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NASB | Matthew 5:17 ¶ "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:17 ¶ "Do not think that I came to do away with or undo the Law [of Moses] or the [writings of the] Prophets; I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. |
Subject: Is the Law abolished? |
Bible Note: Mathew wrote in Hebrew – Let’s get this back into context. The text is Matt. 5:17 and my original interpretation was as follows: This is a common Jewish statement. It is even used today, and was used a lot in Jesus time. "to abolish the [Torah]" meant to "misinterpret it." "to fulfill" meant to "interpret it correctly." An argument came that Matthew wrote in Greek and therefore my interpretation was not valid. In response to this I made 2 points: 1) The common Jewish people of Jesus day spoke Hebrew and therefore regardless of what language Matthew wrote in, the interpretation still stands. This idiom (Matt 5:17) was used often in the 1st century, and those living then would have understood it as such. I used extra Biblical sources to make my point because they paint a good picture of history and culture during that time. I also used archeology. 2) Matthew was writing to Jews and would have used their language; Every church father for 400 years after Jesus said Matthew wrote it in Hebrew; Jerome said the Hebrew version was still extant at the library of Caesarea (which is a bold thing to say if it isn’t true since his reader(s) would have been able to easily check.). Your comment does not address my comments at all. The fact remains that Jesus spoke in Hebrew. I attest that all of our manuscripts are in Greek. But to assume that one should neglect to study the Hebrew culture of the 1st century is dangerous to accurate scriptural interpretation. Most Evangelicals (and others) agree that you must first attempt to know what the original hearers understood in order to grasp the texts full meaning. Getting back to the verse--when one understands the Hebrew culture of the first century and their idioms, this text is much easier to understand. One more point about Hebrew culture and extra Biblical writings. Jesus often is addressing these very things when he speaks. There were 8 great debates in his time and he addresses every one of them. We can know what many of Jesus contemporaries thought because of extra Biblical evidence. Who are the Sadducees, Pharisees (more than one type), Essences, and Zealots? The Bible is largely quiet on this, but for centuries we knew the answer because Bible commentators used extra Biblical information to paint a better picture of the historical/cultural times. |