On Matthew 5:19

Welcome back to the most exhaustive Gospel study you will ever read.  This will be an endeavor of many years, as we work our way straight through the entirety of the Gospels of Jesus Christ, line by line.  We are only five chapters in, and already our study approaches 100,000 words.  (There are a daunting 88 chapters in the sum of the Gospels.)

If you want to start over from the beginning, click here.

Last week, we began to explore Jesus' "Teaching about the Law."  Near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, which we are still in the middle of, Jesus is offering his thoughts on the application of Jewish religious law by his followers.  We made special note that Jesus is not referring to any State apparatus here when he describes the "law and the prophets," but, rather, to the ancient Hebrew scriptures and traditions.

We continue to stick close to the reading this week, as we consider what Jesus means by "commandments," and first hear Jesus speak of the coming "kingdom of heaven."

Happy reading.  Here it is.

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Matthew 5:19

19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

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There's a lot present here, so we will take this verse alone.  Today, we will explore what is meant by the phrase "kingdom of heaven."  Then, we will look at the word "commandments," and try to understand just what Jesus is talking about when he refers to them.

Anyone familiar with the Gospel of Matthew is familiar with the phrase "the kingdom of heaven."  If you'll recall, chapter 3 of the Gospel According to Matthew began with John the Baptist proclaiming the coming of the "kingdom of heaven."  We glossed over the verbiage at the time, but today we will gloss no more.

Understanding what Jesus means by "kingdom of heaven" is critical because, as you will see, he talks about this kingdom all the time in Matthew.  First, let's do the most rudimentary due diligence here by looking at some of the original Greek from this verse.  The word "kingdom" is being translated from the Greek "basileia," meaning "reign, kingship, royalty, or regality."  The Jews had, off and on, been ruled by a series of kings throughout their history, and many Jews of Jesus' time awaited a messianic, conquering king that would unite the people Israel, instituting a time of great glory in the promised land - a new Jewish kingdom.  To ancient Jews, a "kingdom" was a familiar, earthly thing.  

The other word of interest here, "heaven," as we learned last week, is from the Greek "ouranos," meaning "the vaulted sky," or the region inhabited by the many gods.  "Kingdom of heaven," then, might be translated or understood as the heavenly rule of an earthly kingdom - a Jewish State instituted by God himself on Earth.

One of the most interesting things about this phrasing is that we do not find it anywhere else in the Bible outside of the Gospel According to Matthew.  In the whole of the ancient Jewish scriptures, we find zero reference to the "kingdom of heaven."  In the rest of the New Testament after Matthew, we find zero reference to the "kingdom of heaven."  

Please note, however, that Mark and Luke do use the similar phrase "kingdom of God" seemingly in the place of Matthew's thirty-some references to the "kingdom of heaven."

Scholars have differing views when it comes to explaining Matthew's use of the "kingdom of heaven" phrasing in place of the more frequently attested "kingdom of God" phrasing.  Some have postulated that the author of Matthew used the alternative wording in order to avoid offending sensible Jews, who preferred not to utter the name or title of God.  By this view, "kingdom of God" and "kingdom of heaven" are equivalent.  This argument stands on shaky ground, however, because the Gospel According to Matthew actually contains the phrase "kingdom of God" a handful of times as well, meaning the the author would have been sensitive to Jewish taste only by degrees.  

Other scholars believe that the author of Matthew meant something different by the two phrases.

A common view among Bible scholars is that the "kingdom of heaven" represents the eschatology of Jesus.  In this view, "kingdom of heaven" meant the "end times" or a time of great transformation driven by some divine intervention; the coming of a new age.

We will encounter this phrasing over and over again, and will eventually develop our own opinion about what Jesus meant by the "kingdom of heaven," if he ever said the words at all.  For now, just know that we at the Moral Vision believe, like some others have, that Jesus' "kingdom of heaven" was something far more personal and profound than a harbinger of the end of the world.

Let's move on to these so-called "commandments."

Most westerners today will be immediately familiar with the "Ten Commandments," the ten laws that God was said to have inscribed onto stone tablets for Moses to bring down Mount Sinai to his people.  These Ten Commandments would probably be the first thing that a modern Christian or Jew would think of when reading today's verse.  

As a refresher for the lapsed or uninitiated, the Ten Commandments appear in the Book of Exodus, chapter 20, as follows:

1 Then God spoke all these words: 

2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

3 You shall not have other gods beside me. 

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 

5 you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their ancestors’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; 

6 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 

7 You shall not invoke the name of the LORD, your God, in vain. For the LORD will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain. 

8 Remember the sabbath day—keep it holy. 

9 Six days you may labor and do all your work, 

10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your work animal, or the resident alien within your gates. 

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. 

12 Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 

13 You shall not kill. 

14 You shall not commit adultery. 

15 You shall not steal. 

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 

17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.*

Many, if not most, Christians today know these commandments by heart.

What many modern Christians might not know is that, in the whole of the Jewish Law, there are many many more commandments than these ten.  In fact, it is commonly understood in the Jewish community that the Torah lays out six-hundred and thirteen separate commandments for the diligent Jew to follow.  

That's right.  You can read it again.  Six-hundred and thirteen.  That is a lot of commandments.  These many commandments are commonly known as the "mitzvot," the plural of the Hebrew "mitzvah," which means "commandment."

The list of six-hundred and thirteen commandments is manicured differently depending on whose version of the list we are using.  One of the more commonly accepted lists is that of Maimonides, a very well known twelfth-century Jewish philosopher about whom we will talk at length one day.  For a full list of these commandments per Maimonides, you can click here.

Some of the six-hundred and thirteen commandments are as follows:

128. If a man's brother dies without leaving an heir, he must marry his brother's widow.  From Deuteronomy 25:5.

132. If a man rapes a virgin who is not married, and is caught doing it, he must pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels, and he must marry her, because he has violated her.  From Deuteronomy 22:29.**

185. Don't eat maggots.  From Leviticus 11:44.

194. Don't eat the sinew of the thigh.  From Genesis 32:33 

348. Salt must be applied to all offerings of grain.  From Leviticus 2:13

373. Two lambs must be sacrificed at the Temple of Jerusalem each day, so that God can enjoy the pleasing aroma of the barbecue.  From Numbers, 28:3.

504. If you buy a Hebrew slave, you can only enslave him for six years.  From Exodus, 21:2.*** 

The mitzvot cover all manner of subject.  They describe how Jewish court systems should work.  They explain exactly how, where, and when to offer which kind of sacrifices.  They explain how to treat converts to the Jewish faith, and they explain exactly who one can or cannot have sexual relations with in excruciatingly awkward detail.

Last time we met, Jesus said that not the tiniest part of the tiniest letter of the Jewish law would be undermined by his ministry.  He assured his followers that the law would stand permanent in its totality.  Today, he drives this point home by saying that one who breaks "the least of these commandments" will be "least in the kingdom of heaven."

As the nature and character of Jesus Christ begin to reveal themselves more fully, we will see that, as we mentioned briefly in our last segment, there is an incongruity between the law of the Old Testament and the philosophy and moral prescription of Jesus.  For instance, we will find that Jesus has little care for the sacrifices that are being offered morning and night at the Temple.  We will find that Jesus has little care for dietary aspects of the law.  We will find that Jesus does not condone divorce, where the Jewish law does, and we will find that Jesus is completely against violence of any sort, where the Jewish law condones and prescribes violence in many instances.

So we are left reeling by this question: what could Jesus possibly have meant when he said that he had not come to abolish any portion of the law, but rather to uphold it one-hundred percent?

We here at The Moral Vision are of the opinion that Jesus' "Teaching about the Law" is likely an invention of the author of Matthew, and not a genuine teaching of Jesus Christ.  The invention of these verses was to ease the fretting mind of the vigilant Jews whom the early Jesus Movement aimed to convert.  These verses reassure the first-century Jew: "no, Jesus isn't taking the Jewishness out of Judaism.  You don't have to abandon all that you've known."

That's right.  Ultimately, we are forced to discard this saying and these verses as inauthentic, because of their glaring incongruity with the emerging morality of Jesus Christ.  These verses are good PR on the part of the author of the Gospel According to Matthew, but cannot be considered as critical data regarding the morality of Jesus.

And, just think: if the "Teaching about the Law" were authentic, then it would mean that all Christians are guilty of grievous sin whenever they deviate even a little bit from Jewish Orthodox law.  Suddenly, no one can eat BLT's anymore.  A grim vision.

Next time, we will wrap up Jesus' "Teaching about the Law."  For now, just be asking yourself: "if Jesus didn't believe exclusively in the existing Jewish moral traditions, then what did he believe, and what should his followers believe, about the moral fabric of the universe?"

Thank you so much for reading.  Please share this writing.

Love

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* Yes, just like the founding fathers of America, the God of the Hebrew Bible was a-okay with slavery.  Eventually, we will address this in detail.  For now, just be asking yourself: "how can a perfect God, who loves all of humanity equally, be okay with one human enslaving another against his will?"

** Yes, according to Moses, the God of the Hebrew Bible wants victims of rape to be forced to marry their aggressor, and for the victim's father to be paid as if he was some kind of ancient pimp.  Eventually, we will address this in detail.  For now, just be asking yourself: "how can a perfect God, who loves all humanity equally, force a victim of rape to marry her aggressor?"

*** I ain't makin' this up...

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To read what's next, click here.

To read what came prior to this, click here.

For the index of Christ's words, click here.

On Matthew 5:17 through Matthew 5:18

Hello. Welcome back. If this is your first time here, you might want to utilize the Introduction, which can be found here.

I apologize for my recent absence.  Life has been very busy of late.  Rest assured that this never-for-profit writing will not cease until it is completed.

Today, we're sticking close to the text again.  The "Sermon on the Mount," which we are in the middle of, constitutes some of the most important data we have in regard to Jesus' morality and his prescriptions to his followers, so there's no reason to take any side-trips at the moment.

Last time, we finished up our quick work on the Similes of Salt and Light.  This week, we get into Jesus' "Teaching About the Law."  Let's proceed.

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Matthew 5:17 through Matthew 5:18

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 

18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

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The verses we are addressing today are among the most pertinent that Jesus is ever purported to have spoken.  These verses get right to the heart of what Jesus thought about the universe, if he actually said them.

Today, we'll discuss some of the original Greek of these verses.  Then, we'll talk about what Jesus means by "the law or the prophets."  Next, we'll discuss Jesus' overall meaning in these verses.  Last, we'll talk about the relation of the word "law" here to the concept of a State, ancient or modern.

Matt 5:17-18 have a few interesting terms in them.  Understanding those particular terms will enhance our overall comprehension of the verses.  First, we have the word "iota," which we see translated as "smallest letter."  The word iota, in Greek, represents the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet.  Since the letter iota is represented by such a tiny marking, iota also came to mean "something very small."  "Iota" is sometimes translated as "jot."  Jesus is using this word to emphasize the importance of the totality of the "law."

The next word of interest is "keraia," which literally means "little horn," and which we have translated as "smallest part of a letter."  The Greek phrasing refers to the little horn-like endings of pen strokes in ancient alphabets.  "Keraia" is frequently translated as "tittle."  In using this word, Jesus goes from referring to a literal letter to a literal portion of a letter, further emphasizing his emphasis.

Another word of interest here is "amen," which Jesus utters here for the first time.  "Amen" comes from the Greek "amēn," which actually comes from the Hebrew "'āmēn," which means "truth" or "certainty."  "Amen," of course, came to be used as a standard ending for Christian prayers, and a form of it is also used in the tradition of Islam.  When we see Jesus use this term, which he will often, we can understand that he is stressing a point as being particularly certain.

The last Greek word of great interest here is "ouranos," which we have translated as "heaven."  To the Greeks, "ouranos" meant "the vaulted sky," "the home of the gods above the vaulted sky," "the universe in general," or anything shaped like the sky, i.e. a vaulted ceiling or a tent.  This is a Greek term that originated to describe a Greek universe, in which many pagan Gods existed.  Due to ambiguities within the multiplicity of first-century Jewish belief systems, it is difficult to say exactly what Jesus means here by the term "ouranos."

Now, let's identify the exact meaning of Jesus' phrasing "law or the prophets."  When Jesus talks about the "law" he is referring to the "Law of Moses," or the first five books of the Old Testament.  When he mentions the "prophets," he is referring to the books of the prophets who had spoken on behalf of God since the time of Moses.  Essentially, the "law and the prophets" were the intellectual basis for all of what made Judaism Jewish.  The "law and the prophets" are equivalent with the Tanakh.

As we've discussed before, however, the books of the Tanakh may not have been set in stone by Jesus' time.  Some texts that we recognize today as part of the Jewish canon may not have been recognized as such back then, and it is certain that there were texts in wide circulation then, i.e. the Book of Enoch, that were eventually excluded from the canon.  Because of our imperfect knowledge about what books Jesus might have considered canonical, we must allow room for ambiguity in this phrasing.  We do not known exactly to which prophets he might have been referring.  We can be certain, though, that Jesus meant at least to include the Pentateuch, of the five books of Moses, in this phrasing.

So, what is Jesus' ultimate meaning in Matt 5:17-18?  Let's consider the verses in context.

By Jesus' phrasing, we can imagine that there were some in the crowd who nervously thought that he had come to abolish the law and the prophets.  There were those in the crowd who suspected that Jesus was going to tell them "you don't have to be Jewish anymore.  You don't have to mind the sabbath anymore.  You don't have to circumcise your sons anymore."  The root of this apprehensive thought came from the Law of Moses itself, in the book of Deuteronomy, which teaches the Jewish people to be on guard for false prophets.

So, was Jesus there to get rid of the things that made Jewishness truly Jewish?

He speaks in very strong terms here.  He says that "until heaven and earth pass away" (read: forever), not a single letter of the law, or even the tiniest part of a letter of the law, will cease to be 100% true and relevant.  "No," he would not "take the Jewishness out of Judaism," he says.

According to Matthew 5:17-18, the entirety of Jewish law remains in play for all of Jesus' followers forever.

What is interesting to note here is the fact that Jesus will actually go on, later in the Gospels, to augment portions of the law and to negate others, as if he had never said what he says here.  Thus Matt 5:17-18 are one side of a built-in incongruity of the Gospels.

Before we wrap this up, I'd like to discuss the relation of Jesus' use of the word "law" and his opinion of Statism.

Eventually, I will make a compelling argument that Jesus Christ was a pure anarchist who would have abhorred the State in all the forms it has taken since his death in the first century.  It is a near certainty that this argument will be countered by references to today's verses.  I'd like to pre-empt this counter-point here.

Jesus Christ, in Matthew 5:17-18, is referring exclusively to Mosaic Law, which is a religious law that the Jews had had with them for centuries, regardless of the status of their statehood.  The "State," as it existed for Jesus Christ, was the Roman Empire, an oppressive force whose ideals were generally anti-Christian.

Jesus, in referring to "law," was not referring to Rome, or the judiciary of Rome, or even to an Israeli State or judiciary.  Jesus was certainly not referring to any modern form of "law" or State apparatus.  When (and if) Jesus said he came to fulfill the "law," he meant he had come to fulfill a religious law-code, not the coercive law-code of any State.

Jesus did not fulfill or bolster any State apparatus ever.

And with that, we will leave it.  Next time, the "Teaching About the Law" continues, as the Sermon on the Mount continues.  Until then, and always, thank you so much for reading.

Love.

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To read what's next, click here.

To read what came prior to this, click here.

For the index of Christ's words, click here.