Which Laws And Commandments Do I Need To Follow?

Which Laws and Commandments do I Need to Follow?

Mark 12:18-27

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Mark 12:18 Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN’S BROTHER DIES and leaves behind a wife AND LEAVES NO CHILD, HIS BROTHER SHOULD MARRY THE WIFE AND RAISE UP CHILDREN TO HIS BROTHER. 20 “There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife, and died leaving no children. 21 “The second one 1married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; 22 and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. 23 “In the resurrection, 1when they rise again, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her.” 24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 “But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? 27 “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.”

Two questions arise: why is this narrative in the Gospel, and did it happen? The questioning from the Sadducees to Jesus about resurrection could have been used to determine if Jesus was a Sadducee in his thinking, or was He a Pharisee?

Jesus was not in line with the Sadducees thinking about resurrection. From Jesus’s answer, it can be derived that He saw the human spirit as internal as the LORD’s Ruach was. Therefore, death was not the end of a person’s spirit but rather the end of the flesh. When the flesh dies, the spirit returns to Heaven. Follow-up questions could have been: when does the spirit return to Heaven, and do all human spirits return? There is no follow-up from the Sadducees after Jesus’s answer, but there are many questions.

The other purpose of this narrative is to ask the question to Jesus if all the commandments of the Torah have to be followed. For a Hebrew community, the answer is clear that the commandments of the Torah must be followed. However, for a Pauline church, which was mainly Gentile churches, following the commandments would be a natural question. Paul could not have left any of his established churches with the answers to all of the regulations of the Torah, nor could he leave a copy of the Torah. Therefore, this encounter is the question from the community about following all the Torah laws. Jesus is saying, “no.” The situation posed by the Sadducees would not have happened.

When Tamar married Judah’s oldest son, he died, leaving no children. The brother married Tamar, and he died, leaving no heirs. Judah decided that his third and last son would not marry Tamar. When Tamar found out, she set a trap for Judah. From that encounter, Tamar became pregnant with Judah’s child. Since the Messiah came from the line of Judah, the LORD was not displeased. Therefore, does the Levirate Marriage law have to be obeyed?

Today Christians and Jews would say that the law is obsolete and must be abandoned. However, if the people are allowed to pick and choose the commandments and laws they are wise to follow, why not abandon them? At that point, Christians could say why the rules and regulations that Paul established in his letter follow? This is the underlying tone of the narrative because Judah did not follow the Levirate law but became the ancestor of Jesus, the Messiah.

Paul’s laws were given to the churches because there were many acts that the Gentiles had done for centuries that directly contrast to the general Hebraic beliefs. Paul did not eliminate all of the Gentile ethics and behaviors. He attempted to eliminate the ones that he felt needed to be eliminated.

So, today, how many Bible laws and commandments do Christians have to follow? That question is one of many that popes and bishops have struggled with for centuries. The more laws the Church imposes on the people, the more control it has. In the latter 20th and now in the 21st century, church rule is being challenged. The Church imposes the biblical rules that it wants to so that it can maintain control over people. The people are revolting, even in Protestant churches, which can be seen in the rise of so many independent churches. These churches establish their rules and regulations and tell prospective members that they must believe in the way established by the independent Church or worship elsewhere.