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Does Christ's Law Apply to All?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Abstract

Are the commands and exhortations of the Lord Jesus directed to his disciples only or are they directed to all mankind? The question arises from an examination of traditional Jewish teaching, around the time of Jesus's life in Palestine, that Jewish Law applies only to Jews. Seeing that there is no way of knowing what God requires of humans unless he reveals his requirements, and seeing that God's revealing of any requirements he has made has been carried out by Jesus the Christ and, further, that the best evidence for his teachings are the accounts of his teaching in the New Testament, this article examines it and concludes that his Law applies only to his disciples.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 Broyde, Michael J., “Proselytism and Jewish Law: Inreach, Outreach, and the Jewish Tradition”, in Sharing the Book: Religious Perspectives on the Rights and Wrongs of Proselytism edited by JrWitte, John. and Martin, Richard C. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1999), pp.4560Google Scholar.

2 Broyde, “Proselytism and Jewish Law”, p.47.

3 Broyde, “Proselytism and Jewish Law”, p. 45.

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6 The Council is employing St Thomas Aquinas's notion of revelation as locutio Dei. See Blanco, Arturo, “La revelación como ‘locutio Dei’ en las obras de Santo Tomas de Aquino”, Scripta Theologica 13 (1) 1981, pp.961CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 “By faith, men and women give their assent to this divine testimony. This means they acknowledge fully and integrally the truth of what is revealed because it is God himself who is the guarantor of that truth.” Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, art.13. Italics in the original.

8 Cf. Veritatis Splendor, articles 25, 26.

9 McKenzie, John L., Dictionary of the Bible (Geoffrey Chapman: London/Dublin, 1972), p.737Google Scholar. In his commentary on the Gospel of John, St Thomas Aquinas writes in reference to the teaching of Jesus: “ … this teaching surpasses all other teachings in [dignity], authority, usefulness; for it has been handed down to us immediately by the only Son of God who is First Wisdom.” Latourelle, René, Theology of Revelation (Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1966), p.167Google Scholar. Latourelle has omitted the word in brackets.

10 McKenzie, Dictionary, p.738.

11 Pope John Paul II criticises theologians who deny that “there exists , in Divine Revelation, a specific and determined moral content”, Veritatis Splendor, art. 37.

12 Cf. Beazley‐Murray, George R.: Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 36, John ( Waco, TX: Waco Books, 1987)Google Scholar, Introduction, pp.lxxxviii‐lxxxix.

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15 Collins, Raymond F., Christian Morality: Biblical Foundations (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986). p.25Google Scholar, maintains the contrary: “… this scribal teaching [Sermon on the Mount] is apparently addressed to the crowds”. But the crowds are prospective disciples.

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21 A striking example of the same sequence lies in I John 4: 23: “And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

22 Broyde, Proselytism and Jewish Law, p.46.

23 The demand for faith is very closely connected with the call to repentance.Schnackenburg, Rudolf, The Moral Teaching of the New Testament (London: Burns & Oates, 1975), p. 27Google Scholar.

24 “If anyone thinks he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command of the Lord.” I Cor. 14:37. Cf. II Cor. 1:11, and a Pauline teaching in I Tim. 6:3.

25 Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, art. 7.

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30 “ ‘Ce que Dieu veut’ (thelema) n'est pas seulement la norme du bien et du mal, mais la source de l'obligation intérieure du croyant [footnote omitted], qui fait de ce vouloir le centre de ses pensées et de ses actions.”

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