14 Feb Friday

The Torah and the Gospel are not in any opposition to one another, but rather complementary and in the sense of completing or fulfilling. The Total and the Gospel are both given as instructions for the covenanted life with God. They show forth God’s love, not the legalisms of some kind of angry divinity. They are meant to show us the way to a harmonious society in concord. They re intended to form our will so that it is directed towards God’s will and therefor to love.

The six counter statements deal with anger, lust, divorce, oaths, revenge, and love, These six are not only legalisms, but social. They remain major ethical concerns to this day.

The invitation here is for us to go many steps beyond the mere requirements of the law. This a complete re-orientation of the will towards God. It is one of the great challenges of life.