THE
EARLY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST AND 1.1 The Word “Christians” Were Unknown To Jesus 1.2 Diversity In the Early Followers of Jesus 1.3 The Nazarenes Versus the Pauline Christianity 1.4 St. James, the Head of the Nazarenes 1.6 The Origin of the Word Nazarene 1.8 The Early Church, The Church of the Circumcision 1.9 Salvation Is Through Faith & By Obeying God’s Law 1.10 Obey the Scribes or Teachers of the Law 1.11 Jesus Instruct His Followers to Offer “the Gift that Moses Commanded” 1.13 Jesus: Those Who Do Not Follow The Law Are Hypocrites 1.14 St. James: Faith Without Good Works Is Useless And Cannot Save Anyone 1.16 Paul, The Real Founder of Christianity 1.18 Paul and His Pauline Churches Changed Jesus Into God 1.19 Paul’s Life: Examining His Contradictory Testimonies
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1.10 Obey the Scribes or Teachers of the Law
At no time did a single Jew point a finger at Jesus to say “why don’t you fast?” or “why do you eat swine?” This is because as a Prophet for the Jews, Jesus honored the Law of Moses. On another occasion, Jesus said to the Disciples concerning the “Teachers of the Law”: “The teachers of the religious Law and Pharisees are the official interpreters of the Scriptures. So practice and obey whatever they say to you, but don't follow their example for they don't practice what they preach.” (Matthew 23:2, NLT) This statement is clear in implying that Jesus did acknowledge the legitimate office held by the Jewish Rabbis as interpreters of Mosaic Law. Thus, what they teach, in so far as it is the teaching of Moses must be obeyed by his followers. There is no doubt that the teachers insisted on the observance of all the practical injunctions of the Torah particularly the injunctions that are of an eternal nature such as worshipping the One true God Allah The Almighty, and avoiding the evil of Polytheism or “Shirk”. True enough! Based on the Bible, Jesus did condemn the elders of his people, the Scribes and the Pharisees. He called them: Snakes! Son of vipers (Matthew 23:33), An Evil, faithless generation (Matthew 12:39) and Blind fools! (Matthew 23:17), not for following the details of “The Law” or for doing “Good works” but for concentrating on only part of it. Jesus stressed the importance of compassion and self-purification as crucial links between learning the Law and possessing the wisdom to carry it out. He makes this clear in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 23 verse 23-24: “How terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites!. For you are careful to tithe[1] even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law – justice, mercy and faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.” (NLT) [1] A tithe is a fixed amount of money or goods that people give regularly in order to support a church, a priest or a charity. (BBC English Dictionary)
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