Wednesday 18 July 2012

Jesus came to fulfil the law


17 Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For amen I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law, till all is fulfilled.
Note 1: Notice that Jesus said, that he did not "come to destroy the law ... but to fulfil." (Matthew 5:17), and from the words of Jesus himself we can know that he did fulfil as much as he could at his first coming, because he said, "I have kept my Father's commandments." (John 15:10). Also when praying to his Father before his death, he said, "I have finished the work which you gave me to do." (John 17:4), and just before he died, he said, "It is finished:" (John 19:30). There are some things, such as the feast of trumpets, for example, which Jesus will fulfil at his second coming (Matthew 24:31; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16), but this does not mean that he has not fulfilled as much of the law as was expected of him. Does the fact that Jesus fulfilled the law mean that we do not now have to fulfil it? No, that cannot be so because we are expected to be like Jesus:
(Matthew 10:25) "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord."
(Romans 8:29) "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son,"
(1 Corinthians 15:48) "as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."
(1 Peter 2:21) "For even to this you were called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps:"
(1 John 2:6) "He who says he abides in him aught himself also to walk, even as he walked."
(1 John 4:17) "In this is our love made perfect ... as he is, so are we in this world."
If Jesus fulfilled the law, and we are meant to "be as our master", "be as our Lord", "be conformed to his image", "follow his steps", "walk, even as he walked", and be "as he is", then we are meant to fulfil the law also as Jesus did. Again there are exceptions, such as the sin offering (Leviticus 16:15-16), and the scapegoat on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:20-23), where Jesus carried away the sins of the world. That cannot be done by us, but we do need to fulfil that which we can fulfil:
(Romans 8:4) "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit."
Note 2: Notice that Jesus also said, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law, till all is fulfilled." (Matthew 5:18). There are two separate conditions here, and nothing of the law will pass away until at least one of these is fulfilled. They are, "Till heaven and earth pass", or "till all is fulfilled". Has heaven and earth passed yet? No:
(2 Peter 3:7-10) "But the heaven and earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved for fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men. ... the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are in it shall be burned up."
So this condition has not removed anything from the law yet.
Note 3: The other condition, "till all is fulfilled", can be taken in two different ways, one of which is, it can mean "till all (the law) is fulfilled" (See #1.25). However, if we examine the Greek, ewj an panta genhtai, (Gtr. heos an panta genetai), which also occurs elsewhere in scripture (Luke 21:32), and where it is also translated "till all is fulfilled", we can compare it with other parallel scriptures:
(Matthew 24:34) "till all these things are fulfilled."
(Mark 13:30) "till all these things are done."
Taking these latter three scriptures in context, it seems obvious that they all refer to the events of the end time, before Jesus returns, things which have not happened to the Jews yet. So some could conclude that Jesus' statement "till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18), literally could mean that "one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the law, until all (end-time events) are fulfilled", in which case, the law must still be completely intact. This being so, the Sabbath day commandment must also be intact, and we still need to fulfil it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We will always live and be guided by LAWS especially God'd own LAWS

Anonymous said...

Lets face the facts which is, Every human is meant to obey and not complicate the Laws which we know as the ten commandment.