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POSTED 12 JANUARY, 2010
Matthew
5:17-19:
Has the Law Been Fulfilled?
by
J.K. McKee
editor@tnnonline.net
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MATTHEW 5:17-19 ―
ENGLISH |
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Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 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. 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 (KJV).
Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the
prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil
them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth
pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the
law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one
of the least of these commandments and teaches men so,
shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he
who does them and teaches them shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven (RSV).
Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For
truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the
Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one
of the least of these commandments, and teaches others
to do the same, shall be called least in the
kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches
them,
he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (NASU).
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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth
disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke
of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be
called great in the kingdom of heaven (NIV).
Don't think that I have come to abolish the
Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to
complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and
earth pass away, not so much as a yud
or a stroke
will pass from the Torah- not until everything
that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the
least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do
so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called
great in the Kingdom of Heaven (CJB).
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MATTHEW 5:17-19 ―
GREEK[1] |
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Mē nomisēte hoti ēlthon katalusai ton nomon ē tous
prophētas ouk ēlthon katalusai alla plērōsai. Amēn gar
legō humin heōs an parelthē ho ouranos kai hē gē, iōta
hen ē mia keraia ou mē parelthē apo tou nomou, heōs an
panta genētai. Hos ean oun lusē mian tōn entolōn toutōn
tōn elachistōn kai didaxē houtōs tous anthrōpous,
elachistos klēthēsetai en tē basileia tōn ouranōn hos d’
an poiēsē kai didaxē, houtos megas klēthēsetai en tē
basileia tōn ouranōn.
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Matthew 5:17-19, which preface the Sermon on the Mount which
follows, are some of the most important verses
of the Apostolic Scriptures (New Testament) for
today’s Messianic movement. These verses speak
of the Messiah’s intent to fulfill, and not
abolish, the Mosaic Law. But what does it mean
that the Messiah was to come and fulfill the
Law? Does it just pertain, as is commonly
thought, to the prophetic agenda of
accomplishment that is realized by the Messiah’s
arrival? Or, is there a multi-layered dynamic of
the Messiah’s coming to “fulfill” the Torah,
which must be taken into consideration? Has the
Law been “fulfilled and thus abolished,” as many
people today conclude? If this is in error, then
what might need to be corrected in some
Believers’ view of the Torah?
Immediately prior to stating that His intention is to fulfill the
Law, Yeshua has told His audience that they are
the light of the world, responsible for
spreading light to all in the world (Matthew
5:14-15). The Lord says, “Let
your light shine before men in such a way that
they may see your good works, and glorify your
Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16), and He
proceeds to speak on how His ministry has come
to fulfill the Torah. The Sermon on the Mount
itself is deeply rooted within the instruction
of the Torah and Tanach, the Old Testament; it
either expands and deepens principles originally
given by Moses and the Prophets, or clarifies
some First Century misunderstandings of their
teachings. Nowhere do we see in Matthew chs. 5-7
any kind of explicit denial of the relevance and
supernatural inspiration of the Tanach
Scriptures. On the contrary, now that the
Messiah has arrived, their importance for
guiding men and women of faith into greater
holiness is only intensified.
Various evangelical Christians today, who read Yeshua’s Sermon on
the Mount, admittedly struggle when they
encounter Matthew 5:17-19. The Messiah’s
explicit claim in coming to fulfill, and not
abolish His Father’s Instruction in the Torah,
is something that they wrestle with. Much of
today’s contemporary Christian theology has
asserted that at best, the Law of Moses was
something for a previous era, and it is not
something that has continued validity in the
post-resurrection age. Is this a conclusion that
aligns with the Messiah’s own words on the
matter? Thankfully, there are Christians today
who do believe that the Mosaic Law has various
decrees of validity for New Covenant Believers,
and will recognize that the contemporary
Church’s widescale dismissal of the Torah has
not at all aided it. Some kind of return and
re-appreciation of the Torah needs to be
enacted.
Yet even while many Christians will agree in principle that the
smallest stroke of the Torah is to not lose
importance—how are we to uphold its authority?
Does it mean that Believers are to follow more
than just the Ten Commandments, and other
ethical and moral statutes? Does it mean that
commandments typically classified as being
“ceremonial” should be considered relevant too?
What does it mean that those who teach from the
Torah will be considered “great” in the Kingdom
of God?
These three short verses have been responsible for convicting many
of today’s Believers that they need
to
reconsider prior positions held about the Law of
Moses. The Holy Spirit has used Matthew
5:17-19 to convict many evangelical Christians
to return to a foundational understanding of the
Torah, leading them into the Messianic movement
and setting them on a course of wider Torah
obedience. Many Messianic Jews, especially if
they were raised in a liberal Reform Judaism,
have also been stimulated by the thrust of
Matthew 5:17-19, to take the Torah and their
Jewish heritage a bit more seriously (especially
in lieu of their possible testimony to fellow
Jewish family members, and the false belief that
believing in Jesus means that one’s Jewishness
gets jettisoned).
Like many of today’s Messianics, I believe that the Torah remains
relevant instruction for God’s people today. I
believe that part of being salt and light to the
world (Matthew 5:13-16) means being Torah
obedient as the Messiah was Torah obedient—foremost
in how we love others. Yet, our Messianic
faith community probably throws Matthew 5:17-19
around a little too much, without really probing
what it directs Messiah followers to understand.
I think it is appropriate that we take a closer
look at Yeshua’s teaching on the validity of the
Torah, not only recognizing how He emphasizes
its ongoing importance, but that we engage with
the array of opinions present in current
Matthean scholarship. Is it possible that we
have overlooked, overemphasized, or
underemphasized any of the various dimensions in
how our Savior “fulfills” the Torah?
End of sample excerpt.
Enjoyed this excerpt? Purchase
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J.K. McKee
(B.A., University of Oklahoma; M.A., Asbury
Theological Seminary) is the editor of TNN
Online (www.tnnonline.net) and is a Messianic
apologist.
He is a 2009 recipient of the Zondervan
Biblical Languages Award for Greek.
He
is author of
numerous books, dealing with a wide range of
topics that are important for today’s
Messianic Believers. He has also written many articles on
theological issues,
and is presently focusing his attention on Messianic commentaries
of various books of the Bible.
NOTES
[1]
In spite of claims made by some
Messianic Believers who think that
the Gospel of Matthew was originally
written in Hebrew, this paper is
concerned principally with the text
of Matthew 5:17-19
as it exists
in its final, canonical form.
Our attention will be primarily
given to the Greek text that stands
behind our modern English
translations.
The statement most
often provided to support an
original Hebrew Gospel of Matthew
comes from Eusebius’
Ecclesiastical History, where
quoting the early Christian leader
Papias, he says, “Matthew composed
his history in the Hebrew dialect,
and everyone translated it as he was
able” (3.39.16; trans. C.F. Cruse
[Peabody, MA: Hendrickson,
1998],106). There is no agreement
among interpreters of Matthew today
as to what is meant by Papias’
actual statement
Hebraidi
dialektō ta logia sunetaxato (Ebraidi
dialektw ta logia sunetaxato).
Donald A. Hagner describes, “Nearly
every element in [the complete]
sentence can be understood in more
than one way” (Word Biblical
Commentary: Matthew 1-13, Vol
33a [Nashville: Thomas Nelson,
1993], xliv).
The various proposals
made about what Matthew composing
Hebraic “oracles” or
logia (logia)
means, include: (1) a complete
Gospel in Hebrew, now no longer
extant; (2) incorporation of Hebrew
or Aramaic sources (like Q) or
secondhand notes of the Messiah’s
sayings into a finalized Greek text;
or (3) composition of a complete
Greek Gospel in a Jewish style of
writing.
There is probably
merit in the second and third
options, with the third most often
favored among Matthew commentators.
S. McKnight summarizes, “In all
likelihood our Gospel of Matthew was
composed originally in Greek and in
a Jewish style” (“Matthew, Gospel
of,” in Joel B. Green, Scot
McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall,
eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the
Gospels [Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 1992], 528).
For a further
summary, consult the discussions by
Donald Guthrie, New Testament
Introduction (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity, 1990), pp 44-53; D.A.
Carson and Douglas J. Moo,
An
Introduction to the New Testament,
second edition (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 2005), pp 140-150;
McKnight, “Matthew, Gospel of,” in
Dictionary of Jesus and the
Gospels, pp 526-527; Hagner, pp
xliii-xlvi. For a Messianic
perspective, consult Tim Hegg,
Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew:
Chapters 1-7 (Tacoma, WA:
TorahResource, 2007), pp 2-7; and
the editor’s entry on the Gospel of
Matthew in
A Survey of
the Apostolic Scriptures for the
Practical Messianic.
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