“Christianity and the Law of God”
Matthew 5:17-20
We continue this morning in our study of the Sermon on the Mount.
Last week, we saw how Jesus proclaimed the truth that His followers are the Salt and Light of the world - agents of change, meant to be ambassadors of Christ in the world.
Today, we are going to see Jesus begin to set the stage for the next portion of the Sermon on the Mount, wherein He will give a detailed analysis of the Law of God and how it had been misunderstood by the teachers of His day.
Today’s passage is likely to inspire many questions in our hearts, not the least of which is this: How does the Old Testament Law apply to Christians today?
READ: Matthew 5:17-20
I want to begin this morning by saying that this passage is a very complex part of the Sermon on the Mount.
It can be somewhat perplexing in what it says, especially when compared to other parts of Scripture.
The difficulty is that it seems to be saying that the Old Testament Law - in its entirety - applies to the followers of Jesus Christ forever.
Yet, there are things which the Old Testament teaches which we no longer apply within the New Testament church (including the priesthood, sacrifices, the sabbath, circumcision, dietary restrictions, slavery laws, etc.)
QUESTION: How are we NOT being disobedient (or worse, hypocritical) in regard to these parts of the Old Testament when Jesus here teaches that none of the Law is to be “abolished”?
Furthermore, this passage also seems to say that strict adherence to the Law is a requirement for entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
Yet, Scripture in other places says clearly that adherence to the Law is not what makes a person fit for heaven.
Galatians 2:16 “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
- So, is the Bible in contradiction with itself (as some claim)?
- Is the Apostle Paul at odds with Jesus and teaching a different Gospel?
- Is the church a place of rank heresy for abandoning the responsibilities of the old covenant including sacrifices, the priesthood and laws regarding the sabbath?
The answer to these questions is, “No”.
But why is it no?
Because to simply read the words of Jesus in this passage as only a command of strict and perpetual fidelity to the Law is to miss the point and the context of what He is saying.
To understand what Jesus is saying, we must understand the proper meaning of the word “FULFILLED”.
When we understand how the word fulfilled is being used, and the proper application of it, then we see that Jesus is not at odds with Paul or the church at all, but instead is demonstrating His own unique relationship with the Law and its purpose for the church.
So let’s begin by simply examine the words of verse 17, and then we will see how the rest of the passage fits with it contextually.
v.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.
Now, let’s ask a simple question: Why would Jesus even make this statement?
He is about to begin a major section of teaching about the Law of God, and how it had been misunderstood and perverted throughout the course of time.
He is going to say, “You have heard it said..., but I tell you...”
And to many, this would seem like He was intending to abolish the Old Law and replacing it with a Law of His own.
So, to preempt this accusation, Jesus makes clear that his intent is in NO WAY to destroy the law or the prophets.
NOTE: Its important to note that He uses the term “Law or the Prophets” because it demonstrates that He is not limiting His scope.
Had He said that He did not come to destroy the “Law” then some might conclude that He was only concerned with the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah or “The Law”.
But by including the Prophets, He is including the entirety of the Old Testament within His view.
Which, in turn, becomes all the more important when He says that He “fulfills” them, because Christ does not just fulfill the Law, He fulfills the prophets as well.
So, what does it mean when he says “fulfill”?
He states emphatically that He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them.
Some believe that “fulfill” means that Jesus put the Law to an end (i.e. He fulfilled them, and thus ended them.)
However, to take that view seems to put Jesus’s own words in contradiction with themselves.
Because in that perspective, Jesus is saying, “I didn’t come to abolish the Law and the prophets, but to end them.” --- I hope you can see that would be a nonsensical phrase.
“I didn’t come to abolish, but to end” is contradictory and redundant.
Quote: B. Schwertely “It would be completely absurd for the Savior to say that He came to bring an end to the law and then turn right around and preach on the necessity of a true understanding of various moral requirements so that His disciples would properly keep these laws.”
“Fulfill” does not mean to “put to an end”.
The word fulfill (Gr. Plerosai) means to “Fill to the full”.
It suggests a vessel which has been filled all the way to the top.
Matthew 13:48 “When it (the fishing net) was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.”
Fulfill means to be complete, to be missing nothing. - He filled the Law fully.
He fulfilled every single Law and every single prophecy.
Not one iota, not one dot was left unfulfilled.
So the question becomes, “How does Jesus ‘fulfill’ the Law and the Prophets without at the same time abolishing them?”
Jesus Christ perpetually maintains His place as the one who fulfilled the Law perfectly, and thus the Law perpetually maintains its place of authority in all of its fullness.
Allow me to simplify this:
Why are people at war with God?
Because they are sinners.
What is sin?
Sin is breaking God’s Law.
1 John 3:4 “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.”
The KJV says, “for sin is the transgression of the law”.
So, if it is true that people are still sinners today, that means that the Law is still in place today.
Without Law, there is no sin... so the Law continues to stand as the perfect standard of righteousness.
And that law has not been abolished; not one part of it has been relaxed or put aside.
And because all men transgress that Law, we all stand justly guilty underneath that Law.
How are sinful people made right with God?
By being “In Christ”.
God regenerates our heart, we recognize our sin and we repent and receive Christ.
He is in us, and we are in Him.
But why does being “In Christ” make one right with God?
Because He fulfilled the Law!
He did what man could not do; He accomplished all of the Law.
He “FILLED IT FULL” as He said.
QUOTE: Martin Lloyd Jones “Christ is fulfilling the law on the cross, and unless you interpret the cross, and Christ’s death upon it, in strict terms of the fulfilling of the law you have not the scriptural view of the death upon the cross.”
Thus, because Christ has fulfilled the Law, those who are “In Him” are no longer under the condemnation of the Law.
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The Law has been accomplished on our behalf - not destroyed, nor abolished, but fulfilled!
This leads to the next very important question: Does that mean that we can now ignore the Law, since it has been fulfilled on our behalf?
To answer this, I want to go back to Romans 8 for a moment.
Romans 8:1-11 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
You see, prior to our conversion, we did not desire to fulfill God’s Law.
Our minds were hostile toward God, and His Law.
But now, since we have been regenerated, we now agree with God’s Law.
Instead of REJECTING it, we now REJOICE in it!
Psalms 119:97 “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”
v.113 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.
v.163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.
v.165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.
This is how the believer’s righteousness is GREATER than that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
They had an external righteousness, but no internal love for God’s Law.
They were religious on the outside, but inside they were spiritually dead.
The believer loves God’s Law.
He longs to please His master.
He is not perfect - but He has a desire for holiness within Him.
He does not desire an outward show of piety as did the religious hypocrites of Jesus’s day.
Instead, He longs to be conformed to the image of Christ - the perfect One who fulfilled the Law in all He did.
Now, I know the question which some may have at this point: Pastor, what about those parts of the Law which we do not practice?
I mentioned earlier that there are some very obvious parts of the Old Testament Law which are not practiced in the New Testament Church.
Some of these include dietary restrictions, sabbath restrictions, priesthood practices, sacrifices, slavery laws, etc.
Yet, there are some very important Laws from the Old Testament which we state are still binding on the believer.
Some of these include the laws governing human sexuality, lying, greed, covetousness, murder and theft.
How are we not engaging in “double standards” by claiming that some of the Law is binding for believers and some is not?
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is the accusation which is made against us by those in the homosexual movement. They claim that we are hypocrites by claiming that homosexuality is a sin, but yet continuing to disobey other Old Testament Laws such as dietary restrictions and laws regarding the mixing of fabrics.
Understanding this requires that we understand that the Bible does not contain ONE specific type of Law, but that it contains THREE different types of Law.
Theologians and bible scholars have since the time of Christ made a clear distinction between the moral, ceremonial and governmental laws which were given to Israel.
CEREMONIAL LAWS
These include priestly duties, sacrificial regulation and dietary restrictions.
These laws were completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ, when He came to the earth and acted as our High Priest.
After His atonement was made, the ceremonial laws were completed once for all time.
Thus we are no longer obliged to perform the ceremonies which are intended to prefigure the work of Christ including sacrifices, priestly occupations and dietary restrictions.
Note: The dietary restrictions were lifted by Christ according to Mark 7:19, and were abrogated before the very eyes of the Apostle Peter when God gave him the vision of the unclean animals that he was now supposed to take and eat (Acts 10:9-16).
Consider this: If we were to attempt to continue the ceremonial laws of Israel, we would actually be ENGAGING IN SIN because we would be rejecting the work of Christ.
QUOTE: Tim Keller “If I believe Jesus is the resurrected Son of God, I can't follow all the 'clean laws' of diet and practice, and I can't offer animal sacrifices. All that would be to deny the power of Christ's death on the cross.”
GOVERNMENTAL LAWS
There are laws in the Old Testament which are specific to the theocracy under which the people of Israel lived.
God intended for them to be under His rule and to govern themselves by His commands.
Thus He includes rules for how retributive justice is supposed to be managed, how judges are supposed to operate and the role of the priests as leaders among the people.
These laws were set for the people of Israel during a very specific time period of history.
Christ, as the perfect Israelite, in Whom there was no guilt, fulfilled these governmental laws.
He who is the King of Heaven, was also the perfect citizen of earth, obeying all of the Laws of His Land.
NOTE: We are called to live under the governmental authority of God AND the governing authority of the land which we live in.
We obey the laws of our government (Romans 13), so long as those laws do not seek to compel us to disobey God (Acts 5:29).
Laws concerning slavery, judges, property rights, etc. would simply not be appropriate to apply outside of the context of the theocracy of Israel.
QUOTE: Tim Keller “In the New Testament the people of God are an assembly of churches all over the world, living under many different governments. The church is not a civil government, and so sins are dealt with by exhortation and, at worst, exclusion from membership. This is how Paul deals with a case of incest in the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 5:1ff. and 2 Cor. 2:7-11). Why this change? Under Christ, the gospel is not confined to a single nation---it has been released to go into all cultures and peoples.”
MORAL LAW
Moral law is found throughout the Bible, and refers specifically to how the faithful are to conduct themselves in regard to their fidelity to God and their treatment of their fellow man.
The Ten Commandments make up the nucleus of God’s moral law.
And it is bound up in the great commandment to “Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourself” as affirmed in the New Testament.
Murder is still wrong because it is not simply ceremonially unclean, but it is injurious and goes against the purpose for which man is created (i.e. to live and glorify God).
Adultery is still sinful, as is theft and and lying, etc.
God’s moral law stands firm as the basis for how a Christian is supposed to conduct him/herself in the world.
It cannot be abrogated, put aside or swept away.
To do so would mean to live lives which are wholly opposed to the moral standard of God.
QUOTE: Tim Keller “In short, the coming of Christ changed how we worship, but not how we live.”
Confronting The Modern Problem: Antinomianism
There are those in the world today who believe that because of the Gospel and grace that believers are free from any obligations to God’s Law, moral or otherwise.
The Greek “nomos” means Law, and thus they are called “antinomians”.
They reject the Law.
Such a teaching takes the grace of God and turns it on its head - and makes it a license for sin.
Which is in direct opposition to what Paul says about the responsibility of the Christian in regard to sin.
Romans 6:1-4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Beloved, if anyone ever tells you that God’s grace has given them a license to sin, know that they are lying to you.
They agree not with God, not with Christ, nor Paul or any of the apostles.
God’s grace frees us from the penalty of sin.
But in no way does it free us to live lives engaged in sin.
A life lived in perpetually sin and rebellion is not a saved life.
CONCLUSION
So, does the Law have a place for the Christian today?
Yes, it certain does.
Prior to conversion it is the very thing which confronts the heart and forces us to see ourselves as the sinners we are.
The KJV says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24)
The law drives us to Christ.
Then, once in Christ, we rejoice in the Law of God as we seek everyday to be conformed to the image of Him who fulfilled that Law perfectly.
The Psalmist declared the beauty, majesty and value of the Law of God, and these words I leave with you today:
Psalm 19:7-11 “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”
