If Jesus came to fulfill the Law then why did Christians continue to observe it?

Question

I mean if it was so clear that Jesus death fufilled the Mosaic law then why did it take Paul who came decades latter to point that out?

no one has yet to answer the question.

why did the early Christians after Jesus death continue to follow Mosaic law?

thank you Father K for a logical answer.

Answer 1

It was actually Jesus himself who said, "I have not come to destroy the law or the prophets, I have not come to destroy them, but to fulfill them."

You may mis-understand the word "fulfill".

What Jesus was saying is, "I am the period at the end of the sentence." "After Me, nothing more will be added." "When My work is finished, you will have all you need."

The law was never given as a way to get to heaven. It was given to show man that there is no way he can ever make it to the end of his life without breaking one of the commandments. Man can never put the period on the end of the sentence himself. The law exists to show man that he is hopelessly lost and needs a Savior.

Before Jesus went to the cross to put the period on the sentence, He didn't relax any of the requirements of the law. In fact, He made them tougher. He said that if someone even looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. He said that if someone calls his brother a fool he is guilty of murder.

No, believers don't live by the law. We too are condemned by it. Instead, we live by the LORD, because he fulfilled it for us.

Have a blessed day!

Answer 2

The only way to explain is disbelief.
When Jesus began His ministry it was first to be preached to the Jews.
Paul was chosen by the Lord to preach the Good News to the Gentiles.
Paul known as Saul in Acts was a Pharisee who followed the law also, until the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
To this day most Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to come. They don't believe Jesus is the Messiah. That's why they had Him crucified. Thats why they still think they are under the law.
If you read the Old Testament you will learn that the Jews are God's chosen people.
We (gentiles) are adopted into the family through Jesus.
It is so amazing how God's perfect plan came together.

Answer 3

He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.

Jesus fulfilled the law. So exactly what did Jesus fulfill. If Jesus kept God's law, what part of the law is deemed absolute?

The weekly Sabbath! And annual Sabbaths! Not the resurrection. First observe the weekly Sabbath and annual Sabbath's, then the rest will be put into it's proper place.

The weekly Sabbath is not Sunday the first day of the week, rather it is the last day of the week and starts at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. Not midnight to midnight under the current theme of thinking of time.

Those who lean unto there own understanding of scripture are leading others astray and blinded by their "pride!" But this has to occur for the Kingdom of God is coming to this earth and establish His way as the only way.

Pride is man's downfall. The End of the circle of man's self rule will be the beginning of Christ's Kingdom but that "pride" must be broken first!

Answer 4

Why did it take Paul to point this out? Because of several factors:

Jesus clearly set up the remaining 11 Apostles as leaders of the Jewish church body. At that time, they were not completely aware that the New Covenant would be opened to Gentiles, since Jesus had only hinted that this would eventually happen. (For example, Jesus said at John 10:16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." Jesus also hinted of this by healing several Gentiles.)

During this early Apostolic period, the new believers of "the Way" (as they first called themselves -- "Christians" came much later) were still concerned with Torah observance, yet trying to mesh New Covenant observance with their old beliefs.

Later, Paul was recruited by Jesus as His "chosen vessel" to bring the Gospel to the Gentile nations. It was made clear to Paul at that time that believing Gentiles were "clean" in God's eyes. Shortly after that, Peter received a vision from God explaining to him that the New Covenant had done away with the Levitical dietary laws and had made believing Gentiles "clean." The Bible shows Peter's reluctance and doubt over this issue. Due to Peter's resistance, Paul was sent by God to Antioch, where the Church leaders gathered, to rebuke them -- but Peter in particular as their earthly leader. Not only did Peter and the others believe Gentiles had to be circumcised to enter into the New Covenant (although Jesus never taught this), but they demanded the Gentiles observe the dietary laws. Paul told them rather pointedly they were wrong, then proved it to them. You can read about this at Galatians 2.

You might say that, since Jesus didn't specifically teach the end of the dietary laws during His lifetime, that He never meant them to be done away with. But this is not how the New Covenant works. Jesus is the messenger of the Covenant and, although He hinted at these changes during His lifetime, He found it best to reveal this provision at a later time.

Answer 5

Everything about the Old Testament pointed to Christ. The sacrificial offering offered up were sybolic of Christ. I said that because now that Christ has died and been resurrected their is no need to offer up the blood of animals for the repentance of sins, because the True Lamb has already done that for us. But you also have to understand that people in the Old Testament could not keep the Law of Moses. The kept breaking the commandments of God until they went into exile to Babylon. So, the only way the people of God could truly keep the commandments of God was to hope in the Messiah who would take away their sins by faith. Now that Christ has came and fulfilled the Law, those who receive Him recieve the inner dwelling of His Holy Spirit. Now we can truly live out the Word of God and the priciples set forth in the Old Testament. The apostle Paul also said, "......the Law is good if it is used properly". Remember, Jesus said, "I did not come to abolish the Law, but fulfill it". So, there is nothing wrong with observing the Law as long as you understand how it is applicable to today and How Jesus Christ fits in. The apostle Paul says in Colossians 2:16, "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ". Here Paul is in the New Testament talking about not to let any one judge you in regard to observing Old Testament practices.

Answer 6

Paul changed nothing Christians were following the law for the same reason we follow the law today as it is now a part of who we are..If you read Romans you can see this is the case and Romans is a book that is inspired by God written by Paul. Christ taught the same as Paul not one jot or tittle shall pass away Christ fufilled the law he did not destroy it.

Answer 7

Christianity was not formed in a vacuum. Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, came at a real time in human history. And there were many schools of thought about Who Jesus was and what He came to do. Alexandria and Antioch being on the extreme opposite ends.

The Church took a lot longer than "decades" to come to a complete Christology. More like "centuries".

And - if we believe that the Church was filled with the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost, then she has that right to work out her own theology.

Christianity is alive. Like any body, it grows, it changes, it matures. It even reforms.

Answer 8

I would suspect that they interpreted the wording exactly as anyone who attends synagogue would interpret it. If you fulfill the command of Torah it means that you followed it correctly. For example, Sabbath begins this evening just before sunset. If you have your house in order it is very possible that you will correctly fulfill the Sabbath. But does the fact that you fulfill the command of Sabbath somehow absolve every other Jew on earth from also fulfilling the command of Sabbath? No, of course not!

Likewise, one who sets out to reject the Torah is one who "destroys" the Torah. The later Gentile split in Christianity redefined the terms "fulfill" and "destroy" in a different way to absolve themselves from bothering with any of Torah.

The idea that Paul was actually teaching violation of Torah to Jews doesn't seem to be the case. Since he was primarily writing to Gentiles who were being strongly influenced to convert to Judaism, much of what he wrote should be taken in the context of what is expected of a righteous Gentile. To try and claim that he was telling Jews that they should reject Torah is to take what he was saying out of its context.

There are some who claim that Paul had gone over to the position of the Karaites. This is also a posibility that should be considered when analyzing his writings. With that interpretation then we have to consider when he speaks of "the law" whether he is speaking of the Written Torah, or whether he is speaking of the rabbinic commands that were being enforced. As we examine Talmud, we find that many of the currently practiced traditions had not yet been fully established at the time of Paul and were just being instituted. In that cultural context, the use of the Greek "hupo nomos" to refer to rabbinic institutions of additional commandments could certainly impact the traditional Christian interpretation of Paul's writings.

All of these are things that modern Christians should be considering when they read their Bible. But most of them stick to their own traditions and don't bother to understand the Jewish culture of the time periods in which it was written.

Answer 9

For example tithing, where in the bible said that christian are under mosaic law, read Ephessian 2:15 and that was given to Moses. in Leviticus.

Answer 10

I'm Atheist and know more about your religion than most Christians do.

Matt 5:18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

This means till heaven and earth are 'passed away' you're suppose to be following the Jewish Laws. The Levitical codes and such. So guess what that means for nearly ALL Christians? YOU'RE SCREWED.

I'm not though since I'm Atheist and couldn't care less what the Bible says for my life. It's no different for me than the Koran is for Christians. Just another book of myths and legends.