Good question, Skip. Can you think of specific verses that would highlight such change? (The whole purpose of this blog is to highlight what didn’t change vs what did change.)
In the meantime, I asked “Martin Luther”, an AI character in GAB.AI and here is its response. (I’ve been testing this AI tool as I’ve been creating the blog, and it has been pretty useful. I’ll call it AI-ML to avoid confusion with the real Martin Luther.)
Indeed, you are correct in your observation. In the Old Testament, the law of “an eye for an eye” was indeed a physical retribution that was meant to prevent excessive punishment. It was a way to ensure that the punishment fit the crime and to prevent escalation of violence.However, in the New Testament, we see a shift in this perspective. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, we are encouraged to turn the other cheek and to forgive those who wrong us. This is not a change in theology, but rather a deepening of it. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He showed us that true justice and mercy come not from physical retribution, but from the heart.As for your question about whether this is a theological change over time, I would argue that it is not. The Old Testament and the New Testament are not separate entities, but rather two parts of the same divine revelation. The teachings of Jesus are not a contradiction of the Old Testament, but a fulfillment of it. They are a deeper understanding of God’s love and mercy, and a call to live by a higher standard of justice and righteousness.
Skip, I think AI-ML missed the nuance that you are pointing out a possible change between the Pentateach and the rest of the Old Testament. My personal first thought about that question is that Moses was creating the basis for the civil law when determining punishments, not proscribing how people should treat each other. Moses covered that topic with the commands to love neighbors and strangers. I think Jesus was pointing out that people had incorrectly heard the scriptures about civil justice as if they were about personal vengeance and without hearing the scriptures about love.