"The law or the prophets" in Matthew 5:17 can be proven to mean the entirety of the Word of God, which at that point was the entire Old Testament, so the law in v. 18 and commandments in v. 19 are the same, especially since the total content of all three verses is an argument being made, as seen in the "therefore" at the beginning of v. 19. The conclusion of verse 19 is based first upon the authority of Jesus Christ. No one should think that Jesus was nullifying or abrogating the Old Testament. Second, it is based upon the permanence of the Word of God to the smallest detail (v. 18). Why would the Word of God be preserved down to the smallest consonant and vowels if every little bit of it wasn't supposed to be obeyed?
The point of jot and tittle is that everything God said matters. The Lord did not come to annul any of it down to the tiniest detail, against the conventional wisdom that said that new covenant meant the old was gone. Jesus didn't come to do some of God's Word, but all of it. If Jesus would complete everything, what would that imply? The conclusion of verse 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.
Break must mean not keep. Fulfill must mean keep. Because Jesus would keep all of it, which characterized His life from start to finish, those in His kingdom would keep it all too. Those faithful in little would be faithful in much. Following Jesus Christ meant living like Jesus lived. People following Him, which are people who are saved, do what He did, which was keep it all. Now for Jesus that also meant that He kept every prophecy and every covenant too.
The Lord Jesus Christ was contrasting biblical teaching from that of the scribes and Pharisees. They would say they were God's people, but they weren't keeping all of God's Word. They were teaching men to do the same. They ranked doctrines into the greatest and the least, because they were self-righteous, which was impossible. They tried to make it possible by leaving out what was hard, what they didn't think they could keep, or they just didn't like. Evangelicals today are the same. Almost all of what calls itself Christian is the same.
The Lord Jesus Christ was contrasting biblical teaching from that of the scribes and Pharisees. They would say they were God's people, but they weren't keeping all of God's Word. They were teaching men to do the same. They ranked doctrines into the greatest and the least, because they were self-righteous, which was impossible. They tried to make it possible by leaving out what was hard, what they didn't think they could keep, or they just didn't like. Evangelicals today are the same. Almost all of what calls itself Christian is the same.
Out of those in the future kingdom of Christ, those who do not do the smallest things that God said would be least in the kingdom. They wouldn't shine with the brightness of the firmament to put it in Daniel's verbiage. That does not mean that all of those people would be in the kingdom, just that out of all those who would be in the kingdom, those who would not keep everything to the smallest detail. All of it matters.
In absolute contradiction to Jesus' teaching at the very outset of His sermon, the destructive essential/non-essential doctrine was invented out of whole cloth. The Bible teaches the opposite. In Pharisee-like fashion, evangelicals have embraced the idea that teaching of scripture is best ranked into essentials and non-essentials. Only the essentials must be kept, and more than ever the essential list is shrinking and the non-essential expands. This is hiding light under a bushel and decreasing the saltiness or savour of the salt. Christianity becomes more indistinguishable from the world.
When Jesus is your King, you've repented for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, you don't decide what not to keep. You are determined to keep it all. Not keeping it is you being King, and not Him. That is not believing in Jesus Christ. This is what evangelicals do today especially with the cultural issues. They know that they are uniquely offensive to the world, so that two results occur. They lose people -- numerical shrinkage. Their coalitions divide. To keep everyone together, they need to reduce biblical teaching. Numerical growth and unity among disparate groups masquerades as credibility. God isn't impressed. More than anything, it contradicts Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount.
Hi good article, would also add that, many will hear others boasting (in the flesh) about their supposedly spiritual accomplishments, whether openly or thinly veiled, and when they hear and absorb this boasting, they too become allured into the ways of the world, thinking this outward impressiveness is true accomplishment. They inherently think the point of it all becomes about proving something to someone else other than God. But then we remember Luke 16:15 (And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.), John 15:20, Matthew 16:23, Romans 2:29, 2 Corinthians 10:18, even John 5:43-44. It really seems like it's a question of some valuing of worldly things as being the end-all good, not remembering or not really honoring the truth of 1 Corinthians 15:19, nor indeed the Creator, from which the source of all things they even do recognize is. May God allow you to look up and observe the heavens.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Agree.
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