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You're listening to Tim Bulkeley's 5 minute Bible
So, this time
I want to tell you how Jesus gives us the key to understanding casuistic law
in the Old Testament
or at least gives us the key to how we should understand casuistic law
in the Old Testament
which, as any scholar will tell you, is not quite the same thing ;)
which as any preacher will tell you is much more important ;)
the key passage of course is one we looked at before
Matthew chapter five
verse seventeen and following
There, at least if you're the usual kind of literalist,
Jesus seems to cut the ground out from under our feet by telling us
that we have to understand it straight
"Don't think" he says "I've come to abolish the law or the prophets; i've come not to
abolish but to fulfill, for truly I tell you
until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter
not one stroke of a letter,
will pass from the law,
until all is accomplished."
There you are, every letter of every casuistic law in the Old Testament
stands
till the end of time
says Jesus.
Now, most of us
unless we are extremely
observant Jews
aren't keeping
every letter of every casuistic law of the Old Testament
some of them just don't apply to us any more and some of them we just plain break
there are laws that say you shouldn't wear clothing of two different kinds of cloth
I'm wearing a poly-cotton tee-shirt as I talk to you
that's one law broken
there are laws which tell you shouldn't eat shellfish
I enjoy my prawn curry
another law broken
but is that what Jesus meant?
look a bit further on in chapter five
verse twenty
"For I tell you
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the pharisees
you will never enter to the kingdom of heaven."
it is not enough to equal their righteousness
we have to exceed it!
Now, the pharisaic scribes were extremely careful about keeping all these laws
and even very carefully put fences round the casuistic laws so as not to break them
by accident
So, if a casuistic law says
'You shall not exceed fifty kilometers an hour in a built-up zone
if you do then you will get demerit points on your license.' Then the pharisee says
"Okay, to make sure I don't exceed fifty kilometers an hour in the built-up zone
I'll put a fence round it,
I'll act as if the law said: you shall not exceed forty kilometers an hour in the
built-up zone.
And then - though all the other drivers will get absolutely annoyed with me -
I won't break the fifty k limit."
that's how pharisaism works
by scrupulously keeping the rules
or by creatively finding loopholes to the rules
it takes casuistic laws
it puts fences around them to protect them
so that we don't break them, but keep them
How can you exceed that kind of righteousness?
Surely you either break a law or you keep it?
How can you exceed, keeping it?
But that's what Jesus says we have to do!
in verse twenty
but look at what he says in verse twenty-one
"You've heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
You shall not ***. And,
whoever murders shall be liable to judgment."
OK, Jesus is quoting casuistic law from the Old Testament
let's see what he does with it
verse twenty-two
"But, I say to you, that but if you an angry with a brother or sister you will be
liable to judgment and if you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the counsel
and if you say: You fool!
you will be liable to the hell of fire."
That's excessive!
That's exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees
pharisaic scribe say:
Okay the law says no murdering
so we'll put a fence around it
you should try to avoid even killing by accident
or maybe you should be a pacifist or something." Jesus says:
don't get angry
don't insult
don't feel superior
that's excessive
Jesus is doing one of two things. He's either making these laws excessive
exceeding them in that sense
or, possibly, he's turning them from casuistic laws
sets of rules to be obeyed
about which we can ask questions
and for which we can try to find loopholes,
into apodictic commands, that is, targets to aim at.
instead of the rule
no murdering
the apodictic command
Here is a target you should aim at: you should be the sort of person who doesn't ***
what sort of person doesn't ***? A person who doesn't get angry
a person who doesn't trade insults
a person doesn't feel superior
So, instead of the casuistic law
'no murdering' about what we can ask questions like well is
accidental killing okay?
and: is killing in time of warfare okay? and the rest of those questions
that you are all familiar with
we get an apodictic command
'Be the sort of person
who is not a murderer
don't be angry
don't trade insults
don't feel superior.'
that all sounds wonderful and nice but am I right?
or is that not at all what Jesus is saying and am I just trying to wriggle out of Jesus
making these commands excessive?
To find out, you'll have to wait for my next podcast in the series
Though I hope it won't be a long wait ;)
Bye for now