Bible Question: did jesus keep the law |
Bible Answer: Matthew 5:17 Bible students have suggested a number of ways in which Jesus fulfilled the law. Some say He fulfilled it by His teaching. The law was the divine sketch or outline which He filled in with detail and color. In this view Jesus completed what was incomplete by giving it full dimension and meaning. There is a sense in which Jesus did that. Through His direct teaching in the gospels and through the apostles in the rest of the New Testament, Jesus elucidated more of the law of God than anyone ever had. But that cannot be the primary meaning of fulfill, because that is not what the word means. It does not mean fill out but fill up. It does not mean to add to but to complete what is already present. Jesus did not add any basic new teaching but rather clarified God's original meaning. Other commentators say that Jesus fulfilled the law by fully meeting its demands. In His life He perfectly kept every part of the law He was perfectly righteous and did not violate the smallest part of God's law Jesus, of course, did that. He was utterly flawless in His obedience, and He provided the perfect model of absolute righteousness. But most importantly, as the Spirit surely intends to emphasize here, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament by being its fulfillment. He did not simply teach it fully and exemplify it fully—He was it fully. He did not come simply to teach righteousness and to model righteousness; He came as divine righteousness. What He said and what He did reflected who He is. - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Matthew 1-7 (John MacArthur) |