Part 143. More on reading scripture

Yesterday I watched the live transmission of the first session of the General Synod of the Church of England. Not an edifying experience as claims of anger, mistrust and lack of transparency articulated by Synod members. At the outset of the proceedings there was a reading from Ephesians 2.  In this chapter Paul argues that Jews and Gentiles are now united in Jesus. Verses14-15.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. 

Jesus is quoted  in the synoptic gospels as stating that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it. In fulfilling the law Jesus had rendered it irrelevant. The law had served its purpose. Paul is emphasising the point by stating that followers of Jesus did not have to adhere to the rules and regulations of the law. Instead, to follow Jesus is to live by the broad principle of love.

It baffles me why fundamentalists fail to understand the concepts the words of scripture convey.  They are in thrall to detailed analysis of individual words and miss completely their context and ideas they convey.  Scripture is not to be read and interpreted as statute law.