Spirit of Law 4

The Spirit of the Law

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The Spirit of the Law
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The Fourth Century Church - A Different Religion

It is obvious that neither Jesus nor Paul ever renounced Judaism, deviated from being Jewish, or attempted to start a new religion. At this point a major question needs to be answered. If Jesus and Paul did not form a new anti-Jewish religion, who did? A quick look at church history shows that as the church moved west away from its Jewish roots, the Roman Church leaders of the fourth century continued to develop theology to do away with all that was Jewish. The most fundamental change was the teaching that the Law was bad and opposed the grace of God.

By the fourth century the Roman Church had changed the church's fundamental teaching of keeping the Law to a religion whose message avoided anything to do with the term Law. By this time Christian writers had begun to teach that the Law had been fulfilled by the coming of Christ. By misusing the word fulfilled they defined this to mean it was abolished, or cancelled which was exactly opposite the teaching of Jesus Christ [Matthew 5:18, 19]. To Jesus, as in rabbinic literature of His day, the word fulfill meant to keep the Law and correctly interpret its teachings. From Paul's writing to the Galatians, it is evident that he also understood the phrase fulfill the Law to mean one should fulfill the Law through love and doing for others [Galatians 6:2; Romans 13:10].

From the mid-second century through the seventh century, Roman theologians continued to develop new doctrines that opposed original biblical concepts. One such doctrine was the idea that believers had God's unconditional and unrestrained grace no matter what the circumstances. They claimed this was a part of God's new covenant of grace.

Origen, a pastor in the third century, took Paul's phrase the letter of the Law and developed a new teaching on legalism by suggesting a dichotomy between the letter and the spirit. This set the stage throughout history for the term legalism becoming synonymous with Judaism and both being condemned. Remember, Paul's use of the term letter of the Law was solely against Judaizers who misused the Law as a means of salvation. Paul never criticized the Law of God as being legalistic. In fact, it was Paul who reminded us that before the Law, death reigned, and as believers the Law has dominion over us as long as we live because the Law is holy, just, good, and spiritual [Romans 5:14; Romans 7:1-25]. Paul further mentions that the Law of God is the will of God and if we believe it, God will write it on our hearts and it will be evidenced in our lives [Romans 2:17 2 18; 20-29]. These new ideas opposing Law in Christianity began to spring up as early as 160-220 A.D. in the Roman African communities represented by Tertullian and was spearheaded by popular speakers such as Bishop John Chrysostom in Antioch [349-400 A.D.].

Two Major Changes Since 70 A.D.

After the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., two new religious organizations grew out of the pre-70 Judaism of Jesus and Paul's day. The Pharisees fled Jerusalem to Yavneh and were spared while the Jewish followers of Jesus fled to the mountains of Pella and survived [Matthew 24:16; Git. 56b; Tosef. Ber. 2:6]. From those two groups today we have two separate religions known as Rabbinic Judaism and the Christian Church. Today neither Rabbinic Judaism nor the church that formed much of its theology from the fourth century Roman ideas, hold the same views of the pre-70 Judaism of Jesus and Paul's day. Both Judaism and the church have developed reactionary theologies aimed at keeping this separation final. The church forbade believers from keeping the Jewish feasts and began to meet on Sundays, while in reaction to the Christians kneeling for prayer, the Jews adapted the position that they should stand while praying the Amidah (only the Amidah is said standing). Because of the various changes in both parties since the time of Christ, it is advisable for the serious student to research every topic with the culture of pre-70 Judaism in which most Scripture was written.

The Old Covenant And The New Covenant

The fact that the terms Old and New Covenant combined are only found a total of four times in the biblical text reflects the reality that they have the same basics and we are to fulfill the Old by obeying the New Covenant. In the New Covenant nothing has been replaced. The difference, as well as the advantage, is seen in that the manifestation is far better in Christ in that He opened the flood gates of the kingdom for all mankind.

When Hebrews 8:13 speaks of a new covenant that made the first covenant old and ready to vanish, we must remember the subject of this letter was the old priesthood and sacrificial system, which was about to change for two reasons. First, because the Temple and this present sacrificial system, was about to be destroyed, or already was destroyed acccording to when this letter was actually written. Second, because Christ had become a different manifestation of the sacrifice and high priesthood. But under no circumstances did Paul or any Jewish Christian writer suppose that God's unchanging nature, which stands behind the Old Covenant, was about to vanish. Even Christians whose theology opposes the Mosaic Law have to admit that God's moral and spiritual principles of the Law are still active. Obviously, the writer of Hebrews referred to the old system of sacrifices and priesthood that were about to vanish, and not the spiritual principles of the Old Covenant. Paul Ellingworth in his commentary on Hebrews says, "This refers to the replacement of the old cult by the new, not to a change in the ethical or civil requirements of the Torah."

The Age of Grace Before Paul

The notion that the grace of God originated with Paul's message is not only wrong, but shows a grave negligence on the part of the church concerning their roots in Jewish history and faith. Abundant records written in Jewish literature before the time of Christ speak of the grace of God as a means of salvation. Note that the Thanksgiving Scroll in the Dead Sea Scrolls declares "only by Your goodness is man righteous or justified and by the multitude of Your mercy ... and by Your magnificence have You glorified him" [XIII, 17]. How much clearer can it be than when the Thanksgiving Scroll recorded, "by Your grace You did save my soul, for from You is my step" [II, 23]. Another phrase from the same scroll says, "and all the sons of Your truth You bring forgivingly before You to purify them from their sins by the plenty of Your goodness and the multitude of Your mercies to make them stand before You forever" [VII, 30-31; IV, 33; IX, 9].

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The Spirit of the Law: Table of Content