Revolutionary Teachings

¹⁶ And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
¹⁷ And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
¹⁸ He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
¹⁹ Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
²⁰ The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
²¹ Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Matthew 19:16-21 (KJV)

The teachings of Yeshua seem so revolutionary, right? This man wants eternal life and goes to the Son of God to find out how this happens. What’s Yeshua’s answer?

1. Keep the commandments (he lists a few out).
2. Give to the poor.
3. Follow him.

The interesting thing here is that none of this is revolutionary. In fact, Yeshua is simply quoting from Micah.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Micah 6:8

Doing justly meant keeping the commandments. Everyone at this time understood this. As Apostle Paul stated, the law is holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12).

Loving mercy meant to be merciful… show compassion to others. Often times this was done by giving to the poor.

And finally, walking humbly with God was achieved by following Yeshua and the example He set for us.

Yeshua isn’t teaching anything new. Everything he taught was from the Tanakh. And contrary to popular beliefs, Yeshua taught that one must keep the commandments for entry into eternal life. That’s amazing! Those are His words. The church actually undermines this when they teach against the law of God and attempt to invalidate it for today’s believers.

It’s important to look at the words of Yeshua. He is the Messiah who came to properly interpret the law – not Paul. As much wisdom that Paul had, his letters were often times confusing, even Peter stated this. So it’s not surprising that most of Christianity today misinterprets Paul’s writings. So because of this, it’s always important to go back to Yeshua’s words. He is the King. It’s His kingdom.

So while Yeshua’s teachings aren’t revolutionary in the first century, they are completely revolutionary today.