Our Lesson States:
"Though all Jews were required to pay the temple tax, priests, Levites, and rabbis were exempt. So, this question about whether Jesus paid the temple tax was also a challenge to His ministry.
Ellen G. White writes that Peter missed an opportunity to testify on this occasion to the absolute authority of Christ. "By his answer to the collector, that Jesus would pay the tribute, he had virtually sanctioned the false conception of Him to which the priests and rulers were trying to give currency … If priests and Levites were exempt because of their connection with the temple, how much more He to whom the temple was His Father's house."—The Desire of Ages, pp. 433, 434.
We can learn much from Jesus' gracious response to Peter. Rather than humiliate him, Jesus gently explains his error. Moreover, Jesus adapts to the course Peter had taken in a most creative way. Rather than simply paying the tax—thereby acknowledging His obligation to it—Jesus gets the tax elsewhere: from the mouth of a fish."
A previous insight deals with this subject. Let us read it.
Christ's and the Law of Moses
(Posted originally on 4/12/2014)
The introduction to our lesson states that the emphasis of the quarterly is the Moral Law, in other words, the Ten Commandments. But, the memory text for last week's seems to downplay the importance of knowing these laws. Why? Let us read our memory text,
Romans 2:14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
This verse says that it is possible to do the law, without knowing the law. For the Bible student, this should not come as a surprise. As we read in Galatians 3:6, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." The word used for righteousness in Greek is the same word for justice. So, that the righteous are just. The just are doers of the law, and they live by faith (Romans 1: 17; 2: 13). Now, faith comes through the hearing of the Word (Romans 10: 17). Abraham heard God's word; Abraham believed it, therefore, was reckoned a doer of the law. Did Abraham know the Ten Commandments? No, he did not. Abraham knew the Gospel, but not the Ten Commandments. These were not given more than 400 years after. It begs the question, what Law did Abraham keep?
Even angels did not know there was a Law until they learned it from God. Ellen White says,
But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are re-echoed, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Psalm 40:8. {MB 109.2}
No one will deny that the angels are doers of the Law, but these were doers of the Law even when they did not know there was a law. So then why was the Law given? Paul says in Galatians,
Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, …
Here the word added has a connotation of being spoken, declared. The word transgression in Greek has a connotation of stepping aside the path. So, the Law is declared because of our stepping aside the path of Christ. This concept is evident in the following Ellen White's quote,
"If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, they would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt; they would have kept God's law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed from Sinai or engraved upon the tables of stone. And had the people practiced the principles of the Ten Commandments, there would have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses. {PP 364.2}"
What our quarterly intends to uplift was given because the people failed to cherish God's covenant to them. Anytime the 10 Commandments are lifted up it is a reminder that the belief in the Covenant has been abandoned. Should we then keep the Ten Commandments or the rest of the law hidden?
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
When I was growing up, a 15-year-old had to wait until he was 16 to take the driver's license test. Should he hate the law because he is 15? Or, should he wait a few more months until he turns 16? Even those who are displeased with the law will likely wait until they fulfill the requirements. What does the Law require?
"The law requires righteousness,—a righteous life, a perfect character; and this man has not to give. He cannot meet the claims of God's holy law. But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men. Thus they have remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. More than this, Christ imbues men with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character after the similitude of the divine character, a goodly fabric of spiritual strength and beauty. Thus the very righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. God can 'be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.' Rom. 3:26."—The Desire of Ages (1940), p. 762
The law is a reminder that we do not believe God's promises, and that we are not keeping His covenant. And, it is by believing the promises that we become righteous. Since, the righteous are the doers of the Law, and love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13: 10), then it follows that by believing God's promises we become loving.
Now, Jesus is very clear; He came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5: 1). However, being that Jesus is God, and therefore love, He is the fulfilling of the law. He not only gave it or kept himself subject to it, but He also fulfilled it. We need to add here that the word Law in the New Testament refers to the books of Moses. Jesus said that these books, indeed Moses, spoke of Jesus (John 5:46).
The reason Jesus made Himself subject to the Laws, is evident on Wednesday lesson. Although, the author of our lesson uses the story to push his agenda. Let's read the passage in question,
Mat 17:24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
Mat 17:25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
Mat 17:26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free.
Mat 17:27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
This incident was a trap to discredit Jesus as much as was the incident with the adulterous woman. Priests and prophets did not pay the tribute. If Jesus did not pay, they could accuse Jesus of being subversive. If He paid, Jesus was saying that what the leaders were saying of Him was true. Ellen White elaborates,
" If Jesus had paid the tribute without a protest, He would virtually have acknowledged the justice of the claim, and would thus have denied His divinity. But while He saw good to meet the demand, He denied the claim upon which it was based. In providing for the payment of the tribute He gave evidence of His divine character. It was made manifest that He was one with God, and therefore was not under tribute as a mere subject of the kingdom." (DA 434).
According to the author of our lesson Jesus gave money to the ungodly church leaders, therefore, so should we. But, Jesus did not give money from neither Peter nor Jesus' pocket or from the purse that Judas held (John 13: 29). He sent Peter to catch a fish, open the fish's mouth take out a coin in the mouth and give it to the tax collector. Peter could have kept the fish to eat it. Also, the verse tells us why Jesus gave the money, "less they be offended." Jesus did object to giving. But, He gave regardless not to offend the leaders, for whom He longed that they would accept Him as their Savior. Jesus expression "less they be offended," reminds us of when Paul wrote, "to me all things are legal, but for the sake of the weak, I refrain…" Offending the leaders, unnecessarily, would mean to place Himself beyond a place to reveal His love for them. Again from Ellen White,
"While Jesus made it plain that He was under no obligation to pay the tribute, He entered into no controversy with the Jews in regard to the matter; for they would have misinterpreted His words, and turned them against Him. Lest He should give offense by withholding the tribute, He did that which He could not justly be required to do. This lesson would be of great value to His disciples. Marked changes were soon to take place in their relation to the temple service, and Christ taught them not to place themselves needlessly in antagonism to established order. So far as possible, they were to avoid giving occasion for misinterpretation of their faith. While Christians are not to sacrifice one principle of truth, they should avoid controversy whenever it is possible to do so." {DA 434}
We are to pick our battles prayerfully.
