Reply #57: It's called hyperbole... [View All]

...It's a literary or rhetorical technique to drive a point home. Jesus used it a lot. He also used simile, metaphor, humor, and irony with equal ease.

The point Jesus was making was that following his way would result in adherence to the law in its smallest detail, not through human struggle but by living in a divine connection with the One who gave the laws.

(Also please note, he made a point that whether greatest or least, all parties concerned were present in the "kingdom of heaven." )

This sort of argument can only trip up Biblical literalists and Christians who don't know anything about the interpretation and application of the Law throughout Jewish history. If 1 in 100 "biblical literalist" Christians have even heard of the Talmud or rabbinic tradition I'd be amazed.