![]() ![]() Anger and lust, on the other hand, require self-management. You can hold someone accountable for murder or adultery. One difference between the original commandments and the new laws is enforceability.The new expectations are an elevated version of the old ones. All of these commandments remain in force. It’s still true that God doesn’t want us to kill, commit adultery, leave our spouses thoughtlessly, break sacred promises, or be unfair. The old commandments don’t disappear when you raise the bar.(The phrase “hate thine enemy” is not in the original commandment.) And just because divorce should be handled respectfully and formally doesn’t mean that respectful and formal divorces are the goal. “Thou shalt not kill” doesn’t mean, “It’s okay to hurt people as long as they don’t die.” It means, “Don’t hurt people.” Similarly, “Love thy neighbor” wasn’t intended as license to hate people you don’t consider your neighbors. The existing laws establish minimum standards of conduct, not descriptions of ideal conduct.So why did He introduce these contrasts by telling us that He’s fulfilling rather than destroying the law? Here are a few observations: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.” (See Leviticus 19:18.) “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” (See Exodus 21:24-25, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21.) (See Leviticus 19:12, Deuteronomy 23:21-23.)ĭon’t make lots of promises. If you get divorced, make it official and legally binding. Don’t allow inappropriate thoughts into your heart. “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (See Exodus 20:14, Deuteronomy 5:18, Mosiah 13:22.)ĭon’t lust. “Thou shalt not kill.” (See Exodus 20:13, Deuteronomy 5:17, Mosiah 13:21.)ĭon’t be angry. Here is a list of those standards and their replacements: “Ye have heard…” Five times, He introduces a commonly accepted standard of behavior, and then apparently replaces it with a different one. In the Sermon on the Mount, after stating that He was fulfilling, not destroying, the law, Jesus goes on to make a number of dramatic contrasts which might have easily been misunderstood as canceling prior commandments. (See 3 Nephi 9:16-17.) See this blog post: All the Prophets. It just means that scriptural passages about His life became reality. So in one sense, fulfilling the law is synonymous with fulfilling prophecy. (See Psalm 69:4.) And when He says, “All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” ( Luke 24:44), He is clearly referring to prophecies which appear in all of those books of scripture. So when He says, “This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause” ( John 15:25), He is actually referencing a prophecy in the book of Psalms, not the Torah. But sometimes, when Jesus says “the law,” He means the scriptures generally. “The prophets” referred to books written by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, most of which are found at the end of the Old Testament. Strictly speaking, “the law” referred to the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament. When Jesus uses the term “the law” or “the law and the prophets,” He is referring to the scriptures. The ScripturesĪ second way that the Savior fulfilled the law is much simpler. Here’s a blog post on this topic: Performances and Ordinances. So one way the Savior fulfilled the law was by completing His mission, and rendering the anticipatory religious observances of the law of Moses obsolete. And Mormon tells us that after the Savior’s ministry on the American continent, the people “did not walk any more after the performances and ordinances of the law of Moses.” Instead, they followed a new set of instructions they had received from Him, including fasting, praying, and meeting together often ( 4 Nephi 1:12). Shortly after His death, He instructed the Nephites and the Lamanites, “Ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings” ( 3 Nephi 9:19). When He completed His mission, those activities, which Nephi called “performances and ordinances,” became unnecessary. The law of Moses prescribed some worship activities which prefigured the life of Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice. Here are three different ways He fulfilled the law: 1. ![]() Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” ( Matthew 5:17, 3 Nephi 12:17).
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