The Law Shell Be Fulfilled (the Spirit & the Word)

The Law Shall Be Fulfilled

Matthew 5:17–48 KJV 1900

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. 29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. 38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Three Points of The Law To help us follow this teaching

The time period at which this is spoken

Christ is speaking here to His chosen nation (Israel) - The King of the Jews is speaking of or as to the Kingdom that is to come. He is speaking here to a people under law. Though the people see their bondage as to the kingdoms of the world (i.e. Rome) they seem to fail to realize the greater bondage is in their conflict with God’s law. This is not merely in the sense that they can’t of themselves keep the whole of the letter of the law, but even further than that, they are in constant opposition to the law in as much as, even when the law is kept it is done against their natural impulse -thus the need for the law. When the law is in full agreement with the desires and impulses of the subjects then and only then there ceases to be law or for the need of law.

The law is found in two parts, 1. The Letter, 2. The Spirit

First the Lord in verse (17) lays down His personal relation to the former or older revelation of God’s law. We shall note the older revelation of the law as the “letter of the law”. In this part of the letter of the law, Christ’s relation is that He fulfills it. That is to say that Christ in His perfect obedience to the letter of the law is the justice of the law or the justifier. The word fulfilled is in the (aorist active infinitive) so we know that the verb is describing the subject and thus Christ Himself is the fulfillment of the law. To say that Christ fulfills the letter of the law is not to imply that He doesn’t also fulfill the Spirit of the law. Indeed Christ does fully fulfill every portion of the law from the letter to the spirit. We are highlight a understanding of the letter fulfillment in order to remain true to context here and our context will introduce to us the spirit of the law.

Second, we see in verse (18) that the law is perminitley binding upon the disciples of Christ. The fulfilling of the law by Christ does not lessen the law but rather furthers the revelation of both the law of God, the grace of God and the life of the spirit of God.

Third, Jesus in speaking of Himself being the fulfillment of the law is making a bold statment in that He is proclaiming Himself as perfect and righteous beyond the pharisees and saducees and even speaking Himself as one with a Kings authority…thus He speaks of a time when the citizens of The Kingdom of Heaven will abide by and even teach the law in God’s Kingdom. This brings us back to our context and where I believe that Christ is speaking here of a literal time where both the letter and the spirit of the law shall be practiced.

The law is/has been thus fulfilled by Christ in letter and spirit and it shall be found the same in the inhabitants of the Kingdom

First - This ought to be an encouragement not just to Israel, but also to us. Christ is proclaiming a literal coming Kingdom. A literal Kingdom to be present here upon earth with Christ as King. Though this Kingdom is present with us (as ambassadors) this is not yet the “Kingdom Age” which is why He is not speaking here to the church (the gathered) but to His disciples as to what they had been taught of the law and the Messiah to come.

Second - that does not take away application from us. Though we are not under the cerimonial law - Christ teaching here is upon the moral law and yes the letter of the law has been fulfilled in Christ, but the law has not been done away with. A misunderstanding of this has led many to miss the further revelation of the law found in Christ teaching here. The letter of the law is not fulfilled in Christ so that man can go on to sin. That would be a foolish understanding of the law. If the sacrifice of Christ frees man only to sin, then there is no sacrifice remaining. In other words, under the cerimonial law there would be an annual/yearly atonement sacrifice/feast that would have to be offered for the sins of the people. To say that the work of Christ is nothing more that a supersized Old Testament atonement sacrifice does not grasp the fullness of the work nor purpose of Christ. The Old Testament atonement covered the transgressions of the letter of the law, but Christ fufilled the law in letter and spirit and in fulfilling the law in such a manner He sent His Spirit - His Spirit is the Spirit of the law. When the law is understood properly then it is seen in a trinitarian type testimony to God Himself. God is the Word - thus you have the letter of the law. God is Spirit - thus you have the Spirit of the law. God is love - thus you have love as the only means by which the whole of the law is fulfilled. Our application here is perhaps not that the letter of the law has been done away, but rather the revelation of the law has been furthered upon the beloved of God whereby we no longer see in the law our constraints, but rather Christ’s fulfillment. When we see Christ fulfillment we see the Spirit of the law and thus the proper practice of the law as love (as defined by God…1 Cor 13, Romans 13, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8 ).

Third - The law of God is greater to us, not. Think on this…its motivation is love for we are able to see it in the letter, spirit and fulfillment. Again, to clarify context here, I am speaking of law not as cerimonial, but as the Word of God, as what God says is righteous. To say that we are the age of grace and not the age of law and think upon it as dismissive of the law is to understand neither grace nor law. If we are not moved in our growth from the letter of the law to the spirit of the law then at our best we are pharisees always striving for more law to gain a righteousness that we cannot gain. If we are not moved from the spirit of the law to the fulfillment of the law as the love of Christ (His atonement upon the cross), then we are a hopeless people. But beyond that, if we are not moved by God’s perfect fulfilling of the law in His love for us and thus moved to dwell in that same love unto God and one another then we know not the power of the cross nor the wonderful flavor of the eternal gospel of Christ. Yes, perfect love cast out fear and when it does, it is love that sits on the throne that fear vacated.

Exhortation: Go through the law of God not from a standpoint of mere historical study neither from trying to create a compulsory obedience. But sit in the seat of the Psalmist who said, “I love your law oh Lord”. Know that you have been justified - you are not seeking righteousness before God, but you are seeking a transformation whereby you might firsthand have proven out before you the good and perfect will of God - be a light shining ambassador of the kingdom and taste the goodness of God’s righteousness and love. Our study from this standpoints takes us far beyond the letter of the law (not in a preformance sence) but in understanding and fruit bearing. We are no longer stuck in a pretend superficial aquaintence with one another, but how we think of each other is transformed by Christ. Thus, we go beyond the “necessary” to display love.

Two closing examples. The first is how we think of tithe and offerings. This will come up further in chapter 6. But this is a most clear example in my own life. Nothing is more fleshly that money and yet nothing is more spiritual than giving unto the Lord. This makes it a most sensitive issue for preachers to speak on. I believe there is something very spiritual about a weekly offering. There is a weekly confession of God’s provision. Under the O.T. law the tithe was only a portion of the giving. All together the giving would be equivalent to over 20 some percent and then you would have offerings. But that is not where I am speaking from. In the New Testament amoungst the church the giving increased. We even have discussed in the new testament not what was given but the “spirit” by which it was and is to be given. I wonder if this is lost upon us today? Not a giving under compulsion, but a giving by the spirit - not by what we understand in is the letter of the law, but by the depth of love. The giving in scripture is not as one gives to charity as we understand it now… a charity is a government recognized tax deductible cause that we like. The giving of Scriptures was unto God and His church and was thus charitable as in acts of kindness, but it was as such as it was rooted in love of the gospel which must link back to some degree of order as found in the Word. In relation to charitable giving to the church, we find the Spirit speaking through Paul to the church in Corinth to give as each man “purposed in His heart” and the purposing in their heart is centered around the revelation that God loves a cheerful giver. Have you ever pictured giving to the church in that way? Thats an entirely transforming understanding of the law. The understanding that as we gather I come with my mind upon God, renewing my relationships with my brethren, seeking the good of those around me and recognizing how in the past week God has provided and being able to respond in a way that God loves, not out of compulsion, not beyond my means, but as an act of love unto God. When we make the church simply a “non-for profit” or we equate other things to it, I believe we may miss some of that.

Finally 1 Cor. 13

1 Corinthians 13 KJV 1900

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.