When Jesus walked the earth in the first century, He lived a sinless life. He was perfect.
Question: what is the measure we use to gauge that perfection? By what standard was He perfect?
Question: what is the measure we use to gauge that perfection? By what standard was He perfect?
The law! God’s law, the Torah. It is God’s law by which we measure His perfection. Jesus was sinless according to God’s law, because it is God’s law that tells us what accounts for sin (Romans 7:7).
When we encounter certain situations, we as Christians ask ourselves, “What Would Jesus Do?” This is tantamount to asking, “What does the Torah say? And what is the spirit of that law?”
Since Jesus always acted in accordance with the law and the spirit of the law, the law is very valuable because it leads us to what Jesus would do in any given situation.
Now the law can speak for itself, but what is the spirit of the law? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law . . . hangs on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)
In other words, if a law is not kept in the spirit of loving God and loving your neighbor, then you’re playing the song out of key. You’re doing it wrong.
