Thursday, February 24, 2011

Was Jesus a law breaker?

Well, it all depends on what law we are talking about, God's law or Men's law. This is another of those highly controversial subjects, that everyone has his (her) own opinion, and very few are willing to subject (submit) their opinion to Jesus' opinion (will). Let's choose, probably the most controversial one: The Sabbath. There are few branches of the Christian Church that even named themselves accordingly, like: Seventh-Day Baptist Church, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, etc. Again, first we need the definition of Sabbath: Sabbath is the day of rest. The first time we see it in the Bible, is in Genesis 2:2-3. From that point on, the Bible talks a lot about the Sabbath. in Moses' law it was very strict, Exodus 20:8-11. In Jesus' time, it became so rigorous (of course because the religious people added so much to it), that they even persecuted Jesus because of it. Luke 6:1-11; Luke 13:14. So, by healing on the Sabbath day, was Jesus "breaking" the fourth commandment? Just because He was the "Lord of the Sabbath", was He guiltless? Why He broke His own law? The truth is: He never broke any of God's Laws! So, how to make sense of it all? First of all, we must define what rest means in the Biblical context. If you take the dictionary, there are tons of definitions for rest, from "a state of inaction" to "the repose of death" (RIP). If you consider the Biblical rest as the "absence of motion", than you will remember that, at least once in your lifetime, after sleeping 8 hours or more, you woke up very tired, like if you didn't sleep at all. So, just because your body came to a "motionless state", can you say that you rested? If not, why not? Ok, read this first: Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew 11:29. Jeremiah is talking about Jesus, the Good Way; John 14:6. So, answering the question, why didn't you rest? Because your soul couldn't rest and it affected you body, that’s why you woke up so tired. The problem with the “view” that “Sabbath rest” means physical rest only, is that your conclusion will be that Jesus Christ broke the fourth commandment when “working” (doing the will of His Father) during the Sabbath. Besides, Paul the Apostle writes this: Romans 14:5-6; Psalm 118:24. So, what’s the Lord’s Day (Sabbath) for you? Saturday? Sunday? Everyday? To me, everyday is the Lord’s Day (Sabbath), and I will choose to rest in Jesus Christ who is my Prince of Peace! Again, was Jesus who said: Luke 20:25. So, answering the question about Jesus being a law breaker, the conclusion is: If the law of men did not violate the law of God, He obeyed it. If it did, He didn't obey it. The same way it works for us. If the law of men doesn't violate the law (commandment) of God, we must obey it. If it does, than we must choose what law (commandment) we will obey: God's or men's. Acts 5:29.

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