Law Breakers Must Be Put to Death
Then he (Jesus) said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’” -Mark 7:9-10, NLT
17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) -Mark 7:17-19, NIV
“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. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 5:17-20, NIV
I love questions that come out of a heart of wanting to follow Jesus better. Not that I won’t answer questions which have other motivations but, I think I enjoy most of all questions which begin with a genuine hunger for practical discipleship knowledge. One such question that recently came to me and which I think the text of Mark 7 answers (at least in part) went something like this: How much of the Old Testament Law do we have to obey as followers of Jesus? That’s an excellent question! Let me begin with what Jesus makes clear in Mark 7:17-19, the ceremonial law is no longer required of us. The ESV Study Bible has this wonderful note on v19, it reads, in part: “The Mosaic ceremonial laws distinguished between “clean and “unclean” foods (see Lev. 11:1-47). Their purpose was to instill an awareness of God’s holiness and of the reality of sin as a barrier to fellowship with God. But once defilement of the heart is thoroughly removed and full fellowship with God becomes a reality (through the atoning death of Jesus; see Mark 10:45; Rom. 14:14; Heb. 8:6-13; 9:10,14), the ceremonial laws have fulfilled their purpose and are no longer required.” So, that means a whole bunch of food laws are not required (BACON!) but, even Jesus seems to point out other Old Testament laws, like honoring your parents or loving God and neighbor. In so doing He doesn’t give permission for His followers to ignore them. In our text in particular, Jesus goes not only to the command, “Honor your father and mother,” He also unabashedly rolls out the punishment for disobedience- the death penalty! Talk about a serious behavior modification tool for parents! Any honest Jesus follower has to try to figure out why mom and dad hasn’t carried out the agreed upon sentence. And here is what won’t work, a way of understanding the law and its punishment that in anyway diminishes the law. Jesus is clear in Matthew 5, He didn’t come to abolish the law. So, we cannot throw a cliché like, “we are under grace now” at the issue and simply move on without violating some pretty core realities. And so, I return to the question from the outset: How much of the Old Testament Law do we have to obey as followers of Jesus? The short answer I would offer is, all of it. Now I know that isn’t popular (or possible) but, let me explain. First, critical to our understanding of the gospel is this reality. You (and every human being) break God’s law. And, as such, we deserve to die. The good news (gospel) for us is that One perfect law keeper lived and then died for all the law breakers in an act of substitution. So, Jesus keeps the law for me and then dies the death I deserve as one who cannot keep the law. This does not set the law aside as if God hit ‘undo’ on Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This fulfills the law. Jesus obeys it in its entirety and then in an act of grace, God allows His obedience to count for me (and you)! Further still, Jesus takes the punishment assigned to law breakers upon Himself though He was guilty of no infraction of the law. But, there is still something more that happens in us when Jesus’ perfect life and substitutionary death are applied to us. God brings us a new heart that wants to do the law. How is this not legalism rewarmed? Because, in the miracle of our being born into God’s family the law that was external and therefore unable to address the source of our defilement, becomes internal. The law internalized and lived out of love is not legalism, it is sanctification. Someone will now want to ask, “So, we have to study the Old Testament law code and keep it?” No. That would be legalism. “Then how do we keep the law without being legalists?” By living under the Holy Spirit’s control, seeking to love God and neighbor above all else. Henry and Richard Blackaby are right, “Obedience without love is legalism.” But obedience in love is not legalism. Rather, obedience in and from love is the fruit of the gospel at work in someone’s life. So, let’s be done with law-keeping and let’s embrace fully the good news as it relates to the law, living a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us!