Mathew 5: The Fulfilment of the Law
17 “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. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is saying there are still laws and standards. Jesus is saying we are to teach and obey these commands. Right after this, he lists these commands. Here are some of his commands that he teaches straight after what he said.
Does it make sense to you that Jesus would say that not the least part would disappear from the Law until the end of time and give a warning to those who would relax the least law or teach other to do the same, then immediately proceed with doing away with parts of the Law a few verses later?
Whenever Jesus quoted from the Law, he always preceded it by saying "it is written", but when he was quoting from what the teachers of the Law had been teaching, then he preceded by saying "you have heard that it was said". Jesus was about to correct what the teachers of the Law were teaching, which would have sounded to them like he was abolishing or undermining the Law, so he preceded by saying that he came not to undermine to Law, but to fulfill, to add clarity, to fill the Law up with meaning, or to fully teach how to correctly understand and obey the Law, and then he proceeded to do that throughout the rest of Matthew 5.
A lot of the teachings of Christ are not the same as the teaching of Moses. For example:
According to Deuteronomy 4:2, it is a sin to add to or subtract from God's Law, so if Jesus had done what you are suggesting, then he would have sinner who could not even save himself from his own sin.
Matthew 5: 21- with comments
§ Murder
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Jesus tells us also not to be angry. He puts a focus on our thought processes. This is a change of philosophy to OT Law.
According to Leviticus 19:17, we are commanded not to hate our brother, so Jesus was teaching nothing new.
§ Adultery
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Again Jesus is telling us not only not to do the act but also not to think about things of this nature. This is a new way of Thinking from Moses’s law
This is just the correct application of the 7th and 10th Commandments, so nothing new.
§ Divorce
31“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
If you follow the Old Testament adultery laws, then you are in adultery In the New testament. A major change to the adultery law.
According to Deuteronomy 24:1-4, it says that a woman who divorces and marries another defiles herself, so nothing new.
§ Oaths
33“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Numbers 30:2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.
As you can see the Old Testament command or teaching is completely different to Christs. Christ changes this teaching in totally different way to the Old Testament. There are no longer oaths or swearing on something.
It’s a complete change. When we go into the Old Testament we must realise this, If we want to interpret it correctly.
Deuteronomy 6:13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.
Deuteronomy 10:20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.
1 Kings 2:23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request!
1 Samuel 20:3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
Jeremiah 12:16 And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people.
We see that God gave explicit commands to swear in His name, we have examples of people doing that throughout the Bible, and in Jeremiah 12:16, Gentiles are specifically instructed to swear by God's name. However, Jesus was not contradicting this, but rather he was coming against the practice of false swearing, which was nothing new (Leviticus 19:12, Deuteronomy 23:21). This is what the Matthew 5:33-34 says in the Hebrew:
(33) You have further heard what was said by the ancients, "you shall not swear falsely by my name" but you must pay your vow to YHWH. (34) But I say to you, that you must not swear by anything falsely, not by heaven which is the throne of God, (35) nor by the earth which is His footstool, nor by [Jerusalem] which is His city, (36) nor by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black, (37) But let your yes be yes and your no, no. Anything added to this is evil.
Jesus was saying that when we swear by anything that our yes had better be a true yes, and vice versa. The issue was that verses like Leviticus 19:12, which prohibited swearing falsely in God's name had been twisted to imply that if they were permitted to swear falsely when they didn't swear in God's name (Matthew 23:16-20). So yes, we are supposed to swear in God's name, but if we swear by other things, Jesus was saying that that doesn't mean that you're allowed to lie because the principle behind the commandment is not to swear falsely. When Jesus said this, he would have been accused of adding to the Law because it doesn't expressly prohibit swearing falsely in other contexts, which is why he made it clear that he was not adding to it, but bringing out its underlying principle, which is why he said that anything added to this is evil (Deuteronomy 4:2). In Matthew 23:20-22, Jesus said was making the point that anyone who swears is swearing by God, so he was upholding true vows and coming against false vows, which would contradict Matthew 5 if it was speaking against making any vows altogether. He wasn't speaking against making judicial oaths or oaths in solemn occasions because we have examples of him answering under oath before the Sanhedrin (Matthew 26:63-64) and of Paul making an oath (2 Corinthians 1:23) and other examples of Paul making a solemn appeal to God, but rather Jesus was speaking against swearing falsely.
§ An Eye for an Eye
38“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Deuteronomy 24:21 Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
As you can see the Old Testament command or teaching is quite different to Christs. Christ approaches this teaching in totally different way to the Old Testament. This is a complete change of Philosophy from the Old Testament to the New Testament. There is no longer an eye for an eye and so on.
The reference for an eye to and eye is Exodus 21:24-25 and Deuteronomy 19:18-21 in regard to being a guideline for judges to give faith sentencing where the punishment matches the crime. However, it was not intended to be used as a guideline for personal revenge, as the religious leaders were doing contrary to the OT (Proverbs 20:22, Proverbs 24:29).
§ Love for Enemies
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Again a new law and a complete change to Levi Law.
More examples of changes in the law
God's Law does command us to love our neighbor, so that was nothing new, but it does not command us to hate our enemies, so that was what Jesus was correcting.
I'll get to the rest in a different post.
