Week 15 - Binding and Loosing

We are starting a new section of the Yoke. For the next six lessons we will be examining some of Jesus’ “new” interpretations of the Law. These teachings all follow a pattern of beginning with the phrase “You have heard it said…” and end with “but I say to you….”

If you remember from our first few lessons, we learned that this language was common for s’mikah rabbis. We contrasted the language used by Torah Rabbis, who would say “It is written…..and it means…..” with the s’mikah Rabbis and their phrase “You have heard……BUT I tell you……..”

To a rabbi and to a first century Jew, this phrase was part of the “Binding” and “Loosing” formula. In the next six weeks we will see several examples of Jesus “binding and loosing” so we need to have an understanding of what that is.



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