Mt. 5:17-18 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. 18 I tell you the truth, 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.
This is one of those verses that seems pretty plain in meaning, but there are implications. If the Law survives to this day, we should explore how this might be, and how it might apply to Christians.
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First, who is Jesus' audience? Mt. 4:25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. We would presume that the great majority were Jews, although the Decapolis included a distinctly Greek character. Nevertheless, since Jesus speaks directly about the the Law and the Prophets, we would conclude that He is speaking as if His listeners were particularly Jewish.
Now let's parse Mt. 5:17-18 a bit.
- He did not come to abolish (καταλύω [kataluó], which means to deprive of force, annul, abrogate, discard.) the Law or the Prophets.
- Rather, He came to fulfill (πληρόω [pléroó], to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish) them.
- Nothing at all will disappear (
παρέρχομαι [parerchomai], metaphorically, α. to pass away, perish... i. e. so as no longer to belong to it) - Nothing at all will disappear until everything has been done (γίνομαι [ginomai] to become, equivalent to, to come to pass, happen, of events; universally).
Link to interlinear.
Let's do our own amplified version of the passage:
Do not think that I have come to annul or take away the force of the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to officially repeal or discard them, but to bring them to pass and accomplish them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth are taken from existence, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means perish or be separated from the Law until every event has become.
The Law and the Prophets shall continue to exist in their entirety, and stop only when the end of days comes, which is when Jesus completes/fulfills/brings them to pass.
We therefore have these questions:
- What is the Law and the Prophets?
- What is the purpose of the Law and the Prophets?
- How can something completely fulfilled still exist?
- Does the Law still have power?
- How do the Law and Prophets apply to Christians?
Definition: Two major divisions of the Old Testament. The Law, or Law of Moses, consists of the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch in Greek. The Prophets consists of several books grouped into different arrangements according to Jewish or Christian tradition. The groupings include: (a) Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings; (b) Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; and (c) Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
To the Jews, the Law and the Prophets represent the entirety of God's purpose for Israel, the foundational understanding of culture and society, the way they understood their position in terms of other nations and peoples, and how they were to regard and respond to God.
So when Jesus appealed to the Law and the Prophets it was because they are the very foundation of understanding. These are the springboard, the starting place, for understanding the ministry and sayings of Jesus. A Jew would require this. It's why Jesus explained who He is from that standpoint:
Lk. 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Lk. 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Jesus states plainly that His life and ministry hinged upon what was said about Him in the Law and the Prophets. Without the Law and the Prophets, there is no legitimacy.
The Law
The Law is the combined writings in the OT which speak of God's rules, practices, and principles communicated to the nation of Israel. Theologians generally divide the Law into the "moral" law and the "ceremonial" law. That is, the moral law is considered binding on Christians, since it communicates principles of holiness as derived from God's character. The ceremonial law, that is, the practices and rituals and sacrifices, apply to the Jews uniquely.
This distinction is useful, but not explicitly spelled out in the Bible. We would suggest that the distinction is intended to tell Christians what parts of the law should be obeyed and what parts can be safely ignored. That seems arbitrary, and a bit indulgent. Which is why we are writing this post. We want to know the biblical basis for the Law and the Prophets, and how they are relevant.
First, we note that the Law is without flaw. It perfectly describes righteousness.
Ps. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect...
Is. 42:21 It pleased the LORD for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious.God communicated His Law to the Jews as a perfect expression of what man would have to do in order to be righteous before God. Paul tells us he pursued this righteousness:
Ph. 3:6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
Paul, according to his human effort, viewed himself as having obtained righteousness. However, there was another righteousness that was preferable:
Ph. 3:7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ...
Jesus' righteousness made Paul's human righteousness worthless. In fact, Paul regarded this kind of righteousness as futile, because God sets the standard for righteousness:
Ro. 3:20 Therefore no-one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
Here we find the first purpose of the Law: We become aware of sin. The standard of righteousness revealed by the Law tells us incontrovertibly that righteousness is not possible this way. We measure ourselves by this standard and realize we are hopelessly sinners.
Ro. 4:13-15 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15 because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Further, before the Law there was no transgression. It takes the existence of a law to create a crime. It takes the existence of a law to know we have committed a crime. Without law there is no transgression. That does not mean there is no consequences of sin apart from the Law, however:
Ro. 2:12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
The entirety of the Law is summed up in Jesus. The whole purpose of the Law was to provide a mere shadow of the heavenly reality:
He. 10:1-2 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming — not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.
That reality is that sin needs to be dealt with. The Law prescribed the procedures for the sacrifice of animals to atone for sin (We discuss the atonement in detail here). The writer of Hebrews then asserts that those sacrifices were ultimately ineffectual:
He. 10:3-4 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Jesus is the reality, he is the good things that are coming.
He. 10:9-10, 17-18 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all... 17 “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” [Jer. 31:34] 18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.
Jn. 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
So the Law that creates transgression prescribes sacrifices for sin. But this all has been set aside because of the completely sufficient sacrifice of the Lamb of God Jesus on the cross. He is the final and sufficient sacrifice, no more sacrifices for sin are needed.
No longer are sins simply atoned for, they are forgotten by the grace of God.
The Law, then, provides at least five things:
- It defines righteousness
- It pictures the reality of what is in heaven
- It creates transgression and the awareness of sin
- It necessitates a remedy for transgression
- It points to Jesus as the God-supplied total answer
The Prophets
The Prophets speak of what is to come. They speak of promises to Israel and the nations, judgment against those who reject God's commands, and messianic statements fulfilled in Christ. The Prophets communicated the very words of God.
Many of the OT prophecies were very specific and related to the immediate context, while others were far reaching or even global in scope. Some prophecies told what was going to happen tomorrow, others told of what would happen hundreds of years later.
All the Prophets combine into a seamless revelation of God's character, intentions, and grand design for not only the human race, but all of creation.
This revelation points to and culminates in the ultimate revelation: Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus explained how the Prophets foretold Him:
Lk. 18:31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
Ac. 3:18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer.
And Peter appealed to the Prophets:
2Pe. 1:19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The Church is built partly on the prophets:
Ep. 2:19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.We would suggest that this reference applies to the NT prophets as well as the OT prophets. Their prophecies as well as the NT prophecies, are foundational to the Church in that they speak to the Savior and the work of the cross.
...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets... Notice that the apostles, not the Law, is part of the foundation. The Church is not built on the Law, but rather on the new covenant communicated to the apostles.
Ro. 3:21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This would make sense from the perspective that Jesus fulfilled the Law, so the church cannot be built on it and Jesus simultaneously. Indeed, the church was not built on the Law, it was built on grace and truth:
Jn. 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Without the prophecies we do not have Jesus, and there is no salvation:
1Co. 15:2-4 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...
The Law and the Prophets all point to Jesus.
How can something completely fulfilled still exist?
Ps. 119:160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.
Every word that God says is enduring and does not end. Therefore, they have value. There will never be a time when God's words will become irrelevant.
This means that the fact that they were all fulfilled in Christ does not mean they passed away. In fact, they are crucial as a foundation upon which God's plan is built.
Mt. 11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
Mt. 13:52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
A new proclamation comes forth as revelation progresses. The new is built upon the old. The Kingdom of God comes forth in revelation.
Now the focus is upon the Kingdom:
Mt. 3:1-2 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Jesus had the same message:
Mt. 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
The Law and the Prophets must exist for the Kingdom to come on earth.
Does the Law still have power?
We shall simply supply the testimony of Scripture and reply, "no:"
Ro. 7:1,4,6 Do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to men who know the law — that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?... 4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God... 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
The force of law comes to nil when the lawbreaker dies. That's what happened when we were born again, we died to the flesh and were made alive by the Spirit:
Ga. 2:19-20 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
Our death is the antecedent to Christ's death. His death ended the Law, so that our death relieves us from the condemnation of the Law:
Ro. 10:4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
How do the Law and Prophets apply to Christians?
We find that both the moral law and the ceremonial law are relevant to the Christian in at least four ways:
- The Law is a type of Christ, and He fulfilled this type with His sacrificial death.
- The Law is not voided, since God calls His people to holiness
- The Prophets give us our basis for believing Jesus
- The Law represents death, a necessary thing to being born again
Conclusion:
Though he might think the Law and the Prophets are distinctly Jewish, the Christian cannot dispense with them. They are relevant and require our study and our comprehension. We cannot understand our faith without them.
We have discovered that the Law communicates the holiness of God and how that holiness expresses itself in relation to man. The standard of holiness God requires is not within the capability of man, so God supplies the remedy.
The Prophets speak of the remedy, Jesus. Without the Prophets we would not know about the remedy.
Without the Law we would not know about sin. Without the Prophets we would not know about the answer to sin.
Is. 51:4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.
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