Jesus Christ and His Relationship to the Law of Moses

[jeremiah1five]

In Matthew 5:17, when Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them," he is making a profound statement about his relationship to the Old Testament Scriptures. This is a key passage in his Sermon on the Mount and serves to correct any misconception that he was an enemy of the Law of Moses or that He abolished the Law of Moses.

The meaning of this statement can be understood in several ways, which are all interconnected:

• Fulfillment, not destruction: The Greek word for "fulfill" (pleroun) means to "fill up," "complete," or "bring to its intended goal." Jesus is saying that he did not come to nullify or do away with the Law, but rather to bring it to its ultimate purpose. The Law and the Prophets (which is a common way of referring to the entire Old Testament) were a story pointing to something, and Jesus is the climax of that story.
• The Law's purpose: The Law was given for a specific purpose. It revealed God's character and His will for Israel. It also served to expose Israel's inability to live up to God's perfect standard, thereby pointing to the need for a savior. That savior being Himself wrapped up in the covenant of salvation for the Jews. By living a perfect life and offering himself as the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus fulfilled the Law's demands. He was the one person who perfectly obeyed every command. He did not change it and He did not abolish it. God's Law that was once written on stone are now written on Israel's fleshly tables of the 'heart.'
• The Law of the heart: Jesus's teaching in the rest of Matthew 5 illustrates this fulfillment. He takes several commandments from the Law, such as "Thou shalt not murder" and "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and re-interprets them to address not just the external action, but the internal intention. For example, he says that hatred in the heart is a form of murder, and lust is a form of adultery. He's not getting rid of the Law; he's showing its true, deeper meaning. The Law was never just about outward actions, but about a transformed heart. A 'heart' transformed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Joel said was PROMISED TO ISRAEL.
• The end of certain laws: The fulfillment of the Law in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection meant the ceremonial and sacrificial aspects of the Law were no longer necessary. Animal sacrifices, for instance, were a temporary means of atonement that foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Once he came and shed his blood, those rituals were fulfilled and became obsolete. Just as God commanded the animal sacrifice for the temporary atonement of the sins of Israel, so, too was Jesus' sacrifice to and for atonement of the sins of Israel.
• A new standard of righteousness: Jesus goes on to say in verse 20 that the righteousness of his followers must "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not a call for more strenuous rule-keeping, but for a different kind of righteousness—one that comes from a changed heart and is motivated by love for God and neighbor, rather than a legalistic adherence to external rules. A love God gave to Israel and a love Israel was to give to their brethren.

In essence, Jesus did not come to tear down the Old Testament, but to build upon it, complete its story, and reveal its true purpose. The Law remains a testament to God's unchanging character and perfect standard, but for those who believe in Jesus, its requirements are met through his work, and its purpose is now fulfilled through a relationship with him. Through the Holy Spirit of Promise the Law is written and imparted upon the heart of the children of Israel to give to the children of Israel of twelve tribes.

 

[TibiasDad]

In Matthew 5:17, when Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them," he is making a profound statement about his relationship to the Old Testament Scriptures. This is a key passage in his Sermon on the Mount and serves to correct any misconception that he was an enemy of the Law of Moses or that He abolished the Law of Moses.

The meaning of this statement can be understood in several ways, which are all interconnected:

• Fulfillment, not destruction: The Greek word for "fulfill" (pleroun) means to "fill up," "complete," or "bring to its intended goal." Jesus is saying that he did not come to nullify or do away with the Law, but rather to bring it to its ultimate purpose. The Law and the Prophets (which is a common way of referring to the entire Old Testament) were a story pointing to something, and Jesus is the climax of that story.
• The Law's purpose: The Law was given for a specific purpose. It revealed God's character and His will for Israel. It also served to expose Israel's inability to live up to God's perfect standard, thereby pointing to the need for a savior. That savior being Himself wrapped up in the covenant of salvation for the Jews. By living a perfect life and offering himself as the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus fulfilled the Law's demands. He was the one person who perfectly obeyed every command. He did not change it and He did not abolish it. God's Law that was once written on stone are now written on Israel's fleshly tables of the 'heart.'
• The Law of the heart: Jesus's teaching in the rest of Matthew 5 illustrates this fulfillment. He takes several commandments from the Law, such as "Thou shalt not murder" and "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and re-interprets them to address not just the external action, but the internal intention. For example, he says that hatred in the heart is a form of murder, and lust is a form of adultery. He's not getting rid of the Law; he's showing its true, deeper meaning. The Law was never just about outward actions, but about a transformed heart. A 'heart' transformed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Joel said was PROMISED TO ISRAEL.
• The end of certain laws: The fulfillment of the Law in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection meant the ceremonial and sacrificial aspects of the Law were no longer necessary. Animal sacrifices, for instance, were a temporary means of atonement that foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Once he came and shed his blood, those rituals were fulfilled and became obsolete. Just as God commanded the animal sacrifice for the temporary atonement of the sins of Israel, so, too was Jesus' sacrifice to and for atonement of the sins of Israel.
• A new standard of righteousness: Jesus goes on to say in verse 20 that the righteousness of his followers must "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not a call for more strenuous rule-keeping, but for a different kind of righteousness—one that comes from a changed heart and is motivated by love for God and neighbor, rather than a legalistic adherence to external rules. A love God gave to Israel and a love Israel was to give to their brethren.

In essence, Jesus did not come to tear down the Old Testament, but to build upon it, complete its story, and reveal its true purpose. The Law remains a testament to God's unchanging character and perfect standard, but for those who believe in Jesus, its requirements are met through his work, and its purpose is now fulfilled through a relationship with him. Through the Holy Spirit of Promise the Law is written and imparted upon the heart of the children of Israel to give to the children of Israel of twelve tribes.

The law had two overriding purposes:

1) To reveal that we are sinful and incapable of pleasing God. (Rom 7:13) and,

2) To be our guardian until Christ came and faith became the standard for righteousness. (Gal 3:23-25)
This includes being a mechanism for tempering the behavior of man through the presence of the Holy Spirit through common grace.

In short, the law reveals our need of a savior and points us to him that we might believe in him and be saved.

Doug

 

[Soyeong]

In Matthew 5:17, when Jesus says, "I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them," he is making a profound statement about his relationship to the Old Testament Scriptures. This is a key passage in his Sermon on the Mount and serves to correct any misconception that he was an enemy of the Law of Moses or that He abolished the Law of Moses.

The meaning of this statement can be understood in several ways, which are all interconnected:

• Fulfillment, not destruction: The Greek word for "fulfill" (pleroun) means to "fill up," "complete," or "bring to its intended goal." Jesus is saying that he did not come to nullify or do away with the Law, but rather to bring it to its ultimate purpose. The Law and the Prophets (which is a common way of referring to the entire Old Testament) were a story pointing to something, and Jesus is the climax of that story.

"To fulfill the law" means "to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as should be" (NAS Greek Lexicon pleroo), so Jesus immediately proceeded to fulfill the law by teaching how to correctly obey it. In other words, he filled up or completed our understanding of how to correctly obey the law as intended.

• The Law's purpose: The Law was given for a specific purpose. It revealed God's character and His will for Israel. It also served to expose Israel's inability to live up to God's perfect standard, thereby pointing to the need for a savior. That savior being Himself wrapped up in the covenant of salvation for the Jews. By living a perfect life and offering himself as the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus fulfilled the Law's demands. He was the one person who perfectly obeyed every command. He did not change it and He did not abolish it. God's Law that was once written on stone are now written on Israel's fleshly tables of the 'heart.'

God's way is the way to know Him and Jesus by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the purpose of the law is to teach us how to know God' and Jesus and by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.

• The Law of the heart: Jesus's teaching in the rest of Matthew 5 illustrates this fulfillment. He takes several commandments from the Law, such as "Thou shalt not murder" and "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and re-interprets them to address not just the external action, but the internal intention. For example, he says that hatred in the heart is a form of murder, and lust is a form of adultery. He's not getting rid of the Law; he's showing its true, deeper meaning. The Law was never just about outward actions, but about a transformed heart. A 'heart' transformed by the Holy Spirit of Promise Joel said was PROMISED TO ISRAEL.

In Exodus 20:6, God wanted His children to love Him and obey His commandments so it was never just about external action. We are commanded not to hate our brother (Leviticus 19:17), so Jesus was not teaching anything brand new. If we correctly understand what is being commanded by the 7th and 10th Commandments against committing adultery and coveting in our hearts, then we won't lust after a married woman in our hearts.

• The end of certain laws: The fulfillment of the Law in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection meant the ceremonial and sacrificial aspects of the Law were no longer necessary. Animal sacrifices, for instance, were a temporary means of atonement that foreshadowed the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Once he came and shed his blood, those rituals were fulfilled and became obsolete. Just as God commanded the animal sacrifice for the temporary atonement of the sins of Israel, so, too was Jesus' sacrifice to and for atonement of the sins of Israel.

Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law in contrast with saying that he came not to abolish it and he warned against relaxing the least part of it, so you should not interpret fulfilling the law as meaning the same thing as abolishing it or as relaxing the least part of it. Jesus said nothing to allude to his death and resurrection in Matthew 5, so it is anachronistic to try to shoehorn it back into Matthew 5, but rather you should seek to understand what Jesus meant in the way that his audience would have understood him. In Galatians 6:2 bearing one another's burdens fulfills the Law of Christ, yet you do not consistently interpret that as meaning that is is no longer necessary. The only way that God's laws can be temporary is if what they reveal about how to be a doer of God's character traits is also temporary, but God's character traits are eternal. For example, God's righteousness is eternal (Psalms 119:142), therefore all of God's righteous laws are also eternal (Psalms 119:160).

• A new standard of righteousness: Jesus goes on to say in verse 20 that the righteousness of his followers must "exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is not a call for more strenuous rule-keeping, but for a different kind of righteousness—one that comes from a changed heart and is motivated by love for God and neighbor, rather than a legalistic adherence to external rules. A love God gave to Israel and a love Israel was to give to their brethren.

Jesus proceeded to correct what Pharisees had been teaching, so better rule-keepomg is precisely the point. God has not commanded any external rules, but rather they are all motivated by love.

In essence, Jesus did not come to tear down the Old Testament, but to build upon it, complete its story, and reveal its true purpose. The Law remains a testament to God's unchanging character and perfect standard, but for those who believe in Jesus, its requirements are met through his work, and its purpose is now fulfilled through a relationship with him. Through the Holy Spirit of Promise the Law is written and imparted upon the heart of the children of Israel to give to the children of Israel of twelve tribes.

It is contradictory to hold the position that God's law remains a testament to God's changing character and that it is also temporary.

 

[jeremiah1five]

The law had two overriding purposes:

1) To reveal that we are sinful and incapable of pleasing God. (Rom 7:13) and,

2) To be our guardian until Christ came and faith became the standard for righteousness. (Gal 3:23-25)
This includes being a mechanism for tempering the behavior of man through the presence of the Holy Spirit through common grace.

In short, the law reveals our need of a savior and points us to him that we might believe in him and be saved.

Doug

It did that through the substitutionary sacrifices in the Ceremonial Law. This taught them that someone had to die in their place for sin. The animal sacrifices did that just as God commanded it would. Every year on their holiest day, Yom Kippur, animals were sacrificed throughout the land to and for the sins of the children of Israel. During this process the high priest would take the blood from the sacrificed animal and sprinkle the people with the blood. This was Jewish Law and prefigured a Messiah who would come and die for that nation. The high priest understood this and unknowingly on Yom Kippur sacrificed Jesus for the people.

49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,
50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.
51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;
52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad John 11:49–52.

The children of Israel of both kingdoms were conquered by invading armies of first the Assyrians and then, the Babylonians in 722 BC and 586 BC, respectively. And for more than 700 years Jews were born not in Israel but in Gentile nations and as such grew up as Gentile in many families. They lost their Jewish Heritage having no Temple in which to practice their religion. It was difficult keeping Jews Jewish. But there were some that struggled to maintain their Hebrew heritage and after Nehemiah requested from Cyrus, king of Babylon to take a "remnant" with him back to their Holy Land in order to rebuild the wall and live there as Jews. Permission was granted and so out of a possible 2 million Jews scattered across the Gentile nations Nehemiah took with him a remnant of Jews (30-50 thousand) back to Israel. Soon after that Ezra was also given permission to do the same. The book of Ezra recounts those years. In time the Second Jewish Temple was built and the Jews religion was restored and the Law of Moses continued to flourish in the land. By the time Jesus was born the twelve tribes had already established themselves again in Israel.

But the over one million Jews who didn't return to Israel remained in Gentile lands and grew up as Gentile. It was these Jews and mixed heritage Jews who were the recipients of the Holy Spirit and are the subject of the Jerusalem Council in AD 50 that addressed whether a male Jew who was never circumcised but became born again had to be circumcised to "really" be saved.

 

[jeremiah1five]

"To fulfill the law" means "to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as should be" (NAS Greek Lexicon pleroo), so Jesus immediately proceeded to fulfill the law by teaching how to correctly obey it. In other words, he filled up or completed our understanding of how to correctly obey the law as intended.

That's correct. But what really became a problem was the false teaching that Gentiles who were never under the Law is all of a sudden under the Law and the recipients of the animal sacrifices for which these sacrifices as performed under command of God and under the Law was also a salvation given to them through Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled the Law - as you explained and agreed with me - who atoned finally and eternally the sins of the children of Israel just as the lamb of God and who died - like the sacrificed animals - to and for the sins of the children of Israel. IF Jesus is claimed as it is today that He died also for Gentiles then this teaching makes Jesus break the Law of Moses rather than fulfill it.

God's way is the way to know Him and Jesus by embodying His likeness through being a doer of His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the purpose of the law is to teach us how to know God' and Jesus and by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.

Those that Jesus "never knew" are Gentiles. God has no covenant with Gentiles and God never promised anything to Gentiles. All the prophecies and promises from God are to the children of Israel ONLY.

In Exodus 20:6, God wanted His children to love Him and obey His commandments so it was never just about external action. We are commanded not to hate our brother (Leviticus 19:17), so Jesus was not teaching anything brand new. If we correctly understand what is being commanded by the 7th and 10th Commandments against committing adultery and coveting in our hearts, then we won't lust after a married woman in our hearts.

Who's "we"? God's commands were given in covenant to Abraham and his seed, a people later to be called the children of Jacob (Israel.) The animal sacrifices which began in Egypt with the first Passover is part of the Mosaic Covenant God made with the children of Israel. There are no Gentiles included in any of the three Hebrew covenants (Abraham, Mosaic and New.) The animal sacrificed under the Law was temporary atonement for one-year for the sins of the children of Israel. In fulfilling that Law whereby the animal sacrificed was to and for the children of Israel. Jesus, in fulfilling the Law died in like manner of the animal sacrifice to die eternally for the children of Israel on God's holiest day, their Yom Kippur.

Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law in contrast with saying that he came not to abolish it and he warned against relaxing the least part of it, so you should not interpret fulfilling the law as meaning the same thing as abolishing it or as relaxing the least part of it. Jesus said nothing to allude to his death and resurrection in Matthew 5, so it is anachronistic to try to shoehorn it back into Matthew 5, but rather you should seek to understand what Jesus meant in the way that his audience would have understood him. In Galatians 6:2 bearing one another's burdens fulfills the Law of Christ, yet you do not consistently interpret that as meaning that is is no longer necessary. The only way that God's laws can be temporary is if what they reveal about how to be a doer of God's character traits is also temporary, but God's character traits are eternal. For example, God's righteousness is eternal (Psalms 119:142), therefore all of God's righteous laws are also eternal (Psalms 119:160).
Jesus proceeded to correct what Pharisees had been teaching, so better rule-keepomg is precisely the point. God has not commanded any external rules, but rather they are all motivated by love.


It is contradictory to hold the position that God's law remains a testament to God's changing character and that it is also temporary.

God is Immutable, He doesn't change. And as I said above and is found in Scripture the animal sacrifices were made as commanded by God to atone for the sins of the children of Israel. And in fulfilling the Law Jesus also died to atone finally and eternally for the sins of the children of Israel and this He did on the cross.
There are no Gentiles in any of the three Hebrew covenants and Jesus died and resurrected to and for the sins of the children of Israel as saith the Law.
Coupled with this is the prophecy and promise of Joel who tells the people of Israel that God is going to send/give/promise His Spirit to and for the children of Israel (Joel 2.) This occurred on the Feast Day of the Feast of Harvest (ca. AD 34) in Jerusalem where three thousand Jews were born-again of the Spirit. And now that natural Olive tree Israel through the Spirit became spiritual Olive tree Israel every day since the Feast Jews were being born-again by the Spirit of God by the thousands daily "such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47.)