Jesus' Application of the (Old Testament) Law

Jesus and the Law of God: His Application of the Law

So in this part of Jesus’ sermon, we have seen four principles He has brought out concerning His view of the Old Testament law: He came to fulfill the law, the law is God’s unfailing Word, the law (morally speaking) is to be kept by Christ’s followers, and the law is to be kept differently than the manner of the Scribes and Pharisees. This whole subject of living righteously brings out a theological struggle that Christianity has faced, and I would generalize the approaches in the following way: Fundamentalists have tended to emphasize the head—Christianity is about knowing and believing the right things. Liberals have tended to emphasize the hands—Christianity is about doing the right things. Jesus, in contrast to both of these approaches, emphasizes the heart—it’s about being the right kind of person. This is drawn out in His application of the law.

We have seen that Jesus has said that a person must have a greater righteousness than the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. He explains the kind of righteousness God desires by giving six examples taken from the law. In each case, He presents the standard teaching (what most people think) and then gives His own perspective (what God thinks). He shows how the law is supposed to be applied to our lives—true righteousness as opposed to the merely outward goodness of the scribes and Pharisees (a goodness that we, as humans, are all too content with).

Example # 1: Application on the Issue of Murder

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.” (Jesus, Matthew 5:21–26)

            First, Jesus gives the standard teaching on murder. Don’t murder; if you do, you will face judgment. Most people then and today feel they are justified as long as they don’t actually murder someone. But Jesus’ evaluation goes much deeper. He goes to the heart. “I say to you” (in other words, I am telling you what is actually correct) “whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” In Jesus’ view, hatred within makes you guilty before God. Harsh words that come out of our mouths reveal something horrible within. Hatred is what leads to contempt for others, where we no longer truly care about their well-being. This is what gives humans the propensity for horrific actions such as murder, but hatred is something all humans must deal with. It is so serious that Jesus says before we offer a gift to God, we ought to take care of our relationships with others. And it is so serious that it can lead to many adverse consequences both here on earth and in the judgment to come.

Example 2: Application on the Issue of Adultery

“You have heard that it was said to those of old,‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.” (Jesus, Matthew 5:27–30)

            Again, in this second application of the law, Jesus gives the typical teaching on adultery: as long as you don’t sleep with someone other than your spouse, you are innocent. And again, Jesus probes to the root issue: lust (sexual desire for a person who is not your spouse). Our culture is so entangled with the promotion and gratification of lust in television, movies, music, magazines, books, and the internet, where various forms of pornography are displayed, that Jesus’ standard seems impossibly high. But it is not Jesus who is presenting something unusual or ridiculous, it is our society that is morally awry.

            So dangerous is the reality of lust that Jesus (in a hyperbolic way) says drastic measures must be taken to deal with unrighteous sexual desires. Jesus and the Bible as a whole teach that marriage and sexuality are a good thing, but when these are invaded by self-gratification and infidelity, all sorts of terrible problems ensue. Instead of intimacy and love, people are left with guilt and brokenness in relationships. The God who designed sexuality hates that which endangers its purity and potential for true intimacy.  Our society has strayed far from Jesus’ standard, and it is paying the consequences in widespread sexually transmitted diseases, breakdown in families, and much dissatisfaction in the area of sexuality (ironically, for a society that seeks so much satisfaction in it).

            All of this (including the act of adultery itself) stems from the heart. That is why Jesus essentially says that lusting after someone makes one guilty before God. It is better to enter eternal life maimed from dealing with this issue than be cast into hell through God’s judgment because of the sin of lust (cf. Matt 18:8–9).

Example #3: Application on the Issue of Divorce

“Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. (Jesus, Matthew 5:31–32).

As if the previous example is not hard enough to take, Jesus confronts the issue of divorce. Even two-thousand years ago people still had to deal with the issue of divorce. The Old Testament law made provision for divorce, but in no way commended it (cf. Deuteronomy 24:1–4). Many of the Jews of Jesus’ day thought that because the law made provision for divorce, it was an acceptable option. When specifically asked about this issue, Jesus gave His perspective in no uncertain terms. Matthew writes:

Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:1–9, ESV)

            Jesus’ teaching is that divorce is not acceptable. The only time it is condonable (but still not commanded) is in the case of sexual immortality. While it may be true there are cases where a couple may need to physically separate (for example, due to abuse), Jesus says what God has joined together (in marriage), let no one separate (with divorce). God’s ideal, as Jesus quotes from Genesis, is that two people become “one flesh.” In other words, their relationship is to be one of loving unity, so much that their identity is wrapped up in one another. This is a far cry from how American culture often views marriage. One problem is that we make a huge deal out of weddings, but often give scant attention to marriages themselves. As a billboard sign used to say: “Loved the wedding, invite me to the marriage. –– God” The reason God made provision for divorce, says Jesus, is because of the hardness of people’s hearts. Once again, we see the real issue is that of the heart.

The Need for Heart Surgery

I had the most interesting conversation today with a man who has had over 10 heart attacks. He says he has technically died at least 11 times. This man clearly has a physical heart problem and had to undergo very risky surgery to turn his situation around. Jesus’ examination of people based on His use of the law reveals that each of us needs a situational turn-around. We need spiritual heart surgery because, as Jesus says, “out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man” (Matt. 15:18–20a). He also says that the only way to have good fruit is for a tree to be good: “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit” (Matt. 12:33). Our words and actions (fruit) ultimately reflect what we are inside. And while we tend to justify ourselves as being good people, Jesus shows that we have a spiritual illness, a propensity toward wickedness that is exposed when we see God’s law applied to the heart.

What the man I spoke with today needed was a surgeon who cared and was willing to take great risk to save this man’s life (he said he had been lost a few times on the operating table as well). Fortunately, he does have a surgeon who really understood his specific condition and has concern for him. Jesus is a physician to those who realize they are ill (Luke 5:31). He cares for us and was willing to go to all lengths to save us, giving His life on the cross (Mark 10:45). He knows exactly the operation that must take place in each of our hearts if we will go to Him for help. As God promised through the prophet in the Old Testament, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26–27). Jesus can change our stony, hard hearts and create in us a heart that loves God and others rightly, allowing us to truly fulfill His righteous law.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.