HOW JESUS INTERPRETED OLD

TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE
Posted on June 17, 2013 by leoninlittlerock

In this series of studies weve been looking at Jesus and how he interpreted the Old
Testament Scriptures. So far we have focused almost exclusively on things in the
Gospel of Matthew because Matthew is the one who most often pictures Jesus referring
back to the Old Testament to make some spiritual point. But we will look at the other
gospel accounts as well. Today I want to focus on Matthew 19:1-11. Jesus had left
Galilee and gone to the region of Judea on the other side of the Jordan. Large crowds
were following him. The Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, Is it lawful
for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?

This was a question that was being debated among the rabbis regularly and there were
two very different opinions on the subject. Some followed a rabbi saying that what God
had Moses to write in Deuteronomy 24:1-5 about men divorcing their wives and giving
them a certificate of divorce if they found anything unseemly in them gave the right to
divorce for any reason that seemed wrong or distasteful to the husband. The other
primary view was that the only legitimate reason for divorce was for sexual impurity on
the part of the wife. They wanted Jesus to take one side or the other so they could use
that against him or turn those who followed the teachings of the other rabbi against him.

Jesus handled the question by going back to the very beginning rather than to what
Moses had written in Deuteronomy. Havent you read, he replied, that at the
beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man will
leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one
flesh? So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together
let no one separate. Notice Jesus didnt at this point deal with the subject of divorce at
all but went much farther to say that there shouldnt even be any separation, since God
has made them into one flesh. Gods ultimate plan obviously was that when two people
get married that they will stay married for a life time.

The response of the Pharisees was, Why then did Moses command that a man give his
wife a certificate of divorce and send her away? Instead of dealing all with what God
had said in the beginning, they went to what Moses had written much later on the
subject of divorce.

Jesus replied, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were
hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces
his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.
In dealing with their question, it is vitally important to see how Jesus dealt with the
Scripture they referred to in Deuteronomy 24. They had said that Moses commanded
them to give a certificate of divorce and put the wife away, Jesus first corrected that by
saying that Moses actually Permitted them to do so, rather than commanded such.
There is a huge difference between something being permitted and being commanded.
Second, Jesus explained the reason Moses permitted them to give the certificate of
divorce to their wives. It was because of the hardness of their hearts. It was a time
when most wives were completely dependent on their husbands for support and care to
be able to survive. Men were putting their wives away from them and marrying other
women to leave the wife with no way to marry anyone else and no means of supporting
themselves or their children outside of prostitution. God saw the hardness of their heart
and the plight of the wives being put away and gave this teaching from Moses as a
means of protecting the wife. The man who put her away had to give her a certificate of
divorce so that she could go and become the wife of another man. If he later put her
away, she was not allowed to go back to that first husband to marry him again since
another man had uncovered her nakedness and that would be an abomination to God.

So Jesus first gave the correct statement of what Moses said and why Moses gave the
teaching to begin with. Then he turned to give his own teaching on the subject when he
said this is what I say to you. Instead of following exactly what God had said in the
beginning or what Moses had said later, he declared that there was only one legitimate
reason for divorcing ones wife and that was if she was involved in sexual immorality.
Then he had the right to divorce her without committing a sin himself and could marry
another wife without any sin on his part. If he divorced an innocent wife and married
someone else he committed adultery in the process. Why was it adultery? Because they
had made a covenant of companionship to have God join them in marriage and become
one flesh. The divorcing of the companion would break the covenant that had been
made between them and God. It is vital to notice that it is the divorcing and remarrying
of another person that causes one to commit adultery. Nothing is said in this text about
the ongoing sexual relationship of the people who have remarried. Nothing is said that
indicates that this is an ongoing sin that is recommitted each time the couple has sex
after marriage. They commit adultery by marrying another when they have divorced an
innocent partner.

This sin like any other sin is forgivable when one repents of it and turns back to God.
Like any other sin there must be sorrow or regret for the sin and a turning from the sin
to the Lord. Does that mean that the person must then divorce the new wife or husband
and go back to the first one or remain celibate for the rest of their lives? No repentance
for divorcing and remarrying someone else doesnt mean one should divorce again. It
does mean they should become the kind of husband or wife that God calls them to be
and make the marriage they are in what it ought to be.

Notice that the disciples were immediately concerned with Jesus answer. Their
response was, If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to
marry. It seems that the thought of not being able to freely divorce the wife when there
was a problem between them was so frightening to them they thought it easier or better
to just stay single.

Jesus replied, Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been
given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have
been made eunuchs by others and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for
the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. Im
not sure where the Pharisees were when the disciples began to question what Jesus said.
But it is important to notice that Jesus first statement to them was that not everyone
could accept this teaching. His illustrations are all about people who shouldnt get
married to begin with. Those who for reasons of birth or actions of others cant be a
sexual partner in marriage shouldnt get married. Some people are so devoted to the
cause of Christ, like Paul would be, that they dont need to marry. But if one can accept
the teaching they should.

It is of interest to me that the very text that ends with Jesus saying not everyone can
accept it has been used too often to declare that everyone must accept it and if they
dont they cant ever be forgiven of their sin. Never forget that adultery like many other
sins is listed by God as one that he will wash away, justify the sinner and sanctify them
in Christ Jesus ( I Corinthians 6:9-11).

Notice most of all with this study that Jesus in using Scriptures from the Old Testament
first went back to the primary source of what God did and said in the beginning. When
he looked at the Scriptures that came later he first corrected their misuse by showing it
was permission rather than command and he noted the context or reason for the giving
of the Scripture to begin with. He put it into its context and its original purpose. In our
interpretation of any Scripture it is vital that we follow the same reasoning. What does
it actually say? Is this the primary text on the theme or one dealing with some problem
in relation to the primary text? What was the purpose for this text to begin with? How
does it fit with what is being said now? With Jesus he had the right to change what had
been taught for the coming age. We dont have that right. Our job is to find the right
meaning and apply it correctly to our own situation.

https://leoninlittlerock.com/2013/06/17/how-jesus-interpreted-old-testament-scripture/

THE JESUS WAY OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION

Posted on June 19, 2013 by leoninlittlerock

I hope youve had the chance to follow the discussion through all the articles. Today I
want to focus on Matthew 22. There are three things in this chapter that I think say a lot
about Jesus and how he interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures. If one accepts the
view that Jesus is God in the flesh then there can be no doubt that how he did anything
is the right way. Peter challenged us to follow in his steps (I Peter 2:21).

In Matthew 22:23-33 the Sadducees who denied the resurrection came to Jesus with a
dilemma that they thought would stump him completely. I suspect they had used this
same story a hundred times before to challenge the Pharisees who did believe in the
resurrection. The foundation of the story was about the law that if a man died without
children his brother was to go in to his wife and have sex with her so she could have a
son and it would be the dead brothers son. In their story there were seven brothers and
they each took the same woman to marry and have sex with to try to raise up seed for
their brother. None of them were able to have a child and all died. Eventually the wife
died as well. So, in the resurrection whose wife will she be? That seems like a
powerful argument and difficult to answer. Look at how Jesus dealt with it. You are in
error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection
people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in
heaven. But about the resurrection from the dead have you not read what God said to
you, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the
God of the dead but of the living.
Jesus quickly set aside their whole dilemma by saying that they just didnt understand
the Scriptures or Gods power. Their assumption that in the resurrection the
relationships of this life will continue as is, was totally mistaken so their dilemma
wasnt much of a dilemma at all. In the resurrection relationships such as marriage
wont continue. But notice Jesus use of Old Testament Scripture to settle the issue. The
Sadducees rejected all the Old Testament as Scripture except the five Books of Moses.
When Jesus referred to what Scripture said, it is vital to see he went to the very part of
the Old Testament that they regarded as Gods word to make the point. The declaration
by God that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was as fundamental a passage of
Scripture to the Jews as one could possibly find. They had never imagined that this
basic passage cut the rug out from under their beliefs. Jesus pointed the Scripture and
drew the single conclusion, God is not the God of the dead but of the living to
demonstrate that though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were long sense physically dead,
they were alive to God in that their immortal soul continued to live in Gods presence.

One huge lesson this makes is that when trying to reach people with what God says it is
always vital to go to the very things they do believe to show them what God teaches.

Some Pharisees heard Jesus handle the Sadducees and were impressed with how he had
answered. One of them, an expert in the law tested Jesus with this question: Teacher,
which is the greatest commandment in the Law? Who knows what they were thinking
he would answer? But Jesus responded with Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great
commandment and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law
and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Notice first of all that some commands are far more important than others. At the top of
Gods chart is love for him with all our being and love for our neighbor or fellow man.
In the very next chapter of Matthew 23:23 Jesus would say to the religious leaders
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of
your spices mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters
of the law justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter
without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat and swallow a
camel. Too often it is the petty things that we key in on to the neglect of Gods major
truths. In church it is all too common to see the person that never misses a service,
knows lots of Scripture and sees themselves as real leaders in the body, yet their attitude
is horrible. They are judgmental, demanding and just plain hard to get along with.
They have the little things right but miss the love for God and neighbor that are most
important. They readily pay tithes of the insignificant while ignoring justice, mercy and
faithfulness.

How desperately we need to learn that no matter how many items we get right on our
list of doing Gods will if we miss the things that are at the heart of Gods will we are in
trouble. Straining out gnats and swallowing camels seems to have become an art among
so many who wear the name of Christian.

Finally, in Matthew 22:41-46 Jesus raised a strange question to the Pharisees. What do
you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he? The son of David, they replied.
Jesus responded, How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit calls him Lord?
For he says, The Lord said to my Lord; Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies
under your feet. If then David calls him Lord how can he be his son? Jesus
dilemma for them must have caused lots of scratching of their heads. They had no
understanding of the fact that the Messiah would be both fully God and fully man.
From his human nature he was the son or descendant of David. In His divine nature he
was Davids Lord.

The lesson for us on this point is that when things seem to not fit at all into our frame of
reference and seem to confuse us rather than enlighten us, it is probably because we
need to change our frame of reference. They needed to have a different view from the
one that saw the Messiah only as Davids descendant and one who like him would come
as a earthly ruler to lead the armies of Israel. But changing how we look at things is
extremely difficult.

The question I would leave us with is how many of the things that cause confusion and
division in the church are what God would consider vital and how many are about
things that are so insignificant that God didnt even tell us clearly what He wanted us to
do in that situation?

LEARNING TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE

FROM JESUS
Posted on June 13, 2013 by leoninlittlerock

Weve been looking at the topic of Biblical interpretation for several articles now and I
would encourage anyone to read the earlier ones before this one. With so much being
said on the subject of how to interpret Scripture it seems to me that we need to go back
to the gold standard on the topic and that is how Jesus interpreted Scripture.

In Matthew 17 we have the record of Jesus going up on the Mountain of Transfiguration

and being transformed in the sight of the three apostles, Peter, James and John that he
brought with him. They were astounded by what they saw. His whole appearance
changed and he was so white that they were amazed. Then the most astounding thing
happened when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus to talk with him about his
coming death. Moses had been dead now for a long long time and Elijah had be
transferred from earth to heaven in a firey chariot led by firey horses. Yet they came
back from the other side to visit with Jesus to prepare him for what was ahead. They
had been there and knew the things that would occur even though neither of them had
experienced the kind of death Jesus did.

When Peter saw this sight along with James and John he was so overwhelmed with fear
that he didnt know what to say so he said something anyway, which is always a
dangerous thing to do. He asked Jesus if he wanted him to build three tents, one for
him, one more Moses and one for Elijah. At least two things were wrong with his
question. He probably indicated a desire to stay upon the mountain where such
marvelous things were occurring and that wasnt in the Lords plan. Mountain top
experiences will never be the norm for Gods people. They happen occasionally to
build us up and prepare us for heaven that awaits. The second thing wrong was that he
was putting Moses and Elijah on an equal plain with Jesus. They were great men, but
nothing to compare with Jesus as the Son of God. God the Father didnt wait this time
for Jesus to answer him. Instead a dark cloud came over them and the voice of God
spoke saying, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to
him! The three disciples fell face down to the ground in fear. Jesus told them to get up
and not be afraid. As they went down the mountain Jesus told them not to tell what had
happened until after the resurreciton.

As they were walking down the mountain they asked the question that brought up the
segment we wish to study today. They said, Why then do the teachers of the law say
that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore
all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but
have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to
suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he was taking to them about
John the Baptist.

Go back with me to Malachi 4:5-6 to see the prophesy to which the disciples and Jesus
were referring. See, I will send the Prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful
day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, the hearts
of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total
destruction. Imagine now reading Malachis prophesy as a Jew living some four
hundred years after Malachi first gave the prophesy. Would you have thought it would
be someone like Elijah or would you have thought it was Elijah himself that was
coming? I suspect that most of us would have thought it was Elijah himself that was to
come and restore all things and turn the hearts of children to their fathers and the fathers
to their children. In Luke 1:16-17 the angel of the Lord in speaking to Zechariah the
father of John the Baptist first gave the correct interpretation of Malachis prophesy
when he said, He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of
the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

When you look at Gabriels explanation and at Jesus explanation some things become
obvious. In correctly interpreting Scripture somethings cant be taken literally and ever
reach a right conclusion. God never intended to send back Elijah himself to prepare the
way of the Lord. He did intend to send back one that in many ways looked and acted
like Elijah. His mission was to prepare the way for Jesus and his work on earth.

Notice the things God wanted him to do to make the way smooth for Jesus. He was to
turn the hearts of the parents back to their children and the heart of children back to
their parents and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.

This should give us some insight into our work in preparing people to receive Jesus as
Lord and Savior today. When parents dont care about the future and destiny of their
children we fight a losing battle in trying to turn them to the Lord. When the children
dont care about what their parents say or teach or even how they live it is extremely
difficult to turn them to the Lord also. When people have no interest in living
obediently to the Lord but want the Lord to adjust to their thinking to be disciples we
will never win them to Jesus. It is only when a person is willing to say, Not my will
but yours be done to the Lord that they are ready for salvation. The whole just
believe or just put your trust in Jesus or just let Jesus into your heart mentality is
turning far more people away from the Lord and salvation than we can imagine. So
many while still living a godless life think that all is well with their soul.

Another thing that is obvious from Jesus interpretation is that we never really know for
sure what an Old Testament Scripture was telling us, at least in its fullness until we see
the divine interpretation of it. Nearly every Old Testament prophesy was misunderstood
by the Jews until Jesus gave the divine meaning of the passage. Many times in the
Bible we have a divine interpretation in that Jesus or the New Testament writers will say
what it meant. But we need to be extremely careful in trying to give an authoritative
interpretation of prophesies that have not been fulfilled or that God by inspiration hasnt
given a divine interpretation for. When Jesus gave his explanation the disciples
immediately understood what was meant.

Do remember that there were many times when people referred to some Old Testament
prophesy even to discredit Jesus and he didnt see fit to give them a clearer explanation.
Remember when the people were saying about Jesus that he couldnt be the messiah
since he wasnt born in Bethlehem but was from Nazareth. He could have easily
stepped in and explained, Yes I was born in Bethlehem, but my physical parents were
just there at the time obey the kings edict to register for the census in the town of your
heritage. We then went back to Nazareth where they were from. But he didnt choose
to do that at all. Perhaps he realized that a clearer explanation would have made no
difference to them in changing their beliefs about him, since he knew what was in the
hearts of men before they ever said a thing. But if Jesus didnt see fit to try to correct
every error that people have in their life it certainly doesnt become our mission to
explain everything to them. Our job is to bring people to Jesus. Then to help them
grow closer to him all the time and be obedient to his divine will.

Next we will look at Matthew 19 and Jesus teachings on the subject of divorce and
remarriage as he interprets Old Testament Scripture.