesser and greater commandments by the Pharisees. In their minds, anyone violating a lesser commandment was guilty of a trivial offence only. Just as we are not to show partiality in relationship with people, we are not to show partiality with the commandments. Later in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus comments on this partiality: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” (Mt 23:23 ESV).

By dividing the commandments into greater and lesser parts, they could justify setting aside certain parts as not being important to them. This is a practice that has continued into the New Testament in our churches today. We have identified certain verses as being important and others as not so important and then we teach and preach from the important ones and ignore the ones we consider least important. By this process we tend to pick out the verses that help make us feel good and ignore those that require work, being uncomfortable and even the possibility of suffering some. We choose those that cost us little and reject those that require some of our resources.

Those who make this division in either the Old Testament or the New, will be judged and held guilty. We are to teach and preach the full gospel, not just part of it. That is why, I believe, it is important to teach books of the Bible, not just portions of them.

Jesus closes this section by pointing out the importance of growing in righteousness: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:20). These scribes and Pharisees took pride in their outward conformity to many extrabiblical regulations, but their feeling of righteousness was of little value. The righteousness that counts works from the inside out. It is an expression of the heart, not from the works we do. For us today, that righteousness, that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, is only available to those who, through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, have been born spiritually. It is his righteousness that we obtain that counts that allows us entrance into heaven.

Prayer

Father, it is clear that to be great in the kingdom of heaven, we must do all that is written, not just what we feel comfortable in doing. It appears that we have shown partiality in what we choose to do and as a result the western church has lost its influence in our culture. Having coffee and donuts in our hands along with worldly conversation is replacing the bible and godly conversation in our bible classes. I am afraid we find social time to be more enjoyable than bible study time. Remember, in the end times the love of many will grow cold. What is your heart temperature?