Jesus The Lawgiver?

The Jewish People are known as adherents to the Law, which they call the Torah. In the Torah is contained the Five Books of Moses which in themselves contain The Ten Commandments and Levitical Laws. As Christians we celebrate not being under the Law anymore, that instead "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:1-15). We are thankful Christ came to "Fulfill the Law," (Matthew 5:17) because we are incapable of keeping it (Romans 8:3). Finally, we are told in Hebrews, "By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.." (Hebrews 13:8) and "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14). Believers shout with joy to finally let God fulfill the Law as He promised Abraham, and allow us to finally be close to Him through His Son Christ Jesus. As Christians we claim to be not under the Law, but are we? Unfortunately, the Church has fallen under a law. The words of Jesus Christ in the four Synoptic Gospels have become to believers, specifically in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Baptist, and Evangelical churches laws to obey. Many people read Jesus saying, "If you do not hate your family, you do not love God," (Luke 14:6), "if you want to become perfect sell all your possessions, give them to the poor, and follow me," (Matthew 19:21), and "deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me," (Matthew 16:24) as commandments and a New Torah from God in the flesh.

There is a problem with this reasoning. Firstly, the words in the Four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have one primary goal: to share the gospel account so that people may believe in Jesus Christ. They are written evangelistic documents and eyewitness accounts that have a duo-purpose, firstly to the unbeliever to show them their sin and despair: "Then who can be saved?"(Luke 18:26) and then to reveal to them "What is impossible with men is possible with God," (Luke 18:27) though Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. The second purpose is to give the believer an accurate account to share the true gospel with unbelievers. By gleaming over all four gospel accounts we can learn how to share parables, what is the main message Jesus wants us to share, and via Holy Spirit perhaps convict us. The Gospels can be summarized as this: "To do the work of my Father is to believe in the One he sent," (John 6:29) or "God so loved the Word, that He gave his only begotten Son, and who ever believes in His Son, shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). The Four Gospels are not a new law from Jesus, but the message of salvation for the unbeliever and tool for the believer to share the Truth that lives within them.
[+There is great spiritual value in reading the Four Gospels for a Christian believer. I am not saying they should only be read for evangelistic purposes; we need the Synoptic gospels to build up our faith, convict us, train us in sound doctrine, show us what matters, and more. I am stating in this paragraph one of the primary purposes the gospels were written for was to tell people who Jesus is (evangelistic); but there is great benefit in reading the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for the believer.]

The Epistles of the Apostles are meant primarily (but not exclusively, Romans is great for unbelievers) for the Christian believer. They teach us what we are now living under. While Jesus before dying on cross and raising from dead  speaks in despairing terms, we must understand everything has changed post-resurrection and ascension of Christ. "Jesus had to leave earth in bodily form to sit at the right hand of His Father, why? So he could dwell in all the hearts of men, not just be in Judea and have people get in boats and later airplanes to visit Him." (Revelation from Jesus Christ to Jeffrey Gassler). The apostle Paul says, "Do you not know God dwells in you, you are his temple," (1 Corinthians 3:16), "You are Temples of the holy spirit," (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) and "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20). These statements put Christ's own words in the Synoptic gospels in perspective for the believer. The goal of Four Gospels is to lead people to believe, the goal of the epistles is to teach us what happens after we believe, how we are to live now, and how things have changed in Christ. We do not relate to a Jesus who is saying, "give up all you have and sell it to the poor." That was specifically for one person, a rich young ruler, but it also has many connotations and is dealing with the love of Mammon (money) and pompous piety of the young rich ruler; it was never to become a law of Christ that the Monks, Nuns, and other religious leaders through centuries have turned it into.

Everything has changed. We have the risen Christ living in us, not a regulation based religion prior to His death, resurrection, and ascension. God dwells in us now and we are made perfect by His sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14). We are not to read the words of Christ in the gospels as rigid laws, but as tools and path to teach the unbeliever and lead them to believe in Jesus Christ. Once we believe in Jesus Christ, and are baptized in Holy Spirit, we shed any laws in Old Testament and leave them to the Lord Jesus to fulfill. We don't need the laws! We have the Supreme Judge, Creator, Savior, and One who made the laws within us! The great mistake of religious folk in many churches is that they turn the Beatitudes and Sayings of Jesus into laws. They are not laws, but words to spur the harden hearts of men to believe, and they are to comfort & reaffirm the fait for the believer! The apostle Paul said, "He has made us competent ministers of the New Covenant. The spirit of the law gives life, but the letter of the law kills.." (2 Corinthians 3:6). The Spirit of Christ's words was to lead people to eternal life through Him, to make them feel despair about trying to be perfect apart from Him; because they can't do it by themselves and He wanted them to fell an urgency about coming unto Him. If you take Jesus' words according to the letter, rather than the spirit, you get legalism and a spirit of religion that judges everyone and that puts  "heavy loads on others," (Luke 11:46) when Jesus Himself said, "come to me all who are weary and heavy laden (with burdens) I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30).

The Pharisees of Jesus' day were strict Law keepers. They believed that Israel would become a holy and powerful nation again if they would but more strictly follow the Law of Moses and the Prophets. The problem however is the law is intertwined, for the Apostle James rightly says, "If you break one law, you have broken them all." (James 2:10). These same legalistic priests and religious leaders (Pharisees) would not heal on the Sabbath and attacked Jesus for doing so (see John 7-8); and yet they would have sexual relations with harlots and murder people who got in their 'pious' way (violating the Law on both these accounts). Jesus so hated these religious law givers, who used not only the Torah Law to the letter, but another law call the Talmud which was the commentaries of rabbis that went into such strict observance of the letter of the law that you could on Sabbath "spit on a rock because it doesn't work, but if you spit on a dirt is will work and so you sin and break the Law of God." Jesus said of these law focused hypocrites, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." (Matthew 23:13),"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.." (Matthew 23:15) and He even told the Pharisees, Jews at Tabernacles, and even doubting followers, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44) The Pharisees were the ultimate law keepers and Jesus hated them and called them hypocrites, sons of the devil, and that they would be in special part of hell (Matthew 24:51).

Jesus is about the Spirit of the Law, not the Letter. Let me give an example. One of Ten Commandments says, "Thou Shalt not Murder." (Exodus 20:13). Now the letter of the law (spirit of religion) says you must never murder under any circumstance; all killing is wrong. But this interpretation is flawed because the Lord commanded King Saul to kill/murder wicked men, women, children, and livestock (1 Samuel 15:3). Also lets put it like the this, if you follow the Letter of the Law, you cannot kill Adolf Hitler or plot his death. But the Spirit of Law would say you can plot to kill or murder Hitler because he is murderer and the Law says put murderers to death (Numbers 35:30); and by killing Hitler you would have spared the murder of 12 Million Christians and 7 Million Jews. See the point? The Letter of the Law leaves people in bondage and lets evil thrive and even take over, while Spirit of the Law keeps the Law and even stops evil men from breaking it.

Now having the Spirit of the Law in mind, lets take a look at Christ's words. When Jesus said, "If anyone is to become my disciple, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me," (Matthew 16:24) many interpret this in a strict Letter of the Law mindset and so create asceticism, monasticism, and even health problems. They take "deny yourself" to be 1) strict fasting, 2) hating anything that brings pleasure (never enjoy a movie, own anything beautiful, etc), 3) staying celibate for life (never have family), and 4) even denying/harming your body (flesh) through mutilations (castration, fogging onself, carrying a 100+lbs cross), poor dietary choices, and even bad hygiene. But if we use the spirit of the law, we see deny yourself not as this harsh mandate of self abasement, but as "deny your flesh, your wicked nature, your desire for evil and your own selfish will." Jesus is then saying, you must deny the third party that few talk about anymore. We are motivated by three sources: God, Satan (and his demons), and the Flesh. A Pastor once said, "The angels must obey God, demons must obey the devil, but the flesh does not have to obey anyone." This is why Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Mark 14:28). God is not saying deny good hygenie, deny having a family (unless you have specific call to celibacy), deny enjoying beauty and fun things, and more; He is saying deny the misuse of all those things: don't become vain and care only about your looks and health, do not want family to point that you love it more or serve it more than God (idolatry), and do not love beauty or good pleasures to point of turning them into "the lust of the eyes, lust of flesh, and making them the pride of your life." (1 John 2:16). The monks and ascetics fearing that they may misuse God's gifts, beauties, and wonders decide to reject them with strict laws and rules. This is the wrong approach, for ascetisms and harsh treatment of the body does not profit the spirit. (Galatians 2:18)

Christ is calling for a denial of the flesh's ways; If Christ is calling you to follow Him, it may mean living like a Bedouin (from place to place), when your flesh instead wants to stay in your cozy cottage and be content to hear His sermons over cyberspace. Now the flesh is different for each person, and so denying your flesh could be not traveling like a Bedouin and instead realizing that  Jesus really wants you to stay put in your hometown, city, or the countryside. On two occasions in particular in Scripture, Jesus told disciples to stay and not follow, he said to Gisenarate, "But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but He sent him away, saying, "Return to your house and describe what great things God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.," (Luke 8:38) and "The Woman at Well preached to all the people in her town about the things Jesus had told Her and they believed." (John 4: 28-30, 39). Sometimes Christ says go, other times He says stay. If we make a Law out of go "and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in Name of Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19) we have errored. Jesus may ask you to go to all nations, but what if all nations are coming to your city? In my own town people from Africa, Asia, Arabia, India, China, Japan, and many other nations have come to live and so I can actually fulfill "go to all nations" in my hometown and nearby cities, while someone in a small village in Africa may have to get on a jet and visit all the nations.

Method is the enemy of our Messiah. We always want a clear cut formula for our faith, but that in essence destroys our faith. For faith means "trust" and that trust means we trust God, not human ideas, doctrines, and methods. From 100 A.D. to 333 A.D. Christians believed that you only knew you were saved and going to heaven if you were martyred. This "other or another gospel" (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4) as Paul would have called it was so strong, that it evolved into Monasticism  after the killing of Christians ceased thanks to Emperor Constantine. These Christians had employed the letter of the law, that they must deny themselves unto death and likely cited that 'all' the apostles died for their faith. Actually, most of the apostles died for their faith. There was one who did not. The Apostle John The Beloved, The Theologian, and Writer of The Gospel of John, the Letters 1-3 John, and The Revelation did not die via martyrdom. John was imprisoned on the isle of Patmos and suffered being boiled alive, but He never died by crucifixion, spear, sword, or any other methods. He was last seen with Mary in Ephesus and it is presumed that he died of old age (or maybe taken up like Elijah and Enoch). Jesus said of John when Peter asked, "What is to you if I keep him alive until I come again? Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" (John 21:22-23).  St. John is a perfect example of why we cannot use a Letter of the Law view and make laws. The Christians of the first three centuries believed those who were closest to Christ and true in the faith die for Jesus, but what of the apostle John? He was the most beloved by Jesus Christ and he was given the Revelation and even saw Jesus in all his glory (Revelation 1:1-5). John is Jesus' way of saying, "you cannot make a method or law out of this, dying for the faith is not proof of closeness or devotion to me."

Man wants to make laws out of God's revelation to feel secure, in control, and puffed up with the full wisdom (tradition). But the journey of following Jesus never ends. The Lord God is revealing things to believers now that the apostles did not know, for Jesus even said "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12). That applies across the generations of Christians because as aforementioned God dwells in us! In fact, it is because the Trinity lives in believers that we can do greater things! The Bible is our road map and helps us test all things to see if they are true and to teach us, but we must remember that the same God who gave St. John the Revelation, can reveal new things to us that are in perfect harmony with the canonical sixty-six books in Scripture. Revelations and the wonder of God's works did not end with the apostles, no they transcend with us believers! Our God is not asking us to follow laws, but to follow Him who is the Lord Jesus. We are to be of the Spirit of the Law, not the Letter. And until we do this, the spirit of religion and error will continue to hold captive people in their churches, causing people to feel oppressed under heavy yokes, rather than feeling the heart of Yahweh and Yeshua (Jesus).

Important Notice:  

I am not saying to become loose Christians who do not obey The Bible. I am saying we need to reinterpret what is being said and discover the greater meaning of the words of Jesus. Let me give a parable. A person enters into a store and sees a pumpkin they want to buy. They enjoy the beauty of the pumpkin and so buy it. No sin has transpired. There is nothing wrong with the purchase. The problem is if the flesh says, "I want to buy one hundred pumpkins that I cannot store or afford (without going into debt)." So the sin is the abuse and misuse of something good in this case. Obviously there are things that are never to be done even once: sexual immorality, divination, lying, murder (to get something you want/stealing or to get rid of someone you hate, selfish murder), and more; but the problem is Churches often make laws out of Scripture, rather than looking at the real purpose of what is being said or how it now fits in the bigger picture of the rest of the New Testament. I am not giving a free pass to sin or twist Scripture to support sinful living, I am saying that the worst thing we can do is take a truth that the Truth (Jesus) has said and turn it into a regulation with no support in the rest of scripture and no way to balance the statement (extremism).

The two evil pendulums are legalism and levity. Legalism is the Pharisee and turning all of God's revelations and ways into laws that enslave, rather than set free. Levity is the loose Greek who decides to escape legalism by not obeying or adhering to any moral standard and just letting God do it all while they sin to their heart's content, which the Apostle Paul says, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? God forbid!" (Romans 6:1-2). I am aiming at with help of  Holy Spirit the proper balance. Legalists have forgotten their God, and levitists forget their God; we don't want to do either. We want to walk in "Spirit and Truth." (John 4:24).