How did good new become bad news

This is a response from my friend Scott Maxwell to my question how did good the news of liberty in the gospel become bad news of do's and don'ts.

See below:How did this news become bad news? Is it because it makes no sense and does not fit our standards of justice?

"It's the Bible words and translators I blame for much of todays misunderstandings.
The word for Law in the NT-- is used in various ways by Paul and Jesus, but the nuances are totally
missed by the translators. Look at my examples:

The Law (always translated in NT using one and the same greek word: nomos, which simply means 'law'--- Hebrew word is Torah: referred to Jewish Scriptures including the writings of Moses, Psalms and the Prophets.

Sometimes the NT uses it referring to the 5 Books attributed to Moses, the Penteteuch. Sometimes it was specific to the Mosaic Codes of Conduct - especially the 10 Commandments.
Sometimes Torah-- was used to signify the Psalms

Matthew 5:16-8
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
The Law/torah refers to the Narratives found from Genesis thru Dt.... Jesus is the One promised and He is actually the central theme of Moses. Jesus is the content of those narratives.... He even
says so:
John 5:39, 46-- You diligently study the Scriptures/Torah because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me...
46If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
POINT: Jesus didn’t fulfill the 10 commandments... He fulfilled the Covenantal Promises found in the Pentetuech as our great Promise Keeper and Lord.

John 1:45
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Law/Torah -- Jesus employs the word which refers to a Psalm, not a commandment---

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods' ? (he quotes Psalm 82:6) John 10:34

John 15:25
But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.' Jesus quotes Psalm 35:19; 69:4

So the whole business of Law is royally gone awry as Christians bend over backwards to show that Jesus had to fulfill the 10 C's in order for God to accept us. How stupid. God accepts us by grace not by some fellow having to 'stand in' and obey some Laws. As if God is the servant of Law.

Paul tries to make it clear that the Law/torah: the commands and ceremonial edicts and everything written in the Torah is no longer relevant to us who have faith in Jesus--- please note his arguments: Romans 7:1-6; Galatians 3:21-29

So, we have Bible translators and then a whole slew of Bible teachers/professors/preachers, going bananas over their infatuation with law (as understood in the western world: commands/demands) and subsequently the Hebrew word for being in a 'right/acceptable relationship' (Tsadaq), which is translated in Greek as 'diakaisune' -- in the Greek it had two emphasis-- a legal one and a relational one...loses it's relational definition. The Jewish word tsadaq was a relational word, not a judicial/legal one. However, the Roman world loved and lived by legality and law courts -- jurisprudence.... and sadly, the writers looking for a Greek word to translate the Hebrew word 'tsadaq'... had a word which did have a secondary meaning of relationship and they grabbed that word 'diakaisune' in a effort to capture the Hebrew meaning. It failed. The Legal understanding of the word has carried great weight by Translators of the NT. Sometimes, they go back and forth using 'righteousness and justice' to translate that word.... but either way, we have totally lost the Relational thing and completely gobbled up the Law/Legal definition.
We live in a land run on 'law and order'... we have TV shows named that, for goodness sakes. We have a military to defend our Just ways of living... and Justice itself. We send thousands off to represent us in Congress--the vast majority having been trained in Law School! Yeah! And we love it. And God loves us for having it... and damn it, we need to display those 10 C's in as many Law courts as possible. And as Sarah Pahlin says-- we need a country which is based on living according to the 10 C's. She is sure a bright woman-- I think I heard that she wears pig lipstick or something like that.

And Pentecost goes down as a complete bust. The Spirit is not given the place of being our guide and transformer... no, He needs to use the 10 C's to help us. Jesus, I guess wasn't good enough to listen to and follow.... so we go back to Moses.

So, Christianity is full of misleading ideas of God and what Jesus did--- because we've lost the Hebrew sense of Torah and
Righteousness. But Paul didn't. He did much to show righteousness as a 'faith based relationship' using the Torah's example of Abraham's faith... walking with God in a newfound friendship. "



there you have it in a short response...

scott