Living Like Yeshua, Part 8 (Matthew 5:17-20)

 

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
~Matthew 5:17-20 BSB

Not gonna lie, this section of Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount is perhaps one of the most difficult sections to fully grasp. There are so many ways to take this.

Here's the thing. Yeshua said:
1. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill
2. Till heaven and Earth pass away, not one yod (the smallest Hebrew letter) will be removed from the law and prophets
(which, BTW, this entails the entirety of the OT and quite possibly a large portion of the Apocrypha, which was only officially excluded from Jewish scripture around 200AD due to a lack of Hebrew manuscripts. These Hebrew manuscripts would be later found among the Dead Sea Scrolls)
3. Whoever practices and teaches even the least of these commandments will be great in the kingdom
4. Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the teachers of the law

And while most would say that He is saying "I've come to fulfill the law and prophets because you can't", it really looks like He is saying, 'here is how you can fulfill the law and the prophets'.

So what is the deal?

Well, lets turn this section into Greek transliteration and see what happens.

Not assume that/because/for/since I come, to demolish the Law or the Prophets; in no way I come to demolish, rather to meet in full. Most assuredly, because I'm telling you, till if pass this sky and ground, one iota (smallest Greek letter) or one yod (smallest Hebrew letter) will absolutely not pass away from the law, until such an undetermined time as all things come to be.

How serious is Yeshua about not adding or subtracting a single yod? As an old rabbinic story goes, one yod was removed from Genesis to change Sarai into Sarah, but then in the book of Numbers, this one yod was returned in order to change Hoshea into Joshua.

But this is only in effect till Jesus fulfilled the law's demands, right? Well, yes and no. See, I may be no Greek expert, but to the best of my investigation, this passage is not the way to say "until the Law is fulfilled". Mosaic Law cannot be "fulfilled" in a sense implying that it is finished or completed. The law can only be met or followed. Even in modern terms, it would make no sense to talk about a final fulfillment of traffic laws or fishing regulations. Furthermore, Yeshua said He came to plērōsai the Law. But He says nothing shall pass from the law till such a time as if all things (and us the Greek does contain the conditional conjunctive "until if") genētai.

plērōsai means to satisfy, to fulfill, to meet the requirements
genētai means to come into being, to be, to be born, to be created, to exist. The Accuser told Yeshua "tell these stones to *become* bread. Or while sailing the Sea of Galilee, a storm suddenly *came to be*

So then nothing has passed from the Law until all things have come into being. So what is all things? There is quite a bit of disagreement on this. But I think a hint comes from Matthew 11:27

"All things have been handed to me by my Father"

Rather than saying that nothing will leave the law till the law is completed, I believe Yeshua is saying that nothing will be removed from the law until He has brought into existence everything the Father gave him to do. Which isn't a completely different idea, but it does bring a new light to things. Yeshua, on the cross, saying "The tasks given to me are complete" and in that moment, the temple veil was torn.

In plain English, "I have not come to take the law away, but rather to show you how to meet its demands, because it is still in full effect. And it will remain in the fullness of its effect until all things my Father has given me come into being."

Because Yeshua was later crucified and resurrected, and, to the best of our knowledge, all things came to pass, was the whole of the law removed? I don't believe so. Because Yeshua goes on to say that if you break the least commandment and teach others likewise, you will be least in the kingdom, and if you obey and teach them, you will be great in the kingdom. And Paul later does his whole thing about law in his letter to the church in Rome. The law is still in effect.

Its easier than you think. Because elsewhere, Yeshua points out that the Law and the Prophets are summed up in "love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind", "love your neighbor as yourself", and "do to others as you would have them do to you". That's literally all there is to it.

But its also a bit trickier than that. Because Jesus then proceeds to say that your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and pharisees, who were the experts and teachers of the law. So how does one keep the law better than the law experts? Well, come back next time and we will find out in the next couple of verses. 

In short:

Yeshua did NOT come to remove the law. Ceremonial law has been removed by Yeshua bringing to pass all that He was given to do. But the moral law (love the Lord) and civil law (love your neighbor) are still in full effect
Yeshua DID come to meet/follow the law's requirements, and to show us how WE can meet/follow the law
We are to keep this law and disciple others to do the same
The whole law is summed up in the greatest two commandments, but Yeshua's teachings, especially the Sermon on the Mount, can be considered subcategories of commandments within these two commandments
The law must be kept better than the law experts keep it