Saturday, May 8, 2010

Dikaiosyne(righteousness)

Jesus says: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Mt 6,33). Rather than making faith a purely private issue, Jesus makes it a deeply political one: the Greek word dikaiosyne most Bibles translate with “righteousness” was in the original Greek language of the days of Jesus a political term meaning “state law”; described the constitution, the law that either God gave to later, a country gave itself. Jesus makes it abundantly clear of Moses was not only the bedrock of the Old Testament theocracy, rule of God, but is also foundational and valid in his Kingdom: “I come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them” (Mt 5:17).

Jesus declares that how an individual treats these laws will determine his
very place in the Kingdom: “Anyone who breaks one of the least of these
Commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the
least in the Kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:19).
Only those laws of Moses that pertain to atonement for sin, outward
holiness (like the food and purification laws) or the sacrifice of animals
are no longer needed and therefore valid today, as Jesus has become
the lamb of God, sacrificed once and for all for our sins.

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