“OLD TESTAMENT LAW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIAN”
Matthew 5:17-20
INTRODUCTION: (‘I tell you the truth’-first instance we find this phrase is in Mt. 5). We might think that because we are a Christian and under the new covenant, as I talked about last week in the Lord’s Supper, that we don’t have to pay any attention to the old covenant. Paul said in Romans 6:14, “we are not under law but under grace”. So does that mean the law has no value? Does that mean we should ignore the law? There are some churches that stay away from the OT altogether. If we do this we are doing ourselves a great disservice. The OT has eternal value and a lot to teach us. And not just in its stories and prophecies concerning the coming of Christ but also in its law. The OT law still has value for the NT Christian. Today we’ll take a look at how and why this is true.
1) "I didn't come to delete; I came to complete!" Vs. 17-Do not think that I have come to violate or dissolve the law; but to complete it. The Beatitudes precede what Jesus said here. He was introducing some radical ideas, things the religious leaders would not have taught the people. Some may have wondered if Jesus was trying to introduce things that would be contrary to the law. Jesus needed to dispel any notion that because he was challenging the religious leaders he was in opposition to the law when in fact, he was challenging their misrepresentation of the law.
The scribes would take what was written in the law and add to it. The religious leaders sought to ‘improve’ upon the law by adding by-laws and to the existing law so as, in their minds, to make sure no one came close to breaking the law. They thought the law needed clarifications and they, in their superior wisdom, were the ones wise enough to determine what these stipulations should be. But what that served to do was burden the people. [William Barclay’s notes on the Sabbath-pg.128-129]
Jesus was in contention numerous times with the religious leaders over what they considered to be violations of the law. Jesus had to show them that actually they were the ones who were in the wrong. Matt. 15:1-6. Jesus came to bring back the true essence of the law.
Geneva bible notes: “Christ did not come to bring any new way of righteousness and salvation into the world, but indeed to fulfill that which was shadowed by the figures of the Law, by delivering men through grace from the curse of the Law: and moreover to teach the true use of obedience which the Law appointed, and to engrave in our hearts the power for obedience.”
“But to fulfill them.” Jesus came to fulfill the law in three ways: he came to fulfill it by being perfectly obedient to it, he came to fulfill the prophecies of the OT that told of his coming and he came to fulfill the requirements for the atonement for sin-this he did when he died on the cross. John Wesley reiterated vs. 17 as Jesus saying, “Think not that I am come-Like your teachers, to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy the moral law, but to fulfill-to establish, illustrate, and explain its highest meaning, both by my life and doctrine.”
Part of that illustration came in Jesus clarifying what was originally intended in the declarations of the law. In the following passage (Matt. 5:21-48) Jesus establishes the deeper understanding of what was intended in the law. “You’ve heard it was said…but I tell you…” Here we see Jesus addressing the commands, ‘do not murder’ and ‘do not commit adultery’ as well as others. It may seem like what he’s doing is rewriting the law but actually what he’s doing is bringing clarity to what was originally intended regarding the law. The law was not just external; it was also to be internal. Sin was not merely an act but also a thought. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law and he didn’t come to change the law, he didn’t come to establish new laws, he came to bring clarity to the law and to teach the people exactly what God had originally intended when he gave the law.
2) The Law is here to stay. Vs. 18-‘until heaven and earth disappear’. The bible describes that when Jesus returns and the end comes the heavens and the earth will be destroyed and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. But, until that day comes, the law of God remains. ‘Smallest letter/least stroke of a pen’-not a dot of an “i” or a cross of a “t”; as if to say, “not the smallest mark”. You’ve heard the phrase, “not one iota” it comes from the Greek word used here, representing the smallest letter (jot or tittle) the smallest Hebrew letter and the smallest mark of a pen over a letter-which in the Hebrew writings, changing even the smallest mark can change the entire meaning so it was important to write things with meticulous accuracy. It was understood that when the scribes were copying the scriptures if there was the smallest mistake made the whole manuscript would be burned and started over.
“Until all is accomplished”. ie: fulfilled. “Until everything is accomplished”. Although Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law as pertaining to making atonement for sin, that doesn’t mean the law is done away with. We still have an obligation to the moral law-the 10 commandments and such. When the end comes and we are with Jesus, everything will be accomplished and there will be no need for the written law because then we will be perfectly observing its standards with no need to study or be reminded of them.
3) It's all significant. Vs. 19-Jesus is making it clear that there are no ‘little’ or ‘insignificant’ commands. The Pharisees made distinctions between light and heavy laws. In Mt. 28, when Jesus told his disciples to go and make more disciples, he said in vs. 20 that he wanted them to “teach them to obey everything I’ve commanded you”. Not some things, not ‘teach them to obey the biggies’, not ‘I’m leaving it up to you to pick and choose which ones are important and which ones aren’t’; but everything. Everything Jesus taught was important and meant to be obeyed. We don’t categorize in order of importance.
The Fourfold Gospel commentary, “Disobedience is a habit, and it is not easily laid aside. Hence he that is unfaithful in that which is little will also be unfaithful in that which is great. So also those who were disobedient and reckless under the Jewish dispensation would be inclined to act in like manner in the new, or Christian, dispensation: hence the warning. Small Christians obey the great commandments, but only the large are careful about the least.”
“And teaches others to do the same”. Because the Pharisees twisted and added to the law and because they had established a set of traditions that they held onto as strictly as the original law, they were actually guilty of causing others to be lawbreakers (Matt. 15:1-9). When we pick and choose which commands are important and which ones aren’t we ourselves are led astray and if we have any influence over others we are setting a bad example for them.
4) Only one righteusness will do. Vs. 20-the Pharisees were religious externally but the law was not written on their hearts (what we have looked at in the previous two weeks in Mt. 6:1-18). Their obedience was out of a sense of duty and not out of love for God. The Pharisees were not humble; they were prideful in their religious observances.
Luke 18:9-14. Jesus said in Matt. 18:1-4 that without humility we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees’ righteousness was a self righteousness-established by their works rather than by God’s grace through faith. The righteousness of the Pharisees was not established through faith. The Pharisees’ ‘righteousness’ acts were done to invoke the praise of men not for the praise of God.
If our righteousness is to surpass that of the Pharisees then it needs to be based in humility, recognizing that we cannot be declared righteous by our own works or by observance to the law but by faith and obedience that comes from the heart and it needs to be for the purpose of bringing glory and honor to God.
Phil. 3:3-9. Paul understood that in order to be declared righteous it wasn’t going to be done through the law but through faith in Christ.
5) But what about Romans 8:1-4? How can the law be good if it is powerless? Paul said earlier in Rom. 7 that the law was holy, righteous good and spiritual. He said that without the law he wouldn’t have known what sin was. However, as he explained in chapter eight, the law was powerless to free someone from their sin. The law established the rules and therefore exposed what constituted sin but it did not equip the lawbreaker to stop breaking the law. That’s where Jesus comes in. He fulfilled the requirements of the law and now, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are now able to stop sinning-to stop breaking the law. It’s been described like this: “The law is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, Jesus is the broom that sweeps it clean.”
Romans 10:4, “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” “Christ is the end of the law.” This doesn’t mean it’s terminated; it means it’s fulfilled. Does this mean the law is no longer necessary or profitable? No. Paul said earlier in Rom. 3:31 that we don’t nullify the law by our faith, rather we uphold it. Because of our obedience to the commands of Jesus we seek to uphold and fulfill all the moral obligations of the law of God.
While it’s true that we are not under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14) we are still bound to the moral code. Jesus freed us from the aspect of the law that had to do with making atonement for our sins but the moral aspect of the law is not something we are free from but something we are now free to do. Because of the Holy Spirit we now have the power to uphold the moral law. Poem: “to run and work the law commands; yet gives me neither feet nor hands. But better news the gospel brings; it bids me fly and gives me wings.”
CONCLUSION: Even though our bible lists the two testaments as “old” and “new” we shouldn’t see it as one replacing the other as if the old testament has no value anymore. We need to see the law and the prophets, not as a thing of the past but rather as a thing of the present; the authoritative word of God. The old and new testaments are not in opposition to one another; they are in harmony. In the words of Winston Churchill, “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.” We are still obligated to follow the moral aspects of the law. We need to see its wisdom and understand its value. Following God’s law means we are following Jesus.
