“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17, NIV)
We tend to think of God’s Old Testament law as a high standard of righteousness that the New Testament relaxes. Does that fit the facts?
Let’s consider Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The way Matthew sets the sermon in context indicates that Jesus is doing something massively important in the history of his Jewish people. Here, the parallels between Jesus and Moses create the setting for the content of the Sermon on the Mount.
- When Moses was born, Pharaoh tried to kill all the male children; when Jesus was born, Herod tried to kill all the male children.
- Moses fled from Egypt but returned as Israel’s deliverer; Jesus fled to Egypt, but returned as Israel’s deliverer.
- Moses passed through the Red Sea, described in 1 Corinthians 10:1–2 as a “baptism”; Jesus also passed through the waters of baptism.
- Both Moses and Jesus performed miracles.
- Both Moses and Jesus went through the wilderness—Moses for 40 years and Jesus for 40 days.
- Moses ascended a mountain to receive God’s law, and here Jesus ascends a mountain to give God’s law.
“The parallels between Jesus and Moses create the setting for the content of the Sermon on the Mount.”
It’s important that we understand this context for the Sermon on the Mount so that we can catch the impact of Jesus’ teaching here regarding God’s law. He opened his sermon with a prologue about kingdom people. The Jews believed themselves to be part of God’s kingdom because they were the nation who received God’s law and many of them tried to keep it. Yet Jesus presented a standard for kingdom citizens that didn’t sound like their traditional interpretations of the law. As Jesus described it, kingdom citizenship wasn’t marked by obligatory acts of avoiding defilement, bringing sacrifices, and keeping festivals. Rather it was marked by inward heart conditions like meekness, mercy, and peace. Still Jesus asserted that this teaching was not new:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17–18, NIV)
We tend to think of God’s Old Testament law as obsolete and replaced by a covering of grace that allows for a lowered standard of righteousness. Yet that idea runs completely counter to Jesus’ sermon here. In his fulfillment of the law and the prophets, he didn’t lower the bar. He raised it!
“In his fulfillment of the law and the prophets, Jesus didn’t lower the bar. He raised it!”
Not only is it wrong to murder, as the law dictated, but it is wrong to harbor bitterness against another person, according to Jesus. Not only is it wrong to commit adultery, but it is wrong to lust after a person. The culture of the day (like our culture today) taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason at all and needed only to give her a certificate validating it. Jesus taught that by divorcing his wife a man committed adultery (see Matthew 19:8–9) and caused his wife to commit adultery (see Matthew 5:31–32).
In Jesus’ time, the religious leaders had created their own rules around oaths, which sometimes justified lying when convenient. These manmade systems allowed for saying things certain ways to leave room for an “out” so that one could feel justified in breaking his word. Here is some context from another passage in Matthew:
“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.” (Matthew 23:16–22, NIV)
“In Jesus’ time, the religious leaders had created their own rules around oaths, which sometimes justified lying when convenient.”
Jesus denounced this practice and taught that a simple “yes” or “no” obligates us to honesty just as much as a promise or vow.
God’s “eye for an eye” civil law (see Leviticus 24:19–21) was to ensure that the punishment fit the crime—that the prescribed restitution was appropriate and not excessive. Yet this had been twisted into a justification for personal retribution, which Jesus corrected by directing people to yield to and do more than is required for others.
God never said to hate anyone, but religious leaders along the way had augmented God’s law of love with a directive to hate: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’” (Matthew 5:43, NIV). Jesus corrected this also, teaching that we are to love everyone—even our enemies. This call should truly resonate with Christians because, while we were God’s enemies, he still loved us so much that he sent Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins (see Romans 5:6–10).
“Jesus corrected this also, teaching that we are to love everyone—even our enemies.”
Jesus’ raised measure of righteousness was a correction of the lowering of the bar committed by religious leaders in order to make the standard more achievable by human will. Righteousness is not achieved by relaxing the requirement, but is given to those who place faith in him. It is “given to us and grown within us.” And by faith, we submit ourselves to the one who can set us free from our enslavement to sin, as exposed by the law.
“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:23–27, NIV)
Excerpted from Tina Wilson’s 365-day chronological Bible study Step into Scripture: A Daily Journey to Understanding Your Bible.
