“I AM the Law of Moses”

Context

If you haven’t seen it yet, The Chosen is a Christian telling of the story of Christ as an online TV series, almost like a Game of Thrones centered around Jesus

Back in October, the trailer for season three was dropped and a single line sparked some controversy

The scene is that a Pharasee was getting in Jesus’s face saying that if he didn’t renounce His teachings, that they would have to excercise the Law of Moses (Deut 12:32-13:5) As for that prophet or dreamer, he must be executed”). Jesus retorts with “I AM the Law of Moses”

Why the Controversy

The Book of Mormon

Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. - 3 Nephi 15:9

• Dallas Jenkins, creator of The Chosen, is an evangelical Christian (his dad is Jerry B Jenkins, author of the Left Behind books) and has explicitly denied that the shoe has any afiliation with any religious organization, including Mormonism, nor is it meant to replace or supplant scripture

Misunderstanding the I AM

• Really, I think most are put off by the “I AM” and it tying Jesus to the Law directly. Other verses clearly come to mind separating the two:
  • Rom 10:4

    For Christ is the end of the law, with the result that there is righteousness for everyone who believes.

  • Gal 2:16, 3:11-12

    …we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. But the law is not based on faith, but the one who does the works of the law will live by them.

  • Jhn 1:17

    For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

  • Eph 2:11-22

    Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh – who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands –
     that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Now in Christ Jesus
    you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

  • As well as pretty much all of Rom 2-8 Rom 3:20,23-24: For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. […] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
• However, there are other lines that support it:
  • Jhn 1:1, 14

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. […] Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

  • Matt 5:17-19

    Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

  • Matt 19:16-17 (Rich Young Ruler)

    Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

  • Luke 16:15a,16-17

    (v15. But Jesus said to them)[…] “The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void.

  • Rom 6:15-16

    What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?

  • 1 Jhn 3:4

    Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; indeed, sin is lawlessness.

• Furthermore, Jesus says He is lots of things:
  • The vine (John 15:5)
  • The light (john 8:12)
  • The gate / door (John 10:7)
  • The way, truth, and life (John 14:6)
  • The Messiah (John 4:25-26)
• What was really meant: Deuteronomy 18:15-19](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18%3A15-19&version=ESV); c.f. Acts 3:22-23
  • The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you – from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.
  • Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’
    • Rom 11: pruning the tree (v17, “Now if some of the branches were broken off”) but not fosaking it (v1 “has God rejected his people? Absolutely not!”)

Important

Question: What do y’all think? Is Jesus the law or is that a stretch?In my opinion, Jesus is entirely the Law of Moses. He is also the entire Old Testament. He is the Word that John talks about. He embodies God’s character and spirit, a perfect manifestation for what God wished that man could have been - perfect in every way. As such, he serves as a role model of how to live out a righteous life. Paul draws clear distinctions between where our salvation comes from: by grace and through faith in Jesus, and how we are to live: as slaves to righteousness. Righteousness (tsedeq, H6663) is the idea of justice, making something right, or clearing one’s name. We are to be slaves to the one who clears our names, Jesus, and follow His example by seving those around us, calling out hypocracy, living with compassion and love, and reaching first for those that society looks down upon. That IS what the Law of Moses defines. The Law of Moses often gets a bad repuation of a rule book full of weird laws that are outdated and cruel but MOST of them were things like helping an animal in need, not putting yourself into debt, not charging interest to your family, and other such “common sense” things that we now take for granted.