2.5 The Bible Says It

Quote:

"More than 100 times in MMLJ -- before the cross, Jesus declared that he was teaching the Law of Moses. Not once did he ever state that he was teaching New Testament doctrine."

Answer:

1. Jesus taught much more, comparatively speaking, about the new coming kingdom, than He did about the Law of Moses. The above implies that Jesus spent most of His time teaching the precepts they already had from Moses. The “more than 100 times” is very misleading. There are four gospels which refer to the same occasions. Thus, the four writers may talk about the same occasions which, instead of four times Jesus said such and such, it was one occasion. Taking into consideration the overlapping of the four reporters’ documentation, it would probably be safe to say that Jesus made reference to the Law of Moses less than forty times. In contrast, His references to the coming kingdom took up the majority of His teaching time. Just read through the gospels, and with a notepad in hand, jot down in one column each time He talks about the law, and in another column each time He speaks about something related to the New Kingdom. We have tried this exercise, and it is overwhelmingly evident that Jesus focussed His teaching mainly on the coming kingdom. Kingdom teaching far outweighs the time spent explaining the Law of Moses.
2. Not once in all the times that He does refer to the Law of Moses does He say, “I am teaching the Law of Moses,” or “I am teaching Old Testament doctrine.” Pardon the pickiness of not finding those exact quotes, but regrettably, some have been just that unreasonable about there not being a statement from Jesus that says “I am teaching NT doctrine.” It seems to us to be a very shallow argument, one that does not really deserve much attention, yet we are continually surprised to hear of people who have been influenced heavily by just such arguments as this.
3. It seems more than reasonable, that if the “kingdom” was going to be a NT domain, then the descriptions and precepts describing a NT domain, would be the teaching that would be NT kingdom teaching. If Jesus never said “The New Testament Kingdom” (and He never used those words), does that mean the kingdom Jesus taught about was not the NT kingdom? If Jesus did talk about the NT kingdom, without saying “New Testament” kingdom, could He likewise talk about the doctrines and precepts of that kingdom without actually saying “NT doctrine?” Of course, He could, and he did in both instances. He taught about the NT kingdom and He gave some of the precepts of the NT kingdom. When He did so, He was teaching the things pertaining to the NT.