letters to surfers
By the law of love that Jesus taught some of things God said to Moses
in Exodus 21 were morally wrong. How do you explain this contradiction?
by Robert Brow (www.brow.on.ca)
This chapter begins a series of ordinances that Moses gave for the
conduct of the nation of slaves who had suddenly been freed to move to
the promised land. As he faced difficult decisions he used to go out to
a tent to seek God's guidance (Exodus 33:7). In our day a church
leader will say "as I have prayed about this matter, this is the rule I
have decided to apply in our situation." Moses correctly recorded what
he thought God was saying, but no one is infallible and situations change.
So we need not assume that every rule Moses made at that time would be
appropriate for all people in all situations. Jesus made some "But I say
to you" corrections in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:22, 28, 32,
34, 39, 44), he said the kosher food laws were not needed (Mark
7:18-19, see Acts 10:13-15), animal sacrifice was soon terminated,
and he dismantled the Old Testament patriarchal rules for marriage and
divorce. Paul taught a total mutuality between husbands and wives (1
Corinthians 7:1-16) which would have been unthinkable for Moses. Jesus
confirmed the permanence of moral law of the ten commandments from Exodus
21 and restated them in terms of love for God and others.
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