So if you believe the quotes of Jesus are correct, do you believe in his resurrection, or that he was the son of God? Just wondering.
If so, what do you make of the fact that Jesus frequently referred to the Old Testament as if it was God's word/law?
It is probably a small thing to quibble over but what I said was I believe the direct quotes of Jesus are an accurate depictions of His teachings. I would hesitate to characterize them as 'correct'. I appreciate the time periods which exist between the period Jesus taught on the earth and the Gospels were penned as well as the fact no one was recording any of His teachings. The quotes are all the result of memory and oral teaching.
With that said, it is worth noting that story of His resurrection is contained in the parts of the New Testament which were clearly not part of Jesus' teachings. That makes it much more difficult to get a grasp on what actually happened. Clearly SOMETHING happened which resulted in the creation of a major religion. For me...and I appreciate that isn't the case with everyone...it isn't all that important to define whether He was resurrected or not. And, quite frankly, there isn't enough evidence to make any kind of determination on the issue.
Next, Jesus said He was the Son of God....more than once. The meaning of the phrase does not require there be an actual -family- relationship. I appreciate that the modern religious concept dictates that be the case, but in Jesus' time it could mean just a special relationship with God without any family relationship. What -Jesus- meant when He said it is more important than what today's religion claims it means.
Finally, what Jesus clearly appeared to understand the Law as defined by the Jews as being something that God was a part of. But there is an often overlooked passage in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus makes a direct reference to that Law. It is found in Matthew 5:17-20. I won't quote it here since this is already a long post.
But note that Jesus says that He is not here to destroy or abolish the Law but rather to fulfill or complete it. The Law is a contract between God and the Jews. By completing or fulfilling that contract, He did what we all do when we fulfill or complete our mortgages. We no longer have an obligation to them. This is important for Jews because ONLY Jews had an obligation under the Law.
More importantly, in Matthew 22 Jesus reveals His two Great Commandments. Assuming Jesus had the authority to fulfill the OT Law He would have the authority to create something new to move forward in time. We all know the two Great Commandments. Immediately after announcing them, He said this:
"40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This is profound in that EVERYTHING the Jewish religion required of people Jesus' summed up with two commandments. This is where I get the concept that Jesus' teachings can be understood to have raised the level of spirituality for humans to strive for.
Jesus fulfilled the OT contract with God and presented a new contract which assumed that humans were now able to achieve a much higher level of spirituality in which they no longer needed 'laws' to comply with. Rather they were now able to decide on their own about how to bring their lives into conformity with God's wishes.
Jesus taught what 'Divine Love' is like. He demonstrated using that love in a self-sacrificing manner. And then He said we were capable of living that life without the need for a check list of laws to control us.
THIS, I believe, is the true genius of Jesus. He brings us closer to God because we grow in our spirituality by taking on more responsibility for our own lives.
The down side to this is this new level of spirituality doesn't require a religion to 'control' people. And as early as the First Century, the second and third generations of followers regressed back to requiring 'laws' to control people instead teaching them how to control themselves.
Things have continued to regress since then.