- [Jon] You're most likely familiar
with the 10 commandments in the Bible;
stuff we generally take as good advice.
Don't murder, don't steal,
honor your parents, the list goes on.
- [Tim] And those are just the first 10.
There are actually a total of 613 commands,
all given to ancient Israel,
found in the first five books of the Bible,
which in Hebrew are called the Torah.
- [Jon] Now the word "Torah" is usually translated
in English as "the law"
because it has all of these laws in it.
As you read through them, you wonder
am I supposed to obey some of these, all of these?
I mean, what's the purpose of the law?
- [Tim] Well, that translation is kind of confusing
because while the Torah has laws in it,
the book itself is fundamentally a story
about how God is creating new kinds of people
who are fully able to love God and love others.
And when Jesus taught about the Torah,
he said that he was bringing that story to its fulfillment.
- [Jon] So walk me through the story
and how it's fulfilled.
- [Tim] So the story begins
with God creating humanity who rebels,
and God chooses Abraham
to bless all of the nations through his family
who end up in slavery down in Egypt, and so God rescues them.
Then at Mount Sinai God makes a covenant with Israel,
like an agreement, and all of the laws that Moses gives
to Israel are the terms of that agreement.
They're like a constitution.
And so some of the laws they're about rituals and customs
that set Israel apart from the nations.
Other laws are about social justice or morality,
and by following these Israel would show
the other nations what God is like.
- [Jon] Okay, so the rest of the Torah
is just the complete list of laws that Moses gives Israel?
- [Tim] No, the rest of the Torah
just continues the story,
and the 613 commands are only a selection
from that original constitution,
and even these have been broken up
and placed at strategic points within the story.
Now pay attention because you'll see a really clear pattern.
Moses gives the first laws to Israel.
- [Jon] Yeah, don't worship other gods,
don't make idols.
- [Tim] And then right after that
there's a story of Israel breaking those very laws.
- [Jon] Yeah, they worshiped the golden calf.
- [Tim] And so Moses gives some more laws,
and then you get more stories of rebellion.
Some more laws, rebellion again.
Some more laws, more rebellion,
and you start to see the point.
- [Jon] Right, no matter how many laws
they're just gonna continue to rebel.
- [Tim] So at the conclusion of the Torah's story,
Moses gives this final speech to Israel
as they prepare to go into their new home and he tells them,
"You guys, I know that you're not going
to follow all of God's laws.
You've proven to me that you're incapable."
And Moses says the problem is that their hearts are hard
and that they're going to need new, transformed hearts
if they're ever going to truly follow God's law.
And he was right, I mean, the story goes on
to recount Israel's total failure.
- [Jon] They go into the land, they break all the laws.
- [Tim] Right, now the next section of books
in the Jewish tradition are the 15 books of the prophets
and they reflect back on the story.
For example, Ezekiel, he said that if Israel
was ever going to obey the law
God's Spirit would have to transform
their hard hearts into soft hearts.
And Jeremiah said that's when obedience to God's command
wouldn't feel like a duty
but they would be written deep in their hearts.
And Isaiah, he promised a future leader, Israel's messiah,
who will lead all of the people in obedience to the law.
Now in Jewish tradition, all of these books together
are called the Prophets, even the historical books,
because they're continuing the story
told from the perspective of the prophets.
- [Jon] Okay, so we have the law and the prophets,
and they're telling one connected story
about God's desire to bless the whole world
through a people, Israel,
who it turns out needs a new heart.
- [Tim] Yes, and Jesus saw himself
as continuing that story.
So he agreed with the law and the prophets
when he taught that it's out of the human heart
that come the most ugly parts of human nature.
It's like the default setting of our hearts
is opposed to God's law.
But Jesus also said that he came to solve that problem,
and in his words, to fulfill the law.
- [Jon] So what does he mean there, to fulfill the law?
- [Tim] Well, first he said that the demand
of all of the laws in the Torah could be fulfilled
by what he called the great command,
that we are to love God and to love others.
- [Jon] So that seems pretty easy.
I mean, we all want to love.
- [Tim] Well, we think we want to love,
but Jesus showed how love
is far more demanding than we realize.
So he quotes the law "do not murder," and he says
yes, not killing someone is a very loving thing to do.
But then he also says that when you treat someone
with disrespect, or when you nurse resentment against them,
you're also violating God's moral ideal
because you're not treating that person with love.
And so Jesus said true love ought to extend
even to our own enemies.
So even though this command seems very simple,
Jesus showed how our hearts are not currently equipped
to fulfill even this basic command of God to love others.
- [Jon] And that's kind of a downer.
- [Tim] But where Israel failed,
Jesus brought this story to its fulfillment.
As Israel's Messiah he fully loved God and others,
and he showed all of the nations what God is truly like.
He did this through his acts of compassion and mercy
and ultimately by loving his enemies, even unto death.
And after his resurrection, he told his followers
that he would send God's Spirit to transform their hearts
so that they could follow him
and fulfill the purpose of the law
to love God and to love their neighbor.
So this fulfills the story of the law and the prophets,
or in the words of the apostle Paul,
"The one who loves fulfills the law."
- [Tim] This video was made possible by over 1,300 people
who chipped in, and most of those
are monthly givers to the BibleProject.
Thank you guys so much.
- [Jon] We make a lot of videos like this one
that trace a biblical theme
from the beginning to the end of Scripture.
- [Tim] We're also making videos about every book of the Bible,
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- [Tim] If you wanna see more videos or other resources
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