Matthew Thiessen, «Abolishers of the Law in Early Judaism and Matthew 5,17-20», Vol. 93 (2012) 543-556
Three times within Matt 5,17-20 passage Matthew uses the verb (kata)lu/w, signaling its importance. Consequently, I will focus on two historical events around which these words cluster: the Antiochan persecution and the destruction of the Temple. Since Jewish literature characterizes the Hellenizers of the Maccabean period as law abolishers, labeling a group as such implicated it in endangering the nation. As Josephus’ Jewish War demonstrates, after the Jewish Revolt, law abolishers were blamed for the Temple’s destruction. Thus, Matthew addresses the charge that Jesus abolished the law and, in so doing, brought about the destruction of the Temple.
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ABOLISHERS OF THE LAW IN EARLY JUDAISM AND MATTHEW 5,17-20 555
phus in A.J. 4.310, to resist and uproot, if possible, those who attempt
to abolish the constitution (katalu&ein… politeian). The Gospel of
/
Matthew consistently works against this understanding of Jesus; in-
stead, Jesus is a new Moses who comes to enable faithful Torah ob-
servance 27. As P.J. Hartin argues, “Matthew’s Jesus does not take
issue with the Torah as such, for the Torah is God’s expressed will.
Instead, Matthew’s Jesus claims the role as official interpreter of God’s
will, of God’s Torah†28. The controversies with the scribes and the
Pharisees provide Matthew with a platform to demonstrate that while
Jesus’ Halakhah may have differed from that of the Pharisees, he (and
his followers) still faithfully observed the law 29. It is in Matt 5,17-20
and the subsequent Matthean Antitheses in 5,21-48 30 that Matthew
makes this claim most emphatically on behalf of and in defense of
both Jesus and his law-observant Jewish followers.
Department of Theological Studies Matthew THIESSEN
Saint Louis University, USA
SUMMARY
Three times within Matt 5,17-20 passage Matthew uses the verb
(kata)luw, signaling its importance. Consequently, I will focus on two his-
/
torical events around which these words cluster: the Antiochan persecution
See D.C. ALLISON Jr., The New Moses. A Matthean Typology (Edin-
27
burgh 1993).
P.J. HARTIN, “Ethics in the Letter of James, the Gospel of Matthew, and
28
the Didache: Their Place in Early Christian Literatureâ€, Matthew, James, and
Didache. Three Related Documents in Their Jewish and Christian Settings
(eds. H. VAN DE SANDT ‒ J.K. ZANGENBERG) (SBLSymS 45; Atlanta, GA
2008) 289-314 (294).
Cf. SALDARINI, Matthew’s Christian-Jewish Community, 44-67, 124-
29
164; OVERMAN, Matthew’s Gospel, 16-30.
For this interpretation of the Matthean Antitheses, see, most recently,
30
P. WICK, “Die Antithesen der Bergpredigt als paränetische Rhetorik: Durch
scheinbaren Widerspruch zu einem neuen Verständnisâ€, Judaica 52 (1996)
156-178; H.D. BETZ, “Die hermeneutischen Prinzipien in der Bergpredigt
(Mt 5,17-20)â€, Gesammelte Aufsätze (Tübingen 1992) II, 111-126; and E.
CUVILLIER, “Torah Observance and Radicalization in the First Gospel.
Matthew and First-Century Judaism: A Contribution to the Debateâ€, NTS 55
(2009) 144-159 (148).
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