A perennial issue about the teachings of Jesus is his relationship to the Law, and it comes up in ordinary church life today: What is our relationship to the Law? Some say, \u201cGod\u2019s Word. We follow it.\u201d But it\u2019s not that easy since no one practices the laws of Leviticus today completely. So, it\u2019s good to see what Benedict XVI has to say. A perennial issue about the teachings of Jesus is his relationship to the Law, and it comes up in ordinary church life today: What is our relationship to the Law? Some say, \u201cGod\u2019s Word. We follow it.\u201d But it\u2019s not that easy since no one practices the laws of Leviticus today completely. So, it\u2019s good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThere is a brief discussion here \u2014 in essence, Jesus fulfills the Law by bringing an excess of righteousness. (He got close to moving into imputation issues, but didn\u2019t.) Jesus brings a New Torah. And here the Pope explores a topic that occupies his attention the rest of the chp and throughout the book: Christology. The \u201cI\u201d of the antitheses puts Jesus in the place of God.
\nThe rest of the chp explores how Jacob Neusner, in his A Rabbi Talks with Jesus<\/em>, came to the conclusion that Jesus does things with the Torah that break the boundaries of Judaism. It could be said that Neusner witnesses to an exalted christology shaping how Jesus treated the Torah, and this exalted christology is for him (Neusner is a Jew) unacceptable.
\nTorah now consists in following Jesus, which breaks down Torah and the community the Torah is designed to create. He examines Sabbath (Jesus says \u201cI will give you rest\u201d), 4th Commandment on parents and family (Jesus creates a new family), and compromise and prophetic radicalism (the redemptive trend of the OT \u2014 my words, but Benedict XVI is very similar \u2014 charts the path for Jesus\u2019 own radicalism). There is the pattern of a \u201cnecessary historical evolution\u201d of God\u2019s will as practiced in the world.
\nAll in all, then, the Torah of the Messiah becomes a Torah of following the Messiah. Jesus is neither liberal nor rebel; he is the interpreter of the Torah as the Messiah.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"