Quote:
Originally Posted by mfblume
No. It was simply demanding Sinaitic law upon the church. No one could bear that. And we know it is Sinaitic law because Peter indicated "our fathers" were not able to bear it.
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The Pharisees did not 'simply demand Sinaitic law upon the church.' I have already shown how the Pharisees did not view 'the law' as 'simply Sinaitic law' as you and I understand it.
Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
(
John 7:47-49 KJV)
The Pharisees claimed the people who were all amazed about Jesus' ministry did not know the law. There is no question that the Jews and Galileans knew the Sinaitic covenant, and the written commandments. So how is it they did 'not know the law'?
Because according to the Pharisees, 'the law' was more than just that which was written in the Pentateuch. This was the basis of the entire division between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. It is the division that exists today between the Karaites and the Pharisees ('rabbinics', aka Orthodox Judaism). Pharisee Judaism maintains the 'law' is comprised of the written torah, the oral torah, the gemara (commentary), and the halachah and mitzvot imposed by the rabbis.
Jesus made this clear:
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
(
Matthew 15:1-9 KJV)
So when the Pharisees show up and demand someone 'keep the law', they are undeniably demanding that someone keep the Pharisee version. This is indisputable. When a Pharisee says 'the law', they mean the entirety of what is now called 'the talmud'. And this goes back several centuries before Christ. The Pharisees essentially dominated Judea. Even the Sadducees had to acquiesce in certain doctrinal points to the Pharisees (for example, the proper method of keeping Sukkot, the timing of the wave offering of the first of the firstfruits, the payment of tithes, the halachic requirements for the ritual slaughter of offerings and sacrifices, and many other issues). So when the Pharisees in the church demanded that gentiles be circumcised and 'keep the law of Moses' they could not have been thinking of anything BUT the scribal Pharisee version of 'the law'.
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