NEVER AGAIN EYE FOR AN EYE

The teachings of Jesus are the most exciting ever and therefore the most read. Yet without revelation, you may simply read but will lack understanding the mystery therein. This makes the Bible the most exciting book ever.
 

Jesus taught that; "You have heard that it was said; an eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth (Exodus 21:24), (Deuteronomy 19:21) . But I tell you not to resist an evil person" (Matthew 5:38).

NB An eye for an eye would pretty much make the whole world blind.

The mentality of vengeance

Despite that the practice of the law is but to execute justice, it is also a proven fact that it is a way to revenge, retaliate, payback. It is rather a way for retribution or reprisal. Everybody relishes the moment when the offender is reprised.

For justice in the human setting is aimed at  pleasing the victim rather than to bring about rapprochement between the victim and the offender. Human justice is aimed to ensure that the offender has been dealt with in equal measures. That the offender feels the the pain like he has inflicted on the victim.

So, the practice of the law (in its strict format) is consequential. But for God, the law wasn't meant to inflict pain on the offender, but rather to help man avoid falling into sin. Yet despite that it was meant for this role, it could have never dealt with the sinful nature. Rather the law has never helped man overcome his terrible mortality.

If the law can be used to order man not to, but can't be used to help overcome the cause of it (the sinful nature), what is it then? For if the law is practiced in its original Biblical format to date, there would be no living soul.

If the law was ever effective in practice, the prisons would be emptying by now. For breaking the law carries with it dire consequences. But what is it that pushes people to carry on breaking the law despite carrying very dire consequences if broken? People are spiritually captive, albeit may appear literally free.


Overview of the law.

Can we do without the law?

No not. We can't do without the law. The law is God's basic standard. If we break it, then we have subjected ourselves to it. But if we are healed from what necessitates it, then that law does not apply. So, our obligation is not to the law but to God.

Equally so, the obligations of the citizens of a nation is not to the nation's laws, but to the nation. Upon this fact, Jesus came not to remind us about keeping the law, but to help us how to live positively. In this, the offender must not be encouraged in their grievous activities.

How Jesus touches our hearts.

It is pretty much a proven fact how Jesus touches our hearts. Jesus understands us. He gives us much space in terms of time and space for positive change. He loves it that after we have been positively changed, then we can be instruments to change others.

Jesus is sending us to speak to the masses. He loves it that how we have been helped to change positively, so we do the same to others (Luke 22:32).

But how does Jesus do this?

Jesus speaks to us from the command of righteousness and not of the law. And this is how He (Jesus) wants us to speak to the masses, showing them the way of righteousness and not the law. Scripture says it is rather in righteousness that we are established, and not in the law (Isaiah 54:14).

Command of the law against the command of the Spirit

The command of the law is that though shall not commit adultery but it doesn't explain the "why" except that that is what the law says. On the other hand, though, the command of the Spirit is that thou shall not commit adultery because it is sin. So, upon this, what nourishes my spirit?

Thus then, we are not to refer to what the law says, but rather that it is sin or wrong to do it. For not everything wrong or not can be explained in the law. Upon this, scripture stresses that those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God (Romans 8:14). For our God is Spirit.

What is the command of the law?

The command of the law is what we ought to or not to do according to the law. But the command of the Spirit is God Himself speaking to us. The law came by Moses, but if we are led by the Spirit, it is God Himself directing us in His way. Thus to say, those who are led by the Spirit are not under the command of the law (Galatians 5:16-18).

Why is it so?

It is so because they are led by God Himself. In this, they no longer need the law but the Spirit of God.For the law cannot produce the righteousness of God in me.

NB The law is consequential, but righteousness brings fellowship between man and God.

 

The old wine skins and the new wine

Jesus taught that; "..no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins." (Mark 2:22). In this, what is the message in the new and what is the message in the old?

The old wine skins

The old wine skins represent the order of the law. An eye for an eye is pretty much a practice of the law. Well, some people argue that we should practice the law in bits. They go on to categorize it as the law of purity, circumcision, etc. But there is no supporting scripture that we should categorize the law so as to give us space to practice it in bits. That is; if one has decided to search for God's way in the practice of the law, then let them practice it in its entirety.

The new wine

This is a representation of the Jesus era and the ensuing grace. The law can't be compatible with grace. For the law came with Moses, but the truth and grace came with Jesus Christ (John 1:17). So, there was no truth in the law. The truth is in Jesus Christ. How grace applies in our lives is another topic all together.

The position of the law

We are not seeking to disregard and thereby abolish the law. But the law was purposely to keep us in relationship with God. Yet God loves us to be in fellowship with Him. All this only comes by the grace of God.  So, the law is fulfilled in the grace of God.

For we are empowered to meet God's standard not by keeping the law (because we can't), but by submitting to Christ who fulfills the law in us (Romans 8:4).

For it is because of sin that the law was given (1Timothy 1:9-10). But we overcome sin not by keeping the law but by surrendering to Jesus Christ. And when we surrender to Jesus Christ, He then dresses us with His own righteousness and we are then justified by Him. We therefore receive the righteousness of Jesus not by keeping the law but by submission to Him in faith through grace.

By this teaching, the old wine skins (the law) can't be compatible with the new wine skins (grace). In what sense is this? This is in the sense that; the old order was as good as leading us to the new order. Thus implying that if you have made new wine, then you must make new wine skins for it.

Was the old order a mistake in a way? No it wasn't, but it was simply a way to the new order. If scripture does indeed describe the law as a tutor (Galatians 3:24), how long are we to be tutored? Till when are we to be tutored? Is it forever?

Why do I sin?

Do I sin because I lack knowledge of sin (falling in sin)? Or do I sin because I am helpless to resist sin (committing sin)?

The law came so that we can identify what sin is (Romans 7:7). But Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and the perfection of the law (John 5:39), (Luke 24:44). We are therefore perfected by submission to Christ and not by keeping the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified (Romans 3:20).

NB: BY GRACE WE ARE BORNE, BY THE LAW WE ARE JUDGED AND CONDEMNED.

Sin and the law

Well, sin is breaking the law (1John 3:4), thus scripture says. But is it only when you have broken the law that you have sinned? Sin is also disobedience, yet disobedience is not necessarily only having to break the law. So, whether having broken the law or not, sin is to be judged. Upon this, sin may not necessarily be what the law says it is, but rather what the Spirit of God convicts us of. For the law can't explain every bit of sin, but the Spirit of God does. The Spirit of God searches our innermost parts.

Say for example, the law says thou shall not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). But Jesus admonishes us that if you look at a woman and you lust after her, you have committed adultery in your heart (Matthew 5:27-28). 

Now, that it is a matter in my heart, is it the law telling my heart that I have lusted after her or rather the Spirit of God? So, that it is the Spirit of God convicting me of lust, it is then a matter between me and God and not a matter between me and the law. For my spirit is answerable to none else but God. And upon this, I need the Spirit of God and not having to keep the law. Rather I need spiritual healing and not having to keep the law.

Additionally, if in my heart I have not lusted after her, it pretty much implies that I can't commit adultery with her. And if I have not lusted after her, does the law stopping me from committing adultery with her still apply to me? For the law is just God's basic standard, but God wants us to reach spiritual excellence.

Man's problem

What is man's issue, is it keeping the law or getting rid of the sin which necessitates having to keep the law? For it is pretty much true that man is undeniably a sinner. Sin is consequential. For because of sin, man is faced with death. Sin breeds evil of which God is judgmental. But if the law can't heal me of my sin, then glory be to Jesus for every blessing that nourishes the spirit.

So, if I have been healed of the sin which necessitates the need for the law, then the law does not apply to me. But if I have been found practicing sin, then the law should come into play. Yet even then, if at all it were so, everyone faces condemnation before God because everybody has broken the law. But we thank God for Christ because in Christ Jesus, we have been pardoned rather than condemned.

How to heal of sin

God's project is not simply to stop us from sinning, but rather to heal us of the consequential sin. The law can not heal us of sin. We are healed of sin only by submission to Jesus Christ. In this, we seek for harmony and fellowship with God. The only hindrance to this fellowship is the deadly sin man is faced with. Sin is the dangerous veil between man and God and which threatens him with eternal condemnation. For man's grave enemy is not fellow man, but the nature of sin.

  

The case of transformation

That we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), there is the indisputable need that we undergo a process of transformation. This can only be engineered by the divine power of a Deity. Thus so it is that the source of the problem is not the physical man. The physical man is simply the implementing tool. 

Upon this fact, if there is to be any kind of transformation, it can't be outside inside. A person can't change by simply taming his actions. Yet the law is intended but to tame the physical man. It is aimed at keeping the potential sinner under check. 

What then we need is the Spirit of God and not simply having to keep the law. For the Spirit is life. When we are led by the Spirit, then we are children of God, and not when we keep the law. And if we are led by the Spirit, what then is the use of the law? (Romans 8:14), (Galatians 5:16-18).

We ought to undergo a process of transformation from within out. Jesus taught that what defiles man is not what enters him, it is rather what comes out of him which defiles man (Mark 7:14-23). A good tree bears good fruit (Matthew 7:17-20), (Luke 6:43). So, the problem is not what we do but what we are.

For to attempt to be transformed from outside inside is only a matter of pretense. In all this, it can reliably be concluded that the law is for the physical man. It can't touch the inner man. Jesus alone can touch and transform the inner man. Now it is no longer of us to fulfill the law, the law is rather fulfilled in us by way of our submission to Jesus Christ in faith.  

What then should it be if one takes my eye?

It is rather very understandable that if I have been offended, that I should look for a way how I can pay back or defend myself in the same measure. Why should I literally be idle when I can do something? Yet the opposite question is also true; what will it be if you can't literally do something? Say if you are weaker?

In all this, God is simply telling us that we can leave all vengeance to Him. He (God) alone can execute true justice with utmost efficiency and at the very right time. So, this is so true that the offender will not go scot-free. 

For God will judge every bit of sin and offense. He (God) has taken matters away from us to Himself because He is God and we are vulnerable and terribly limited humans. In God's eyes, we are all culpable. But for all those who look to heaven for home will always look to God for every bit of an answer (Philippians 3:20). 

Scripture says; "...vengeance is mine" (Leviticus 19:18), (Deuteronomy 32:35), (Proverbs 20:22, 24:29, 25:21-22), (Luke 23:34), ((Romans 12:18-19), (1Thessalonians 5:15), (1Peter 3:9).

So, to discourage eye for an eye is not to declare freedom for those who willfully and wishfully "gouge" other people's eyes, but that we leave it to God who is the ultimate judge.

And leaving it to God, it is not to imply exposing oneself. In this way you have rather protected yourself from damage and shame. Rather, in this, we are passing on the message of God, the message of salvation. Then the rest is to God alone.

Just give everything a bit of time.

What was in the old that is not in the new?

For the old order was only a figuration of the new order. It (the old order) was only designed and given to shape the physical man into the God way.

For when man fell, he subjugated himself to the ways and patterns of the devil. He (man) had lost identity. There was therefore need to help man find his identity yet again. The evil ways and patterns as; murder, roughness, envy, hate, covetousness, etc had found their trajectory into man's life.

Thus, there was need to deal with this situation. Mark you, the first thing Cain learnt was the knowledge of murder, and when he did, he did it effectively (Genesis 4:8).

Who had taught him such?

There was no need to teach Cain the art of killing. For it was the type of the nature of evil that he (Cain) had inherited from his father Adam.

 

For well as God was perfecting things, the devil was on the other hand doing all to fail everything God did.

How this scenario was to be stopped

There was need for the law. But there was also the promise of the coming of Christ (Genesis 3:15, 21). Despite that God is so merciful, gracious, caring and loving, He was not to abate sin. Sin would have never been left just to perpetuate. For God wouldn't have done nothing.

The law was also given to us that we learn that sin is consequential (Romans 6:23). Yet it (the law) is pretty much weakened by the sinful nature of the flesh (Romans 8:3). For the law can't help man into fellowship with God.

Yet when Christ came, the requirement of the law is not nullified, it is rather fulfilled in Him (Christ) (Luke 16:16), (Galatians 3:19). So, the law is fulfilled in us by faith in Christ.

Adam was in fellowship with God. And upon this, there was no requirement of the law. That the sin he committed was to have eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree can't be proven if it particularly so was a fruit of a tree.

What exactly could it have been?

Could it have been disobedience? Disobedience upon what, a law or a fellowship? Thus then, this could have been simply figurative, but there could be many other ways to understand it.

Say for example, if a wife denies the husband sex, has she broken a law or rather that she has not honored the fellowship thereof? Is there any Biblical law that reprimands a wife for denying the husband conjugal rights? Or it is automatic that husband and wife will find themselves doing it since they are in fellowship?

So, upon all this, disobedience may not necessarily mean having to break the law. Disobedience can be covert. Yet the law is not covert. The law of the flesh can't apply in the Spirit. But the law of the Spirit is Jesus in Christ. So, covert or not, it will still be disobedience. And whether having had to break the law or not, it is sin to disobey.

The law is pretty much about commands. For it is an order that you must find way how to live to it. Yet no healthy fellowship is about one having to incline to this or that command.

In a fellowship, two become one. Rather God wants us to be one with Him in fellowship. Thus in Jesus, He (God) comes seeking for us, so that through Jesus, we become one with God in fellowship. We must respond by submission to God in Christ. 

It is also imperative to note that the law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator (Moses). A mediator however implies more than one party but God is one (Galatians 3:19b-20). So, there should have never been a mediator between man and God except that it so is because man did not honor the fellowship there was with God.

There was no mediator between Adam and God. But now we need one who can restore that fellowship. That is not by the practice of the law but by faith in Christ in whom alone the law is fulfilled.  Yet that mediator is none else but God. God was in Jesus reconciling man to Himself.

Jesus is God

The indisputable proof is that Jesus is God. He (Jesus) only dressed in human flesh for the sole purpose to seek and save man who is in flesh. Rather Jesus dressed in flesh not that that is what He is, but that He wanted to accomplish a task.  
For to reside in a tent does not make one a tent.
A person is not a mechanic or whatever until when he becomes one.

That Jesus who is God came to reconcile man with God, it so reliably is that God was in Jesus reconciling Himself with man. Thus then, we are right if we affirm that Jesus is the mediator between man and God (1Timothy 2:5), but we are also right if we choose to see it in a way that it was God (in Jesus) reconciling Himself with man (2Corinthians 5:8-9). For the law could have never reconciled man with God, it had terribly failed!!!???

So, in Jesus, God is reconciling us with Himself. The law came by Moses, but in Jesus, God was presenting to us in person. Thus Jesus taught not as one telling us to keep the law, but as the authority whose word whoever hears it, should take it as absolute truth. Jesus spoke with authority. His word should never be contended with by anyone.

And that we indisputably agree that Jesus is God, ideally speaking, God loves it that He fellowships with you and I with no mediator in between. He (God) wants to be Father and you and I to be children.

God's love for man versus man's love for God

It is pretty indisputable that God loves us. And that we are His children. He (God) loves us because He is Father and we are children. Yet does man love God in measure?

If you realize, man loves God out of command. Is it in order for the son to love the Father out of command? (Exodus 20:1-7). Is it in order that considering how God has loved us we are to be reminded to love Him? For man only gives the appearance that we love God, yet our actions are way different (Isaiah 29:13), (Matthew 15:8).

So, we love God because it is a command to do so. Meaning if it were not for a command, we would have never loved God. Not so? For that God loves man, is He doing so by keeping a command or He loves us because He is Father? And if He loves us by keeping a command, what command is it? 

In this, it so is true that God loves us because He is Father. God loves us so much that He gives His all for us (John 3:16). How much do you give to demonstrate your love for God?

God always bears with us in all circumstances (Romans 5:8), (1John 3:1). How much do you bear with others? Did you know that loving God means loving people? He (God) has always proven His love for and to us unconditionally (John 15:13). How unconditionally have you proven your love for God?

In this, like the fellowship there is between the Father (God) and the Son (Jesus), so should we follow in the same path (John 15:9). There must be fellowship between man and God. And fellowship comes out of love but not out of having to keep this or that command. There should be no having to keep commands in a fellowship of love except that something has terribly gone wrong.

So, that God loves us because He is Father, so should we love Him back as a child would love the father without having to keep this or that law. When He (God) loves us, He is not doing so by having to keep a command, upon this, neither should we have to keep one so to love Him.

For love comes from the heart. You can't command someone's heart so he can love you. But if you love that person, you expect him to do the same to you. Not so? For God has sowed His love in us, He expects us to do the same to Him (Galatians 5:7).

The fellowship of the Father (God) and the Son (Jesus)

Jesus taught that He is in fellowship with the Father (John 10:30). He taught that He does nothing of His own. The Son does what He is learnt from the Father (John 5:19). So, the Father and the Son are matching at par (John 4:34, 6:38, 10:15). That is the Father and the Son are one. Why can't you be one with God? The only problem is sin.

Jesus goes on to teach that the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves us (John 15:9). So, the Father's love extends to us through the Son. And upon this, we should be in love with the Father as we are in with the Son. For the love is the same.

So, true it is that the Father loves the Son because the Son does the will of the Father. The Father and the Son are in fellowship. But true also is the fact that there is no scripture when the Father ever commanded the Son to do His (the Father's) will. The Son always does the will of the Father because of the fellowship there is. For where there is fellowship, there is no need for commands but there is agreement and cohesion.

The law or the commands for that matter are because the fellowship between man and God was lost. Jesus came to replenish that fellowship between man and God. That just as the Son is in fellowship with the Father, so should we be in fellowship with the Father and the Son.

There is no any strain between Jesus and God the Father. All there is between the Father and the Son is agreement and cohesion. So should be between God and man.

What the law does

The law is consequential, and it can never shape a heart like the heart of God. Despite the toughness of the consequences of breaking the law, say, "..an eye for an eye...", people carry on carelessly doing just the same.

The law is simply vengeful with no end in sight. Thus by the law, we seek to solve issues literally, yet it is very limited because it doesn't reveal the heart. 

For in the heart lies the truth of who a person is. Many people are in cells not because they have a case to answer, but because in our limited options, the leads and traces could falsely lead us to an innocent person. So, that this is much so, Jesus came to help us to be led by the Spirit (Romans 7:6). 

The Spirit searches all things, even those that can't be seen literally (1Corinthians 2:10-11). For the spirit man judges all things, yet he can't be judged literally (1Corinthians 2:15). And we receive the Spirit of God by submission to Jesus Christ, not by keeping the law.

By this teaching of Jesus therefore, man is vastly limited, and he therefore can't overcome his (man) own dilemmas literally. For God knows the heart and He alone can shape it the way He loves it to be (Luke 16:15).

So we should not resist an evil person because this is how we are sure we can touch the heart. And when we touch the heart, then we have touched the person. Love brings change in an evil person.

The law doesn't perfect a person, but obedience to God does. The law emerged because of disobedience (1Timothy 1:8-11).  Obedience is by submission to Jesus Christ but not by keeping the law. By the law we simply relate with God, but in Christ we are in fellowship with God.

What law are you keeping to love your children, wife or husband etc? If it is not by law that we should love our dear ones, why should we need a law to keep loving and obeying God and our neighbors?

And if there is any such a law as to command us to love our dear ones, then this pretty much is evidence that something is terribly wrong! Upon this, the law came into picture because something had terribly gone wrong. Otherwise, God created man so that He (God) can fellowship with him (man), and not simply to have a relationship with him. 

Jesus came from heaven, and upon this, He knows whatever there is in heaven (John 8:23). So, when Jesus taught that "You have heard that it was said..." "But I tell you...." He was teaching us about the order of heaven. And He was not simply teaching that it is so, but He was doing so with authority. What He was therefore teaching is not to be contended with by any other teachings by anybody else. It would only be heresy (Revelation 22:18-21).