Jesus of Nazareth taught that the Jews had failed to fulfill the spirit of Torah - though many of them were careful to obey the written commandments of that legislation. Indeed, he told his followers "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven!" (Matthew 5:20) In other words, obeying the letter of Torah was NOT enough! (The English Standard Version will be used throughout this post.)
Torah commanded: "You shall not murder," but Christ taught that people shouldn't harbor anger and resentment toward each other (Matthew 5:21-24). Likewise, Torah commanded: "You shall not commit adultery," but Jesus said that husbands shouldn't even harbor lustful thoughts toward women who were not their wives (Matthew 5:27). Torah made provisions for a man to divorce his wife if he was dissatisfied with her, but Jesus said that divorce was NOT what God had intended (Matthew 5:31-32). Torah commanded: "You shall not swear falsely," but Christ said that people shouldn't even be making oaths in the first place (Matthew 5:33-37)! Torah laid down the principle of "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but our Savior taught that we should love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us (Matthew 5:38-42). He went on to say: "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" (Matthew 5:46-47)
In fact, according to the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Jesus taught that strict obedience to the commandments of Torah was ALWAYS insufficient. It simply was NOT enough! He taught that the Sabbath wasn't just about not doing this or that - that it was more about ceasing from our own evil works and doing good things for each other (Matthew 12:1-13, Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-11, John 5:1-17, etc.). Indeed, Jesus said that the entire approach of the Jewish religious leaders of his day to obeying the commandments of Torah was wrongheaded! He said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness...You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!" (Matthew 23:23-24) Legalists will note that I left out a portion of this passage and will miss the entire point that Christ was making about obedience by doing so! Jesus went on to say: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So, you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:27-28)
When Christ was asked which one of the commandments of Torah was the greatest, he replied: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40) Did you catch that? Christ identified two commandments which dealt with the intent of the heart or "spirit" of the Law as fulfilling the whole thing. According to Christ, this was the kind of obedience that God was looking for from his people - an obedience based on LOVE, NOT in scrupulously following a list of dos and don'ts!
The Apostle Paul compared a Christian's relationship to the commandments of Torah to a wife who had been released from her marriage bonds by the death of her husband. He wrote: "Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code." (Romans 7:4-6) Paul went on to say that he served the Law of God with his mind (Romans 7:25). In this same epistle, Paul wrote: "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:8-10) In other words, if we keep this commandment, the other commandments become redundant - unnecessary!
Likewise, in his second epistle to the Christians at Corinth, Paul assured them that his message about Jesus of Nazareth was sincere and heartfelt. He went on to write: "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (II Corinthians 3:1-6) Clearly, for Paul, it was what was in the heart that was important. For him, the stuff that was written down was of little importance. Instead, it was what the believer had internalized - what was written on his/her heart!
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