Bible Question:
The Lord did fulfill the Law and Prophets ... but, was the Law ever abolished or negated? Read Matt 5:17-19. |
Bible Answer: The Law was fulfilled in Jesus as evidenced by those very verses. as Adam Clarke said ... Verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law] Do not imagine that I am come to violate the law katalusai, from kata, and luw, I loose, violate, or dissolve-I am not come to make the law of none effect-to dissolve the connection which subsists between its several parts, or the obligation men are under to have their lives regulated by its moral precepts; nor am I come to dissolve the connecting reference it has to the good things promised. But I am come, plhrwsai, to complete-to perfect its connection and reference, to accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mosaic ritual, to fill up its great design; and to give grace to all my followers, plhrwsai, to fill up, or complete, every moral duty. In a word, Christ completed the law: 1st. In itself, it was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good things to come; and he added to it that which was necessary to make it perfect, HIS OWN SACRIFICE, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men. 2dly. He completed it in himself by submitting to its types with an exact obedience, and verifying them by his death upon the cross. 3dly. He completes this law, and the sayings of his prophets, in his members, by giving them grace to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbour as themselves; for this is all the law and the prophets. |