Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
The speaker says Jesus aligns Himself “on the side of law,” that the kingdom has “no place…for people who play fast and loose with the law,” and that Jesus intensifies commands (anger as murder, lust as adultery); what does this teaching imply about God’s character and holiness, and how do you reconcile it with popular claims that Jesus mainly came to reduce demands and increase personal freedom?
Another way to ask: What does Jesus’ strong teaching about the law (anger, lust, and more) show about God’s holiness? How do you fit that with the idea that Jesus mainly came to lower demands and make life easier?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker’s teaching implies God’s holiness is not casual: His kingdom is ordered, disciplined, and rooted in law “built into creation,” and Jesus raises the standard rather than lowering it. Popular claims that Jesus reduces demands are challenged by Jesus’ own insistence on deeper righteousness and heart-level obedience.
- Jesus addresses the conservative/liberal question: “What’s He going to do with the law?” and answers, “I am on the side of law.”
- He stresses permanence: “One jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law till all be fulfilled.”
- He warns against looseness: “This kingdom will not have anybody in it who plays fast and loose with the law.”
- He frames law as creational: “the laws…built into creation…That law will not pass till the creation passes.”
- Jesus intensifies standards: anger makes you “guilty,” lust makes you “guilty”—“much more demanding than the Old Testament.”
- Jesus models disciplined righteousness: baptism “to fulfill all righteousness…fully committed to a disciplined ordered life.”