Changing of laws in the Bible
(Verses appearing to suggest a lack of change in the law)[edit]
“You shall not add to the word I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”
"Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever"
(Verses which suggest a change in the law)[edit]
Christ changed the Sabbath[edit]
"The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever..."
"At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath...the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
- (Matthew 12:1-8 passim)
"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
"He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
"Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”"
"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day."
Christ changed the laws of marriage and divorce[edit]
"“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
"Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”"
Bahá'í verses affirming change of Sabbath and divorce[edit]
"And when the days of Moses were ended, and the light of Jesus, shining forth from the dayspring of the Spirit, encompassed the world, all the people of Israel arose in protest against Him. They clamored that He Whose advent the Bible had foretold must needs promulgate and fulfill the laws of Moses, whereas this youthful Nazarene, who laid claim to the station of the divine Messiah, had annulled the law of divorce and of the sabbath day—the most weighty of all the laws of Moses. Moreover, what of the signs of the Manifestation yet to come? These people of Israel are even unto the present day still expecting that Manifestation which the Bible hath foretold!"
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, par. 17)
"Ye have asked concerning the wisdom of referring certain important laws to the House of Justice. Before all else, this divine cycle is purely heavenly and spiritual, and concerned with the matters of the soul. It hath but little connection to physical, temporal, or worldly matters. The Christian dispensation was in like manner solely spiritual. Thus, in the entire New Testament, there appeareth naught but the prohibition of divorce and the allusion to the abrogation of the Sabbath. Even as He saith, 'the Son of man came not to judge the world but to save the world'."
Note[edit]
Even if this is an abrogation of a purely spiritual nature, and thus not one of the two changed laws relating to physical/temporal matters, the abrogation of an “eye for an eye” and “tooth for a tooth” (Matthew 5:38-42) also involved Christ announcing He was changing the law as He spoke.