Information Related to "Jesus and Paul Emphasize the Law's Correct Focus"
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By the time of Jesus and Paul, some Jewish religious leaders had distorted the focus of God's law. They were trying to impress God with their righteousness by paying more attention to the smallest details of the physical aspects of the law than to its spiritual purpose.
Paul pinpointed their problem: "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (Romans 10:1-3).
Jesus emphasized the law's original purpose and spiritual intent (Matthew 5:17-48). This irritated many Jewish religious leaders. They had fallen into the habit of measuring righteousness according to outward appearance. They emphasized physical details and ceremonial cleanliness to the neglect of the "weightier matters" of God's law, such as justice, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23-25).
Jesus sternly criticized this misplaced emphasis: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (verses 27-28, NRSV).
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