- Feb 4, 2006
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Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, and the Mosaic Law was how his audience knew what sin is, so repenting from our disobedience to it is an integral part of the Gospel message, which was the light to Gentiles (Matthew 4:15-23), and which Jesus prophesied would be proclaimed to all nations (Matthew 24:12-14). Furthermore, Jesus set a sinless example of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law, so he spent his ministry teaching his followers how to obey both by word and by example, and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22), to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6), and are not given any room to disregard anything he taught during his ministry (John 12:46-50). So the Jerusalem Council should not be interpreted as speaking against Gentiles following Christ, especially because they were not enemies of God and didn't have the authority to countermand Him. However, the bottom line is that we must obey God rather than man, so even if they had been speaking against Gentiles following Christ, then we should be quicker to disregard everything that any man has said than to disregard anything that God has commanded. All of the laws that God has commanded are examples of what it means to love God and our neighbor, which is why Jesus said that those are the greatest two commandments and that all of the other laws hang on them.
True that Jesus kept the Law, as the Law was still in force, the Temple and priesthood still being intact. However he constantly argued with the Jewish religious leaders about the application of the law, and their corruption of some of it. His cryptic statement regarding the destruction of the temple meant that "not one facet" of the Law would remain intact after it's destruction. He was to be the new 'temple', that would rise from destruction, while the Jewish/Herodian temple that represented the Law would not.
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