Matthew 5:17-20 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. The Jews of our Lord's day expected that Messiah would dignify the Law and verify the prophets. In this they were correct, but they were utterly mistaken as to the manner in which these things were to take effect. The scribes and Pharisees, therefore, disputed the claims of Jesus to be the Christ because he reprobated the traditions of the elders, which they had strangely confounded with the Law; and because he did not establish a secular kingdom according to their misinterpretation of the prophets. Christ here vindicates himself against these errors. But - I. HOW DID JESUS FULFIL THE LAW IN ITS ORDINANCES? 1. Has he not released us from these? (1) In the letter, certainly. This is clearly the doctrine of Paul (see Ephesians 2:14, 15; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 9:10). (2) There is an end, then, to the obligation to offer animal sacrifices, to perform Levitical lustrations, to observe the ceremonial sabbaths, to submit to circumcision. (3) Jesus did not formally abolish these, but left them to dissolve of themselves. The synagogue became gradually converted into the Christian church. The sabbath of the seventh day became merged in that of the first. Gentiles coming into the Church led to altered views respecting circumcision, meats, and purifications. Secondary things are regulated by great principles. Luther struck at the root of all the errors of the apostasy by preaching justification by faith. 2. He has released us by fuelling them. (1) He is the End of the Law. He stands forth as the all-comprehensive Sacrifice of the Law. As the one great High Priest. His baptism of the Spirit is the one great purification. (2) The ordinances of the Law, though now no longer followed, are read in their fuller meaning. The face of Moses shines again in the glory of the gospel. (3) The ordinances now fulfil the very end for which they were given. The Law was never intended to be against the promise. The perversity of men made it so. It was instituted to be a "schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." It serves that end better now than formerly. II. HOW DID JESUS FULFIL THE LAW IN ITS MORALS? 1. By personal obedience to its requirements. (1) In assuming our nature he was made under the Law (Galatians 4:4). Innocent in his birth as Adam was in his creation. (2) He fulfilled all righteousness. That even of the dispensation of John (see Matthew 3:15). (3) He became obedient unto death. To the end of his trial. Vicariously. Therein he magnified the severity of the righteousness of the Law. 2. By vindicating it in his teaching (1) The word נמר "to fulfil," among the rabbins, also signifies to teach. Does not Paul use the word to fulfil in the sense of to teach in Colossians 1:25? (2) In his teaching Jesus vindicated the Law from the glosses of the elders. To the "jot and tittle" he maintained the integrity of the inspired Word against the traditions which would make it void. He required perfect obedience to the least commandment in order to admission into the expected "kingdom." (3) He asserted the Law even to the motives of the heart. This was against the elders who held that the thoughts of the heart were not sinful. So Kimchi, on Psalm 66:18, contradicts the very letter thus: "He will not impute it to me for sin; for God does not look upon an evil thought as sin, unless against God or religion." (4) He declared that the evil of sin does not terminate in the act. It is entailed by transmission. It spreads by example. Who breaks the Law" teaches" others to break it. The sinner also advocates sin. He attempts to extenuate its enormity. (5) Jesus magnified the Law by showing its universality. The interest of the Gentiles in it was nothing new (see Genesis 12:3). It was, however, for ages overlooked. Gentile believers and Jewish saints are declared to be fellow-heirs. 3. By enabling his servants to fulfil it. (1) They are justified in his blood. Freed from the curse of the Law through his vicarious suffering. (2) They are regenerated by his Spirit. Brought into sympathy with its holy precepts. (3) He puts his Holy Spirit within them. By this blessed Helper they "walk in his statutes and keep his judgments, and do them' (see Ezekiel 36:25-27). III. HOW DID JESUS FULFIL THE PROPHETS? 1. The prophets were expositions of the Law. (1) They brought out its spirit. (2) Their predictions were but amplifications of the Law-types. So the Law is said to prophesy with the prophets (see Matthew 11:13). (3) Jesus is the greatest of the prophets. He not only verified by fulfilment in himself many of their predictions, but enlarged upon the rest. His promises, threatenings, miracles, and parables were all prophecies. He, more than all his predecessors, opened the spirituality of the Law. 2. Jesus vindicated the prophets from the scribes. (1) The traditional theory of Messiah's kingdom was that it should be ostensible and secular. The Jews, therefore, hoped not only to be delivered from the Romans, but to rule the Gentile world with a rod of iron. (2) This theory was a libel upon the prophets. It would encourage in the Jews the bad passions of pride, resentment, and cruelty. It would bring the Gentiles under oppression inconsistent with the prophetic anticipation of universal happiness. (3) Jesus made the kingdom spiritual and invisible; and its glory righteousness and mercy. 3. Jesus vindicated the prophets from the Pharisees. (1) He refused their righteousness. "Pharisee" - פרש, separate, "not as others." Pride. They "cleansed the outside." The righteousness of the kingdom is "truth in the inward parts." (2) He refused their beneficence. They were scrupulous in paying the tithes. They loved the praise of men. The beneficence of the kingdom seeks praise of God. (3) He refused their piety. They went up to pray, but there was no prayer in it. "1 thank thee," etc. They fasted on Mondays and Thursdays with disfigured faces. The piety of the kingdom is rational and manly. (4) Sincerity is no substitute for truth. Many Pharisees are hypocrites. All were not so. Saul of Tarsus was sincere as a Pharisee (see Acts 23:1; Philippians 3:5, 6; 1 Timothy 1:13). Error as well as wilful sin stands in need of mercy. - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. |
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