By: carlos@thehumanjesus.org
Jesus, and to a certain extent his followers, operated under a different law, which is part of a different covenant system (as foretold by Jer 31-33).
So when you read texts like John 5.18 (Jesus was "breaking the Sabbath”) and Matt 12 (Jesus says the same about his followers) it doesn’t mean they were sinners!
The NT makes repeated contrasts between the Law of Moses and the Law of Messiah, as Paul himself later says in 1Cor 9:20-21
(NOTE the law of God is now defined as the law of Christ and not Moses!)
Hebrews 7:11-12 explains how the OT "received Law," i.e., legislation given by God to Moses was “changed,” replaced by a new legislation “given to Christians as Law because it’s “based on better promises” through Jesus.
And Heb 8.6 says “this new covenant, obtained by the work of Christ, has become a ministry far superior to the first covenant at Sinai. That’s why the covenant Jesus currently mediates is better. But more than that, this new covenant has been given to us Christians as Torah on the basis of better promises.”
The New Covenant Law of Jesus began with the ministry of the Baptist and eventually ratified by the death of Jesus.
Hence, Heb 9:11 says “Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here.”
And Hebrews 9:16.
“For where there is a covenant, there must be the death of the one who made it.”
Lastly, if Jesus had wanted to say this New Covenant Law teaching was for a future time, he could well have said that, as he sometimes did.
For example, in Luke 12:11 Jesus said:
“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
Jesus, and to a certain extent his followers, operated under a different law, which is part of a different covenant system (as foretold by Jer 31-33).
So when you read texts like John 5.18 (Jesus was "breaking the Sabbath”) and Matt 12 (Jesus says the same about his followers) it doesn’t mean they were sinners!
The NT makes repeated contrasts between the Law of Moses and the Law of Messiah, as Paul himself later says in 1Cor 9:20-21
(NOTE the law of God is now defined as the law of Christ and not Moses!)
Hebrews 7:11-12 explains how the OT "received Law," i.e., legislation given by God to Moses was “changed,” replaced by a new legislation “given to Christians as Law because it’s “based on better promises” through Jesus.
And Heb 8.6 says “this new covenant, obtained by the work of Christ, has become a ministry far superior to the first covenant at Sinai. That’s why the covenant Jesus currently mediates is better. But more than that, this new covenant has been given to us Christians as Torah on the basis of better promises.”
The New Covenant Law of Jesus began with the ministry of the Baptist and eventually ratified by the death of Jesus.
Hence, Heb 9:11 says “Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here.”
And Hebrews 9:16.
“For where there is a covenant, there must be the death of the one who made it.”
Lastly, if Jesus had wanted to say this New Covenant Law teaching was for a future time, he could well have said that, as he sometimes did.
For example, in Luke 12:11 Jesus said:
“When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
