Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus and the Law
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Matthew 5:17-20
Jesus and the Law
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Summary of passage
Here, at the outset of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus defines the Christian's relationship to the Law. The Christian can neither blow off the Law, nor continue relating to it in the way the Pharisees did. Rather, our relationship to the Law is redefined in and through Christ. This will give us a lower view of ourselves, and a higher view of the Law, of holiness, and especially Christ himself.
Original Context & Exegesis
In the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is offering a prophetic rebuke to the religious establishment of the day (Pharisees), and at its core, his indictment is this: You have reduced religion to external rituals. You have equated that with righteousness. The righteousness God requires to "enter the Kingdom of Heaven" is far greater than external conformity to rules--it is about faith and the condition of the heart. This is the point of each of Jesus' contrasts in the rest of the Sermon: "You have heard it said...but I tell you..."
Jesus says he did not come to abolish the Law. Some critics take that to mean that all Christians are therefore hypocritical for not keeping kosher and observing every aspect of Torah. But if that's the case, they have failed to understand what Jesus is saying.
There is not a human alive who meets the high standard of the Law. And this is where Jesus' words about fulfilling the Law become so important. We fall short; but he met every requirement of the Law perfectly. And in his substitutionary, atoning death, Jesus not only fulfills the entire sacrificial system (thus ending it), but pays for humanity's sin. Paul elaborates on this in Romans 10.
"1Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."
Jesus Christ: The Redemptive-Historical Context
"End of the law" is understand teleologically here--Christ was the goal, the purpose, the end of the Law. The Law was supposed to show us our sin and our need for a Savior; it was put in place to make us live by faith in God, not by our works, and to ultimately lead us to Christ. Righteousness is not based on keeping the Law, but it is by grace, through faith. It is for "everyone who believes" in Christ's work on their behalf.
Christ fulfills the Law and therefore changes our fundamental relationship to it--specifically what we would call the sacrificial/ceremonial aspects of the Law. If Christ is the final sacrifice for humanity's sin, then it would not be very Christian to keep offering animal sacrifices, would it?
The Gospel, from this passage, is that the Law reveals our sin to us. If we are honest, we admit that our righteousness does not and cannot surpass that of the Pharisees. The only perfectly righteous man was Jesus himself, and only through him can we have righteousness.
Current Context
The reason Christians eat shrimp and bacon is because Christ has changed our relationship to the Law (and explicitly because of Jesus' command to Peter in Acts 10). And the reason biblical Christians believe homosexuality, as well as a number of other sexual practices, goes against God's design, is not based solely on Leviticus, but on passages in Romans, 1 Corinthians, and other portions of the New Testament--God's moral Law, which is not rescinded and is unchanging.
Links/References/Bibliography
A. Representative sermons on the passage
B. Examples and Illustrations
C. Commentaries on this book
D. Articles on this book or passage
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