Chapter 11, The Law and the Gospel, The Reformed Reader

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Law and the Savior

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law
or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy
but to fulfill." (Matt. 5:17)

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (Matt. 5-7) expresses our Lord's relationship to the law. Any careful study of this sermon of all sermons should conclude that Jesus was not abrogating or changing the moral standard of righteousness. That is clear from His words in Matthew 5:17-20.

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 'For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Far from doing away with the law, Jesus is restoring its true and spiritual meaning, which the scribes and Pharisees have

lost. Speaking of the whole Old Testament (apparently) in verse 18, the commandments in verse 19, and His main theme of righteousness in 5:20, Jesus draws two important conclusions: (1) He passionately denies that His ethical teaching is in opposition to, or at variance with, the moral system of the Old Testament. His teaching agrees perfectly with the moral commandments of the law and the prophets. (2) He emphasizes that the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees is so erroneous that anyone who does not rise above their ethical standard will surely not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our Lord's teaching in this immortal sermon does not drive a wedge between the Old and the New Testaments, as many modem teachers do. He did not come to annul, abrogate, improve, destroy, or make void the righteousness of the law and the prophets.

That is further established by the fact that Jesus and His apostles constantly appealed to the Old Testament Scriptures to prove and buttress their teaching. If all the Old Testament quotations were removed from the New Testament, it would be much shorter. (For example, see what would happen if all Old Testament allusions were omitted from the book of Romans, where we have the best of the apostle Paul's theology.)

Jesus did not come to destroy the law. He came to explain it even to expand its application. That very fact proves that it remains relevant today. Yet, religious teachers continue to stumble over the relationship of Christ and the law, of grace and the law, as did the religious leaders of Jesus' day.

The Scribes'and Pharisees' Misuse of the Law

There were three fundamental ways in which the scribes and Phatisees perverted true religion.

• They were more interested in details than principles.
• They were more interested in outward appearance than inner motives.
• They were more interested in doing than being.

In addressing these errors, Jesus had a perfect opportunity to discard the law had He wanted to. But the remedy to Pharisaic legalism was not to annul the law, for the problem was not the law itself, but its misuse. Jesus answers this distortion of the law with five assertions.

• He did not come to destroy the law (v. 17).
• He came to fulfill the law (v. 17).
• The moral law is a perpetual obligation, outlasting heaven and earth (v. 18).
• He who breaks the least of the commandments, and teaches others to do so, shall suffer loss (v.
19).
• He who obeys and teaches others to obey will be rewarded, called great in the kingdom of God
(v. 19).

The Law of the Lord Versus Traditions of Men
If Jesus is not opposing the law itself in this sermon, then what problem is He addressing? A very crucial recurring phrase in Matthew 5:21-44 is the words, 'You have heard that it was said" or "it has been said," to which Jesus responds, 'But I say..." (see vv. 21-22; 27-28; 31-32; 33-34; 38-39; 43-44). Notice, the passage does not first say "the commandments say." It does not contrast what the law says with what Jesus says. It contrasts what "you have heard" with what "I say."

Jesus is contrasting the prevalent, erroneous teaching on the law with His true, full understanding of it. Where have the people heard what they have been wrongly taught? They have heard it from religious leaders who are preoccupied with minute details and outward actions, at the expense of central principles, inner motives, and true spirituality.

The scribes and Pharisees were well acquainted with the Old Testament Scriptures. But they had explained the Scriptures away by their traditions. They were so occupied with the mere appearance of godliness that they missed the central point of the revelation given to them: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life' (John 5:39-40). That is why Jesus said to them,

"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men-the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." And He said to them, 'All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition." (Mark 7:6-9)

Heart Religion Versus Externalism
What was the problem with the scribes' and Ilharisees' inter- pretation of the commandments? Their basic error was that they missed the meaning of the tenth commandment as it ap- plies to all the others. The tenth commandment deals with the heart, as well as with externals. Exodus 20:17 teaches the in- temal meaning of the rest of the conunandments- "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neigh- bor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."

Likewise,,in Matthew 5:22-46, the Lord is showing that the commandments are more than external. They go to the heart. Christianity is a heart religion, and if the heart is right, the extemal conduct will be right. After all, where does murder begin? Where does adultery begin? Jesus tells us in Mark 7:21-23: 'For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. AU these evil things come from within and deffle a man."

Jesus is seeking to correct externalism, legalism, and phari- saism. Though the Pharisees knew and taught the law, they missed the fact that the law is spiritual (Rom. 7:14). As we have noted earlier, it was the tenth commandment that revealed Paul's sin to him and led to his conversion: "I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet" (Rom. 7:7).

Throughout Matthew 5 Jesus is seeking to restore the real meaning of the moral law when He says repeatedly, 'But I say...' (see vv. ??, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44). The law in the hand of Christ has a merciful administration. Jesus' dealings with the adulteress woman in John 8 is a good example of His blending mercy with the law.

Destruction Versus Fulfilling of the Law
We also learn from this passage that Jesus is seeking to correct the false opinions that the religious leaders have concerning His approach to the law: 'I did not come to destroy [the law] but to fulfill" (v. 17). By their perverted teaching and slavish attachments to their traditions, the Pharisees have cast Jesus as a deceiver who seeks to overthrow the whole law. They have sought to put questions in peoples' minds, such as: Does He really believe the Scriptures? Is His teaching new? Is He saying that there is some new way to God? Is He turning His back on our past all our history, our laws, and our traditions? Has He come to do away with the Scriptures and the law?

Jesus counters by appealing to three realities:

• The very purpose of His coming not to destroy but to fulfill the law (vV. 17-18).
• The very nature of the law that it will not pass away, though heaven and earth pass away (vv.
18-19).
• The very nature of the kingdom of heaven (v. 19) and the scope of His ministry (v. 20) true
righteousness, not religious sentimentalism or sanctimonious hypocrisy

Throughout Matthew 5:17-20, two principles come to the foreground: (1) Jesus' teaching is in perfect harmony with the Old Testament (vv. 17-18). (2) His teaching is in complete disharmony with the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees.

Verses 17-18 begin a new section with the words, 'Do not think that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulilled." This is one of the most stupendous claims our Lord ever made. Think of it everything in all the law and all the prophets culminated in Him. In these two verses our Lord puts His seat of authority and His imprimatur on the whole Old Testament.

Verses 17-19 have been the focus of three erroneous views:

• That all Jesus did was to continue the Old Testament duties.
• That He abolished the law completely and brought grace instead of law. The teachers of this
   error set up an antithesis between the Old and New Testaments between Moses and Christ.
• That the sermon has nothing to do with Christianity today. It is for the kingdom age. This is the
   dispensational view or at least was; dispensationalism is changing so much, like a moving target,
   that one cannot be quite sure what it teaches.

In order to understand this crucial passage, it is necessary to have a clear idea of what its key terms mean, terms such as destroy, law, prophets, and especially fulfill.

"Destroy"

From several translations, we learn that "destroy" in verse 17 can mean "dissolve" or "abrogate"' or "undo" or "invalidate" or "dishonor." Conversely, "fulfill" can mean "carry out,' 'fulfill [the law and the prophets] to the full measure of the intent and purpose.' The nature of the law's fulfillment, which we shall discuss more fully below, rules out any notion of dissolving, abrogating, or invalidating the law. Jesus' fulfillment of the law constitutes the confirmation of Old Testament revelation—its validation. Yes, even more, the law finds in Him its embodiment. He is the very embodiment of the righteousness required by the law.

The purpose of Jesus’ mission was not to repeal or annul God’s standards of righteousness, or to improve upon the Ten Commandments. Nor did He come to lessen their authority or to free men from the obligations of obeying them.

If Jesus has not destroyed the law, then the law still stands with all of its divine authority. And if the law still abides as the unchanged expression of God’s character and will, then every creature under heaven is under lasting obligation to obey it. When someone becomes a new creature in Christ, he or she does not cease to be a creature under the moral law. And if our Lord did not destroy the law, beware of preachers who seek to destroy or pervert it.

“The Law” and “the Prophets”

What is meant by “the Law” and “the Prophets”? In short, the whole Old Testament. The term “Prophets” clearly means all that we have in the prophetic books of the Old Testament. Two important aspects of the prophetic books is that they themselves proclaim the law, and they interpret and apply it.

The word “Law” in this particular place seems to refer to the entire legal code given to the children of Israel, consisting of three parts: the moral, the judicial, and the ceremonial. Because we discussed these in chapter 6 and will come back to them later in this chapter, we need only summarize the differences between them here.

The moral law consists of the Ten Commandments and the great moral principles laid down once and forever to all creatures (including all “new creatures”) of all ages. It will never be abrogated, abolished, or done away with.

The judicial or civil laws were given to the nation of Israel as a theocracy. They were peculiar to the circumstances of Israel at the time and taught men how they were to order their behavior in their relationship to others. To a great degree these laws were an application of the Ten Commandments to one’s neighbor (particularly, the second table of the law).

The ceremonial law had to do with the religious worship of Old Testament Israel—their rituals, ceremonies, offerings, sacrifices. These laws prefigured Christ, as we see in Hebrews 9—10. When our Lord said that He came to fulfill the law, it included all laws. Our Lord is here referring to everything that the law teaches about worship, life, conduct, and behavior. From Matthew 5:21 onward, our Lord is speaking, in particular, of the moral law only.

“Fulfill”

This brings us to the very important word “fulfill,” the purpose for which Christ came to earth in reference to the law. There is no small amount of difference among respected Bible teachers concerning the meaning of this word. Because of its vital importance, it warrants our full attention.

This word “fulfill” in this context means a great many things:

• To obey the precepts of the moral law in its Conventional form.
• To endure the curse of the Lord’s people.
• To verify the various types and figures of the Ceremonial law.
• To introduce that spiritual system of government of which the judicial law was an emblem.
• To accomplish all the various predictions in the prophets respecting the Messiah (Luke 24:44).

All of this is true, but it is not the whole truth. There is also a sense in which Jesus came to complete the revelation. How did Christ fulfill the whole law in these ways? flow did He, for example fulfill the moral law, the judicial law, and the ceremonial law? And how does He fulfill the law for all men, both and unbelievers?

First of all, the law was unfulfilled apart from Christ, as the New Testament teaches us. The law is empty whenever it is separated from Christ. Thus, His very coming—His presence among us—was one way in which He fulfilled the law. He was the goal and embodiment of the law, without whom the graciousness and beauty of the law would not have been realized. That is John’s point in the opening chapter of his gospel, where he says, “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

The contrast here is not between law and grace, or between Moses and Christ, but between the period of Moses and the period of Christ. It is a great stumbling block to expect from the law what we can only obtain through Christ. If you separate the law from Christ, nothing fills the void. That is why Paul says in Colossian 2:17 that the law is “a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” The law came by Moses as the shadow; the substance—the fulfillment of the law—came in Jesus Christ.

And so, He fulfilled the law by His very presence among us. “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4). He was born under the law in order to fulfill it by His personal obedience. Jesus also fulfills the law by His exposition of it in Matthew 5:21—48. There He brings out of the Word of God what the Spirit has put into the Word of God.

Moreover, He fulfills the law in the sense of accepting the penalty of lawbreakers. The apostle Paul speaks of that penalty—God’s curse—in Galatians 3:10-14.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “The just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “The man who does them shall live by them.” Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

In that sense Jesus was under the law, having made Himself subject to its penalty. This, of course, is the point of His discussion with John the Baptist in Matthew 3:13—15: “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.”

Jesus was symbolically fulfilling all righteousness in His baptism. His baptism with water pointed forward to His baptism in blood upon the cross, by which He fulfilled the penalties of a broken law. Thus, you cannot separate the law from the cross, or the law from the One who hung upon the cross. Clarifying what “fulfill” does not mean will help us to understand what it does mean.

•	It does not mean to complete or finish the law.
•	It does not mean to add to something that has already begun. The idea is not that the Old Testament began certain moral teachings, carrying them only so far, and then our Lord came on the historic scene to carry the law a stage further, concluding its use as He fulfilled it.
•	It certainly does not mean that Christ was a new Law-giver in place of Moses, or that He gave us a moral law that would supersede and replace the law given by Moses. That law was already perfect, and you cannot supersede absolute perfection (Ps. 19:7). Christ was not a new Lawgiver. He was a law-fulfiller. Nowhere in the New (or Old) Testament is He referred to as a new Law-giver. There is no such thing as an old moral law and a new moral law; there is one eternal standard of righteousness summarized in the Ten Commandments.
•	"Fulfill" does not mean that our Lord is giving us a higher standard of the law than we have in the Ten Commandments.

To fulfill the law is to carry it out, to give full obedience to it, literally carrying out everything that has been said and stated in the law and the prophets. God's absolute moral standards can never be changed or modified to the slightest extent. The law's moral demands are permanent, absolute, and eternal and can never be abrogated or reduced "till heaven and earth pass" (Matt. 5:18).

Our Lord rendered perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience to all of the law's precepts. That is why we can say He was perfect. He obeyed the. law from within His heart. With the psalmist, He could say to the Father, 'I delight to do Your will, 0 my God" (Ps. 40:8). Likewise, He could say, "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:38). In His work on the cross, He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 42:21: 'He will magnify the law and make it honorable."

Fulfilled and Yet Perpetual
In Matthew 5:18, Jesus emphasizes that till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." He thereby announces the perpetuity of the law.

In view of the law's continuing authority, it is extremely important that we not confuse law keeping with self-justification. The Bible says, 'By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified" (Rom. 3:20). A man is justified by faith, not by the deeds of the law (Gal. 3:11).

It is here that many go astray. Their reasoning is something like this: If the law serves no purpose in effecting the salvation of sinners, has it no use at all? If we are saved "by faith," is the law useless? Does Paul teach us that the law is annulled and abrogated? Let him answer: "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law" (Rom. 3:31).

Similarly, A. W. Pink addresses the question, If a man is justified by faith, does that not do away with the law entirely and thus teach lawlessness? "By no means. It establishes the law. When a sinner is saved by grace that does not make him lawless. There is a power within him which does not destroy, but strengthens the law, and causes him to love the law and have a desire to keep it, not through fear, but through love of God" (The Law and the Saint [Pensacola, Fla.: Chapel Library, n.d.], 27).

The perpetuity of the law is undeniable, but we must not forget Paul's argument in Romans 3.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (vv. 21-26)

The apostle sets forth the divine way of salvation—"through faith in Christ's blood." He sums up his argument by saying that 'a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (v. 28). Therefore, lawlessness does not reign, but neither are we made right with God through the keeping of the law.

Fulfillment of Three Kinds of Laws
Earlier in " chapter we mentioned three different kinds of laws: judicial or civil, ceremonial, and moral. How did Christ fulfill these different kinds of laws?

The judicial law—civil laws peculiar to the nation of Israel as a theocracy, which were somewhat of an application of the Ten Commandments: Jesus said, "The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it" (Matt. 21:43). First Peter 2:9-10, speaking of Jewish and gentile Christians, says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people...who once were not a people but are now the people of God."

Jesus fulfilled the civil or judicial law by breaking down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:14). Now they are one in Christ. No one is to be excluded on ethnic grounds.

Jesus also fulfilled the judicial law by obeying the principles embodied in it insofar as they were applications of the Ten Commandments. If anyone is in Christ, he cannot be judged or condemned for failure to keep the judicial law.

The ceremonial law-regulations for religious worship concerning burnt offerings, sacrifices, and all other rituals or ceremonies connected with Israel's worship in the temple and elsewhere: Any careful study of the offerings, the sacrifices, and the typology will reveal that

• Christ is the sacrifice typified in the Old Testament ceremonial sacrifices.
• He is the offering.
• He is the altar.
• He is the High Priest.

He has not only shed His blood, but has also presented it in heaven. All the ceremonial law was fulfilled in Him (cf. Heb. 9-10).

The moral law—the Ten Commandments: Jesus obeyed the will of His Father in every respect. He kept the commandments. And He died for people who have not kept the commandments. That is what the cross and Christianity are all about.

Paul sums up the work of Christ this way: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"' (Gal. 3:13).

Other Senses in Which Jesus Fulfilled the Law
We noted earlier that Jesus fulfilled the law by restoring its proper use and meaning when He repeatedly challenged the Pharisees' teaching by His words 'But I say." We have also seen how Jesus performed personal, perfect, perpetual obedience to the precepts of the law, and yet suffered its penalty upon the cross for His people—His active and passive obedience.

Some other senses of fuffiument of the law deserve mention. Jesus fulfills the law in reference to both believer and unbeliever. In believers' hearts He imparts faith so that they come to Him trusting in the One who alone fulfilled the law. His Spirit implants within them a love for the law and gives them the power and desire to keep it (Rom. 8:2-4; Jer. 31:33-34).

To see the law by Christfulfilled,
And hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.

How does Christ fulfill the law in the unbeliever? He executes the curse of the law upon the reprobate. "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

There is also a sense in which Jesus came to fulfill the law by completing the revelation. He holds Himself up as the One who "finished the work" (John 17:4). The writer of Hebrews explains, 'God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son" (Heb. 1:1-2).

A form of the word translated "fulfill" in Matthew 5:17 is used also in Romans 15:19, where Paul says, 'I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.' Just as Paul fully, clearly, and completely, unfolded the gospel of Christ, so our Lord fully, clearly, and completely fulfilled the law. In doing so, He corrected its wrong use, restored its spiritual meaning, and upheld it as God's eternal standard of righteousness.

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