Did Jesus Contradict the Torah?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus quotes from the Torah several times with the introductory phrase, “You have heard that it was said…” (Matt 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43). According to English translations, Jesus follows his quotations with another statement: “But I say to you….” Most scholars refer to these juxtapositions as the “Antitheses.” But this scholarly label makes it sound like Jesus’s words are antithetical to the words at Sinai—as though Jesus is contradicting the Ten Commandments and improving upon the lesser law that his Father had given to Moses. However, this understanding of Yeshua’s sermon stands in tension with his introductory declaration that he had “not come to abolish the Law.” (5:17). A closer look at the language of the Gospel suggests that Jesus is not superseding the earlier commandments; instead, after citing the Torah, Jesus appends his own affirmative commentary to the command so that his hearers can observe it even more closely.
In the first of his so-called “antitheses,” Jesus states, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’ [Exodus 20:13], and whoever murders will be liable to judgment” (Matt 5:21). Then, according to English translations, Jesus adds, “But I say to you that anyone who is angry with one’s brother or sister will be liable to judgment” (5:22). The Greek word translated at the start of 5:22 as “but” is δέ (dē). When translators choose the word “but,” they create an antithetical construction for the English reader. The implication is that Jesus acknowledges the command at Sinai, but then offers his own law in contradistinction to the Mosaic statute—and this implied bifurcation leads many interpreters to assume that the “old law” has been superseded by Jesus’s teachings.
However, while the Greek δέ can mean “but,” it can also mean “and” (along with several other English terms). In fact, the appearance of δέ immediately before Jesus’s first “but I say to you” clearly means “and.” Yeshua states, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,” and (δέ, dē) whoever murders will be liable to judgment” (Matt 5:21). Then, in the very verse, Matthew uses δέ again: “δέ I say to you…” (5:22). Since the immediately prior usage of δέ means “and,” translators have good reason to render the ensuing statement not as “but I say to you,” but rather “and (δέ) I say to you.” This alternative translation eliminates the apparent antithesis; instead of Jesus contradicting the Torah with “but I say to you,” he affirms the Law of Moses and includes another statement to back it up: “And I say to you, whoever is angry with one’s brother or sister will be liable to judgment” (5:22). The rationale, then, is that Moses’s prohibition against murder continues to be valid, and Yeshua includes his prohibition against anger to ensure that the Mosaic command is never broken: if you never get angry with your neighbors, you’ll never go so far as to murder them! In this way, Jesus is protecting his listeners from breaking the original Law given to Moses. The Sermon on the Mount does not offer “antitheses,” but rather “protections.”
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