JESUS & LAW

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“¹⁷ Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 

Well, depending on whose opinion. According to Marcion and many early Christians Jesus came to abolish the Old Testament laws of God of this world whom many, such as Cathars and Gnostics, saw as the evil Demiurge. Even the canonical version is referencing to it. 

"The god of this age (world) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV

Or when "Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in exchange for Jesus's worship, a temptation described in Matthew 4:8-11 and Luke 4:5-7,"* implying that it is his to offer.

*AI Overview: "• Reversal of Matthew 5:17: Early church writers, such as Adamantius and Origen, report that Marcion's version of the Gospel (a modified Gospel of Luke) reversed the saying to: "Think not that I am come to fulfil the law, or the prophets: I am not come to fulfil, but to destroy".

Jesus often challenged the rigid, external interpretations of the Law common among the religious leaders of his day (like the Pharisees). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), he emphasized the spirit and heart-level intention of the Law, moving beyond mere outward observance to issues like anger (which he linked to murder) and lust (which he linked to adultery). He distilled the entire Law and Prophets into two fundamental principles: 

• Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.

• Love your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus was teaching about the Ten Commandments which he has narrowed  down to the two main commandments of loving God and your neighbor, i.e. those in your life who are in need, and each other, “³⁴ A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35 NIV Which is the Golden Rule, reap what you saw, do unto others as you want be done unto you in Western tradition or more passive Eastern version, don't do unto others as you don't want the same be done unto you, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Hermetic principles etc. 

Basically he was simplifying the existing Ten Commandments for the common folk while rejecting the Temple pharisees' interpretation of the law and addition of new laws and rules to the existing ones. While the pharisees making more laws, Jesus was narrowing it to its core.

The initial Jewish Essenes and its branch of Nazarene Ebionim movement of poor Jews, who were vegetarian and lived in communes organized in todays terms as communist, were in the opposition to the Temple practices of the pharisees High Priests. 

However during the Roman Jewish wars it was decided in Rome to hijack early Jewish Christian movements and turn it into Greco Roman imperial religion for which purpose the Piso family were assigned to the task who in turn played and constructed the character of Paul who then brought into focus the death of Christ as an ultimate Temple sacrifice thus fulfilling the law pertaining to blood sacrifices. 

At that time quarter of a million innocent animals were slaughtered each year with the temple priests standing chest high in blood to a point that they had to dig out special drainage system. Jesus was violently opposed to it preaching that the salvation comes through repentance not blood sacrifices of innocent animals in atonement of sins through redemption, as in transaction. 

He led an action at night to open the cages at the Temple freeing the animals and during the day came to confront the corrupt pharisees overturning the tables of money changers, who were selling the animals right there in the courtyard. So Jesus was enforcing the original laws of Moses calling out the false laws of the Temple elites making fortunes.

Paul was selling the idea that Jesus has died for the sins of humanity in fulfillment of the Law, particularly the ceremonial and sacrificial systems, whose death was intended to highlight humanity's need for a Savior and to point forward to Christ. Thus, Paul argued, "Jesus's sacrifice on the cross served as the ultimate atonement for sin, making the previous sacrificial system obsolete. Through faith in him, believers enter into a new covenant relationship with God, where the law is written on their hearts by the Holy Spirit, enabling them to live righteously through grace, not by strictly following the old legal code as a path to salvation." AI Overview

If one is interested to learn more about Christian faith as was taught by Jesus himself I recommend sermons by Pastor Aaron Abke of 4D University.

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