There are different kinds of laws. Even in God's Word we find, commandments, statutes, ordinances, and Judgements. While these laws are all that is necessary for man to live by, man, in his infinite wisdom, has decided that God's laws are insufficient and has created a body of law of his own.

This is true now and was true at the time of Christ as the Pharisees had not only the laws of God but also their own body of laws which Christ recognized as the traditions of the elders. In reality there are only two forms of law: God's Law (the Law of Nature) and man's law (the civil law).

The history of man's law is as old as man himself. Man has always sought to make his own rules to live by which add, delete, or amend the laws of God. In this sense man's laws are evil. Only God can make true law as only God has the capacity to determine what is good and evil. When man attempts to make law, it sooner or later leads to disobedience of God's law.

It should also be pointed out that all law is moral law, i.e., all laws determine what is good and evil, and when man legislates law, man is determining what is good and evil. However, nowhere in Scripture has God given man the authority to make law or determine what is good and evil.

In Genesis God's law forbad eating from the tree of "knowledge of good and evil." Then along came Nachash, that old serpent, and convinced the woman there was another law, the law of man's reason absent from God. Nachash convinced the woman that while the law of God may be good, man could expand on God's law, which is also good, and he told her:

"....Ye shall not surely die:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." Gen 3:4-6

The Pharisees had accomplished the same thing by developing thousands of laws and traditions (their determinations of good and evil) of their own. From the days of Adam and Eve, to the days of Christ, to the 20th century nothing has changed. I am going to slightly alter Genesis 3:4-6 for you to show you what I mean:

And when the man sees that the precepts of man are good for the welfare of mankind, and that it is delight to the eyes, and that the precepts of man are to be desired, we take of the laws thereof, and do obey; and we give also unto our brethren, and they do obey.

While there is some condemnation of the law in scripture, that condemnation is directed towards either the law of the sacrificial ordinances or the Pharisaical law -- not the divine laws, statutes, and judgments of God.

The law that Christ was against was not the true law of God but the thousands of Pharisaic laws. The Rev. Barclay, in his book entitled "And Jesus Said," wrote the following about the Pharisaic laws:

"The Jewish scribes and Rabbis, beginning from the great principles of the ten commandments, had amplified and developed the Jewish law until it included tens of thousands of little petty regulations covering every moment and action of life; and they considered that the keeping of these regulations was literally a matter of life and death.

As an example let us take the rules and regulations governing the washing of hands. To eat food with unwashed hands was a grave sin leading to poverty and disaster. Bread so eaten was no better than filthy, and a Rabbi who neglected the regulations was excommunicated.

Now in general this is obviously a good, sane and healthy rule. But the hands had to be washed a certain way. Water had to be specially kept. At least as much as a quarter of a log must be used, that is, enough to fill one and a half egg-shells.

The water was poured over both hands and each hand was cleansed by rubbing it with the fist of the other. Finally the hands were held up and the water must run up them the length of the wrist and then run off. Then the whole business was repeated but this time the hands were held pointing down, and the water must run off them right down to the finger tips.

If anything was altered or omitted it was deadly sin. No ordinary mortal could continue the everyday business of life and observe all these regulations." And Jesus Said, p. 93-94.

Christ continually chastised the Pharisees because they only kept part of the laws. They were particularly good at keeping those laws that made them look good in the sight of others. An example of this is:

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith: those ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone." Matthew 23:23

They completely neglected the weightier laws of judgments, mercy, and faith, showing that they had no true faith and knew or cared nothing of the true nature of God's law.

Lets look at another example in Matthew 12:

9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. 13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.

They were willing to pull an animal out of a pit on the Sabbath, but not willing that a sick brother be healed on the Sabbath.

Christ knew this and he knew that in healing the man, they would accuse Him (v. 10) and seek to destroy him (v. 14). Again Christ upheld the commandments of the God and denied the laws of man.

On another occasion, the Pharisees and scribes came to Christ and asked Him:

"Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread." Matthew 15:2

3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." Matthew 15

How is that for a cop-out -- Romans 13 style!

Where was the love of parents?

Today we isolate our parents by placing them in government run or subsidized "OLD FOLKS HOMES."

Where is the love of parents?

Who is better? A Pharisee who says he has nothing to give to his parents or a Christian who abandons his parents to an old folks home?

In any event, the Pharisees nullified the commandment of God by their traditions (precepts of man). Of this practice Christ stated:

7 "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8 "This people honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 "But in vain do they worship me teaching as their doctrines the precepts (commandments) of men." Matthew 15

"....make void the word (law) of God with your tradition." Matthew 15:6