Understanding the Law

Matthew 5:17–20 NIV

17 “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 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. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Misunderstanding 1: Jesus Opposed the Law

Jesus is not a nice NT God who contrasts with the mean OT God

Marcionism

Jesus Fulfills the Law

Matthew 5:17 NIV

“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.

Jesus is the goal of the Old Testament.

He doesn’t nullify or eliminate it, he shows us what it always meant

John 1:45 NIV

45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Luke 24:13–35 (NIV)

13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.

18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

19 “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Romans 10:4 NIV

4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Hebrews 10:1 NIV

1 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.

Application

Jesus is the hope of history. Look to him.

Misunderstanding 2: Jesus Makes Obedience Unnecessary

Matthew 5:18–19 NIV

18 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. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus confirms the importance and permanence of obedience

How should we think about the Law today?

The Challenge

If we just read this text in isolation, it seems like we should be following every single OT law

However, other texts create a problem with this understanding

Mark 7:18–20 ““Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.”

Acts 10:9–15 “About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.””

Romans 6:14 “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

Romans 7:4 “So, my brothers and sisters, 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 for God.”

1 Corinthians 9:20–21 “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”

Galatians 5:6 “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

Jesus is establishing in the sermon a kingdom ethic of internal righteousness

The next sections of the sermon are going to be an intensification of the law for an eternal kingdom

So here when he says “these commands” I believe he is referring to the commands he is giving for the kingdom rather than a reference to the OT Law which he fulfills.

Solutions

Tri-part division of the law

Problems

All of God’s commands are moral

That particular division doesn’t exist in the NT

Specifically in this text, the emphasis is on the unity of the law – “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen”

“These commands” refers to the commands Jesus is giving in the sermon on the mount

The law has done its job with the coming of Christ

There are new commands from Jesus – these commands do not lessen but intensify the moral demands of kingdom living

1 Corinthians 9:21 “21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.”

Application

Kingdom greatness demands righteous living

The already not yet again appears – we live for a coming kingdom where the world’s ideas of greatness are upended.

Misunderstanding 3: Jesus Lowered God’s Requirements

Matthew 5:20 NIV

20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus places a high – even impossible – burden on those who wish to enter the kingdom, surpassing righteousness.

Jesus will end up rebuking the Pharisees false righteousness in this sermon and throughout his earthly ministry

But even for those who are free of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees will find Jesus law impossible to follow

The gospel does not lower the demands of the law it satisfies them

Romans 3:21–26 “21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Galatians 3:13 “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.””

Application

The righteousness of God demands impossible perfection.

Jesus does not lower those demands but satisfies them.

Those who believe in Jesus as the satisfaction of God’s demands will lead lives of obedience to his commands.