Mat 5:17 "Do not for a moment suppose that I have come to abrogate the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abrogate them but to give them their completion.
Mat 5:18 Solemnly I tell you that until Heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the Law until all has taken place.
Mat 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to break them, will be called the least in the Kingdom of the Heavens; but whoever practises them and teaches them, he will be acknowledged as great in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Mat 5:20 For I assure you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will certainly not find entrance into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Mat 5:17 "Do not for a moment suppose that I have come to abrogate the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abrogate them but to give them their completion.
Notes:
To abrogate or abolish
G2647 καταλύω kataluō Thayer Definition:
1) to dissolve, disunite
1a) (what has been joined together), to destroy, demolish
1b) metaphorically to overthrow, i.e. render vain, deprive of success, bring to naught
1b1) to subvert, overthrow
1b1a) of institutions, forms of government, laws, etc., to deprive of force, annul, abrogate, discard
1c) of travellers, to halt on a journey, to put up, lodge (the figurative expression originating in the circumstance that, to put up for the night, the straps and packs of the beasts of burden are unbound and taken off; or, more correctly from the fact that the traveller’s garments, tied up when he is on the journey, are unloosed at it end)
The Law meaning the Books from Genesis to Deuteronomy
To abrogate; to deny their divine authority; to set people free from the obligation to obey them. “The law.” The five books of Moses called the law. See the notes at Luk_24:44.
Luk 24:44 And He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you--that everything must be fulfilled that is written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me." Barnes
but to give them their completion [To fulfil them.]
But I am come, πληρωσαι, to complete - to perfect its connection and reference, to accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mosaic ritual, to fill up its great design; and to give grace to all my followers, πληρωσαι, to fill up, or complete, every moral duty. In a word, Christ completed the law:
1st. In itself, the Law was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good things to come; and he added to it that which was necessary to make it perfect, His Own Sacrifice, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men
2dly. He completed it in himself by submitting to its types with an exact obedience, and verifying them by his death upon the cross.
3dly. He completes this law, and the sayings of his prophets, in his members, by giving them grace to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as themselves; for this is all the law and the prophets..A.Clark.
Leon Morris that Great scholar and Theologian says,” To fulfill the Law has been understood in three main ways: (1) It may mean that He do the things laid down in Scripture.
(2) It may mean that He would bring out the full meaning of Scripture.
(3 It may mean that inHis life and teaching He would bring Scripture to its completion………..
Jesus may have meant that He would fulfill Scripture in more ways than one.
In fulfilling the Law and the Prophets He displaced them in so far that he must become now the centre of Attention : the thing signified (Jesus Himself) is naturally more important than the sign (the Law and the prophets…. The law is fulfilled and therefore it is not set aside. L.M.
See Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;
Rom 8:4 so that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Mat 5:18 Solemnly I tell you that until Heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the Law until all has taken place.
Barnes Notes: Verily - Truly, certainly. A word of strong affirmation.
Till heaven and earth pass - This expression denotes that the law never would be destroyed until it should be all fulfilled. It is the same as saying everything else may change; the very earth and heaven may pass away, but the law of God shall not be destroyed until its whole design has been accomplished.
One jot - The word “jot,” or yod (י y), is the name of the Hebrew letter I, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
One tittle - The word used here, in the Greek, means literally a little horn, then a point, an extremity. Several of the Hebrew letters were written with small points or apices, as in the Hebrew letter, shin (שׁ sh), or the Hebrew letter, sin (שׂ s), which serve to distinguish one letter from another. To change a small point of one letter, therefore, might vary the meaning of a word, and destroy the sense.
This is a moral law. A parent might permit his children to have 50 different dresses at different times, and love them equally in all. The dress is a mere matter of ceremony, and may be changed. The child, in all these garments, is bound to love and obey his father. This is a moral law, and cannot be changed. So the laws of the Jews. Those designed to regulate mere matters of ceremony and rites of worship might be changed. Those requiring love and obedience to God and love to people could not be changed, and Christ did not attempt it, Mat_19:19; Mat_22:37-39; Luk_10:27; Rom_13:9.
A third species of law was the judicial, or those laws regulating courts of justice which are contained in the Old Testament. These were of the nature of the ceremonial law, and might also be changed at pleasure. The judicial law of the Hebrews was adapted to their own civil society. When the form of their polity was changed this was of course no longer binding. The ceremonial law was fulfilled by the coming of Christ: the shadow was lost in the substance, and ceased to be binding.
The moral law was confirmed and unchanged.
Mat 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to break them, will be called the least in the Kingdom of the Heavens; but whoever practises them and teaches them, he will be acknowledged as great in the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Mat 5:20 For I assure you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will certainly not find entrance into the Kingdom of the Heavens.
Your righteousness - Your holiness; your views of the nature of righteousness, and your conduct and lives. Unless you are more holy than they are, you cannot be saved.
Shall exceed - Shall excel, or abound more. The righteousness of true Christians is seated in the heart, and is therefore genuine. Jesus means that unless they had more real holiness of character than the scribes and Pharisees, they could not be saved.
The righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees - See the notes at Mat_3:7. Their righteousness consisted in outward observances of the ceremonial and traditional law. They offered sacrifices, fasted often. prayed much, were punctilious about ablutions, and tithes, and the ceremonies of religion, but neglected justice, truth, purity, and holiness of heart. See Mat. 23:13-33. The righteousness that Jesus required in his kingdom was purity, chastity, honesty, temperance, the fear of God, and the love of man. It is pure, eternal, reaching the motives, and making the life holy.
The kingdom of heaven - See the notes at Mat_3:2. Shall not be a suitable subject of his kingdom here, or saved in the world to come.
While living amongst the Fulani people, on elder asked me is I had prayed that morning. I answered in the affirmative. Then he asked me if I had washed before I prayed, meaning the ritual ablutions of the face, nose, ears, arms and legs before prayer. I said “no, but you wash the outside but the water does reach your heart which is full of pride and wickedness so that God cannot hear you when you pray.
Pray is not a ritual recited to win brownie points, but an intimate conversation where we thank our God for all He is and all He has done and ask or petition Him concerning our lives.
Do not pretend that you are holy when you heart and shame has not been washed clean by the blood of Jesus 1 John 1:-9
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