Matthew 5:17-20 (NRSV)
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Intro:
Let’s begin today with a question: How are we, as Christians today, to think about and to relate to the OT, and especially the Law of the OT?
Are we to dismiss it as not being relevant for us today?
Or are we to seek to totally obey it… although where are we to stop? So, for example, should we still sacrifice sheep and bulls to deal with our sin?
Or, does the answer lie somewhere between these two extremes? Although we then again end up picking and choosing what we chose to obey, and, if we do that, what criteria do we use?
In our passage for today, as we continue through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us about how we are to relate to the OT, and especially the OT Law.
Signpost:
We have 4 verses today, and from them we have 4 points:
1. We are to view of the OT, including the Law, in the light of Jesus
2. We should not be dismissive of the OT, including the Law
3. We must seek to keep and teach the OT Law (but through the lens of Jesus)
4. The Law highlights our sin and so helps us see why we need Jesus
First…
1. We are to view of the OT, including the Law, in the light of Jesus 5:17
Jesus says (5:17):
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.
Everything about the OT points to Jesus, and is fulfilled in Him. It is pointed to and fulfilled in Jesus’ life, His teaching, His death and resurrection, and His Coming Kingdom.
So, as Christians we are to read the OT through the lens of Jesus you could think of it like this: we are to read the OT with ‘Jesus shaped spectacles’.
This means that we need the NT to help us understand what the OT is all about. But we also still need the OT, as it helps us understand what the NT points back to.
We view all of the OT, including the Law, in the light of Jesus – because it all points to Him.
Second point:
2. We should not be dismissive of the OT, including the Law, 5:18
Jesus says (5:18):
18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
The Lord Jesus holds the OT, including the Law, in the highest possible regard. He does not dismiss any of it.
In fact, He says that not a ‘letter’ - referring to the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, or even part of a letter (‘stroke of a letter’) is to be treated with anything other than our greatest respect.
Now, there will be a time when the OT’s Law is no-longer needed – when ‘all is accomplished’ – but that is not yet. That will be on the day of Christ’s return to earth when the Law will no-longer need to be written down and taught because what it is at the heart of the Law will have become an instinctive and natural part of living as a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom.
So, let’s never be dismissive of the OT – Jesus wasn’t.
Third point:
3. We must seek to keep and teach the OT Law (but through the lens of Jesus) 5:19
Jesus says (5:19):
19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Here, we need just to think again about the reading the OT with our ‘Jesus spectacles’ on.
We know that some aspects of the OT are totally and completely fulfilled in Jesus, and what He did. So, for example, Jesus through His death and resurrection, completely dealt with the sacrificial system and the Temple-system. He ‘once and for all’ made the necessary sacrifice for our sin.
And, to this, the NT tells us that some aspects of the OT are no-longer for Christians – things like the food laws and circumcision.
But what does remain is what the CofE’s Book of Common Prayer calls God’s ‘Moral Law’ (see Article 7 of the 39 Articles) – and that’s things like the 10 Commandments - which is why in the BCP’s Communion Service, after the reading of the 10 Commandments, we pray that God would write them upon our hearts.
So, we read the OT in the light of the NT.
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