Anchor My Faith

Jesus Came to Fulfill the Law

Scripture: Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 16:17

In the previous section, we saw the importance of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. In this section we will learn that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. We learn this from Matthew and Luke: ^{Mt 5:17} “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. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not ^{Lk 16:17} one dot of the Law [will] become void ^{Mt 5:18} [or] will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Jesus was at the beginning of his ministry and therefore it was important for him to explain what the Father sent him to do. By establishing himself as a teacher that stood in opposition to the scribes and Pharisees, some might accuse him of seeking to destroy their law and to abolish the customs of the Jewish nation. But Jesus tells them to not think that he had come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.

The Law or Torah refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, while the Prophets include the rest of the Old Testament. Jesus came to reveal what had been hidden since the foundation of the world; to fulfill that which was spoken by the prophets (Matthew 13:35). The prophets spoke much about Jesus as the coming Messiah. The sacrificial system looked forward to Jesus being the perfect and final sacrifice in the purchase of our salvation. We also find many events in the history of Israel which foreshadowed the life of Jesus as God’s true Son. As Jesus lived out his life on earth, he was able to obey the Law perfectly; that life exemplified the behavioral patterns set in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. Therefore, we see that the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus brings, linked with his interpretation, completes and clarifies God’s intent and meaning presented in the Old Testament.

No part of the Law will become void or pass away until all is accomplished. Timothy speaks of this in 2 Timothy 3:14 – 16 (ESV): “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

We are to study those sacred writings of the Old Testament because they are for the purpose of making us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All of Scripture is profitable, not just the New Testament. We need all of it to be trained in righteousness if we are to be that man of God that he wants us to be; to be complete, equipped for every good work, which he has assigned to us (Ephesians 2:10).

Jesus came to keep and to fulfill the Law of the Prophets and he expects us hold them in a place of respect. In out next lesson, Jesus will speak to this.

Prayer

Father, it should be convicting as we read what Paul told Timothy and realize how little time we spend as students of the Bible, to be wise for salvation and equipped for every good work. The attitude in the western church appears to be a “me first” and “Jesus second” attitude. By ignoring the command to do assigned good works, we then see no need to study to be equipped to do them as we continue doing that which we enjoy in the world. Father, have mercy on us.