Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes 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 does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)
Uh oh. Christians and the Old Testament Law. Choppy waters ahead! No but seriously—I’ve found these words wonderful and challenging. Challenge: I’m slow to love God’s law, as we find it in the Old Testament. I don’t always turn to Leviticus for my devotional reading, and the minutiae of the commandments doesn’t thrill me as it should. Problematic? Yes! Psalm 119 drips with joy in God’s law (Psalm 119:47, for instance ‘I find my delight in your commandments, which I love’), and Paul wasn’t being selective when he declared that all Scripture is God-breathed. Jesus says that God’s word will not pass away, and He will not stop upholding the universe until the law is fulfilled, in every little part.
Here’s the weight of the challenge: do we live as if Jesus has come to abolish the law? Or as if He came to fulfil it? Here’s the reason why this is worth thinking through: these attitudes are poles apart, but their respective out-workings look almost identical. In both cases, there are some parts of the Old Testament law (the civil and the ceremonial, to be precise) from which Christians are set free. We no longer observe them, and obedience to God under the New Covenant is no longer visibly commensurate with ‘strict obedience to the Torah’. On the surface, they look the same: whether I think Jesus came to abolish the law or fulfil it, functionally I’ll enjoy bacon and wearing nylon and all the rest of it. But the attitudes are vastly different.
The attitude of abolition finds the Old Testament law embarrassing, and spiritually dry. It runs away from having to read it. Its assumption is, ‘None of that matters anymore, because Jesus has done away with it. It’s been abolished! The Law is dead to us now!’
The attitude of fulfilment finds the Old Testament law exciting, because it considers it as something which comes to its climax in Jesus. He has kept it perfectly! So to read it is to look into a key witness to God’s faithfulness, a rich demonstration of His commitment to His people, a reflection of His holy character, an indictment of our sinful selves. It is to be furnished with wonderful pictures of Christ’s redeeming work, to see flickers and shadows of the Cross ahead of time. The Law stops being boring when we consider it something to be fulfilled by Jesus, rather than something to be ignored by Christians.
The problem with the ‘abolition’ attitude is that it nullifies God’s faithfulness. It makes it look as if His law were utterly temporary, something He could quite easily jettison, something which didn’t really matter. I dare you to read any of the Law and come to that conclusion.
The fulfilment attitude, on the other hand, magnifies God’s faithfulness. It shows that His commitment to this law being kept is tenacious in the extreme: He won’t leave it as a standard by which His people will endlessly fail. He will see it kept perfectly, in every part. He will see it obeyed in full. He will see it delighted in. That is why Jesus Christ’s active obedience was so crucial. The law matters to our Holy God, and He will not see it abolished at a whim. Rather, He will see it fulfilled.
And I’m struck by the wonderful balance that God’s work brings. On the one hand, Jesus’ words save us from legalism—from a crushing obligation to keep the letter of the law for our own righteousness. The truth is that the law must be fulfilled, but we’re not the ones to do it. In what must be the most grandiose words ever spoken by a human being (but no ordinary human being), Jesus claims that He has come to fulfil the law. And in Him, and His perfect fulfilment of the law, and obedience to it, we find the righteousness which exceeds that of any scribe or Pharisee. And by that, we have entry into the kingdom of heaven.
But on the other hand, we’re saved from antinominianism—from lawlessness—as well! The law is fulfilled by Jesus, and we receive the benefit of that by repentance of sin and faith in Him. But when we put our faith in Him, we find ourselves following a King who calls us to live for Him. And the obedience to which He calls us is far more radical than what Moses put forward! So Christians aren’t exempt from obedience to Jesus just because we’re exempt from keeping every jot and tittle of Old Testament law.
It’s a remarkable balance: I can have assurance that God will welcome me into His Kingdom, because the law has been kept perfectly and fulfilled. Why? Nothing to do with my law-keeping—all because of Jesus! But as well as assurance, I have every incentive to obey—again, because of Jesus, who saved me and has made me His very own!
Just to finish: if I take Jesus at His word—that He has not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it—and enjoy the benefits He wins by faith in Him, what will my attitude to the law be when I read it?
1. Gratitude! Its demands are great, but Jesus has met them perfectly.
2. Excitement! That’s too weak a word. What I mean is: the delight of being where I am in history, and seeing the plan worked out in Jesus, shapes my reading of the Old Testament, teaching me the extent of God’s faithfulness and love.
3. Zeal! These are shadows of what I have in Jesus. If God expected obedience under the Old Covenant’s shadows, can I seek to obey Him less when I have the clarity and joy of the New Covenant?
4. Recognition. These words are for me. They aren’t something for me to ignore. They haven’t been abolished. But they have been fulfilled.
Niv's Reflections 