Message #702

[AndyHB]

I think, in its context, the Acts passage is intended to be only about the Gentiles but it's too minor a point to worry about.

I'd disagree that is too minor a point to worry about.  If it was purely a metaphor regarding Gentile believers (not Gentiles as a whole), why is there so much about the cancelling of 'the law' throughout the NT.

I think Jesus' remarks are intended to make people think about the actions of the heart, and I agree that Jesus is contradicting the law - which is interesting because, if he made those remarks, then he did so before he was crucified, that is, before he had made any once for all sacrifice which, so say, removed the obligation to follow the law.

I'm not sure that I'd agree with Andrew about the 'cancelling' point.  I'd see the whole passage in Matthew 15 as reiterating out the reality behind the law, not the minutiae that had been loaded onto the legislation over centuries of Pharisaical interpretation.  After all, the passage in Matthew 15 is within the context of Jesus' criticising the Pharisees of hypocrisy as regards 'keeping the law'

Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, 'Honour your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is 'devoted to God,' they are not to 'honour their father or mother' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

   'These people honour me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me.
   They worship me in vain;
   their teachings are merely human rules.'

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen and understand. What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them."

The phrasing and placing of the final paragraph shows that this is meant to follow on from what Jesus said to the Pharisees - not be a isolated, stand alone comment.