Matthew 5:17 ¶ Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but
whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you,
That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus Christ is the fulfilling of the Law. He is our Law. He
completes the Law. Christ fulfilled, completed Scripture and is the ultimate
expression of God’s reconciling mankind to Himself. All of the things spoken of
about Christ will be fulfilled.
A jot, also jod, as I understand it, was the smallest letter of
the Hebrew alphabet and a tittle was an even smaller extension of a letter. Even
the smallest consideration of the Law given to Moses is fulfilled in Christ and
will be fulfilled in Christ. This should give us direction when interpreting
the Law. But here, this is a revealing of what is to come and of who Christ is.
It is an introduction so to speak to Christ as the Messiah.
Considering how righteous the Pharisees tried to be this is a tall
order. The follower of Christ among the Jews must exceed the righteousness of
the Pharisees to be accepted. There are at least two ways of looking at this
and probably more. This passage may be saying that under the Judaism that was
current at that time God regarded the Pharisees’ dogma as falling short of His
intentions. Paul would make this statement.
2Corinthians 3:6 Who also
hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the
spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
And Jesus will note;
Matthew 22:34 ¶ But when
the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were
gathered together. 35 Then one of them,
which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the
law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. 38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.
The danger here, that the Pharisees fell into as do many
Fundamentalists today, is to miss the point of the Law, to draw us to Christ,
and focus on its dogmatic letter to elevate us and to exercise the all too
human desire for self-glory and self-worship in self-righteousness.
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. 25 But after that
faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
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