Question: What did Jesus teach about God’s Law?

“On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22.34

The Apostle Paul taught that the Law of God, given through Moses, did not nullify the promises of God made to Abraham, which came 430 years before the Law (Gal. 3.15-17). The Law and the promises are all of a piece, the Law being a further unfolding of the divine covenant and redemptive plan of God, holy and righteous and good in its own right (Rom. 7.12).

Jesus taught the same. In Luke 19.1-10, Zaccheus, convicted of His sin in the presence of the grace of Jesus, resolves to fulfill the Law of God by acting in accord with the demands of restorative justice it encodes (cf. Ex. 22.1-4).

Now if Jesus’ attitude toward the Law were the same as some contemporary believers, He would have said to Zaccheus, “Oh, don’t worry about that. You’re under grace, not Law. Just follow Me.” Instead, Jesus commended the repentant sinner and acknowledged Him to be a true child or Abraham, one who sought in Jesus the promises of God.

So here we are in the New Covenant, and Jesus is confirming obedience to the Law as a manifestation of true faith, like that of Abraham (Rom. 4.13-16). Jesus agrees with Paul: there is no discontinuity between the promises of God, the Law of God, and faith in Jesus Christ.

Further, Jesus taught that the Law and the Prophets were “on the same page” as well, directing the people of God in the ways of love for God and neighbor. And since all the Old Testament teaches about Jesus (Jn. 5.39), and Jesus taught His followers to love one another as He has loved them (Jn. 13.1-15), then all the teaching of the Apostles in the New Testament, being all about Jesus, is also about love and, hence, also in line with the Law of God.

Precisely as Jesus taught.

T. M. Moore

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