Jesus Christ Fulfilled the Hebrew Scriptures!

Some of the commentary generated by my post "Where is God's True Church Today?" over at Banned by HWA underscored for me just how much the ACOGs have abused a passage from the fifth chapter of the Gospel attributed to Matthew. The passage: "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." (Matthew 5:17-20, ESV BibleGateway) The ACOGs have employed this passage as a prooftext for their assertion that Christians are obligated to observe some of the commandments of Torah (they do NOT believe that Christians are obligated to observe all of it).

What did Christ mean when he said that he didn't come here to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them? Well, one of those anonymous commentators over at Banned observed: "'It is therefore improbable that when he contrasts 'abolish' with 'fulfill' he is speaking simply about obeying the requirements of the law and the prophets. 'Fulfill' (rather than 'obey,' 'do,' or 'keep') would not be the natural way to say that, and such a sense would not answer the charge of aiming to 'abolish.' In Matthew’s gospel the verb pleroo, 'fulfill,' plays a prominent role, most notably in its ten occurrences in the formula quotations ... where it denotes the coming into being of that to which Scripture pointed forward (whether by direct prediction or understood typologically). The same sense appears in 26:54, 56, where Jesus’ suffering is seen as 'fulfilling the Scriptures,' and in 13:44, where a compound form of the verb (anapleroo) again speaks of an OT prophecy coming true in contemporary experience. In 3:15 to 'fulfill all righteousness' appears to denote the action which will bring about God’s redemptive purpose through Jesus..., its only other use in Matthew is in 23:32 of the hostile actions of the scribes and Pharisees 'filling up the measure' of their ancestors, where again the sense of reaching a destined conclusion seems to be dominant. In light of Matthew’s use of this verb elsewhere, and the evident importance it has for his understanding of the relationship between the authoritative words of the OT and their contemporary outworking, the sense here is not likely to be concerned either with Jesus’ actions in relationship to the law or even teaching about it, but rather the way in which he 'fulfills' the pattern laid down in the law and the prophets. It is important to note that this verse does not speak of Jesus 'fulfilling the law,' but rather of his 'fulfilling the law and the prophets.' His fulfilling of the prophets is amply illustrated in the formula-quotations: his life and ministry has brought that which they pointed forward. Is it possible to understand his fulfilling of the law in the same light?"

Now, of course Christ fulfilled the Law (Torah) in the same sense as he fulfilled the Prophets, but he also obeyed it as in fulfilling all righteousness - just as our sins were imputed to Christ, his righteousness was imputed to us! It is because of Jesus Christ's obedience that we can stand before Almighty God clean and whole. Christ also filled the Law (Torah) to the full by magnifying the intent behind it and making God's Law universal in its scope and application - making it possible for God's Law to be written on the hearts of Christ's disciples. Even so, as I noted here in a five part series on Torah, the Law pointed to/predicted Jesus Christ. Torah distinguished between clean and unclean, and Jesus defined what really defiled a person, and he made the unclean clean. In similar fashion, Jesus' life, death, and resurrection personified/embodied/fulfilled the entire system of sacrifices and offerings found in Torah. Christ also personified/embodied/fulfilled the Sabbath, Holy Days, and circumcision (we find rest for our souls in him, and the festivals picture his death, removal of sin, offering of himself, making the Holy Spirit available to everyone who accepts him, reconciliation of us to God, advents, tabernacling in the flesh, and making a way for all of us to be a part of God's Kingdom). Christ also personified/embodied/fulfilled the health laws of Torah (by his stripes, we are healed).

Nevertheless, as I just stated, the ways that Christ fulfilled Torah's predictions about Christ does NOT negate the other ways that he fulfilled it. More particularly, I want to focus my attention on the one aspect of fulfillment that the ACOGs miss or ignore when they quote that passage from the fifth chapter of Matthew. I am, of course, speaking of Christ's magnification of the intent of God's Law, and how his teachings made its scope and application universal and transformed it from a written list of dos and don'ts into internal eternal principles to guide our behavior in all situations/circumstances in which we might find ourselves (both in the present and in the future). I may be wrong, but I'm thinking that they miss this one because of their practice of proof-texting - lifting a text out of (and ignoring) its context. Indeed, that passage from Matthew is part of the account of a sermon by Jesus Christ which covers all of chapters 5, 6, and 7! Moreover, the entire message is concerned with transforming the commandments of Torah into a more universal, eternal, and internalized iteration of God's Law!

The "Sermon on the Mount" began with the beatitudes - making it very clear that what was in someone's heart was preeminent in securing God's favor (Matthew 5:3-12). This is followed by a reminder to his followers that setting a good example in one's personal behavior is the best way to witness to others and inspire them to glorify God (Matthew 5:13-16). This is followed by that often-quoted passage by the ACOGs referenced at the beginning of this post (Matthew 5:17-20). Christ then referenced several of the individual commandments of Torah (e.g., You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not swear falsely, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, etc.), and he clearly stated that a literal and physical obedience to those commandments was NOT enough (Matthew 5:21-48)! 

Chapter and verse designations having been added some 1,500 years after this account was written, Christ's sermon continued into the sixth chapter of the Gospel. Next, he instructed his followers NOT to parade their righteous deeds before an audience - to receive the acclaim of those people (Matthew 6:1-4). This was followed by instructions about how to sincerely pray to God in private (Matthew 6:7-15), and how to fast in the same manner (verses 16-18). Christ also told his audience NOT to focus on material things but to focus on serving God (verses 19-24). Likewise, he told them NOT to be overly anxious about things related to this life and pointed out how God takes care of the birds and the lilies of the field (verses 25-34). In chapter seven, we read that he told them to refrain from the temptation to judge each other (Matthew 7:1-5). He also told them that they should turn to God for their needs (verses 7-11). This was followed by "The Golden Rule." Christ said: "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (verse 12). Next, he warned them about false prophets and told them to evaluate folks who claimed to be prophets by the way that they behaved (verses 15-20). Likewise, he told them that they would be evaluated by God based on the way that they behaved (verses 21-23). Finally, Christ concluded this extraordinary sermon, by saying: "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it" (verses 24-27, ESV BibleGateway).

As a consequence, of hearing this sermon, the author of the account informs us "the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes" (verses 28-29). Unlike the Torah scholars of that day, Jesus talked about the Law as if he had the authority to modify it (which he did)! Indeed, the ENTIRE message was focused on magnifying the meaning of Torah and making it more relatable and universal in its application. Going forward, Christ's followers would be responsible for internalizing God's intent and NOT for the list of dos and don't which make up Torah. In fact, later in the same Gospel, Christ identified two commands from Torah which comprehended and summarized the whole (Matthew 22:34-40). After all, Isaiah had predicted that God would magnify his law and make it glorious (Isaiah 42:21), and Jeremiah had predicted that God would put his law within them and write it on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Also, at the end of the Gospel attributed to Luke, we read that Christ said: "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44, ESV BibleGateway). Continuing, we read: "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem'" (verses 45-47). Hence, we can see that Christ fulfilled the Hebrew Scriptures in a number of ways.

Finally, before we leave this subject, I would like to return to that passage from Matthew which the ACOGs love to employ in the capacity of a proof-text for their insistence that Christians are still obligated to keep many of the commands of Torah. In my response to that same commentator whom I mentioned earlier, I pointed out that he had "cited the Greek verb 'pleroo,' which was used in verse 17, but you failed to mention 'ginomai,' which ESV translated as 'accomplished'" in verse 18. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the Gospel of John records that Jesus said near the end of his ministry that he had finished the work which God had given him to do (John 17:4). Moreover, this is a form of the same Greek verb "teleo" which Christ used when he was hanging on the cross and said "It is finished." The word means "to bring to a close, to finish, to end; to perform, execute, complete; to accomplish, fulfill." Hence, once again, we see that Christ viewed his work as "mission accomplished," and we must not forget that he said the Law would not change "until all is accomplished."