Yes and no

“Let what you say be simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ [Let your yes be yes and your no be no]; anything more than this comes from evil [or from the evil one]” (Matthew 5:37)

If we could follow this simple rule from Jesus, we would rapidly develop reputations as honest, reliable, and trustworthy people. If every time we said “yes” it meant yes, and if every time we said “no” it meant no, people would understand us and would rely on our words. If we never said “yes” or “no” unless we knew that was what we meant—if we remained determined to hold to our answer and our promise—then no one would need to place us under oath. They would trust every word we said.

Why are our answers unsteady and unreliable? Sometimes we are afraid to say “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure.” We risk a “yes” or a “no” even though we don’t know the answer or aren’t completely convinced. Sometimes we say things we wish were true, even though they are not true. Sometimes we say things we know other people want to hear, even if they are not true.

Because we live in a sinful world, we can imagine situations in which a lie is more ethical than the truth. In extreme cases, telling a lie might save a life. In more everyday cases, telling a lie might keep another person from feeling sad. The Bible does not say “Do not lie” with the same severity as when it says “Do not murder” and “Do not commit adultery.” Still the witness of Scripture favors honesty over deception.  Scripture favors truth rather than falsehood. Jesus says, “I am the Truth.” He is the pattern we are meant to imitate. The devil, the evil one, Jesus identifies as the father of lies.

So we can be like Jesus, we want our words to be honest and reliable. We want to mean yes whenever we say “yes,” and we want to mean no whenever we say “no.” When the world tries to back us into lying, we prefer to stay silent as Jesus remained silent while he was accused. When we speak the truth, we want that truth to be helpful to others, not hurtful; we want to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) rather than using the truth as a weapon to harm others.

We do not live up to these standards. We often fail to speak “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” When we do not measure up to God’s standards, we still possess his blessings of love, mercy, and forgiveness. His love is true and dependable. When he promises to forgive us our sins, his “yes” always means yes. J.

Swearing oaths

“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black” (Matthew 5:33-36).

An oath is a promise of truthfulness—either to report the past truthfully or to do a future job faithfully. An oath is a promise made under the authority of a greater power, usually God himself. The most famous oath in our culture can be heard in courtrooms regularly: “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” Presidents and members of Congress, judges, juries, new citizens: all are asked to swear oaths that they will be faithful in their duties.

Some Christians take this teaching of Jesus so seriously that they refuse to place themselves under oath under any circumstances. Whether they are witnesses in a trial or are becoming new citizens, they ask only to affirm their truthfulness, not to swear an oath. Other Christians point out that Jesus allowed himself to be placed under oath during his trial for blasphemy—he did not object to the oath. Old Testament prophets in several places describe God placing himself under an oath as he talks to his people. (Hebrews 6:13-20 comments on the oaths God swears.) Clearly, swearing an oath is permissible under certain circumstances. When something important is at stake, swearing an oath is acceptable. When strangers need to be convinced that you are telling the truth, swearing an oath is acceptable. Aside from lying under oath, swearing an oath is sinful only when done carelessly, to no purpose, about things that are not important, or among people who already know you.

Jesus was not thinking of this sort of quibbling as he preached. Swearing oaths may be necessary in this sin-polluted world, just as divorce is necessary under certain circumstances, but neither divorce nor swearing oaths becomes good out of necessity. Living in this world, we must sometimes do things we would not do in a perfect world. Jesus wants our eyes to be in the ideal world and not limited to the rules and regulations of this life.

We respect human life so much that we would not even insult another person. Marriage matters so much that we avoid lust. In the same way, we respect the name of God so much that we use it to talk to God or to tell others about God; we do not misuse it for other purposes. Even things in this world that matter so much that they require us so swear oaths have less importance than the kingdom of God. If we use God’s name to assure someone that we are speaking truthfully about the things of this world, God’s name is not being promoted. God’s name is demoted when it is used for minor matters, purposes for which it is not intended.

Even in the Ten Commandments, God demands that we respect his name instead of misusing it. God does not want us to avoid speaking his name; he wants us to use his name when we speak to him in prayer or when we tell other people about him. People of the world continue to use God’s name for lesser purposes. We hope to keep his name holy. We remind the world who Jesus is and what he has done. We teach the people of the world how Jesus has kept his promises and rescues people from their sins. J.

Divorce

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 5:31-32).

Jesus does not believe in “no-fault divorce.” Every divorce is someone’s fault; every divorce is a result of sin. Jesus speaks of unfaithfulness as a legitimate cause of divorce. If one member of a marriage has been unfaithful to the other, the second member may file for divorce without sinning, because the unfaithful member has already broken the marriage. The Church has recognized, at times, that “unfaithfulness” does not always involve a third person. “Unfaithfulness” may include abandonment of family responsibilities, violence in the home, or addiction to alcohol or other chemicals or to other destructive behavior. When a marriage is irreparably harmed by such unfaithfulness, the victim does not sin when he or she seeks a legal end to the marriage. Measuring the harm done and weighing the chances of repair are judgments that must be made carefully. Otherwise, the spirit of this teaching of Jesus is lost.

Jesus says that a marriage broken for poor reasons, or for no reason at all, is not really broken. Those who leave their marriage for no good reason sin against God. They are guilty of adultery, as are their new partners. Jesus’ words seem almost mild as he describes the man who casually ends his marriage. Jesus does not say, “You have sinned”; he says, “You make her commit adultery.” Likewise, to label as second marriage “adultery” seems unfair if the husband broke the marriage; the woman and her second husband ought to be beyond blame, it seems, if that is the case.

Jesus assumes that we are shocked by sin and do not want to cause another person’s guilt. Jesus is not speaking to unbelievers who have no religious reason to respect marriage. He speaks to the believer who regards every marriage as a picture of Christ and his Bride, the Church. Jesus urges us to remain faithful, to regard divorce as “not an option.” Saint Paul later would explain that if an unbeliever should divorce a Christian, “Let it be so; in such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved” (I Corinthians 7:15). The words of Jesus do not apply to those cases.

In a sinful world, divorce must exist. Divorce comes from sin and carries the burden of sin. Nowhere does Jesus identify divorce as unforgiveable sin. The firm marriage remains a picture of Christ and his love for the Church; the failing marriage is a flawed picture which mocks Christ and his love. God never plans to divorce us and force us into unfaithfulness. If we are unfaithful to him, he still wants to forgive us. If we stubbornly remain unfaithful, though, God might end the relationship and force us to choose our false gods that have taken his place. His strong desire is to keep us faithful to him. He wants to be our first love. He wants to keep us from sinning. Jesus came to forgive sinners, to rescue us from our sins, and to make us his Bride again. J.

Eye, hand, and heart

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body should be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30).

Jesus tells us to get rid of anything that might tempt us into sin. Anything that keeps us from being pure in heart should be removed from our lives. After all, the sacrifice of something valuable—even part of the body, an eye or a hand—is worth the price of heaven. Does your favorite television program tempt you to sin? Do not watch it anymore. Is there a magazine or book that tempts you to sin? Get rid of it. What about a site on the Internet that tempts you to sin? Stop visiting it. Is a friend tempting you to sin? If you cannot persuade your friend to stop tempting you, then end the friendship. It is better to lose the friendship now and still have eternal life than it is to preserve the friendship and risk eternal punishment.

Elsewhere, Jesus challenges his followers to hate their parents, spouses, children, friends, jobs, and even their own selves. We must love Jesus more than any of these. Anything that comes between us and Jesus is a threat to our salvation. Anything that might make us willing to break the commands of Jesus is a danger that should be avoided.

To place ourselves entirely out of danger, we might have to lock ourselves in a church building and never enter the world. But people have tried that in the past, and it didn’t work. Even in the church building we still sin. Moreover, locked in the church building, we neglect many of the commands of God that tell us to love and to serve our neighbors. We will find it better to stay in the world and to learn self-control. Maybe we can teach our eyes and our hands not to sin. If we were to remove both eyes and cut off both hands, though, our hearts and our minds would still be sinful. Jesus recommends radical surgery, but removal of eyes and hands does not go far enough to meet his standards. We need new minds, new hearts, and new spirits.

Jesus promises to bless us by making us new from the inside out. His life and death and resurrection make us brand new. As King David prayed in Psalm 51, and as the prophet Ezekiel promised in Ezekiel 36:26, Jesus gives us new hearts and new spirits. Jesus makes us pure in heart, and being made pure in heart rescues our eyes and our hands as well.

We still live in a sin-polluted world. From time to time, we will be tempted to sin. Our sins are forgiven through Christ and the cross, and Christ is always blessing us with new lives. Every day we are born again by his power. The mistakes of the past are washed away and already forgotten. The future is guaranteed to us by his promises. J.

Adultery and lustful intent

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).

For the second of six times, Jesus quotes from God’s commandments and explains the meaning of that commandment. In this case, the commandment prohibits adultery. Generally, adultery is defined as consenting sexual relations between two adults who are not married to each other. Some people would further add that, if neither of them is married, the sin is called fornication rather than adultery.

Jesus is not interested in quibbling over definitions. He quickly explains that more is involved in adultery than the act. Even the luring look is already a sin. When Jesus speaks of “lustful intent,” he distinguishes the temptation that might occur in one’s mind when one notices an attractive woman and the mind that seeks to be tempted, the mind that decides to look and remember the temptation.

Being tempted is no sin. Even Jesus was tempted. Every time he was tempted, Jesus said, “no.” Saying “yes” to temptation is a sin. Enjoying temptation, searching for temptation, clinging to temptation: these are sins.

To look at a woman—or a man, or a child; or a photograph, a movie, or a web site containing tempting images—for the purpose of lust is sin. Nothing loving exists in lust. Lust is the opposite of love. Love cares about another person and wants what is best for that person. Lust merely wants to be satisfied. Lust changes a person into an object, especially when that person is already captured in a photograph or movie or web site. Sadly, we have become accustomed to viewing people as objects for our entertainment—so much so that people in public places often gaze at strangers as if those strangers were there to provide entertainment.

We should control our minds. When we find ourselves tempted to use the image of a person for our private entertainment, we should say, “no.” Jesus saw every person, even strangers, as people to love, people to serve, people who had needs he was able to meet. When we imitate Jesus, we will also regard people as persons to love, never as objects to use.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we want to succeed, we cannot make ourselves pure. We need Christ’s forgiveness for our inappropriate thoughts and imaginings. We already possess this gift. With forgiveness comes the promise that we will see God. Because we will see God with our own eyes, we want to keep our eyes pure today. Because we will see God, we want to love and serve our neighbors rather than using our neighbors for our own purposes. J.

Come to terms quickly

“Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:25-26).

Clearly these words relate to those that precede them, the teaching about leaving a gift at the altar and going to reconcile with a brother. Jesus seems to be illustrating the dangers of allowing a wrong to fester uncorrected for too long. In this world, punishment—such as the debtor’s prison Jesus describes—follows our sins and mistakes when we fail to get along with one another and when we do not correct the wrongs we have committed.

Punishments in this world remind us of the final Judgment of the Day of the Lord, as well as the punishment of sinners that will result from that Judgment. Perhaps this lesson of Jesus is a parable about Judgment Day. Jesus already explained that the commandment not to murder covers more territory than the simple act of taking a life. With that in mind, Jesus says, we had better consider how the lives we live measure up to the standards that he will use at the final Judgment. We must change our lives today, making sure that we are not found guilty on that Day, because hell is a prison from which there is no escape.

Most religions dedicate themselves to this proposition: we must become better people, causing less harm to one another and to our world, accumulating less guilt for that final Judgment. Goodness, though, is not only motivated by escaping punishment. Goodness is sought for its own sake, to please God, and to be the people he intended when he created us. We want to be better now. We want to turn our lives around so we walk on the paths that God has provided us.

Who will be our adversary on that Day? The people hurt by our sins and wrongdoing might testify against us, but the real Adversary is the one whose rules we have broken. We take sides against God whenever we do what he told us not to do, and we also take sides against God when we fail to do the things he commands. Our Maker, who knows what we are meant to be, has given us clear instructions about how to live. This Maker will also be our Judge. If Jesus is the Adversary and the Judge and the Officer of the prison as well, we have no hope of escaping punishment on that Day.

Therefore, we seek to be right with Jesus today. We try not to be angry at our brother. We try not to insult the people around us. We try to meet the higher standards of Jesus, but we fail. The good deeds we manage to perform cannot balance our shortcomings. Our best intentions, our worship and prayers, and our efforts at holiness all might seem to help us come to terms with Jesus quickly, before that Last Day comes when it is to late to come to terms. Left to ourselves, though, we cannot be right with Jesus. Left to ourselves, we still find ourselves facing an eternal prison sentence.

Is there no answer to this problem? The answer has already been given; the answer was found in the blessings which Jesus spoke at the beginning of the sermon. Jesus has fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. Jesus has given us a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees—Jesus has given us his own perfect righteousness. He gave it as a free gift. Now we are right with him. He is no longer our Adversary, because he has paid our debt in full. Not a penny remains to be paid.

If we are right with Jesus now, we will be right with him on the Last Day. He will not be our Adversary; he will be our Defense Attorney, reminding his Father why have a place in his kingdom, as Jesus also is doing today. On that Day, we will not be thrown into prison. On that Day we will be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven; we will inherit the earth.

If that is the case, why does Jesus spend so much time teaching the commandments of God and explaining what they mean? Jesus explains the Law to show us how badly we need his gift. He explains the commandments to open our eyes, so we will see that our righteousness is not good enough for his kingdom. Jesus does not want us to try our best and fall short. Therefore, he is brutally honest with us today, telling us how far we are from his kingdom when we try to get there on our own. Some people, when they read the teachings of Jesus, try to tone them down, making them practical and achievable. They miss the point. Jesus was not exaggerating; he really wants everyone to be as good as he describes. He also wants us to despair of reaching that goal on our own. Only then will we treasure the gift of forgiveness he gives to us.

Forgiveness is no license to sin. We still try our best to live up to Christ’s high standards. We try to be good, and Jesus tells us what “good” looks like. He even shows us what “good” looks like, because the standards he teaches match the life he lived. Because we are forgiven, because we are on the path to heaven, Jesus helps us become more like him. His love and his forgiveness transform our lives so we can bear his image. We are not doing it for him; Jesus is doing it for us. J.

Be reconciled

“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

These words teach us that Jesus cares deeply about how we get along with one another. Jesus says being reconciled to a brother (a fellow Christian) is a higher priority than giving gifts to God. Jesus does not say that reconciliation can replace our gifts to God; the gifts are still offered, but reconciliation comes first. Jesus hints that our relationship with God can be blocked by problems between us and our fellow believers. Jesus does not say outright that God will reject our gifts if we are at strife with other Christians, but the implication is present, and many Christians assume that is what Jesus means. Jesus clearly insists upon the importance of being reconciled to any brother who has something against us.

Most religions of the world encourage such behavior. Take responsibility for your mistakes. If you have hurt someone, perform restitution. Our goal is to do no harm; but when we have done harm, we want to pay for our mistakes and failures.

Jesus appears to be teaching the same message with these words. After all, he is not talking here about offering forgiveness to those who have sinned against us—that topic arises later in his sermon. Jesus describes instead a situation in which your brother has something against you. If you have done wrong, Jesus says, you have an obligation to go and be reconciled to your brother.

How does this teaching conform to the message Jesus delivers about Christians being blessed, being recipients of gifts? Has Jesus changed his mind already about his gifts? Is he restricting the gift, attaching strings to the gift, setting requirements we must meet before we receive the gift? From the entire message of the Bible, we know that Jesus would not withhold forgiveness from a believer who failed to apologize to a fellow Christian. The gifts of Jesus are not left at the altar during reconciliation; our gift to God sits for a time at the altar. When Jesus says, “go, be reconciled to your brother,” this too is part of the Gospel promise, the blessing, the gifts he provides each of us. Since Jesus has already forgiven us for all our sins, his forgiveness is able to reconcile each of us to whichever brothers we have harmed. Jesus will bless them also with the gift of mercy, the ability to forgive us for our sins.

Every injury done to another person is a sin against God. Every such sin is forgiven at the cross of Jesus Christ. Instead of ignoring our relationships with others as we focus on our relationship with God, Jesus wants us to know that those relationships are fixed through our relationship with God. “Go, be reconciled to your brother,” Jesus says, and the gift of grace smiles at us through these words. When Jesus told a lame man to walk, the power of his word made that man able to stand and walk. When Jesus tells us to be reconciled, the power of his word makes reconciliation happen. J.

Anger and murder

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fires of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22).

All religions regard human life as sacred. All religions regard murder as a sin against the Source of life. Granted: exceptions can be found to this command. Killing in self-defense is not called murder. Soldiers killing enemy soldiers in wartime, and executioners killing convicted criminals who have been sentenced to death, is not murder. (Religious people, including Christians, sometimes debate these examples, and differing opinions are possible.) Some people distinguish between the value of a human life and the value of an animal life; others make no distinction. Some consider it sinful to kill an animal for any reason, while most people accept killing animals for food and for clothing—and many feel that hunting or fishing for sport is not sinful.

Jesus does not address these matters in this sermon. He speaks of the commandment not to murder, and he carries it a different direction. Any harm we cause to another person—even the emotional harm of an insult—is a sin, violating the commandment not to murder, according to Jesus. He even seems to equate anger with murder—but we must be careful to understand Jesus correctly. Jesus himself expressed anger against people who were doing wrong. At times he used the energy of his anger to overturn the wrong. Anger in itself is not sinful. Anger is a temptation to sin. Anger offers opportunities to sin. Anger becomes sinful when it results in other sins. Anger is sinful also when we become angry for selfish reasons—because something has hurt us or has been inconvenient to us. On the other hand, when anger comes from seeing sin, from seeing that God’s will is not being done, from seeing others suffer due to sin, that anger is not necessarily sinful.

Jesus offers two examples of sinful anger. First he uses the general term “insults”; then he quotes a specific insult. Jesus says that people who are angry enough to insult one another deserve punishment; God will regard them as murderers, both at the time of the insult and at the Last Judgment.

This teaching is a frightening teaching. Only a few people of the world are guilty of murder under its narrow definition. All people have been guilty of selfish anger and even guilty of insulting the people who made us angry. We can hardly live a week among sinful people without sinning this way several times. We might even accuse Jesus of going too far. The best of us is not good enough to keep our tempers at all times. The best of us is in danger of the fires of hell.

Jesus wants us to understand that point. He is quite serious about this teaching, about this interpretation of the commandment not to murder. Even the smallest harm we cause to another person is a sin against God. Despite our good intentions and our best efforts, we cannot escape our guilt. For this reason, we need a better righteousness, the perfection of Jesus, credited to our account. Only through his blessing, his gift, can we escape the judgment we deserve. J.

The greater righteousness

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).

The scribes and Pharisees were not wicked men, not even by any worldly standards. Because they opposed Jesus and because he called them hypocrites, we tend to think of scribes and Pharisees as bad people. The truth is that the scribes and Pharisees studied their Bibles, sought the commandments of God, and tried to obey every commandment they found. They were good husbands and fathers, good neighbors, good workers, and good citizens. Everyone in the Jewish world looked up to them and respected them. Some Jews disagreed with the Pharisees about interpreting the Bible, but no one said they were bad people.

No one said scribes and Pharisees were wicked, but Jesus said they were not good enough for God’s kingdom. They knew their Bibles well, and they were trying their best to be good people, but they still did not measure up to God’s standards. Sometimes people say of a virtuous person, “If she doesn’t deserve to go to heaven, nobody does.” This precisely matches what Jesus means; no one deserves to enter the kingdom of heaven. No one is good enough for God. No one meets God’s standards.

If the best is still not good enough for God, how do we become better? Certainly not by trying harder; that route already has failed. We become good enough for God when we acquire a righteousness that did not come from our lives. We measure up to God’s standards when a perfect life is substituted for our flawed lives.

In most cases, such an exchange would be considered cheating. Shouldn’t we get what we deserve? God loves us too much to give us what we deserve. Therefore, God blesses us, giving us what Jesus deserves. Jesus in turn goes willingly to the cross and accepts the punishment we deserve.

For more than thirty years, Jesus lived among us. He was one of us. During those years, he obeyed the rules we should be obeying. In the entire history of the world, his life is the only example of real righteousness. Only Jesus achieved pure moral perfection. His righteousness is credited to our accounts as Jesus takes the blame for our sins and pays our debt in full. We have a better righteousness than that of the scribes and Pharisees: we have the righteousness of Jesus, which is perfect and pure. When God looks at us, he sees the sinless life that Jesus lived. For that reason, God calls us his sons. For that reason, he gives us the rewards Jesus earned. For that reason, he invites us to enter the kingdom of heaven. J.

To fulfill the Law

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).

Jesus shows his respect for the Old Testament. The Law—that is, the Torah, the five books of Moses—and the Prophets are valid for all of history, not merely for the time before Jesus was born. Not the smallest part of the Bible can be omitted. Jesus does not say that religion grows and evolves, changing as the times change, leaving behind what is no longer practical and improving as people improve. Instead, Jesus says, true religion rests on a timeless standard. People cannot drift away from the eternal standard without letting go much that is good, even much that is essential.

Why, then, did Jesus and the early Church abolish so much of the Law? Why don’t Christians maintain the kosher food rules delivered by Moses? Why is the Sabbath day, for most Christians, the first day of the week rather than the seventh? Why do Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter but neglect Passover and Yom Kippur? Why do Christians refuse to sacrifice lambs and bulls and doves to the Lord?

People have not improved; nor have we outgrown the old ways. The answer to all these questions is that Jesus has fulfilled the writings of Moses and the prophets. The holidays and sacrifices and all the teachings of the Law were pictures of Jesus. Jesus fulfilled them in such a way that practicing them is no longer relevant. Christians still study the Old Testament to learn how Jesus is revealed by these pictures. In some cases—the animal sacrifices, for example, and the seventh day Sabbath—Jesus fulfilled the Law by suffering and dying on the cross, resting in the grave on the Sabbath, and rising to life on the first day of the week. We remember these Old Testament commandments, but we do not obey them. Jesus fulfilled them for us; we are no longer bound to them. Other commandments—not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to bear false witness—Jesus also fulfilled for us, but now we are guided by these commandments as we strive to imitate Jesus and as we are transformed by the Holy Spirit into the image of Jesus.

Christians do not agree with one another about certain aspects of God’s Law. Some hold to the seventh day Sabbath; others are willing to jettison even God’s view of marriage. In general, though, the apostles chosen by Jesus have given the Church reliable guidelines about which commandments are no longer binding because Jesus fulfilled them and which commandments he fulfilled so that we can obey them and imitate him.

“Not an iota, not a dot” can pass away from God’s Word. The yodh subscript and the wavy line which distinguishes a Tau from a Heth—they all matter. We ignore no part of the Bible. We treasure it all. We study the Bible, learn its message, and teach that message to others. As we look at God’s Word, though, we find more than rules about how to live. We see the ways Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. We have not truly understood any part of the Bible until we have found Jesus in it. The entire Bible was written to bring us to him. Therefore, Jesus speaks against anyone who would ignore part of God’s Word, and he favors those who cling to the entire Word of God. Because it all is about Jesus, it all matters.  J.