What did Jesus mean when he said "I have fulfilled the law"?

[drjean]

The Hebrew people failed to keep the spiritual law that God had given. He reiterated them in the writing of the Ten Commandments, and followed by the 613 more definitive laws. ALL of them was to try and get them to obey HIM spiritually, to maintain that relationship throughout "history".

The very fact that God gave them requirements for sacrifices proves that He knew they would not keep His spiritual laws (moral laws). It's the heart God looks upon, while people will not physically do all that is right, it is the attitude towards God that He tells us is most important. The idea of "inadvertent sin" is why I say the prayer ...forgive us our trespasses... rather than use the word "debts" because "trespasses" means "unknown"... offenses we commit when our heart means well.

So no, God did not give them something to keep that they could not keep, it's just they did not keep it: the right relationship with HIM and toward others.

 

[AlexDTX]

We have not been given the righteousness of God so that we will hide it under a bushel, but so that we will let it shine, and the way to let it shine is to follow His instructions for how to do that, not to consider them completed.

Of course we don't hide it. We display it by our life actions and choices. That is how we let it shine.

 

[discipler7]

If the people could keep the Law there would have been no need for sacrifices for sin.

.
MATTHEW.19:16-23 implied that the rich young ruler could keep the Law because the Lord(God) Jesus Christ did not disprove his claim about having kept the Law or commandments. Also, riches, high social positions and long lives on earth are some of the blessings of God for keeping His Law.(DEUT.28, ROMANS.2:10) His "only" shortcoming was his unwillingness to give up his riches and follow Jesus, like the apostles = he likely did not enter into eternal life because "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God", "but with God all things are possible".

LUKE.16:19-31 and MATTHEW.17:3 show a few Law-keeping Old Testament figures inheriting eternal life, ie Abraham, the beggar Lazarus, Moses and Elijah. (cf; 1PETER.3:19 & 4:6)
... The rich man at LUKE.16 ended up in hell for breaking the Law unrepentantly = DEUT.15:11, ie for refusing to do a one-day charity event for the poor and destitute on every Sabbath year(7th year).

 

[Steve Petersen]

Paul says this in his defense in Acts 25:

8 ...“Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.”

 

[drjean]

Actually, there are a few topics being discussed in this thread (which is ok with me)... the OT is about Jesus fulfilling the "law"... other items are what is the law as its written about in the OT, NT, spoken by Jesus, by Paul... what does fulfillment mean...

Jesus fulfilled the law by providing the ultimate sin atoning sacrifice upon the cross. There is no "law" for believers to keep in that respect for we are under grace, not the works of the law.

Keeping moral laws of God are always expected.

Jesus spoke/preached "only" to the Jew during his life here on earth, though at the end of His ministry, he included gentiles. This is important especially before the crucifixion as the "law" was still in effect and Jesus kept the law before the Jews, as a Jew, as the Son of God. Paul's ministry was mainly to the Gentiles, who were never under the law, nor are they now.

Paul spoke to and about the Jewish believers.... IF they were going to "keep the law" or if they were going to live by grace.... interesting topic.

 

[Swan7]

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says:

"Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to destroy but to fulfill."

So, how exactly did Jesus fulfill the law? Was it because Jesus kept the law perfectly? If the law is fulfilled by Jesus how do we now keep the law? By loving our neighbor? Discuss.

I believe He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. He kept them and remained sinless until the cross. He became sin in our place, died, and rose again. Jesus gave two commands:
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Why then did He give only two commands? For some reason I keep reading in threads the second command and the first is not even mentioned. No one can love your neighbor as yourself if one doesn't keep the first.

If you love God with all that you are and every fiber of your being, then keeping the Law and the Prophets is already being done. For those two commands are the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40

 

[Soyeong]

If the people could keep the Law there would have been no need for sacrifices for sin.

By making offerings that the Law requires people were still keeping the Law.

The law was given for a few reasons, one being so that future generations would be educated about the existence of God:

6:20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt...

So the obedience to the Law is about having faith in God to bring His people up out of Egypt, faith in God to defeat Pharaoh, faith in God to bring them to the land that he promised their forefathers, faith in God that what He commanded was for their own good, faith in God to preserve them, and by this faith that they were made righteous and were careful to obey all of God's commands. Do you think that it wouldn't be a good idea to do what your God said was for His people's own good and that we shouldn't have faith in God to guide us in how to rightly live?

Why did God give the Law?

God had many purposes for giving the Mosaic Law, so here is some more: It is about teaching us to walk in God's ways in accordance with His attributes (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Jesus said that justice, mercy, and faith are the weightier matters of the Law (Matthew 23:23), so a purpose for obeying the Law is learn about how to reflect God's justice, mercy, and faith. Jesus summarized the Law as being instructions for how to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40) and said that if we love him, then we will obey his commands (John 14:15), so obedience to God is about growing in a relationship with Him based on faith and love. Jesus denied knowing people who were workers of Lawlessness (Matthew 7:23), we are told that no one who keeps on practicing Lawlessness has neither seen nor known him (1 John 3:6), and we are told that a relationship with Jesus is the goal of the Law for righteousness for everyone who believes (Romans 10:4), so obedience to the Law is again about growing in a relationship with Jesus. Paul said that the Law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12), so it is about being trained by in grace how to act according to God's holiness, righteousness, and goodness (1 Peter 1:13-16, 1 John 3:4-10, Ephesians 2:10, Titus 2:11-14) and about reflecting those attributes to world (Isaiah 2:2-3, Isaiah 49:6). Paul said that the Law was given to make us conscious of sin (Romans 3:20) and that he wouldn't even know what sin was if it weren't for the Law (Romans 7:7), so a purpose of the Law is to teach us how to avoid sin, which is also something that we are told to do in the NT (Romans 6:15). Jesus was sinless, which means that he set a perfect example of how to walk in obedience to the Law, so obeying the Law is about following his example (1 Peter 2:21-22), about follow his commands and walking in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:3-6), about being his disciple (Matthew 28:16-20), about becoming obedient bondservants to the God that we serve (Romans 6:16, 1 Corinthians 7:22), about being set free from sin to become slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18), and about no longer presenting our members as slaves of impurity and Lawlessness, but presenting our members as slaves of righteousness leading to sanctification (Romans 6:19). Obedience to the Law is about refraining from following Israel's example of disobedience (1 Corinthians 10:1-13), about working out our salvation (Philippians 2:12), about walking in freedom (Psalms 119:45, James 1:25), about delighting in God (Psalms 1:1-2, Romans 7:22), about being blessed (Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Psalms 119:1), about entering into life that is life (Matthew 19:17), about following the good way where we will find rest for our souls (Jeremiah 6:16-19, Matthew 11:28-30), about being redeemed from Lawlessness (Titus 2:14), about bringing reproof, correction, training in righteousness, and equipping us to do every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and about what we are to do because we have been justified (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Paul shows us that God gave the Law to reveal His standard of absolute righteousness to convict us all of our true guilt before Him, so that we would see our need for the gospel.

Making us aware of our sin is fruitful only insofar as it leads us to repent and back to obedience. Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent from our sins for the Kingdom of God is and hand, and his audience would not have known what sin was if it were not for the Law, so repenting from our disobedience to the Law is an integral part of the Gospel message.

Colossians 2:17 tells us the law was given as a foreshadowing of Christ: " which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." We need the ultimate sacrifice. OT sacrifices were temporary, even the blood atonement of the animal was only good for one year.

In Colossians 2, it is important to determine whether Paul was speaking against obeying what our God has commanded or against man-man laws.

Colossians 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Paul would never describe those teaching obedience to God's holy, righteous, and good commands and taking people captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition. Christ lived set a perfect example of how to walk in obedience to the Law, so it would make sense to say that those who were teaching to follow his example were teaching what is not according to Christ. Paul went into more details about what these elemental spirits of the world are later in the chapter:

Colossians 2:20-23 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22 (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

So in Colossians 2:16-17, they were keeping God's holy days in obedience to God's commands, they were being judged by those promoting human traditions and precepts, self-made religion, asceticism, and severity to the body, and Paul was writing to encourage them not let any man keep them from obeying God because these are important foreshadows of what is to come.

James 2:10 points out, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”

In James 2:1-10, James was encouraging them to do a better job of obeying the Law more consistently by not showing favoritism, not saying that if you sin once, then you shouldn't bother continuing to keep it. When we break any law, we become a lawbreaker, which means that we need to repent and turn back to obedience.

Jesus said (Matt. 22:37-40) that the entire Law rests on the two great commandments: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus summarized the Law as being God's instructions for how to love Him and our neighbors and said that all the other laws hang on those two commands. So the greatest two commands encapsulate all of the other commands and all of the other commands are commentary or the explanation that paints a picture of how to correctly obey the greatest two commands.

But back to the OT: Luke 24:44, "These are my words which I spoke to you . . . that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."

According to John 5:46, Jesus said that Moses wrote about him, in Luke 24:27, Jesus began with Moses and the Prophets interpreting to them all the things in Scripture concerning himself, and in Hebrews 10:7, it says that the volume of the scroll is written about Jesus, everything in the OT is there to teach us about Jesus and how to have a relationship with him.

 

[Soyeong]

But they broke a part of the law first. No ONE but Yeshua could keep the whole law.

According to Galatians 5:14, loving your neighbor fulfills the entire Law, so anyone who has ever loved their neighbor has kept the whole Law.

 

[Soyeong]

Actually, there are a few topics being discussed in this thread (which is ok with me)... the OT is about Jesus fulfilling the "law"... other items are what is the law as its written about in the OT, NT, spoken by Jesus, by Paul... what does fulfillment mean...

Jesus fulfilled the law by providing the ultimate sin atoning sacrifice upon the cross. There is no "law" for believers to keep in that respect for we are under grace, not the works of the law.

To fulfill the Law is defined as causing God's will (as made known in the Law) to be obeyed as it should be, and there are many examples of its usage in other Jewish writings to back this up. According to Galatians 5:14, loving your neighbor fulfills the entire Law, so it is something anyone can does not refer to something unique that Jesus did. Loving your neighbor fulfills the Law because it is showing a correct understanding of what the Law is essentially about how to do. Likewise, Galatians 6:2 says that bearing one another's burdens fulfills the Law of Christ, so this is something anyone can do, and does not refer making it so that we no longer have to follow the Law of Christ. In Romans 15:18-19, it says that Paul fulfilled the Gospel, which referred to causing the Gentiles to come to full obedience to it in word and in deed, not to doing away with it. Titus 2:14 does not say that Christ gave himself to redeem us from the Law, but to redeem us from all Lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, and God's Law is his instructions for how to do good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Acts 21:20).

Keeping moral laws of God are always expected.

Morality is based on God's attributes, it is in regard to what we ought to do, and we ought to obey God and to reflect His attributes, so all of God's laws are inherently moral laws.

Jesus spoke/preached "only" to the Jew during his life here on earth, though at the end of His ministry, he included gentiles. This is important especially before the crucifixion as the "law" was still in effect and Jesus kept the law before the Jews, as a Jew, as the Son of God. Paul's ministry was mainly to the Gentiles, who were never under the law, nor are they now.

Jesus set a perfect example for his followers to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Law, and as his followers we are straightforwardly told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:3-6), while we are not told that only Jews should get the privilege of being his followers. While the Law was given to Jews, it was never meant only for Jews because the intended role of the Jews was to be a light to the nations, to teach them about God and how to walk in His ways in accordance with His Law (Isaiah 2:2-3, Isaiah 49:6). So it is not good to focus on who the Law was give to so much that you lose sight of who it was given by because it is not instructions for how to act like Jews, but for how to walk in God's ways (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). The Law was given to reveal what sin is, so if Gentiles were never under the Law, then they have never needed to worry about refraining from sin, have never needed grace, and have never needed Jesus to give himself to redeem them from all Lawlessness (Titus 2:14).

Paul spoke to and about the Jewish believers.... IF they were going to "keep the law" or if they were going to live by grace.... interesting topic.

According to Psalms 119:29, David asked God to show His grace to him by teaching him to obey His Law, so if we are under grace, then we are under God's Law. According to Titus 2:11-14, our salvation involves being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to refrain from doing what is ungodly and sinful, which is an accurate description of what God's Law was given to instruct how to do. According to Romans 1:5, we have received grace to bring about the obedience that faith requires. According to John 1:16-17, grace was added upon grace, so the grace of Christ was added upon the grace of the Law. According to Jude 1:4, the ungodly pervert God's grace into a license to sin, which is defined as the transgression of God's Law (1 John 3:4). According to Strong's, "grace" is defined as "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" and when God's will is reflected in our lives, then it takes the form of obedience to His commands, so it is completely false that God was acting in opposition to His grace when He gave the Law, as though a house divided against itself could stand, but rather God training us how to rightly in accordance to His Law is how He shows His grace to us. What is in opposition to God's grace is the law of sin or man-made work of law, not God's Law.

 

[Soyeong]

I believe He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. He kept them and remained sinless until the cross. He became sin in our place, died, and rose again. Jesus gave two commands:
1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul.
2. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Why then did He give only two commands? For some reason I keep reading in threads the second command and the first is not even mentioned. No one can love your neighbor as yourself if one doesn't keep the first.

If you love God with all that you are and every fiber of your being, then keeping the Law and the Prophets is already being done. For those two commands are the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus taught more than two commands in Matthew 5 alone, so he gave more than two commands. In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus was not asked which commands which should follow, but rather he was asked about what the greatest command was, which he responded saying to love God and our neighbor. All of the 613 laws in the OT and 1,050 laws in the NT can be put into those two categories, so the greatest two commands are the greatest because they encapsulate all of the other commands and all of the other commands hang on the great two because they are commentary or examples that paint a picture of what it looks like to correctly obey them. It would be a mistake for someone to say that we just need to focus on obeying the commands to love God and our neighbor, so we don't have to worry about obeying God's other commands for how He wants us to do that. Jesus was not the only rabbi who expressed this line of thought:

One famous account in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said:

"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this--go and study it!"

 

[Ron Gurley]

OP: Q: "...fulfilled the (Mosaic) Law..."?

 

[Ron Gurley]

Matthew 5:18(NASB)
18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the (Mosaic) Law until all is accomplished.

The completed work of Jesus the Divine Messiah DID accomplish "all"...the spirit of the Laws/precepts of both the OT and NT.

Matthew 5..Jesus' Sermon on the Mount...Disciples and the World
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the (Mosaic) Law or the (OT) Prophets;
I did not come to abolish but to FULFILL.

Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is FULFILLED, and the "kingdom of God" (Jesus!) is at hand; repent and believe in the "gospel".” (= Jesus the Divine Messaiah has COME to save Man!)

Luke 4 (NASB)...Jesus FULFILLS A Scripture
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written:
18-19
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down;
and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them,
“Today this Scripture has been FULFILLED in your hearing.

Luke 24:44...Post-resurrection Jesus to His closest followers...Now He said to them,
“These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be FULFILLED.”

Man on his own cannot perfectly keep God's "laws" and precepts.

James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

A sinless Jesus did on our behalf.

2 Corinthians 5:21...IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him

 

[drjean]

Jesus did not give 2 more commands but clarified the purpose of the law: to LOVE GOD and others.... again moral attitudes.

The sacrifices were given BECAUSE they had already broken a part of the LAW.... that's like a child misbehaves until he is punished and THEN he does right.

 

[elliott95]

So if the law was never fulfilled how do we as Christians fulfill the law?

In the common understanding of the word 'law' such as laws against murder or extortion or rape, the law is never fulfilled. It is obeyed or disobeyed. Law is there to direct behavior in one direction and to censure actions that fall outside of the parameters of the law.
Much of OT law however is not really about behavior. It is about ritual. There is nothing particularly good, for example, about sacrificing turtle doves, or driving goats into the wilderness, or the many examples of legal rituals that were required by believing Jews. Basically, the rituals were for purification from existing sin of the people.

The rituals themselves are directed toward a narrative, and this narrative is directed toward a climax that happens at the cross. "It is finished" means that the purification and redemption of the people from the state of sin has been completed by Jesus. There is no more need for people to continue in their purification rituals. Temple sacrifices are no longer a part of the law.
In that way, the law has been fulfilled.

 

[Swan7]

Jesus taught more than two commands in Matthew 5 alone, so he gave more than two commands. In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus was not asked which commands which should follow, but rather he was asked about what the greatest command was, which he responded saying to love God and our neighbor. All of the 613 laws in the OT and 1,050 laws in the NT can be put into those two categories, so the greatest two commands are the greatest because they encapsulate all of the other commands and all of the other commands hang on the great two because they are commentary or examples that paint a picture of what it looks like to correctly obey them. It would be a mistake for someone to say that we just need to focus on obeying the commands to love God and our neighbor, so we don't have to worry about obeying God's other commands for how He wants us to do that. Jesus was not the only rabbi who expressed this line of thought:

One famous account in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said:

"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this--go and study it!"

I'm quite aware of what Jesus taught, thanks. I only had time to make a short answer based on the OP only.

 

[Buzz_B]

In Matthew 5:17 Jesus says:

"Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to destroy but to fulfill."

So, how exactly did Jesus fulfill the law? Was it because Jesus kept the law perfectly? If the law is fulfilled by Jesus how do we now keep the law? By loving our neighbor? Discuss.

I will quote from the KJV in this reply:

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

But how do we do that? That is, how do we let our light shine before men?

Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

We, too, must fulfill the Law and the Prophets. (Romans 8:4 “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”)

Matthew 5:18-20
18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Did Jesus mean that we should continue to observe the Old Law Covenant by the carnal letter? Paul calls the Laws as they were written in the Old Covenant, “carnal commandment”, and “carnal ordinances.” (See: Hebrews 7:16 and Hebrews 9:10) What does Paul mean?

We saw at Romans 8:4b that we are to fulfill the laws which were contained in that Old Covenant by, “walk[ing] not after the flesh, but [by walking] after the Spirit.” And we see that there in Matthew 5 Jesus proceeds onto tell us, “.... Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time …... But I say unto you ...”

Jesus made himself rather easy to understand there in Matthew 5 and we do well to ponder what he there meant. I will embellish on what Jesus there meant by use of another example:

You have heard that it was said, “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 26:1

Now, remember that Paul said of those commandments, Hebrews 9:9-10 “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”

[There we also get into debate with some who fail to see that the “reformation” (the Greek “diorthosis”, as in “to rectify through setting things straight”) happens first IN Christ. This is in keeping with the principle given by Christ himself, “cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:25-26

We, as the “One New Man” IN Christ (Ephesians 2:15) walk by “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4) standing “fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27) that is being fulfilled in us as we walk unified after the one spirit IN Christ. Else there could be no foundation ready for that new ruling heaven and its earth which is yet to come.]

But back to the main point, let us ask ourselves, 'Can we really satisfy God's commandment to avoid all idolatry by merely making sure to not have material idols among us?

We see many who sincerely believe they are fulfilling God's commandment to avoid idolatry by a carnal zeal to condemn all things they deem to be idols. Yet, we know that Paul said, “ … we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” 1 Corinthians 8:4b

How should we feel about these ones? “I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:2-3

We do not hate such ones for we all were once blind. We let the memory of the man we used to be before letting that man die that we might become that one new man In Christ, move us to have compassion for others, just as Paul did. Such ones do not mean to harm us by their zeal. They earnestly believe that they are doing what God wants them to do when they so urgently counsel us in what they believe, sincerely thinking they are helping us. And our resenting them for it can never help them. But our bearing the sufferings of Christ in connection with them on their behalf, can.

Paul set the spiritual focus for us concerning idolatry when at Colossians 3:5, he said, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry..” There we see the “.... Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time …... But I say unto you ...” through Paul, concerning idolatry. We can meticulously rage against material idols and it be of no value at all. The material thing is not the point. How we inside ourselves esteem that material thing is the point. And for the sake of our love toward others in not desiring to place a stumbling block before anyone, how having a potential idol that we know to be really nothing at all in our midst might be a worthy consideration. But most of all we must see and teach (for Jesus said of teaching the wrong thing, “... and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least ...”) that idolatry is in reality a spiritual defect which causes us to place the object of our imbalanced reverence toward sex, or material wealth, or prominence, or anything, in the place where our reverence for God and God's righteous laws ought to be.

We are dead to that Old Law Covenant that we might be wed to another, to Christ, not that we can disregard the righteousness of God's laws, but that IN Christ we might finally find the knowledge and wisdom and power to keep the righteousness of God's laws. We could speak more at length on that point. We would have a book if we tried to address it all in one post.

 

[Soyeong]

In the common understanding of the word 'law' such as laws against murder or extortion or rape, the law is never fulfilled. It is obeyed or disobeyed. Law is there to direct behavior in one direction and to censure actions that fall outside of the parameters of the law.
Much of OT law however is not really about behavior. It is about ritual. There is nothing particularly good, for example, about sacrificing turtle doves, or driving goats into the wilderness, or the many examples of legal rituals that were required by believing Jews. Basically, the rituals were for purification from existing sin of the people.

The rituals themselves are directed toward a narrative, and this narrative is directed toward a climax that happens at the cross. "It is finished" means that the purification and redemption of the people from the state of sin has been completed by Jesus. There is no more need for people to continue in their purification rituals. Temple sacrifices are no longer a part of the law.
In that way, the law has been fulfilled.

Many of God's commands against doing something can be correctly understood as also commanding the reverse, such as the command not to steal being taken as the command to be generous, and thus they too can be fulfilled. However, God's Law was never just about outward obedience, but rather they are spiritual, so they are intended to teach us deeper spiritual principles of which the listed laws are just examples. Those deeper spiritual principles are the attributes of God, so the primary function of the Law is to teach us about God and how to reflect His attributes and to thereby grow in a relationship with Him. For example, Leviticus 11:44-45 says to do what is holy for God is holy, so refraining from eating unclean animals is teaching us about God's holiness and how to act in accordance with it. In Peter 1:13-16, it also says that we are to do what is holy for God is holy. When Jesus said on the cross that it is finished, he was speaking about his redemptive work, not about God's holiness being finished.

In Hebrews 8:4, it speaks about priests who offering gifts in accordance with the Law, so the Law was still in effect. In fact, if it weren't in effect, then it would have no power to prevent Jesus from being a priest if he were on earth. In Acts 18:18, Paul took a vow that involved shaving his head, which refers to a Nazarite vow (Numbers 6), which involved making offerings. In Acts 21:20-24, Paul was on his way to pay for the offerings of others who had undertaken a similar vow in order to disprove false rumors that he was teaching against to Law and to show that he continued to live in obedience to it. So offerings did not stop because of the death or resurrection of Jesus, but only stopped because of the destruction of the temple. However, the Bible prophecies of a time when a third temple will be built and when offerings will resume (Ezekiel 40-44), so they are very much still part of the Law.

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said that he came to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it, so it doesn't make any sense to interpret fulfilling the Law as abolishing it or parts of it. Rather, fulfilling the Law is defined as causing God's will (as made known in the Law) to be obeyed as it should be, so after saying that, Jesus then proceeded to fulfill the Law six times throughout the rest of the chapter by teaching how to correctly understand and obey it as it was intended.

 

[Jenniferdiana]

Just do what he says..

 

[Jenniferdiana]

Just do what he says..

 

[Soyeong]

Did Jesus mean that we should continue to observe the Old Law Covenant by the carnal letter? Paul calls the Laws as they were written in the Old Covenant, “carnal commandment”, and “carnal ordinances.” (See: Hebrews 7:16 and Hebrews 9:10) What does Paul mean?

Hello,

Paul said that the Law was spiritual (Romans 7:14), so it was never intended to obeyed outwardly according to the letter, but inwardly according to the spirit, and so it is also a mistake to refer to it as being carnal. In Romans 8:7, Paul said that it is those who have a carnal mind who refuse to submit to God's Law. In Galatians 5:19-23, everything listed as carnal works that are against the Spirit are also against God's Law, while everything listed as fruits of the Spirit are in accordance with the Law, which should make sense because the Law was given by God, the Spirit is God, and the Spirit has the role of leading us in obedience to the Law (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

We saw at Romans 8:4b that we are to fulfill the laws which were contained in that Old Covenant by, “walk[ing] not after the flesh, but [by walking] after the Spirit.” And we see that there in Matthew 5 Jesus proceeds onto tell us, “.... Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time …... But I say unto you ...”

Jesus made himself rather easy to understand there in Matthew 5 and we do well to ponder what he there meant. I will embellish on what Jesus there meant by use of another example:

You have heard that it was said, “Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 26:1

Whenever Jesus quoted from Scripture, he preceded by saying "it is written", but when he was quoting from what his audience had heard being taught about the Law, he preceded it by saying "you have heard that it was said". So Jesus was not sinning in violation of Deuteronomy 4:2 by making changes to the Law, but rather he was speaking against what was incorrectly being taught about it and teaching how it was originally intended to be understood. For example:

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

This was nothing brand new, just the correct application of the 7th and 10th Commandments against adultery and coveting in your heart.

Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

While the Law certainly says to love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18), it does not say to hate your enemy, which was what was wrongly being taught about it.

Now, remember that Paul said of those commandments, Hebrews 9:9-10 “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”

The Law did not make anything perfect because it was never given for that purpose in the first place. There is a difference between regulations for the body and acts that are carnal in nature. A command that was carnal in nature would like commanding people to commit adultery.

There we also get into debate with some who fail to see that the “reformation” (the Greek “diorthosis”, as in “to rectify through setting things straight”) happens first IN Christ. This is in keeping with the principle given by Christ himself, “cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” Matthew 23:25-26

Has the world been straightened out yet? Have you been watching the news? Have we been straightened out or do we still sin? The Bible prophecies a time when God will restore the Earth to its original condition that it had before the Fall, and I think that this is the time of reformation.

We, as the “One New Man” IN Christ (Ephesians 2:15) walk by “one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4) standing “fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27) that is being fulfilled in us as we walk unified after the one spirit IN Christ. Else there could be no foundation ready for that new ruling heaven and its earth which is yet to come.]

1 John 2:6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked and the way that Jesus walked was in complete obedience to the Law.

But back to the main point, let us ask ourselves, 'Can we really satisfy God's commandment to avoid all idolatry by merely making sure to not have material idols among us?

We see many who sincerely believe they are fulfilling God's commandment to avoid idolatry by a carnal zeal to condemn all things they deem to be idols. Yet, we know that Paul said, “ … we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” 1 Corinthians 8:4b

Paul was criticizing the views of those who had become puffed up by their knowledge, not endorsing them. The reality is that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and we should not be participants with demons. We can not partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)

How should we feel about these ones? “I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:2-3

In Romans 9:30-Romans 10:10, the reason why Israel failed to obtain righteousness was not because they did what God told them to and God gave them faulty commands, but that they did not understand that the righteousness of God was through faith, so they pursued the Law as through righteousness were by works instead of pursuing the Law as through righteousness were by faith. They did not understand that the goal of the Law was a relationship with Messiah for righteousness for everyone who has faith. Our faith says that God's Law is not too difficult, but that His Word is near us, in our hearts and in our minds so that we can do it, and this is what it means to submit to Christ as Lord.

We do not hate such ones for we all were once blind. We let the memory of the man we used to be before letting that man die that we might become that one new man In Christ, move us to have compassion for others, just as Paul did. Such ones do not mean to harm us by their zeal. They earnestly believe that they are doing what God wants them to do when they so urgently counsel us in what they believe, sincerely thinking they are helping us. And our resenting them for it can never help them. But our bearing the sufferings of Christ in connection with them on their behalf, can.

In Philippians 3:8, Paul had been obeying that Law, but he considered it to be rubbish because his focus hadn't been on knowing Christ, so he had been missing the whole point of obeying the Law. God has always disdained it when His people outwardly obeyed His Law while their hearts were far from Him because again they were missing the whole point of obedience. So outward obedience that is not due to a relationship with Christ based on faith and love will just as assuredly lead to death as disobedience to the Law. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus told people who had been doing good things that the Law instructs to depart from him and counted them as Lawless because he never knew them, so they were missing the whole point of obeying the Law and therefore they were also missing that relationship with Christ that is key to everything in the Bible.

We are dead to that Old Law Covenant that we might be wed to another, to Christ, not that we can disregard the righteousness of God's laws, but that IN Christ we might finally find the knowledge and wisdom and power to keep the righteousness of God's laws. We could speak more at length on that point.

In Romans 7:1, Paul said that he was speaking to those who know the Law, so was using an example from the Law to illustrate his point, not using a metaphor where everything represented something else. We can't be represented by the woman because we are dying to the law and it is her husband that died and we can't be represented by the husband because it is the woman who is freed to belong to another.

Rather, Paul was speaking to those who were aware of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and the problem that meant for Jeremiah 3:1-14. There are many verses that describe the Mosaic Covenant as being a marriage between God and Israel, such as with God describing himself as her husband (Jeremiah 31:32) or with Israel's unfaithfulness being described as adultery, which eventually got so bad that God wrote the Northern Kingdom a certificate of divorce (Jeremiah 3:8), and God can only become divorced if He has first been married. The problem is that Deuteronomy 24:1-4 prohibits a woman from returning to her first husband after she has been divorced and been with another, yet God continued to call for Israel to return to Him (Jeremiah 3:1-14). It was a mystery how God would work this out because the only way Israel would be free from her adultery would be through dissolving her first marriage through the death of her first husband.

This is the point that Paul was making in Romans 7:1-4, that we have died to the law of our husband through the death of Christ so that we might be free to belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. It wouldn't make any sense to interpret this as saying that we need to be set free from God's instructions for how to bear fruit for Him in order to bear fruit for Him, but rather we need to keep in mind the context of what Paul had just been talking about. So the Old and New Covenants are all about God's marriage, divorce, and remarriage to Israel.

We would have a book if we tried to address it all in one post.

Haha, sorry about the book length of this reply.