“The Authority of the Word of God.”
Matthew 5:17-20
The biblical teaching of the absolute moral standards of God’s word has fallen on hard times. We continually in our day hear the idea espoused that because times have changed the Bible does not fit our day. The truth, of course is just the opposite. We need a clear restatement of the authority of God’s word today, just as it was when Jesus spoke the words recorded in the “Sermon on the Mount.”
In our study of the Sermon on the Mount we need to note how Jesus makes the points increasingly more personal as He goes along. In the Beatitudes (vv. 1-12) Jesus used the third person “Blessed are the….” but in the last Beatitude concerning persecution and in speaking of being salt and light He uses the second person “Blessed are you…. you are the salt… you are the light.” And now in the applications that follow He switches to the first person saying, “But I tell you.”
Notice what Jesus says beginning in verse seventeen, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (18) For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (19) Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the right-eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus draws our attention to two important relationships; His own relationship to the Law and the relationship of His followers to the Law. And again in examining these two things we are again going to look first at the meaning and then at the application.
First, Christ and the Law. (5:17-18)
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (18) For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”
• Meaning
When Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law” we can assume that Jesus says this because that is exactly what some of the people are thinking and saying. From the very beginning of His ministry people have been struck by the authority with which Jesus taught. And the things that Jesus is teaching are so radical that it literally turned estab-lished religious tradition upside down. It is only natural that some would wonder about the correlation between His authority and the authority of the Law of Moses. Some are even suggesting that what Jesus is teaching is doing away with the law handed down by God to Moses. Instead Jesus says that He stands in line with the law and the prophets.
But there are two crucial questions that we need to answer in order to understand what Jesus means here.
What did Jesus mean when He used the word “law?”
When Jesus used the term “law” it could mean the Ten Commandments. But they also used it to describe the Pentateuch –which is the first five books of the Old Testament. The term “the Law and the Prophets” is also used to describe what we today call the Old Testament. But it can also mean the Oral or Scribal Law. Now this is where you will have really pay attention.
The scribal or oral law was a vast collection of rules and regulations that defined how one was to apply the Law to their daily lives. By the third century a summary of these oral laws was written which is called the Mishnah. And to that eventually was added a series of commentaries on the Mishnah called the Talmads. Are you confused yet? Well, so was the common Jew living in Jesus’ day. The Ten Commandments that God gave Moses was extended to a ridiculous series of petty rules. They had amended the Ten Commandment into a list of 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions – 613 laws who could remember them all much less keep them!
What does it meant that Jesus “fulfills” the Law? (3)
The verb (plerosai) translated to “fulfill” means literally “to fill.” So what does it mean that Jesus will fulfill the Law?
Jesus fulfilled the law by living out the Law perfectly.
It is a fact that Jesus could only become the substitute for mankind’s sin by keeping the Law perfectly; that is living completely without sin. The writer of Hebrews say, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15. So He fulfilled the law by keeping it completely.
Jesus fulfilled the law by meeting the demands of the law concerning sin.
Because He lived free of sin He ultimately become the sinless substitute for mankind’s sin. In so doing He satisfied the demands of the law concerning sin. He did become the sinless sacrifice for sin.
But I don’t think that is what He means by “fulfill” here, because it is not the actions of Jesus that are under consideration here but rather His teachings. Jesus came in support of the Law – He once again reintroduced the truth that the people seem to have forgotten. The Law, the Ten Commandments, was never intended to save man. The Word of God was intended to point man to his sinfulness and his need for a Savior. It was not intended to show a way to earn salvation but to show the impossibility of earning salvation. Paul explained this way, “The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.” (Galatians 3:24 – The Message) The law was to serve that function with man, point him first to his need for a Savior and then point him to that Savior.
Jesus fulfilled the prophets.
From Genesis 1:1 to Malachi 4:6 the Old Testa-ment is about Jesus Christ. It was inspired by Christ, it points to Christ, and it is ultimately fulfilled by Christ. From the beginning of Matthew’s gospel he has taken great pains to point out that Jesus came in direct fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy.
Jesus goes on to say that not “…one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (v. 19) I don’t want to make this unnecessarily difficult, but remember that what Jesus said was recorded in Greek but He is referring to the Old Testa-ment Scripture which was written in Hebrew. So we have an English translation of Greek words describing something in Hebrew. Are you confused yet? Well I will try to simplify - a “jot” (iota) is probably a reference to the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet “yod” and it looks something like an apostrophe and “tittle” (keraia) – is probably a “serif” referring to one of tiny hooks or projections which distinguish some Hebrew letters from others. So it would be the equivalent of saying today “the dotting of one “i” or the crossing of one “t” will not pass away until everything written in the Word of God is fulfilled.”
• Application
Scripture is enduring.
Time and time again when Jesus quotes the Old Testament He says, “It was written” (geograptai – perfect tense) – which means “It was written, it is written and it will always be written.” The Scripture is more enduring than even the Universe for Jesus says, “Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35) [R. Kent Hughes. “The Sermon on the Mount” (Wheaton, ILL: Crossway Books, 2001) p. 94]
We do not have the right to pick and choose the parts we like from the Word of God.
To Christian’s there is a reminder that we are not free to jut choose those parts of the Bible that we like! One cannot say, “Well I just want to live by the Sermon on the Mount, but I don’t like all those references to the blood of Christ.” You cannot say, “Well I really like to study prophecy, but I don’t want to be bothered by all those ethical teaching.” You cannot say, “Well I like the New Testament but I don’t concern myself with what the Old Testament has to say.” You cannot say, “Well I like these things that Jesus said, but I don’t think this other things (that I don’t like) are really his teachings.” You really do not have the right to do that! We really must take it all. The Apostle Paul speaking to his son in the faith Timothy puts it this way, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-ness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Second, Christians and the Law (5:19-20)
“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (20) For I say to you, that unless your right-eousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
• The Meaning
The word “therefore” introduces what Jesus now says is the application to what he has just stated.
What are the “commandments” He is referring to? (v.19a)
“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”
I believe when Jesus says this He does not have a specific commandment or list of commandments in mind, but rather He is speaking in general about the moral precepts laid out in the Bible. And with that in mind He goes on to talk about the responsibility of the people of God to live in accordance with the great precepts God has laid out. Jesus warns that it is a very serious offense when someone might “stumble” in their spiritual walk because of what we have said or because of how we conduct our lives (Mark 9:41).
What does it mean when God says that certain people will be called “great” in the Kingdom? (v. 19b) “…but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The ones who break the moral precepts of God’s law and by either their words or their actions teach others to break them will be the least in the Kingdom.
Whether one ever stops to realize it or not when we live with utter disregard for what God says is right and what God says is wrong, we are teaching the same to others whether or not we ever open our mouths.
But those who keep the moral precepts of God’s law and either by their words or actions teach others the importance of keeping them will be called “great” in the Kingdom of Heaven. The word translated “great” here is (mega) and when God says one will be consider-ed great in the Kingdom of Heaven, I think we can believe it.
What is the “righteousness” that Jesus is calling for? (v.20)
The righteousness that Jesus describes in verse twenty is one of those verses that really disturb us. “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” To the average man on the street in Jesus day, the statement their righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees is absolutely shocking. On the surface of hearing this , there is only one possible reaction: despair. "How can I ever do this?"
But please do not misunderstand me on this crucial point – Jesus is not saying that you can earn your way into the Kingdom of Heaven if you are more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees. He is dealing with those who thought their righteousness could gain them entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is in fact is explaining in the most dramatic terms possible the impossibility of salvation apart from grace.
• The Application
The point is not the right living (or righteous-ness) is unimportant. The fact is that right living is very important but what Jesus is saying is that it will never earn your way into Heaven and the only righteousness that counts at all is that which is based on heart-felt obedience. We live the right way not in order to be saved but as evidence of the fact that we are saved.
But more to the point in our day is the recogn-ication that people on the whole are experts at justifying themselves. People have the very unique ability to convince themselves that no matter what they have done they are “okay.” Think about it. How many times have you someone say, “Well it wasn’t the best choice, but it will be okay.” Or “Yes I know I shouldn’t have done such and so, but it’s okay. It’s not like I do that all the time.”
When people excuse themselves or justify their behavior, they are refusing to recognize that someone greater than themselves has a standard that they didn’t measure up to. One of the major problems of our times is that people have lost the desire to appeal to a standard outside of themselves for personal righteousness.
But in fact this is nothing new, Judges 21:25 describes the same type of situation in Old Testament times: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." Doesn’t that sound awfully familiar? We see the same thing in our day. When there is no absolute authority or law, each individual is free to develop his or her own system of right and wrong.
The problem with that of course, is what if some-one decides that it is right to take your possessions or to kill you. Who is to say they are wrong, if there is no absolute truth? This is where the idea that there is no absolute truth ultimately leads. This point of view is known as relativism.
There is a price to pay if you reject the standard of God’s word. Because when there is no absolute truth people make up their own standard, compare them-selves to it, and surprise, surprise, they usually measure up! That’s one of the best features of your own personal standard of righteousness; it is custom-made to fit your idiosyncrasies. We could better say “idiot-syncrasies” because it is plain crazy to think we can come up with our own standard and that it is of any significant value.
So how does our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? As we have examined already, over the years, the scribes and Pharisees had come to so come up with seemingly endless, minute ways of externally living out the Law. Eventually for the Pharisees everything became focused on living in compliance to a list of external patterns of religious life. What Jesus is saying is, "I am calling you to a level of behavior that is more than just conformity to a list. True righteousness begins in the heart."
In verse twenty-one Jesus begins to apply and illustrate what He means when He says that the righteousness of His followers must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. We will look at these verses next time in a message on “The Application of the Word” covering Matthew 5:21-48.
Conclusion
In the United States judicial system the highest court in the land is the United States Supreme Court. Once your case is heard and decided upon there, there is no higher court of appeal.
In the same fashion the Word of God is the supreme court of all supreme courts. The Word of God stands absolute and unchangeable. The Word of God stands written beyond any alteration or recall. The Word of God is even more permanent than our Universe. Even though the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away, nothing from this book will pass away until everything thing it speaks has come to pass.
“The Authority of the Word of God.”
Matthew 5:17-20
First, _______________ and the Law. (5:17-18)
• The Meaning
What did Jesus mean when He used the word “_______?”
What does it meant that Jesus “______________” the Law?
• The Application
Scripture is _____________________. (Matthew 24:35)
We do not have the right to ________ and _________ the parts we like from the Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16)
Second, _________________ and the Law (5:19-20)
• The Meaning
What are the “_______________________” he is referring to? (v.19a )
What does it mean when God says that certain people will be called “______________” in the Kingdom? (v. 19b)
What is the “____________________” that Jesus is calling for? (v.20a )
• The Application
When there are no absolute rights and wrongs everyone is free to make up their own _________________ (relativism).
(Judges 21:25)
