I recall a bar mitzvah when the Rabbi said that all that Christ had said
was already in the OT; in particular, the bit about loving each other. I
kept that thought in my mind for quite some time until I realized that what
Christ had said was "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one
another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John
13:34. Christ as God incarnate set the example of true, absolute love; a
love that culminated in His crucifixion.
Take care,
Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com>
To: Bjoern Moeller <dj_mic20@yahoo.com>
Cc: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Thursday, December 09, 1999 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: bible ethics
>Bjoern Moeller wrote:
> ........................
>> Tom wrote this, and I can only consent. I believe this
>> is essential to the ethics of Jesus; that he taught
>> the law, that is, the ethical parts of it, as it was
>> handed over to Moses. That was what he declared
>> himself; that he had come to fulfill the law, and that
>> includes the whole law. I have an idea about Jesus
>> being the perfect virtuous man, but I'll leave that
>> for another time.
>> Besides, I think the theologians should deal with the
>> biblical parts of the answer Wayne demands. ........................
> One of the valuable insights of the Reformation is Christ is
>not to be seen as the promulgator of a "new law" which differs in some
>essential way from the Mosaic law - which in parts can be seen as "natural
law".
>In the _Loci Communes_ of 1521, the first protestant theology textbook,
Melanchthon
>condemns the view of the "godless Sophist professors of theology" - i.e.,
scholastic
>theologians who "say that Christ has become the successor of Moses and has
given a new
>law, and that this new law is called the gospel." Of course this doesn't
mean that
>Christ & the apostles never teach law, but it it not a law fundamentally
different from
>the Decalogue and its implications.
> Shalom,
> George
>say
>
>George L. Murphy
>gmurphy@raex.com
>http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
>