"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did
not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).
Perhaps the most widespread controversies about the teachings of Jesus
concern His attitude toward the laws of God recorded in the Old Testament.
The approach of most churches and denominations regarding Jesus is that
He brought a new teaching differing considerably from the instructions
of the Old Testament. The common view is that the teachings of Christ
in the New Testament annulled and replaced the teachings of the Old
Testament. But do they?
The idea that Jesus departed from the Old Testament is also a common
assumption within Judaism. Jacob Neusner, in his book A Rabbi Talks
With Jesus, explains why Jews as a whole do not follow Jesus and
reject any possibility that He could be the Messiah. "Jews believe in
the Torah of Moses," he explains, "...and that belief requires faithful
Jews to enter a dissent at the teachings of Jesus, on the grounds that
those teachings at important points contradict the Torah" (1993, pp.
xii).
Here is a serious mistake both Christianity and Judaism make about
the teachings of Jesus. Both hold the erroneous view that Jesus departed
from the teachings of the Old Testament, especially with regard to law.
As we will see, the record shows that while Jesus disagreed with the
religious leaders, He didn't disagree with Old Testament Scriptures.
The same record shows that traditional Christianity itself does not
follow the teachings of Christ.
To know the real Jesus we have to ask: What did He really say? It
doesn't ultimately matter what people say about Him. Nor does
it really matter what interpretations they give of what He said. What
truly matters is what He really said, and whether we're
going to believe what He said.
