MESSIAHS REINTERPRET THE LITERAL LAWS OF THE BIBLE AND REPORT THE SPIRITUAL MEANING OF GOD’S SPIRITUAL LAWS
Although Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, and although he was God’s son, and although God was well pleased with him, Jesus was considered by the religious leaders of the day (i.e. Pharisees) to be a law breaker.

Everything Jesus said and everything he did brought him into conflict with the Pharisees because neither his words nor actions agreed with their expectations of a messiah. The Pharisee’s expectations were based on their entrenched theology based on their literal interpretations of the law of Moses. In other words, they had a stronghold of wrong thinking about the Messiah.

STUDY TIP: See Strongholds for an understanding of how strongholds work.

The following scriptures are examples of situations where Jesus offended the Pharisees by breaking their laws:

Matthew 12:1-8: At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath.”

COMMENTARY: Jewish interpretation of the literal law demands that they do no work on the sabbath. Jesus understood that the sabbath is not a literal day of the week. He also understood that God’s command to do no work on the sabbath meant that people should not practice religion. His understanding put him at odds with the Jews who interpreted scripture literally.

STUDY TIPS: See Sabbath, Fasting and Rest and Third Commandment for the spiritual interpretation of the law. Also see this link for understanding of mercy, and this link for understanding of sacrifices and offerings.

Luke 6:6-10: On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. 8 But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 And he looked around on them all, and said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored.

COMMENTARY: Jews considered acting as a doctor to be work that should not be done on the sabbath. Jesus understood sickness and disease spiritually — not literally. Because Jesus’ mission as a messiah was to heal people spiritually, he did not hesitate to heal them. This, of course, put him at odds with the Jews who saw him as a lawbreaker.

Luke 13:10-17: Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years; she was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” 13 And he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight, and she praised God. 14 But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” 17 As he said this, all his adversaries were put to shame; and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

COMMENTARY: See commentaries above.

Luke 14:1-4: One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not?” 4 But they were silent. Then he took him and healed him, and let him go.

COMMENTARY: See commentaries above

John 5:5-18: One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk.'” 12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” 18 This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.

COMMENTARY: See commentaries above.

John 9:1-16: As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, 7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo’am” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” 10 They said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Silo’am and wash’; so I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. 15 The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them.

COMMENTARY: See commentaries above.

It can be correctly said that everything Jesus said and did reinterprets the written law. The above scriptures are examples where he gave the correct, spiritual interpretation of Laws, Commandments, Charges, Statutes, Ordinances and Judgments found in the Old/First Covenant. In doing this, he was automatically in conflict with Jews who interpret scripture literally. The same thing will happen to New Covenant disciples who follow Jesus.

New Covenant disciples (i.e. messiahs) will also reinterpret and apply the spiritual meaning of the written law in their own lives as they follow Jesus by doing the same kinds of ministry. If they do not break religious laws like Jesus did, they are not true followers.

New Covenant disciples do not accept the literal, written law as God’s final word like Old/First Covenant religionists do. For New Covenant disciples, the final word is hearing God’s spoken voice through the law written on their hearts.

When New Covenant disciples reinterpret the written law they, like Jesus, will find themselves in conflict with contemporary religious leaders who resent challenges to their religious beliefs and practices. Conflict will always erupt when anyone challenges established doctrines and practices that are based on the literal words of the Bible. People who were friends while they shared religious beliefs will become soon become enemies because they break accepted religious laws that are based on the literal words of the Bible.

STUDY TIP:  See this link for more about conflict with religious leaders.

Such conflict is not pleasant, but Jesus warned that it would happen when he said he did not come to bring peace but to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a man’s foes will be those of his own household, when he reviewed Israel’s history of killing prophets, and when he warned that his followers would also be persecuted. This kind of conflict is what New Covenant disciples can expect from Old/First Covenant religionists. And it all stems from the issue of interpreting the written law literally or symbolically.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 for more about interpretation of the written law.