Jesus' Statements and Infallibility

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Jesus appears to change what is said in the Torah. Obviously, He is God or a bad man. The thing I am wondering is what does this mean for the “infallibility” of Scripture as traditionally seen?
 
Could you give an example?

From my understanding the way you phrase it is correct. Jesus APPEARS to change…

It only appears to us that something is being changed. When in actuality the only thing that changes is our understanding. It is said that the NT is concealed in the OT and the OT is revealed in the NT. What this means is, to truly understand the meaning of the OT it needs to be read through the teachings of Jesus. Once we understand what Jesus taught it makes the OT makes more sense. The OT wasn’t changed, Jesus just basically told us we didn’t understand. Here’s one example…

Matthew 19:7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

Jesus didn’t change the teaching on Marriage He set it back to it’s proper understanding.

As for infallibility, the scriptures can not be infallible, because words on a page can not be incapable of causing error. Only the person defining what the Scriptures mean is capable or incapable of causing the error and not be infallible.

This kind of ties back into your first question. The scriptures don’t change it our fallible understanding that makes it seem like they change.

Hope this helps,

God Bless
 
Kei said:
Jesus appears to change what is said in the Torah. Obviously, He is God or a bad man. The thing I am wondering is what does this mean for the “infallibility” of Scripture as traditionally seen?
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Scripture isn’t infallible, it’s inerrant. That means that what God wished to communicate through Scripture is communicated without error.

However, just because God gave the Israelites the Mosaic covenant doesn’t mean that He can’t create a new covenant with humanity. (In fact, God creates a number of covenants throughout salvation history (as recorded in the Bible). The fact of the creation of a new covenant doesn’t imply that the Bible is ‘mistaken’ when it reports on the earlier covenants.)

You seem to be under the mistaken notion that God is something like a Persian king – whatever He says can never be countermanded or modified1. That’s just not the case.

So, it is not the case that, if Jesus makes a new covenant – with all humanity, mind you, not just with Hebrews – then it does not follow that He is ‘bad’. Yes, He is God. But no, it does not mean that Scripture is in error…

1See the Book of Esther, especially 1:19, 8:8, and Daniel 6:9.
 
Scripture is inspired-and inerrant in terms of the truths God wishes to convey for the purpose of our salvation. Infallibility is a term that pertains to the Church-to statements made by the Magisterium regarding truths concerning faith and morals. The Church is infallible, IOW, when interpreting Scripture for that purpose.
 
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Well, when He comes back, that will be the end of time and the beginning of the Age to Come, so much of His teaching in the New Testament (anything that depends on the existence of hunger or poverty or sickness or death, for instance) will be inapplicable. Likewise, though the Church Triumphant will continue to exist, there will be no need for the prescribed earthly structure of the Church Militant.
 
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