RobertPGH1981
Puritan Board Sophomore
Matthew 5:17-20 typically is used to frame the interpretation of 21-48 in light of fulfillment. Fulfillment as in revealing the laws original intent and satisfying those demands. It is an argument typically used to drive a Moral continuity between Jesus' claims and the Old Testament Mosaic Law. Douglas Moo a New Covenant Theologian makes the claim that sounds fairly convincing to me below. To Moo the statements Jesus makes are new law given not found in the Old Testament. Jesus is not only revealing the laws original intent in some examples, but in others he is ordering a new law.
I was wondering if there actually was a reply to his observations below.
"No exegesis of the lex talionis would lead to the conclusion that one is not to resist one who is evil (5:38–39); loving the neighbor in Lev 19:18 means to love the fellow-Israelite, not, as Jesus demands, to love the enemy (5:43–47); nor does the OT demand to keep one’s oaths lead naturally to the conclusion that one is to refrain from oaths (whether applied universally or more narrowly) (5:33–37)."
.......
"But the fact remains that Jesus’ own demands go considerably beyond any fair exegesis of at least most of the actual texts he quotes; nor do most of his demands find support anywhere in the OT. The “I say to you” emphasizes a new and startling focus on the authority of this Jesus of Nazareth, an authority that goes far beyond a restatement of the OT law."
Moo, D. J. (1988). The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ. In J. S. Feinberg (Ed.), Continuity and discontinuity: perspectives on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments : essays in honor of S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. (p. 205). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.
I was wondering if there actually was a reply to his observations below.
"No exegesis of the lex talionis would lead to the conclusion that one is not to resist one who is evil (5:38–39); loving the neighbor in Lev 19:18 means to love the fellow-Israelite, not, as Jesus demands, to love the enemy (5:43–47); nor does the OT demand to keep one’s oaths lead naturally to the conclusion that one is to refrain from oaths (whether applied universally or more narrowly) (5:33–37)."
.......
"But the fact remains that Jesus’ own demands go considerably beyond any fair exegesis of at least most of the actual texts he quotes; nor do most of his demands find support anywhere in the OT. The “I say to you” emphasizes a new and startling focus on the authority of this Jesus of Nazareth, an authority that goes far beyond a restatement of the OT law."
Moo, D. J. (1988). The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ. In J. S. Feinberg (Ed.), Continuity and discontinuity: perspectives on the relationship between the Old and New Testaments : essays in honor of S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. (p. 205). Westchester, IL: Crossway Books.