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Mark 1:27
The people were all so amazed that they asked
each other, "What is this? A new teaching—and
with authority! He even gives orders to evil
spirits and they obey him."
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January 16
New Teaching
What Jesus taught was both old a new. He
taught the commands of God and they had not
changed. While His coming would mean the
end to the Old Testament sacrificial system, it
did not mean that God's laws were changing.
What was new was the way that it was taught.
The Pharisees and teachers of the law taught
obedience to the letter of the law. They
were so fanatical about following the law that
they made up new laws as a buffer just in case
they accidentally broke the original law.
What the Pharisees neglected was the spirit of
the law. When Jesus taught what the law
actually meant and how the people should obey
it, it was a new teaching to them. They
were taught to mindlessly conform to the rules
that had been handed down without understanding
the reason for the laws.
When Jesus taught, He spoke with the authority
of God. Other teachers of the day did not
speak of their own authority. They quoted
other well known writers and theologians.
They didn't have to have an understanding of
what they were teaching, they only needed to
know what other people had taught and repeat it.
God wants us to obey the spirit of the law, not
just the letter of it. God's laws are not
meant to be a burden to us but are for our own
protection. When we study and examine the
spirit of the law, we will find that it is meant
to give us a happy and productive life, not a
boring and burdensome one. |
