Fulfillment of the Law in Jesus: With Special Reference to John 1:17

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The book examines how God's declaration of love relationship which started with the giving of the Law through Moses finds its definitive and final fulfillment in the Incarnation of His only Son, who imparts himself in the gift of love to provide life. He fulfills the promises of the OT through his words, deeds and through the Paschal My steries. Thus, we see how OT is revealed in the NT. The gift of the Law through Moses points to the gift of grace and truth in Jesus. The Torah, as law, had only an introductory role to play in the relationship of God with His people. The grace of the Law through Moses is not identical with the grace in Jesus Christ the grace in Jesus Christ is greater than and far superior to the grace of the Law. This book tries to prove this specially taking only oneverse which is of most importance.

Rajen Lakra is a research scholar at Benares Hindu University and about to complete his PhD. Besides, he holds a degree of BTh from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome. He is also teaching Philosophy at Gyandhara Dominican Institute of Philosophy, Goa and St. Charles Seminary, Nagpur as a visiting faculty member. He has presented approximately twenty papers on philosophy at various conferences in India.

In this piece of work one can see how God's declara tion of love relationship which started with the giving of the Law through Moses finds its definitive and final fulfillment in the Incarnation of His only Son, who imparts himself in the gift of love to provide life. The gift of the Law through Moses points to the gift of grace and truth in Jesus. The Torah, as law, had only an introductory role to play in the relationship of God with His people. The grace of the Law through Moses is not identical with the grace in Jesus Christ the grace in Jesus Christ is greater than and far superior to the grace of the Law. Hence, one may fittingly say that love is the fulfillment of the Law.

It is my privilege to acknowledge my indebtedness and to express my sincere thanks to all those who have helped me in the completion of this work. First and foremost, I sincerely express my deepest appreciations and gratitude to Prof. Dominic Mendonca who guided me to realize this work through his competent guidance, encouragement and availability throughout the course of this study. I am also grateful to Prof. George Kumblumootil, for his continuous support.

As I complete this, I do really acknowledge the great support extended by all the librarians in providing the necessary sources and materials. I also extend my sincere gratitude to all the Dominican Fathers and Brothers and all who have helped me directly or indirectly to complete this work.

One thing that we notice from our careful study of the Scripture is that God has one plan for the salvation of humanity. This plan however, is not revealed fully at one moment of history. God enfolds this plan gradually through the events of the salvation history. He calls the Patriarchs and Prophets. Through Moses He chooses a people and makes a covenant with them. He reveals them who He is and gives them the commandments. We notice a gradual movement from Noahic covenant to Abrahamic covenant and then to Mosaic covenant. However, this process of revelation reaches its climax at the incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus' coming from the bosom of the Father, reveals fully who God is and what His will is. He fulfills the promise of the OT through his words, deeds and through the Paschal Mysteries. Thus we see how OT is revealed in the NT. Whole OT is the promise, NT is the fulfillment. The events of the Gospel are prefigured in the OT. There are numerous parallels between the Torah and Logos. For the Jews Torah or the Law is the most important part of the Scripture. They consider that the Torah has been created before all things. Therefore they thought that keeping the Law brought them salvation. It is not the Torah or Law but Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of Father, who brought salvation through his Paschal Mysteries. It is in Jesus the Law is fulfilled and perfected.

It would be accepted without any dispute that Law is one of the very important themes of the fourth Gospel. The concept of Law conveys to many an idea of limitation or prohibition, implying authority from an external power. In this sense, Law could suggest something negative. But if the ultimate aim of the Law is always good of the human being, then Law should be perceived as something positive. In thesynoptic Gospels, Jesus is presented as raising the commandment to love neighbour to almost equal importance to the commandment to love God. We are well aware that the NT tradition upholds the inseparability of the love of God and the love of neighbour (1 Jn 4:20-21). Unlike the synoptic Gospels there is no discussion about the greatest commandment in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus gives a new commandment to his disciples to love one another as He loved (Jn 13:34).

What does this newness consist of? Newness here means a new beginning and this certainly implies a contrast to the old way of living, which was based on the vision of the Law of Moses. Most of the part of the Fourth Gospel, until end of Chapter 12, reveals the struggle of the Jews with Jesus over the concept of Law. The fact that the theme of love dominates the final part of the Gospel is an indication of Jesus' inauguration of the new way of life which is permeated by love. It illustrates the reality that for Jesus the governing principle of life is love which is the new view of the Law for the community of his followers. Even though the entire OT could be seen fulfilled in John's Gospel, we will be limiting ourselves to the fulfillment studies with the parallelism between Law and Grace as well as Moses and Jesus in the light of Jn 1:17 "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ".

**Contents and Sample Pages**