Law was an impossible system to keep

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I don't know if this is even relevant to this conversation, but as I was reading posts I remembered a conversation I had with a rabbi (half of my ex-wife's family was Jewish). This rabbi said that he didn't believe that the Law was designed to be kept literally. He said it was a two edged sword. I questioned what he meant by that, and he took the law on adultery as an example. He said how the Law required adulterers to be stoned. He said that the Law condemns the adultery and expresses that the adulterers are worthy of death by demanding death. However, it also judges the heart of the one who would take up stones against them. The heart that could actually stone them, is a murderous heart, even though they are fulfilling the Law to the very letter. However, the heart that looks at the Law's demand, yet finds it impossible to do out of compassion, that person's heart is right before God....even though they refused to follow the Law's demand. It's almost as though the Law is saying, "See them? Their guilty! Worthy of death, kill them! Kill them! Kill them now!" The heart that drops the stone and says, "I can't.", that heart is righteous.

Now, I'm not sure about every nuance of that take on it. But it did remind me of how Jesus dealt with the adulterous woman brought before him who was caught in the act of adultery.

I don't know if this post even fits with this topic. But it was a memory that just came back to me as I was reading.

Could very well explain a lot of things about this issue.