I Am Not Come to Destroy, But to Fulfil

2023-01-03

Previously, we saw that the proper view of looking at the Old Testament Law is like using a thermometer to determine sickness, not taking a medicine that will heal you. Christ is the medicine to heal us from sin.

But what is the believer’s relationship with the Law? Consider Jesus’ saying in Matthew 5:17-20:

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. 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. (Matthew 5:17-20)

Jesus came to fulfill the Law. The word “fulfil” is used elsewhere as the fulfilling of prophecies: “And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). It should be considered the same usage here. Here are two thoughts:

1. The Law points to the Lord Jesus Christ in our need for a Savior. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 18:5). Nobody would ever live by following the Law, because “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10), “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
2. The Law specifically prophesies of Jesus Christ. Jesus is specifically prophesied about in the Law. “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10).
   
   “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth” (Numbers 24:17).
   
   “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15).
   
   “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever” (Deuteronomy 32:39-40).

Jesus warns further against lawlessness. The Law still has a role to bring people to faith. What of the Law is fulfilled? For sure, at least these: “...meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:10). “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16). “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:17-18). All the holy days, sacrifices, dietary laws, and such carnal ordinances are fulfilled in the sense that we do not do those things anymore. The Aaronic priesthood is gone, as is the Temple. The Jew-Gentile distinction is gone.

However, moral laws, such as adultery, murder, and those sorts of things are things we still call sin, and rightfully so. Notice how these things come from God’s commands since long before Moses walked the earth. Marriage was ordained since before the fall of humanity, and murder was explicitly punished since Noah got off the ark. That which remains stems from how to love others. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Galatians 5:14). “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well” (James 2:8).

Here is a great summary:

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

The Condemnation of the Law is Gone

The condemnation aspect of the Law has been removed.

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Colossians 2:13-14)

Whether it would be the carnal aspects of the Law or the moral aspects, the condemnation is gone. Jesus took away this condemnation. “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:11-12). Because the Law is holy and we are sinners, we are all condemned, but Jesus took that condemnation on Himself. Our sin debt was paid in full.

A Change in Law: How Jesus Christ “Fulfills” the Law

Just because we are no longer under the law as to its condemnation does not mean that we continue in sin. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2). Being born again, we are a part of a new family. Once we were in the family of sinful Adam; now we are in the family of righteous Christ Jesus.

Moreover, the priesthood moved from Aaronic to Melchizedekian, “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Hebrews 7:12). What is that change? What is the new Law that superseded the old Law?

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 7:4)

Jesus Christ Himself is the new Law. And this Law is not over us, condemning us, but is rather within us: “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).

This new “Law,” the Lord Jesus Christ, has given us His Spirit. Previously, we could not follow the Law. The Mosaic Law only hung over our heads and condemned us. Now, being born again and regenerated, the Holy Spirit is within us. His Law may be fiercer than the Mosaic Law, as we can see in the Sermon on the Mount, for example. However, He enables us to do this new Law, for it is His life that performs it. This is how He fulfills the Law. The Shadow of the Old Testament points to the bigger picture of Christ. The Law is replaced with Christ. The sinner is replaced with the saint, or the new creature. The love for neighbor in the Old Testament is amplified by billions in the laying down of our lives for others, as Christ did for us. Everything really is made new.