Ask Your Preacher - Archives

Ask Your Preacher - Archives

“The Jew That Started It All”

Categories: NEW TESTAMENT, OLD TESTAMENT
     We apply the four gospels to our life today, but, of course, Jesus had not died yet during the time of His preaching.  So are the gospels still under the Mosaic Law?

Sincerely,
Timeline Troubles

Dear Timeline Troubles,

Jesus was a Jewish man who lived under the Jewish law, and His life records that fact.  Jesus commanded His fellow countryman to obey the Mosaic laws for cleansing and sacrifices (Lk 17:12-14).  He taught that Moses’ law was right and good, even when the Pharisees and scribes weren’t (Matt 23:1-3), and He answered questions regarding Moses’ laws – like the laws concerning divorce (Matt 19:3-9).  So if Jesus’ entire life was a Jewish one, why are the gospels part of the New Testament?  The answer: Jesus’ preaching.

Jesus lived as a Jew, spoke to Jews, answered Jewish questions, and preached Christianity.  Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom which was to come.  Matt 4:23, Matt 9:35, Matt 11:5, Mk 8:35, Lk 4:18-19, and Lk 7:22 all say that Jesus came preaching the gospel to His kinsmen.  Jesus preached that there was a change coming and that all the world needed to be prepared for it.  Jesus preached the message of a kingdom that was soon to be, the kingdom of Christ that He would buy with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  Another reason that the four gospels are part of the New Testament is that we are commanded to be imitators of Christ (1 Cor 11:1).  The way Jesus lived is the way christians should live.  Jesus preached about a new law, He lived as an example for those under the new law, and He died that we might have a new law.  The four gospels are all accounts of the life of the Man that gave us the New Testament.