Another example: for unwitting murderers, that is, those who committed murder unintentionally, through negligence, the Mosaic Law set aside three cities where they could seek refuge from the revenge of the relatives of the murdered. The spirit of justice spoke here, for a person guilty only of negligence is of course unjust to be punished as for premeditated murder.

But we have neither cities of refuge nor tribal vengeance, and this rule falls away of itself. The spirit of justice finds expression in other forms. It is clear that the forms of human behavior and life, which express the dictates of the religious spirit, cannot be forever the same, frozen, dead, and to demand this immutability of form means to impose luboks on a living organ.

The result will always be the same: the weakening of the living force of religion and the deadening of the tissues of the soul.

Moreover, if religious forms are always kept pedantically unchanged, without taking into account the needs of the spiritually developing man, then these forms will either cripple spiritual life, give it an ugly development, or completely stop its growth. If the child is constantly kept in diapers, without removing them and without weakening them, then he will not be able to grow. Chinese women, in order to have small legs, which is required by fashion, keep them always tightly bandaged from childhood. This preserves the childish size of the leg, stopping its growth, but terribly disfigures it and is accompanied by severe pain.

This is always the case where there is a living organic force of life and growth. So it is in religion: as the spirit of God, the spirit of goodness and truth, is more and more fully and perfectly embodied in the life of man, the old forms, like baby diapers, become more and more crowded for him, and he inevitably, though often gradually and imperceptibly, changes them. Life itself, in so far as it develops and is imbued with a new spirit, outgrows the old frames, does not fit into them, and naturally strives to expand them, and if, regardless of this growth, these limits are left in their former form, without any changes, then life will simply break them, just as the rising spring water in a river breaks the ice that binds it. It is this law of spiritual life that the Lord expressed in the words: "No one pours new wine into old skins: otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will leak out, and the skins will be lost; but new wine must be poured into new skins (Mk. II, 22).

The Lord, by His teaching, by His life and death, raised religion to such a tremendous height, in such fullness communicated to those who believed in Him the spirit of truth and grace, that not only did the forms of external worship become obsolete, but the very rules of life and behavior had to be expanded and deepened in order to reflect this spirit of the new spirit. Hence a number of antitheses that naturally arise when comparing the new teaching with the old rules:

You have heard that it was said to them of old time, "Thou shalt not kill, but whoever kills shall be liable to judgment" (Exod. XX, 13). But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment (Matt. V, 21-22).

You have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exod. XX, 14). But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart. V, 27-28).

It is also said that if a man divorce his wife, let him give her a divorce (Deut. XXIV, 1). But I say to you, Whoever divorces his wife, except for the guilt of fornication, gives her cause to commit adultery (Matt. V, 31-32).

Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, "Thou shalt not transgress your oaths, but thou shalt fulfill thy oaths before the Lord" (Lev. XIX, 12; Second. XXIII, 21). But I say to you, Do not swear at all... But let your word be yes, yes; no, no (Matt. V, 33-34, 37).

You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Exod. XXI, 24). But I say unto you, Resist not evil (Matt. V, 38-39).

You. have heard that it is said, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy" (Lev. XIX, 17). But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you. V, 43-44).

In these antitheses there is no contradiction to the ancient rules. They do not abolish, but only develop and improve the norms of the Old Testament. The same spirit of love and truth breathes in them, but has already risen from the stage of the infantile state of mankind to the tremendous height of development and perfection.

This is how the Lord looks at the mutual relationship of the Old and New Testaments. Do not think, He says, that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill (Matt. V, 17). The Russian word "fulfill" does not quite accurately convey the shade of thought. The Greek word here in Matthew means: "to complete", to give completeness, completeness. In other words, the Lord wants to say that His New Testament teaching does not violate or abolish the Mosaic Law, but completes and develops it. The Pharisees expanded the ancient law, looking for new cases of its application, entangling all life with petty, formal prescriptions, giving rise to the traditions of the elders in incredible numbers, or, as the prophet Isaiah says: it became the word of the Lord for them: precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, so that they will go... and they shall be caught in a net, and shall be caught (Exod. XXVIII, 13). In these attempts to regulate all the minutiae of life by immutable dead rules, formally derived from the law, they retained the letter of the law, but often violated its spirit (Mk. VII, 6-13).