The Sermon on the Mount - Jesus came to fulfill the law

Recap - Structure of the Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the mount has a very interesting structure and is divided into 3 parts which are further divided into 3 parts and even in those smaller parts, you’ll find more triads and divisions into three parts

The structure is as follows:

Introduction (Matt 5:3-16)

This sections speaks about Kingdom identity as well as who is welcome in God’s Kingdom.

Main Body (Matt 5:17-7:12)

The main body explains what Jesus means when He calls His followers to live in a greater righteousness.

Conclusion (Matt 7:13-27)

The conclusion of the sermon has Jesus presenting a choice to the people, i.e. to choose life or death. Recap - The Beatitudes

Last week we looked at what it means to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world and a city on a hill.

These three things are metaphors about being a covenant partner with God and bringing more and more of the world into a relationship with Him.

Very rarely does salt lose its taste. If it does then it’s no longer salt.

Nobody lights a candle or puts a light on, to put it under a basket and hide it

A city on a hill is not hidden but everyone can see it because it is on a hill

In the same way since we are God’s covenant partners, we should live this out, otherwise we’re probably not really His covenant partners.

part of living this out means living in righteousness. This is what the next part of the sermon is all about.

Text

Matthew 5:17–20 ““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 say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

What did Jesus mean in saying all of these things?

The law and the prophets that Jesus is referring to is essentially the Old testament.

Many thought Jesus did not hold the Torah up in high regard and considered Him very flexible with regards to keeping the Torah.

This kind of thinking came espcially from the group of the Pharisees who continued to accuse Jesus of this especially of not observing the Torah.

So, its almost like Jesus easing these uncertainties by saying that He did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them

Jesus also explains how he regards the authority of the Torah as being

The Torah and its interpetations in the first century

Its important to understand that the Torah that the Jews of the first century had was written about 1000 years before their time.

the Torah was a set of instructions written by God to ancient Israel which described who they were and why God had chosen them to be “priests” for Him

The Torah had about 613 instructions to follow

Their historical and cultural context was very different ti the context in which the Torah was given too

As a result their was various different interpretations around how to observe the Torah in Jesus’ day, or as Jesus refers to it, “fulfilling the Torah”

One group was called the Pharisees and they are equivalent to the hyper conservative movement and tried to love as literally as possible to the original commandments in the Torah as they were stated. They were so literal that they tried to apply laws given to certain groups, like leviticus which was given to the priests, to all the Jews. As a result they formed laws about ritual washings, washing of hands and food rituals which were not necessarily in the Torah

A second group is the Saducees. They brokered a peace deal with Rome who made them look like they were in charge. They were a fair way more Liberal than the hyper conservative pharisees.

So there was a lot of debate around what were the right ways to observe the Torah in Jesus’ day with Jesus now about to give His take on Torah observance.

He said that He knows the way to fulfill the Torah which was different to the Pharisees and Saducees take on it

Jesus did not come to abolish the law and the prophets.

Jesus says here that He did not come to abolish the law and the prophets. But why did he say this.

He said this because many, espcially from the party of the scribes and the pharisees accused Jesus of being very loose with the Torah.

The Torah is essentially about living as God’s kingdom of priests. this means carrying God’s blessing to others around you.

Jesus said that He came to fulfill this and teach others to fulfill this also

The authority of the bible

Jesus said “ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished”

To understand this we must read Psalm 148:1-6

Psalm 148:1–6 ESV

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.

We are sure that the heavens and the earth will not pass away but here Jesus says is implying that the one who spoke the sky and earth into being is greater than it. God’s word is greater and more sure than the sky and the earth.

an iota is a letter in the greek alphabet. Its actually one of the smallest symbol in the alphabet. Yet, here Jesus is saying that the law is on such an authority that its higher than the sky and the earth.

Application

In Christ, we have become covenant partners in God. We are the salt of the earth. Salt rarely loses its taste. If it does lose its saltiness, then it ceases to be salt. Jesus’ encouragement was for His people to live out being the salt of the world by being what they already are! We are to live out God’s covenant and bring people into the covenant by spreading our salt.

In Christ, we have also been given the light, i.e. the truth of the Gospel. We carry the truth of who God is and what He has done for us. Nobody lights a lamp and then hides it. They put it on a stand so it can bring light to everyone in the house. We must let our light shine before others by showing people that we belong to God’s Kingdom by our words and deeds.

Loving God

Loving others