Nonconformist Chronicles

The New Testament is Not a New Law

While it’s a mistake to speak of the Sermon on the Mount as a “new law,” it’s likewise a grave error to speak of the New Testament as a “new law.” The New Testament body of literature is not a new law to replace the old Law of Moses. If righteousness could be attained through the keeping of law, it would have come by the Law of Moses and no additional law would be needed (Gal.3:21) .

Yet we commonly hear Moses’ law referred to as the “old law,” while Matthew through Revelation (or in some cases, Acts through Revelation) are referred to as the “new law.” But the contrast between the old and new covenants is not a contrast between an old law and a new law, but between law and grace. Law came through Moses, but grace through Christ (John 1:17). John didn’t say that the old law came through Moses and a new law through Jesus, but that grace came through Jesus. It is not a new law that trumps the old law. It is grace that trumps law. Surprisingly to many, it is grace that goes farther than law in overcoming sin. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

Viewing the Sermon on the Mount, or the entire New Testament, as a “new law” attempts to turn this body of literature into a new legal code, or system of legislation, much like the Law of Moses. Under such restrictions we are no better off than people were under Moses. Yet many have traded the freedom of grace for the prison of law.

In so doing, we’ve been like those of Israel, indicted by Paul for pursuing righteousness as if it could be attained by works (Rom. 9:31-32). Some mistakenly think that people are either saved by the works of either an old law or a new one, depending on which covenant they are under. No one was ever saved, even under Moses, because they measured up to a system of law. Salvation has always been by grace through faith in God.

But what does it matter if we pursue righteousness by faith or by works? Doesn’t faith produce works anyway, so that the two aren’t mutually exclusive? The difference between righteousness by faith or by works comes down to that contrast between a God-centered versus a law-centered approach. The law-centered approach simply emphasizes the letter of the law, while a God-centered approach goes to the heart of the matter. Faith seeks the intent of God’s heart behind the giving of individual rules. In short, faith seeks to know God. Is God happy for us to simply stop short of murder and adultery, or is the intent behind the law that we love and respect others? Then there is no danger of murder or adultery.

While faith indeed leads to works, our faith must be in trusting God to know what is best as opposed to trusting in our own ability to keep a law. We obey because we trust God, not because we’re trying to measure up, persuade God to like us, or fill up a punch card to heaven. 

New Law or New Hearts?

Some people hate the Sermon on the Mount, which surprises me since the sermon was one of the texts that first drew me to Jesus. It made sense to me and I came away thinking that Jesus was the smartest man who ever lived. But not everyone feels that way.

Some complain, upon first reading the sermon, that its directives are impossible to keep. How can we possibly turn the other cheek to those who strike us? How can we possibly love our enemies or pray for those who persecute us? How can we choose heavenly treasure over the stockpiling of earthly goods? The sermon’s critics are right about one thing. It is utterly impossible to live this way—at least by our own strength. But I disagree with those who say the sermon cannot be obeyed. 

I also disagree with those who say the sermon was not meant to be obeyed. They say Jesus intentionally raised the bar so high just to show us how impossible it is to measure up so that we might give up and rely on grace to save us. The problem with such a view is that it turns the Sermon on the Mount into a law, a legal code much like the Law of Moses, with a similar function of exposing our sin, but giving us little or no empowerment for overcoming it.

While Jesus was not giving a new law, his intent is that the sermon be obeyed. This sermon is impossible to obey if you’re relying on your own strength alone. To see the sermon as a “new law” means you’re defeated before you start. The flesh is too weak to measure up to any law that originates from the mind of a perfectly righteous God. So approaching the sermon as law means it’s impossible to keep.  

But with God all things are possible—even obedience to the Sermon on the Mount. This won’t happen by sheer will power. Law alone cannot motivate obedience. Our hearts must be changed. We must allow God to work in us so that our obedience flows from inside out. Only a good tree bears good fruit (Matt. 7:17-18). So Jesus gave the sermon knowing that humanity didn’t need more legislation, but rather transformation. We didn’t need a new law, but new hearts.

The Sermon on the Mount describes the behavior of those whose hearts have been made new. They’ve been changed by a relationship with Jesus. They’ve been cut to their hearts by the hearing of the gospel. Their hearts have been broken by the cross and given renewed hope by the resurrection. A relationship with Jesus transforms and the relationship grows through the two-way communication of prayer and Scripture. We draw nearer to him as we are blessed by the fellowship of his body—the church. In the true believer Christ becomes known and others might come to know him through us.

God-Centered or Law-Centered?

It’s often erroneously assumed that the way to be saved under the Law of Moses was to simply keep the “old law,” whereas salvation under Christ demands that we keep a “new law.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When Paul said that “by works of law no flesh shall be justified,” such holds true for anyone in any age (Rom. 3:20). If we could be saved by works of law (i.e., keeping the rules) then a holy God could accept nothing less than perfection. But that we all fall short proves that works of law cannot save (Rom. 3:23).

When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he wasn’t giving a new law to replace the Law of Moses. His sermon includes a series of contrasts signaled by the phrases, “You have heard…but I tell you.” He was not contrasting an old law with a new one. He was rather contrasting the scribes and Pharisees' misinterpretation of the law with the original intent of God’s law. Jesus states from the outset that his argument was not with the Law of Moses, but with the scribes and Pharisees, whose standard of righteousness we must surpass (Matt. 5:17, 20).

The scribes and Pharisees exemplified that it’s possible to be in technical conformity with the “letter” of the law, while violating the spirit, or intent, of the law. It’s possible, for example, to technically keep the law against murder while harboring hatred in the heart. It’s possible to avoid adultery while harboring lust in the heart (Matt. 5:21-30).

Jesus knew that what humans needed was not a new law, but a new heart (Ezek. 36:26). Outward conformity to a list of dos and don’ts is not enough. Our outward behavior must proceed from the inner person. Only then will our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Only when the heart is changed will we go beyond the law that says “Do not murder” and devote ourselves to loving others from the heart as we serve their best interests. Only when the heart is changed will we go beyond the law that says, “Do not commit adultery” and keep ourselves to one person alone in both thought and deed.

What Jesus contrasted was a law-centered approach to righteousness with a God-centered approach to righteousness. The scribes and Pharisees’ approach to righteousness aimed at mere conformity to the letter of the law. Jesus’ aim was higher. As opposed to merely conforming to the letter of the law, we’re to be transformed into a people who are after God’s own heart. So righteousness is not so much a matter of what you do or don’t do, but it’s a matter of who you are in Christ. We don’t just conform to a law written in stone, but we are transformed by the law written on our hearts (2 Cor. 3:7-8; Heb. 8:10). If you’re truly transformed, then good works will follow, flowing freely from the love you have for God and those created in his image.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to my former Bible College instructor, Stephen Broyles for having first introduced me to the possibility that one can be in technical conformity with the law, while violating the spirit of the law. 

I am further indebted to the work of Dallas Willard, especially in his book Divine Conspiracy.

I am above all indebted to Jesus, Matthew, and Paul. 

Photo courtesy BiblePlaces.com