Matt 5:17-18 - Did Jesus End the Law or Not?
Many people who still believe they have to live according to the Old Covenant Laws hav e thrown Matthew
5:17-18 at preachers of the grace
message to try and prove their case. But what does the Bible really say about living under the law and whether we
are still
bound to it?
“Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the
law
till
all
is
fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18 NKJV)
“Jesus is giving us two either / or conditions here: The law cannot pass until heaven and earth pass OR the
law cannot pass until all is fulfilled. One or the other can do it. Heaven and earth have not yet passed, so
we will leave that aside. But what did Jesus mean by ALL being fulfilled? He was referring to what He had just
said in the previous sentence: the fulfilling or completing of the law AND the prophets. Once He had fulfilled
the law and the prophets, the law could pass. Why is it that so many people who accept that Jesus fulfilled
the Old Testament prophecies have a hard time understanding that in exactly the same way, He fulfilled the
Old
Testament laws: ALL
of
them?”
When a person is under a contractual obligation
to
someone else and they fulfill all the requirements of that
contract, it means the contract is finished and over. But if they simply destroyed the contractual agreement before fulfilling its requirements, they are not released from its obligations, which is why Jesus said that He did not come to
destroy the law. But the moment the obligations of the
contract are fulfilled, that person is set free from it! In exactly the
same way Jesus did
not
come to destroy the law, but He fulfilled it.
For Christ is the end
of
the law
for righteousness to
everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4 NKJV)
Because all the righteous requirements of the
law were fulfilled in Christ and since we are given the righteousness of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit as a free gift when we put our faith in Jesus, it means that in Christ we too have fulfilled the requirements of the
law and
therefore the law has ended for us as well.
For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom 8:3-4 NKJV, emphasis added)
If someone’s mind has not been renewed to think in terms of grace, they might stare themselves blind against the last part of verse 4, thinking that we have to walk after the Spirit if we want to fulfill the righteous
requirements of the law. But look down in verse
9:
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone
does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Rom 8:9 NKJV)
This says that that if the Holy Spirit dwells in
us, we are not in
the
flesh! So what these verses are actually
saying is that if someone has the Holy Spirit inside them, it is proof that the requirements of the law have
been met in them.
The Prophets
For all the
prophets and the
law
prophesied
until John. (Matt 11:13 NKJV)
The entire law and the Old Testament Prophets spoke of the coming of the Messiah who would forgive the
sins of the whole world. The law was our tutor (schoolmaster), teaching us “right living” until we should put our faith in Jesus and
begin
to live by faith.
But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But
after faith has come, we are
no longer under a tutor. (Gal
3:23-25 NKJV)
This says that after we’ve put our faith in Jesus Christ, we don’t need the tutor of the law to instruct us
anymore. The Holy Spirit inside us can do the job pretty well on His own - He doesn’t need the assistance of
an external set of rules!
“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and
everyone is pressing into
it”. (Luk 16:16 NKJV, emphasis added)
This verse implies that if we still preach law-based living we are not preaching the Kingdom, because we
would be preaching
things that ended with John
the
Baptist over 2000 years ago - read the verse
again. How much clearer can it get?
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And
to
seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to
your
Seed,” who
is
Christ. (Gal 3:16
NKJV, emphasis added)
And also:
What then is the purpose of the law? It was added
because of transgressions, until
the
seed
should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. (Gal
3:19 NKJV, emphasis added)
These verses say that the law was given because of transgressions until the Seed should come (and
Hebrews 3 tells us it was specifically the sin of unbelief). Then when the Seed (Christ) came, the law was
fulfilled and
we
were freed from its legal
requirements.
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the
Prophets. (Rom 3:21 NKJV, emphasis added)
If there were such a thing as the “court of heaven”, the law and prophets would have stood up as witnesses,
pointed their fingers to those who put their faith
in
Jesus and said: “That person is righteous!” Also note the
verse says that this righteousness comes apart from the law.
From these verses and many more
it
is plain to see that believers are not supposed to try and live under the
law anymore, but instead
live
by
faith in Jesus Christ.
Living in Sin
Here is a shocker, something that should silence the mouths of those who still try to be justified by obeying
the
law. Let’s look at two verses first:
And the law is not of faith… (Gal
3:12a NKJV)
and
…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (Rom 14:23b NKJV)
It’s quite surprising to see what it says when we combine these two verses. Since the law is not of faith
Galatians 3:12) and since
anything that is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23), it means that those
who
try
to be justified by their own good
works and
try
to live up to the moral code of the law are
actually living in sin!
Righteousness which Exceeds that of the Pharisees
Jesus also said the following:
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will
by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven. (Matt 5:20 NKJV)
The scribes and Pharisees prided themselves in how well they kept the laws of Moses; in fact it’s what they
did
for a living! These laws didn’t just include the 10 Commandments, but also all the rituals and daily
sacrifices
and
a total of 613 stipulations and commandments
that were contained in the five books
of
Moses (Genesis to
Deuteronomy)2.
In fact most people who try to live up to the Law of Moses today would pale in comparison against an average Pharisee. It is therefore
simple to
see
that the righteousness which Jesus was talking about was not about believers trying to live more obedient or more holy; He was talking about a righteousness that comes
from God, given to
every believer as a free gift at the point of salvation. At the exact same
moment that a believer puts their faith in Jesus, they are given His perfect righteousness and He is given their sin and transgressions:
For He made Him who knew no sin
to be
sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in
Him. (2 Cor 5:21 NKJV)
Isn’t that just an amazing deal? Thank You
Jesus!
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