relaxing the law (Matt 5:19)

Matthew 5:19

Therefore, whoever relaxes the least of one of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The Pharisees did not appear to be a group that would "relax" God's commandments. Entire lives spent studying and defining the law, adding rules to it and following over 600 commands sounds like they are tightening it up, not relaxing it. But Jesus accuses them of relaxing God's law! That is because, although they made it wider, they made it shallower. By coming up with hundreds of surface level commands that restricted behaviour, they relaxed the piercing conviction of the law on the heart because they could make a decent effort at keeping external commands. .

So what does it look like to relax God's law today? Maybe it is that you ignore it completely and embrace and attitude that says anything goes. But maybe, like the Pharisees, it also could look like a legalistic church goer who prides himself that he doesn't swear, smoke, drink or shop on a sunday. He looks like he's working hard but he's actually relaxed the law because he is not allowing it to go deeper than the surface. The real target of the law is much deeper, cutting us to the heart, convicting us of our sin and leading us to repentance and faith in Jesus