What did James say? Jesus never did nullify or in any way disparage Old Testament Law or the Prophets. In fact he endorsed them and emphasized their continuance. Even added stricter conditions requiring forgiveness by you to receive your own grace, forbidding you to hold on to whatever in your life caused your sin, i.e. I don't believe he advocated the actual amputation of your hand or the plucking out of your eye.
After Apostle Peter…speaking at the First Church Council at Jerusalem…made it crystal clear that Gentile followers coming to Jesus were not required to follow any of the old covenant (he questioned those who still advocated for the Mosaic Law by asking them why would they want to place this yoke ~ the old covenant ~ upon the Gentiles when even the Jews, and none of their Jewish ancestors, could even abide by it themselves…?), James…the brother of Jesus…got up to speak.
And he reminded all who were there that the Jewish prophets themselves predicted this, they foretold of the time when there would be a New Covenant, and that their prophets had told them that Israel was established to be a light to the Gentiles. And then James concluded with the decree that it was his judgement…as the leader of the church in Jerusalem…that they should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who were turning to God (by placing the yoke of the Law of Moses upon them).
The implications of these things were extraordinary within the context of the conversation. It was clear that God’s arrangement with Israel should now be retired from the equation. They realized that Jesus ushered in something brand new. And they realized that Jesus did not come to extend ancient Judaism or establish Judaism 2.0; He came to completely change the way that people relate to God.
The Old Testament was no longer the go-to source regarding any behavior for Jesus’ body of believers. The Jerusalem Council was saying to the Gentiles that they are not accountable to the Jewish Law. Period. God has done something new. And this New Covenant was better. It was less complicated, but it was far more demanding. When you begin to view every single person you are ever eyeball to eyeball with as made in the image of God, and a potential dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, you will treat them well. You will not need a buncha rules and regulations. You will treat them the way that God, through Jesus, has treated you.
This was something new, and better. The church leaders (like James and Peter) who were closest to the action…who understood better than we ever will…disengaged Jesus’ body of believers from the value system and the worldview and the regulations of the Mosaic Law. These church leaders detached the church from Judaism and the Law because they realized that those things were just a means to an extraordinary end. The Old Testament prophets predicted it. Jesus, at His Sermon on the Mount, said He’d fulfilled it, He’d landed that plane, He’d completed that assignment.
The Old Testament was the back story to the main story. This is what the church leaders (like James and Peter) came to realize. Jesus’ New Covenant is with the entire world, whereas the old covenant was an agreement with only the ancient Israelites. And Jesus’ New Covenant can stand on its own two first-century, nail-scarred, resurrection feet ~ it does not need propping up by the Jewish Scriptures or the Law of Moses.
James and Peter were on both sides of the equation, they were right at the epicenter, and they clearly chose to detach the Christian faith from their Mosaic Law and their Jewish Scriptures.
