Jim Congdon is concerned about recent messianic Jewish leaders who have been imposing Torah-centered living as normative on their congregations. He argues that Christ is the culmination of the Law of Moses based on Matthew 5:17-48 and Romans 10:4.

Whether from the Reformed or from the Jewish Torah-observer, attempting to use Matthew 5:17-20 to argue for obligation to the law proves too much. Jesus declares that the entire law remains in force. The Reformed distinctions between moral, civil and ceremonial laws cannot be sustained against the weight of Jesus’ words. For the Jewish insistence on applying all the laws requiring the Temple, priesthood and presence in the land of Israel, this also proves too much, since a number of these commands are explicitly disregarded in the New Testament.

Jesus must be saying that the Mosaic Law remains completely in force in an eschatological sense. “Jesus is claiming that he is the climactic figure of history, and that the Law and Prophets remain in force in Himself.” Just as a student graduates from one grade to another and his past grades are not abolished, so is the Law not abolished, but fulfilled in Christ as he ushered in a new age of salvation history.

In the six commands that follow, Jesus set himself up as the new Torah-giver. He alone is the one who has authority to say of the Mosaic Law, “You have heard it said… but I say unto you.” Jim Congdon points to the Transfiguration as an illustration of this: Jesus met with the only other two men to receive God’s revelation on the mountain, Moses and Elijah. “At Sinai God revealed himself with ‘I am Yahweh,’ and then gave the Ten Words to Moses; but here and now, God introduces his son, ‘This is my beloved Son,’ and then says, ‘Listen to him.’”

In Romans 10:4, Paul declares that “Christ is the end of the Law.” Some argue that end refers to the goal, and so the Mosaic Law points to Christ and is still in force on Christians today. However, Paul seems to be saying that Christ is both the “goal” and “end” of the Law. Paul is saying the same thing that Christ said- Christ is the culmination of the Law.

Paul repeatedly declares that Christians are no longer under the Law (Rom 6:14-15, 7:6, Gal 2:19, 4:5). The new age that Christ brought to bear replaced the age of the Law (Gal. 3:19-4:5). There are examples of believers who follow the Law in Acts, but they do so out of liberty, not of obligation (1 Cor 9:20). Yet, believers are still expected to comply with the Law’s moral demands (Rom 8:4, 13:8-10, Gal 5:14). Specifically, we are called to “fulfill” the Law, but not actually to “do” the Law. We fulfill the Law by walking with the Spirit in love, and it is credited to us as though we had done all the requirements of the Law. “Believers have been set free from the Law (the ‘moral’ law is included, v.7), so that they now serve God in the new way of the Spirit rather than in the old way of the written code.”

Newsweek's cover story last week read "The Religious Case For Gay Marriage."  Inside, Lisa Miller's article "Our Mutual Joy" attempted to argue that the Bible actually supports gay marriage. 

Read her article here.

Two very insightful responses have already gone up from Al Mohler and John Mark Reynolds.  Rather than responding myself, I will simply point you to them. 

Al Mohler:  Turning the Bible on its Head -- Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage

John Mark Reynolds:  An Obvious Truth: The Bible Supports Traditional Marrriage

I was going to write a summary of G.K. Beale's excellent lecture that argued for inerrancy based on the book of Revelation, but Jim Hamilton beat me to it.

Here's a teaser:

This year’s Crossway Lecture at ETS was presented by G. K. Beale. Beale argued that Inerrancy is not a scholastic theological deduction made by interpreters of the Bible, but rather that it is an exegetical observation of a theological deduction that at least one biblical author has already made within the text of the Bible itself. Citing the logic of innerancy: 

• God is true and trustworthy, and he never lies, deceives, or makes mistakes. 
• The Bible is God’s revelation of himself. 
• Therefore the Bible never lies, deceives, or makes mistakes. 

Beale argued that John has already made this argument and drawn this conclusion for us in the book of Revelation. The gist of Beale’s argument went like this:

Revelation 3:14 presents Jesus identifying himself as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness.”

Read the whole post. (HT: JT)