From the Christian viewpoint, both human ethics and the Jewish biblical law are incomplete reflections of God’s revelation to humankind. Christ’s fulfillment of the law and the prophets did not merely consist in making ancient predictions come true or in giving a new set of commandments. He laid a totally new foundation for human life and behavior. The Christian is to be like Christ, and his or her behavior is to be in accord with this new reality.

The "old law" — not just the prescriptions of the law of Moses, but the whole way of conceiving law itself — sought to establish the conditions by which a person might enter and develop a relationship with God. Its orientation may be summed up: "If you do this, you shall be God’s people." The "new law" of Christ — in reality a new way of looking at all facets of human life — looks first to the person’s identity as a member of the Kingdom of God, and then speaks of what one must do because of what one is. Its orientation is: "You are God’s people, therefore you must act in accord with what you are."

The old style of law concerns itself with the action only — it cannot really touch the heart. In each of these "new commandments", Jesus moves from external action — murder, adultery, perjury — to the intention behind the act, and he says: "That is where the true basis of sinfulness lies." Laws against murder and other forms of violence against others treat the symptoms only. The root cause of evil that must be addressed in the light of God’s kingdom is internal: conscious and intentional contempt and hatred for the other person. The injury begins in the heart, and there it must be stopped.

Similarly, adultery begins not merely with unsought fantasies but with the intention that says, "Yes, I will act on these desires." Thoughts and feelings in themselves are unintentional and therefore not yet sinful. When they become intentions, lust as sinful passion begins to bloom.

This brief reading is part of a meditative instruction on wisdom and how to live as a wise person. Here the author is reflecting on the meaning of law as a guide to one’s life, and he shares the important insight that reward and punishment (life and death) are not something given or imposed from outside but are the real consequences of one’s moral choices. Those who choose the good are truly seeking life, and those who choose evil are thereby embracing death. The roots of this passage are in both Gn 1:27 and Dt 30:11-20.

This longest psalm in the Bible praises God’s Law as the way of life for his faithful people. Response: "Happy are they who follow the law of the Lord."

This letter of Paul to the Corinthians had the purpose of calling them back to the unity and integrity of they life they had chosen as Christians. His instruction on wisdom, which forms the basis of the advice and commands of the rest of his letter, reminds them to have their vision firmly fixed on the fulfillment of God’s promises in the glory of the Kingdom.

1. Do you see these new commandments of Christ as something that makes you free or something that restricts your freedom? Discuss why?

2. What is the difference between God’s wisdom and worldly wisdom?