Fulfilling the Law

Jesus came preaching the good news of the kingdom of God; He came healing and performing miracles. All that accompanied Him seemed new; He was a radical departure from the structured religion of the Jews.

An assumption could be made that since the religion of the Jews was based on the Law of Moses, and since Jesus did not take a place within the religious structure, then Jesus was doing away with the Law and the Prophets. But this assumption rests on understanding the purpose of the Law. If the religion of the Jews was an accurate expression of the purpose of the Law, then what Jesus was teaching was abolishing the Law, since He was not building on the traditional Jewish teachings.

But Jesus made a completely different point in the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. He was not teaching that the Law and the Prophets were past; instead He said that He was fulfilling the Law and the Prophets. This was in itself a radical departure from Jewish tradition.

Jewish traditional interpretation of the Law and the Prophets sought to "build a fence around the Law". The acknowledged intention in the teachings and traditions of the rabbis and scholars was to attempt to keep the Law by building cultural fences to keep men from breaking the Law. If one was to not boil a kid in its mother's milk, then a careful Jew should have two sets of dishes to keep from the possibility of breaking this particular commandment. The rabbis had constructed an elaborate structure of traditions as a fence around the Law. They themselves would have acknowledged that the fence was not the Law, but was only a means to keep from breaking the Law.

But what Jesus stated was His purpose was to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. His emphasis was on what the intention of the Law was, not on a fence around the Law. To fulfill the intention of the Law, the meaning of the Law must be understood. This is radically different than building a fence around what is not understood.

Jesus did not look at the Law as disposable. He taught that not the smallest letter or stoke of the Law will pass away, until all is formed. The Law was given for a purpose; it is part of what God is doing. The Law was not to be kept by building fences around it; the Law was to be used to build.

The teacher who just loosens the requirements of the Law, thinking that he is doing the right thing, has a very small part in the kingdom of God. He is not getting what God intended in the Law. The teacher who does the Law, fulfilling what the actual intention is, has a significant part in the kingdom of God. Jesus did not use the word "keep", emphasizing not breaking; He used the word "do" or "make", emphasizing that the Law has a constructive purpose.

So the need is not to build fences around the Law in things like having two sets of dishes, one for meat and one for milk. The need is to understand what God meant. As an example, Paul later made a point that the commandment to not muzzle the oxen threshing the grain had to do with letting those who minister to the church receive payment for their work.

Jesus did not accept the traditional teachings as the fulfillment of the intention of the Law. He made the point that no one will enter the kingdom of God unless he does more than what the scribes and Pharisees did. Even the most careful in keeping the Law will not enter the kingdom. Righteousness was meant to be abundant righteousness; righteousness is to fill a life.

We have our traditions as well; we teach what we think "keeps" the Scriptures. We have built fences around what we think is right as well, though we are not as thorough as the rabbis. But we are not oriented toward fulfilling Scripture; we are not usually doers of the Word. Hearing the Word is much easier.

The rabbis heard the commandment about not boiling a lamb in its mother's milk, and could only perceive that God's intention was limited to the outward. Circumcision is required by the Law, yet Moses and the Prophets make it clear that circumcision of the heart is God's desire. The rabbis tried to keep the outward, but could not do anything about the inward. In the same way, we tend to teach righteousness based on outward limitations, not on inward change.

But entering the kingdom of God requires a righteousness built on inward change. Righteousness is to fill; righteousness is to be abundant. We emphasize imputed righteousness, almost to the exclusion of any fulfillment of righteousness. We are stuck at Romans 4:5; we are afraid to work after we have been imputed righteous thinking somehow this is going to damage what God already done. But we are to walk in the newness of life; we are to pursue the things that make peace and build up one another. God has imputed us righteous; He wants to fulfill in our life what He has already accounted to be ours. He wants to bring us into His kingdom, where He reigns, not sin.

What should be taught is not just limitations in the outward, but abundant righteousness coming from what is built by the Word inwardly.