“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill 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 Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 5:17:20
Just got home late last night from spending most of the day in the gallery of the Texas State capitol building. They were debating and voting on the passage of SB5 which limited late term abortions due to new research showing that babies at 5 months gestation do experience severe pain.
Watching our judicial process at work.. was a little overwhelming. The law is a massive thing.. and not changed quickly or easily. It is a weighty thing indeed. Thanking the Lord the bill passed the House.. but praying it makes it all the way into law.
Until this week, after looking up the commentaries on this verse, I never understood this passage. But now it makes perfect sense.
The Lord has been showing people up to this point in Matthew, that we are now free from the law of sin and death by not showing respect to the ‘ceremonial’ law or traditions of men which has caused him to appear a ‘law breaker’.
But as Barnes said.. ceremonial law is of no importance. It’s just traditions of men. We, as Christians, have no responsibility to obey ceremonial law.
And as the Lord says here, he did come to fulfill the law.. and he completly fulfilled and satisfied the ‘judicial law’. We, by rights, were until his death and ressurection, required to obey the moral laws of God (The ten commandments) or suffer the penalty..death. But the Lord fulfilled and paid our debt to the ‘judicial law’. That’s why we are ‘no longer under the law’. We are no longer required to obey God’s laws perfectly.. as of course we cannot. Jesus did that for us.
But the reason for the REST of Matt. 5,6,7 is to show .. that we are expected.. out of a heart of love.. and by his grace to obey the law.. not just in the letter.. but from the heart.. to love our enemies.. to turn the other cheek.. not even to think immoral thoughts..
We don’t just obey the ‘ten commandments’.
We are to delight in obedience as a
demonstration of our love for the Lord.
The epistles describe at length what our obedience should look like.. after showing us the source of our strength to do so.. the Holy Spirit’s filling.. the word working in our hearts and lives, transforming us so that truly our ‘righteousness’ which comes from a clean heart (cleaned by Christ) far surpasses anything the Pharisees could have attained. They were legalists.. .obeying only the letter of the law.
We are born again.. and obey God’s MORAL law from the heart.. through the strength of Christ’s life living through us. We die to sin.. mortify the deeds of the flesh.. and are able to live victoriously.. all as love servants of the Lord.
No one is free to ignore or disobey the moral law. That was the part I did not understand. And it’s why we are not to break even the smallest part of the moral law or teach others to do so. No we cannot obey perfectly… nor do we need to. We are already saved .. Jesus righteousness has been imputed to us.
But.. sin has consequences.. and we and those we love will be affected by them. Jesus describes the balance so beautifully.. by ourselves we can do nothing.. but through abiding in Christ.. being sancitfied .. we can do everything.
And when we sin.. which of course we will.. we simply ask forgiveness.. as He is faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
As Jesus said, If you love me.. you will obey my commands. John14:15 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
