God's Law; Your duty of care

DISRAELI
reply to post by sk0rpi0n

 

But he wasn't entirely happy with everything the Pharisees taught either, since he had to criticise them for their applications of the teaching.
"Listen to the Pharisees" is not the real burden of that verse. The real burden is in what immediately follows; "but don't do what they do." The first half of the verse is only there as a lead-in to the second half.

He said to do as they SAY because he respected their authority on the law, because they were seated in Moses' chair. That was the reason Jesus gave. He said not to do as they DO because they were hypocrites with moral shortcomings that should not be emulated. In other words, do as a corrupt lawmaker says because the law of the land he dictates is legit, but don't do the things he does because he is corrupt and immoral.

reply to post by Unity_99

You may like to know that there will be a separate thread, in a few weeks, on the laws relating to slavery.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n

However, I've already noted that he criticised details in what Moses wrote.
If being Moses did not make his teaching perfect and unchangable, then being in the seat of Moses isn't enough to make the teaching of the Pharisees perfect and unchangable.

I see a perennial danger in legalism.
It's just as a great a problem in Biblical religion as idolatry, because it comes from exactly the same cause, namely the human preference for dealing with things which are concrete and graspable.
It is easier to look at a statue and carefully follow the absolute letter of a written law than it is to conceive of an invisible God and try to guide one's life by the spirit of the laws.
So I see a danger if a statement by Jesus ("listen to what the Pharisees say") is understood in a legalistic way in order to make him out as a supporter of legalism.
I don't think the atmosphere of the gospels is legalistic, and I suspect that his statement was intended in a less legalistic way- that is "you're better off listening to what they say than imitating what they do", which can be broadly true without amounting to an endorsement of every detail of the written law.

For information- in case anyone was wondering when we would be arriving at the more contentious material- the subject of "husbands and wives" will be coming up later this evening.

The Index thread for this series can now be found at the following location;

Your patient teacher