Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Painter]

Where does the law end if it does at all? Had Jesus not said that not one letter not the law was to be removed, that he hadn't come to abolish he law but fulfill it?

[jimwalton]

The law that Christ fulfilled was the law in general—not just one part of it. He “fulfilled” it in that He did what the law failed to do: showed people how to live. The law was a temporary measure—God wanted to tell His people that they should have certain attitudes. He did that by commanding actions (the law) with the idea that they would see the attitudes behind them. They failed. Christ, on the other hand, preached the attitudes (Matthew 5) but more importantly lived an example of the proper attitudes (Philippians 2.5-8) as well as the proper actions (John 8.46), thus accomplishing what the law failed to accomplish. So the rule of thumb now is to follow Christ’s example. We can, in that sense, ignore the law, because if we follow Christ’s example, we’ll get the actions of the law and the attitudes of the heart. Since the law was supposed to reflect the right attitudes, starting with the right attitudes will more often than not bring about actions that are in keeping with the law. But we don’t do them because of the law; we do them because that is what godly attitudes bring about. So all of the law was fulfilled in Christ and our behavior now is not based at all on the law but on Jesus’s example (cf. Romans 13.8-10). The coinciding with many points of the law is to be expected, but we are not living by even that section of law.

But what about the Torah? When Heb. 8 presents Christ as a mediator of a “better” covenant, it does not imply that the “first” (old) covenant was defective. The new covenant was better because it offered additional benefits: the law in the heart and the taking away of sins. That the old covenant did not offer salvation does not make it defective, because it wasn't designed to offer salvation. The purpose of the covenant was to offer revelation. The old covenant has been superseded in that it no longer provides the framework for relating to God. It is still capable of providing revelation about the character of God. In fact, Christ made it clear that he came to fulfill the law, not do away with it (Mt. 5.17-18). In addition, Paul affirms that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Rom. 7.12)

So what are we to do with all of these laws? We have to approach them as revelation of God (which they still are), not as rules for society (which they once were) or means of salvation (which they never were). That means that as we look at each law, whether it is one of the Ten Commandments or a law about mildew on the wall of a house, our first step is to try to understand what that law revealed about God to the Israelites. Once we understand that, we must make a cultural transfer to formulate a general principle about what that law reveals about God to us. Then we can use that principle to try to apply the revelation of our world in specific ways of acting and thinking. It is not the ancient law itself that carries the authority of the text. Authority is found in the revelation of God that is offered through the principle behind the law.

[Rogue One]

> Authority is found in the revelation of God that is offered through the principle behind the law.

Amen