“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.”
—Matthew 5:17
“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
—Matthew 5:20
In the Sermon on the Mount, assures his disciples that he has not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Nor, when he preaches a righteousness surpassing that of the Pharisees, is he setting us for a more strident legalism.
Rather, Jesus shows us that at their heart, the Law and the Prophets were not an oppressive morality code. (Somehow, David also saw this in Psalm 119, where the Law is both his Light and his delight). Instead, Christ ‘fulfills the Law’ by showing us the Way to be transformed and calling us into freedom.
Jesus’ reading of the Scriptures—the Law and the Prophets—is not about finally getting the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil right. “This is sin, and this is not sin” or “Thou shall not do this, and thou shall do that.” And his revelation goes far deeper than conforming to a code even more rigid than his competitors. “You say don’t kill; I say don’t hate. You say do not adulterate; I say don’t lust,” is not Jesus’ new “boss level” moralism.
Rather, Jesus comes as Soter (Σωτήρ)—Liberator—to set free those whose external behaviors (identified in the Law and Prophets) are driven by desires or passions (even good ones) that tend to capture and enslave us.
Jesus’ words, then, are a recovery program that shows us how we can now be free. Instead of thinking, “The Law shows me the things I mustn’t do, so, try really hard not to do them,” Jesus fulfills the Law by drawing us to himself, saying, “Here’s the path to freedom; turn and follow me.”
So, for Jesus, there’s no obsessing over whether I’m legally sinning or not sinning. Rather, it’s about turning to and walking in the grace of the Liberator, so that our passions and desires don’t become self-destructive obsessions.
(INSPIRED BY THOUGHTS FROM JONATHAN PAGEAU AND JON SWALES)
