Question: What did Jesus teach about the Law of God?

“Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5.19

Obedience to the Law of God is not merely an outward thing. That’s how the scribes and Pharisees “obeyed” the Law (Matt. 5.20, 23.23). Theirs was a kind of “feigned” obedience, such as we saw earlier (cf. Ps. 81.15).

Real obedience goes beyond the letter of the Law into the Spirit of the Law, where, by the power of the Spirit we understand the mind of Christ, increase in the heart of the Spirit, and come to delight in God’s Law and love it. The Spirit makes us willing and able to do whatever brings us into the pleasure of God, even those expressions of love which are not explicitly written in the Law of God but which definitely refract the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus. The parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10.25-37) provides a perfect example of how a man, going beyond the “letter” of the Law (which the priest and Levite doubtless fancied themselves as doing), showed the true Spirit of the Law and of love for his neighbor.

Jesus warned His followers about wanting to be “great”, to be seen to be someone important or superior in some way (Mk. 9.33-35). This is what the scribes and Pharisees did continually. Anyone who wants to be “great” as in the eyes of the world is setting himself up to be a fool.

But Jesus commended the kind of greatness one finds in the Kingdom of God – greatness in righteousness and love. We should all want this and strive for such by following the example of our Lord in serving others (Jn. 13.1-15).

And, in order to serve them well, we must understand the ways of love. And the ways of love, as we have seen, are encoded in the Law and all the Word of God.

Aspire to Kingdom greatness, Jesus urges us; and keep and teach the Law of God as you do.

T. M. Moore

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