Discover The Word

Wednesday, June 15, 2011, Part 1

“Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20).

IDEA: How we teach the Old Testament gains the approval or disapproval of Christ.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that God is concerned with the way we teach the Old Testament.

One crucial question any thoughtful Christian asks is, “Are we to keep the rules and regulations of the Old Testament?”

I. Doesn’t Matthew 5:19 in the Sermon on the Mount appear to say that honored Christian teachers will instruct Christians to keep every single commandment in the Old Testament Law?

Isn’t that how you might interpret this verse: “Anyone who breaks 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 practices and keeps these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”?

Some serious questions arise with that interpretation.

Doesn’t this interpretation appear to endorse the “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” which Matthew 5:20 will overturn? These men were big on keeping even the smallest commands of the Law. The scribes and Pharisees would have heartily agreed with what Jesus said in Matthew 5:19. Why?

When did Matthew write this account of Jesus’ words?

If that is what Matthew intended those words to mean, he would be contradicting the clear teaching in the rest of the New Testament. Jesus would be declaring, for example, that the sacrificial and food laws of the Old Testament are still binding on Jesus’ disciples. By the time Matthew wrote, Christians were already broadly agreed that they were no longer required to keep those laws (Acts 11, Matthew 12).

II. Jesus had just talked about His fulfillment of the Law. He must have been speaking of a “doing” of the Law appropriate to the time of fulfillment. He has claimed that he fulfilled the Law. In Matthew 5:21-48 He spells out a way of “doing” the Law appropriate to this time of fulfillment.

There is a play on words here. Those who neglect the “least of the commandments” will be considered the “least in the kingdom of heaven.”

What do you think Jesus means by the phrase “The least in the kingdom of heaven”? Is that the same as what Jesus says of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 5:20?

Does this strike you as a strange way of talking about disciples?