The controversy over Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John turns on the basic argument that Jesus lived His life under the Law of Moses and therefore could not have given any commands that would uniquely go into the New Testament before His death. To do so, it is thought, would create a dilemma for Jews who were told, on one hand, to keep the Law of Moses and, on the other hand, to keep Jesus\u2019 commands (that sometimes seem to contradict the Law of Moses). For example, it is reasoned that Moses\u2019 teaching on divorce and remarriage could not be kept up to the time of the cross, and at the same time follow Jesus\u2019 instructions on divorce and remarriage. To keep Jesus from confusing the Jews before the cross, and to keep Him from putting Jews into a situation of \u201cspiritual adultery,\u201d it is reasoned that Jesus did not teach any new laws for the New Testament (NT) age before the cross. To do so would cause them to attempt to be following Moses and at the same time following Jesus\u2019 counter commands, thus causing them to be torn between two husbands.<\/p>\n
It is reasoned that He could not do so, He did not do so, and instead, He merely explained the law and gave the true meaning and intent of the law. To allow for the other portions of Jesus\u2019 teachings, it is claimed that anything that looks new is merely a \u201cprophecy\u201d with no binding quality unless it is quoted after the event of the cross, and more specifically, after the church\/kingdom began on Pentecost (recorded in Acts 2). Thus, the content of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (MML&J) will fall into just a few categories:<\/p>\n
The basic argument of this position was set forth on a discussion email list in these probing and convincing words:<\/p>\n
To me it doesn’t make any difference about what is in <\/b>the NT or in <\/b>the OT. The thing we need to know is at what point did the law of the Lord go\u00a0forth. At what point did Jesus cease to teach the Law of Moses and begin to\u00a0teach His will? I do not believe that He mingled them together, for that\u00a0would be pouring new wine in old wineskins and making spiritual adulterers\u00a0of those He was expecting to obey His words. I don’t think we ever see a\u00a0time in the Bible when two contradictory laws are being taught at the same\u00a0time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This statement encapsulates most of the major arguments put forth in defense of the position that MML&J are Old Testament books or NT books that contain no <\/b>binding commands for us today. For this reason, we will consider this summary argument first before getting into more detail. In the following sections, we will dissect this statement into its basic propositions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Section\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatthew, Mark, Luke, and John: Old Testament or New Testament?\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Section\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 1 The Basic Argument The controversy over Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John turns on the basic argument that Jesus lived His life under the Law of Moses and therefore could not have given any commands that would uniquely go into the New Testament before His death. To do so, it is thought, would create…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":5797,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5804","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5870,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/jesus-teachings-as-prophecy\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":0},"title":"Jesus\u2019 Teachings as \u201cProphecy\u201d","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Chapter 3 Jesus\u2019 Teachings as \u201cProphecy\u201d Time and time again when we point out that there are obvious teachings of Jesus that were not Old Testament elaboration but were clearly intended for us today, those who want to contend that MML&J are Old Testament books will counter that this was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5851,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/only-one-law-in-force\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":1},"title":"Only One Law in Force","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"2.2 Only One Law in Force Quote: \"The Old Testament Law of Moses was the only covenant law in force during the time of MMLJ -- before the cross. The New Testament of Christ was not revealed or did it come into force before the death of Christ (Heb. 9:16-17).\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5840,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/proposition-3-problem-of-mingling\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":2},"title":"Proposition 3: Problem of Mingling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"1.3 Proposition 3: The Problem of \"Mingling\" Going back to the original quotation: \u201cI do not believe that He mingled them together, for that would be pouring new wine in old wineskins and making spiritual adulterers\u00a0of those He was expecting to obey His words. I don't think we ever see\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5858,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/jesus-was-an-old-testament-israelite\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":3},"title":"Jesus Was an Old Testament Israelite","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"2.4 Jesus Was an Old Testament Israelite Quote: \"Jesus was an Old Testament 'Israelite' -- not a New Testament 'Christian.' Jesus lived the life of a Jew under the Law of Moses; Jesus was not a New Testament 'Christian' and did not live the 'Christian life.'\" Answer: This argument states\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5815,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/proposition-1-the-law-went-forth\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":4},"title":"Proposition 1: The Law Went Forth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"1.1 Proposition 1: The Law Went Forth The statement was made above: \u201cThe thing we need to know is: at what point did the law of the Lord go forth?\u201d The premises of this proposition are as follows: No part of the New Testament could not be delivered before the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5836,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/proposition-2-when-did-jesus-cease-teaching-the-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":5804,"position":5},"title":"Proposition 2: When Did Jesus Cease Teaching the Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"1.2 Proposition 2: When Did Jesus Cease Teaching the Law? The statement was made above as to the importance of:\u00a0\u201cAt what point did Jesus cease to teach the Law of Moses and begin to teach His will?\u201d\u00a0This is based on the following proposition: In order for Jesus to reveal NT\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5804\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}