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Christ the Fulfiller of the Law (Matthew 5:17–20) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to the Deep Dive and for this particular conversation to
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Reformed thinking today we are going to be getting into a
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passage that is, well, it's absolutely pivotal.
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It's from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5, verses
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17 through 20. You could really call this the
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theological hinge for the whole sermon.
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It sets the terms for how we understand Christ, the law, and
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the entire relationship between the old and new covenants.
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Our mission today is to really dig into what Jesus is saying
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about the law and the prophets. He makes the statement that must
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have been pretty startling to hear.
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He didn't come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
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So that leaves us with a couple of big questions we have to sort
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out. First, does Jesus get rid of the
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Old Testament law or does he actually confirm it?
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And 2nd, what kind of righteousness do you actually
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need to get into the Kingdom of heaven?
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These aren't just academic questions.
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They shape how we live the Christian life.
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They absolutely do and understand we have to start
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where the text starts, which is looking at the context.
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Before Jesus even gets to verse 17, He's already laid out the
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character of the people in His Kingdom.
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That's the Beatitudes. He's talking about the poor in
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spirit, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness.
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These are people who know they're spiritually bankrupt.
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They have 0 confidence in their own religious performance.
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And right after defining their inner character, He defines
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their calling in the world. He says their salt and light.
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That means their outward behavior has to match their
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inner character. Their good works have to be
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visible. But what are the rules for that
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behavior? What's the standard?
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That's where Matthew 5.1 through 20 comes in.
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It crowns the entire Christian life in the authority of God's
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Word, the Law, and the prophets. As seen through Jesus.
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Christ himself, OK? Let's break that down, starting
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with the historical setting. I think we sometimes read this
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and miss just how radical Jesus's ministry must have
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seemed. He taught with this incredible
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personal authority, you know, saying, but I say to you, he was
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setting his own teaching above the most respected rabbis.
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He was healing on the Sabbath, hanging out with people
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considered unclean. It would been easy for people to
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draw a certain conclusion. Oh.
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Absolutely. The logical conclusion for many
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would have been this guy, this new teacher, is trying to tear
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down Moses. He's attacking the very
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foundation of our religion. They might have thought he was
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starting something completely new that just tosses out the
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past. And that's why his denial is so
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strong. He says, do not think that I
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have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
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And that word for abolish Callie say it's a very strong word,
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isn't it? It's not just set aside.
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It's not. It means to destroy, to tear
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down a building, to completely nullify something Jesus is
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saying. Don't even think for a second
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that my ministry of grace is opposed to God's previous
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revelation. He's not here to demolish the
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Old Testament. And when he says the law or the
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prophets, that shorthand for the entire Old Testament, the whole
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story, all the covenants, commands, promises, all of it,
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He's saying this is all mine. There's a deep continuity here.
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Which then leads straight into verse 18.
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And this is where he makes a claim about Scripture that is
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just breathtaking. This is where things get really
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precise. He's talking about the endurance
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and the total reliability of the law.
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He says not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all
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is accomplished. We have to slow down and
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appreciate that language. The iota is the Greek name for
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the Hebrew letter yad. It's the smallest letter in the
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Hebrew alphabet. Looks like a tiny little
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apostrophe. And the dot or koriah is even
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smaller. Stroke like a seraphon, a letter
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that can change one letter into another.
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For instance, a tiny curve is all that separates a Hebrew bet
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from a cough. So he's saying the authority of
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God's Word goes all the way down to the level of handwriting and
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punctuation. That's an incredible name about
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how reliable Scripture is. It's an affirmation of detailed
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verbal inspiration. Nothing got his set as
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throwaway. And then Christ himself stands
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as the one who guarantees that authority down to the smallest
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mark on the page. Imagine being a scribe and
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hearing that. It would be shocking.
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And he gives two time frames for how long the law remains valid.
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The first one is, well, it's cosmic.
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It is, he says. It remains in force until heaven
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and earth pass away. This tells you the moral law
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isn't just for a specific time or people.
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It's as permanent as creation itself.
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It's not going to be outdated by cultural changes.
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And the second marker points to God's bigger plan.
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It remains until all is accomplished.
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Right. And that brings us into the
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story of redemption. The law is in force until all
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its purposes, the promises, the prophecies, the storyline it was
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building, are brought to their completion.
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And who does that? Christ Himself.
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He's the one who accomplishes it all.
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So he's not just upholding the law, He's claiming to be its
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ultimate interpreter and its Lord.
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OK, so if he didn't come to tear it down, we have to spend some
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real time on what he did come to do.
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He says he came to fulfill it. That's the word pleurisy.
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And as you said, this is so much more than just obeying rules.
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It's about bringing the entire Old Testament project to its
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intended conclusion. Our sources kind of break this
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idea of fulfillment down into four parts.
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Yes, and it's a keyword for Matthew.
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He's constantly showing how Jesus's life fulfills scripture.
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It means to fill something up to complete it.
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The Law and the prophets were like the blueprint.
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Jesus is the finished building. So the first dimension is
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prophetic and redemptive historical fulfillment.
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Simply put, Christ is the point of the whole story.
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He's the one that all the promises, all the types, all the
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commands have been pointing to since Genesis 3.
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So every flawed king, every imperfect priest, they were all
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just placeholders for him. He's the goal of the whole Old
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Testament narrative. Precisely the whole story was
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preparing the way for his arrival.
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And when he teaches with such authority in the Sermon on the
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Mount, he's showing that he has the right to speak as the final
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prophet, the one Moses himself talked about.
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His life proves the Old Testament story was true and
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that it was all about him. That fulfillment also has to
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deal with all the rituals and ceremonies of the Old Covenant,
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which I think brings us to the second dimension, typological
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and ceremonial fulfillment. This is where Christ becomes the
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reality behind all the shadows. You think about the temple
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building itself, the whole system of animal sacrifices, the
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ritual washings, the calendar of feasts, all of that was pointing
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to something. And when Christ offers himself
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as the one true final sacrifice, he fulfills that entire system.
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The shadow gives way to the reality.
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We don't need the blood of bulls and goats anymore because we
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have the blood of Christ. We don't need a physical temple
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building because Christ is now the place where God and humanity
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meet. This is a huge shift.
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All those ceremonial laws, the dietary codes, the feast days,
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the purity rules, they all find their perfect endpoint in
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Christ's work as our great high priest and final sacrifice.
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They're not ignored, they are satisfied.
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So they stop binding us in their old form.
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That's a really important distinction for how we read the
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Old Testament today. And I assume the same logic
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applies to the civil or judicial laws, the rules for the nation
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of Israel. Yes, it does.
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Christ fulfills those as well by bringing that specific national
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arrangement to its intended goal.
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The nation of Israel was set up to be the unique vessel through
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which the Messiah would come into the world.
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Once he has come, the specific laws that govern that unique
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nation state, that judicial code, have served their purpose.
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So we're not bound to try and rebuild ancient Israel's Civil
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Code today. But the moral principles
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underneath them, those still matter.
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Which leads us to the third dimension.
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It does. The third dimension is ethical
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fulfillment. Christ didn't just fulfill the
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shadows by being the reality. He fulfilled the moral demands
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by obeying them perfectly. He lived the life of perfect
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obedience that Adam failed to live, that Israel failed to
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live. He met every single standard of
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God's moral law down to the last iota and dot for his people.
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And that perfect obedience is everything.
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It's the basis for the righteousness that we need to
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enter the Kingdom. When we talk about imputed
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righteousness, what we're talking about is this.
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Christ's perfect active ethical fulfillment of the law being
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credited to the account of believers.
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He the obeying that we couldn't do.
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And that leaves us with the 4th dimension, which is the one that
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tells us how to live now, the confirmation and intensification
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of the moral law. Right.
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The moral law, which is basically summarized in the 10
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commandments, is different. It's not a shadow or a Civil
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Code for one nation. It reflects God's own holy and
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unchanging character. So it's always binding on
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everyone. Christ confirms its validity.
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He doesn't weaken it, He strengthens it.
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He says, yes, this is the permanent standard of
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righteousness. But then he does something that
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raises the bar even higher. He intensifies it.
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He shows that it's about the heart, the motive, not just the
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outward action. We see that almost immediately
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after our passage, he says. You have heard that it was said
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you shall not murder, but I say to you that everyone who is
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angry with his brother will be liable to judgement.
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He's taking the command and driving it all the way down into
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the heart. And that just shatters the kind
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of superficial checklist righteousness of the Pharisees.
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The law isn't satisfied just because you haven't physically
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killed someone. If you have anger in your heart,
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you're guilty of the root of murder.
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If you look with lust, you've already committed adultery in
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your heart. This intensification proves that
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the moral law's demand is absolute, and it shows that no
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person can keep it perfectly from the inside out.
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So fulfillment is a huge concept.
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Christ is the goal of the story. He's the reality behind the
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shadows. He's the perfect keeper of the
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standard, and he's the one who confirms and deepens the moral
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law for us as our guide for life.
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OK, so if Christ fulfilled the law and the moral law is still
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our guide, the next big question is how does it apply to us?
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How do we use it in a way that avoids legalism on one side and
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a kind of lawlessness on the other?
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This is where that classic Reformed idea of the three uses
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of the law is so helpful. It really is.
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It gives us the guardrails we need.
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We don't get to pick and choose which parts of the law we like.
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We just have to understand it's different functions in God's
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plan. The first use is what's called
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the civil use. You could also call it the
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political use. This is for society at large.
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The law's function here is to restrain public evil and keep
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society from falling into chaos. It provides A moral foundation
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for civil government. So this is where we come back to
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that idea of general equity from the judicial laws.
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The specific laws for ancient Israel as a nation state are
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fulfilled, but the principles behind them still inform how we
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think about justice today. That's a critical distinction.
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We're not trying to set up a theocracy, not at all.
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We aren't bound to the specific penalties of the Mosaic Code,
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but the general equity, the underlying principles of
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justice, fairness, and order that gives us wisdom for public
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life. So, for example, the Mosaic Law
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required restitution for theft. Now, a modern state might use a
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different penalty, like jail time.
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But the principle that theft is wrong and that it creates a debt
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that needs to be paid back, that's the general equity.
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It protects people, even people who don't believe in Christ,
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from anarchy. That clarifies the public role
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of the law. Now, the second use is maybe the
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one that's most crucial for someone who isn't yet a
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believer. It's the pedagogical use.
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The idea here is that the law is designed to teach us something,
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specifically to teach us that we need a savior.
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It's like a mirror. You look into the law and it
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shows you your own sin, your own inability to measure up.
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That's exactly it. The Law works by revealing just
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how deep sin goes and by condemning all unrighteousness.
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When a person really comes face to face with the absolute holy
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standard of the law, especially Jesus's intensified heart level
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version, it just crushes any hope you have in yourself.
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It shows you that you've already failed, and that crushing effect
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is actually a mercy. It forces you to stop looking at
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your own efforts and to look outside yourself for help.
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It makes you ready to hear the gospel, which provides the very
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righteousness the Law demanded but you could never produce.
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The law is the schoolmaster that leads us to Christ.
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Which brings us to the third use, the one that governs the
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life of a believer, the normative use, or as it's
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sometimes called, the rule of gratitude.
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This applies to people who are already in the Kingdom, who have
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already received Christ's righteousness by faith.
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For them, the law isn't a way to get saved, it's a guide for how
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to live now that you are saved. It shows us how to live a life
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of holiness, what pleases our Father.
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And we have to be very clear about how the law functions for
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a Christian. We are in a covenant of grace.
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We're resting in Christ's work, so the law still commands us.
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It is our guide for grateful living, but it no longer
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condemns us as a covenant of works that we have to keep to be
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saved. That distinction is the key to
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avoiding both legalism and what they call antinomianism.
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Legalism says I obey the law to be accepted, and a nomianism
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says I'm accepted, so I don't need to obey the law.
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The believer says I'm accepted, therefore I joyfully want to
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obey the law out of love for the one who saved me.
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And that understanding of the law leads us right to what is
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probably the most shocking verse in this whole section, Matthew
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5.20. Jesus looks at the crowd and
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says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
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Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.
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You really have to feel the way to that statement.
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For the average person listening, the scribes and
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Pharisees were the absolute pinnacle of religious devotion.
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These were the people who had dedicated their entire lives to
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studying and keeping the law. They fasted, they tithed every
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little herb from their garden. They had all these external
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rules for purity. If anyone was getting into
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heaven, it was them. It's a statement designed to
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cause a crisis. Jesus is using the law's
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pedagogical function to completely wreck any system of
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works righteousness. It's meant to crush pride.
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If their righteousness isn't good enough, then nobody's is,
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and we have to understand why their righteousness failed.
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It was meticulous, but it was also completely superficial.
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They focus on all the external rituals, but Jesus says they
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neglected the things that really mattered.
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Justice, mercy, Faithfulness. Can you give us a specific
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example of that? Where do we see them focusing on
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the external and missing the heart?
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A classic example is the idea of Corban.
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They created a loophole where a person could declare that their
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money or property. Was dedicated to God.
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Then, even though they still had use of it, they could use that
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religious declaration as an excuse to not financially
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support their aging parents. They were technically fulfilling
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A vow while flagrantly breaking the command to honor your father
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and mother. It looked clean on the outside
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but the motive was rotten. Their whole system was an
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attempt to build up their own righteousness through selective
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obedience and external show. It was a righteousness of
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quantity. They just tried to do more
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religious stuff than anyone else, but Jesus says it's not
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enough because it was all about them.
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It was external and self reliant.
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So when Jesus says our righteousness has to surpass
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theirs, he can't mean we just have to be more religious or try
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harder. It has to be a totally different
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kind of righteousness, one that doesn't come from us at all.
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And that brings us to the two parts of true Kingdom
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righteousness. The first one, the one you need
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just to get in the door of the Kingdom, is imputed
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righteousness. We call this justification.
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This is the perfect law obeying righteousness of Jesus Christ
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Himself. It's completely external to us
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and it's credited to our account by faith alone.
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This is the only righteousness that actually meets God's
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perfect heart level standard. We can't earn it.
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We can only receive it as a gift.
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The second a person trusts in Christ, the law's condemnation
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is lifted because Christ's perfect life, His active
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obedience, and his death on the cross, his passive obedience are
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counted as theirs. That alone is what qualifies
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someone to enter the Kingdom. It's the only ground for our
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acceptance. But the conversation can't just
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stop there, because if we only talk about imputed
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righteousness, we could easily drift into this idea that our
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behavior doesn't matter. But Jesus demands A
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righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees, which suggests
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something has to change in us. This brings us to the second
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dimension, spirit righteousness or sanctification.
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Right. This is the internal
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righteousness that comes from a new heart.
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It's what happens when the Holy Spirit writes the moral law on
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our hearts. This is the obedience that flows
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out of a changed life. It's the fruit, not the root of
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our acceptance with God. The difference between a
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Pharisee and a Christian isn't that the Christian is less
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obedient. They're actually more obedient
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because their obedience comes from the inside.
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It comes from love and gratitude, not from pride.
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This inner spirit worked righteousness is the evidence
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that you actually have the imputed righteousness of Christ.
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If there's no desire for holiness, no fruit of obedience,
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then the claim to be justified is questionable.
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You have to hold them together. We get into the Kingdom because
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of Christ's perfect record credited to us, and we show
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we're in the Kingdom by the Spirit's work changing us to be
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more like Christ. So verse 20 just demolish
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legalism by saying our own performance will never be
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enough. Then verse 19 comes right before
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it to guard the other side of the road.
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It pushes back hard against the air of antinomianism.
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That's right, the placement is brilliant.
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Verse 19 is a severe warning against getting lazy or casual
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about God's law. Jesus says whoever relaxes one
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of the least of these commandments and teaches others
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to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
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That word relaxes means to loosen or to untie.
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Jesus is destroying the notion that grace means God's moral law
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is now optional or something we can adjust to fit our
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preferences. Grace doesn't produce
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lawlessness, it produces grateful obedience.
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So the idea that our freedom in Christ driven the past to ignore
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what might seem like the small stuff in the law is completely
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rejected here. Completely.
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The moral law is still serious and Jesus links your status,
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your greatness in the Kingdom to doing and teaching the
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commandments. Now he's not saying this is how
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you get into the verse 20. I already closed that door, but
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it shows how honor works within the Kingdom.
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People who are truly citizens of the Kingdom have a deep respect
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for God's revealed will. They want to be faithful.
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Their final acceptance is secure in Christ, but their
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faithfulness in this life matters.
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This whole structure really forces us to have a proper law
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and gospel synthesis. They aren't enemies.
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They're partners in God's plan. The law in its teaching role, is
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the mirror that shows us our sin and condemns us.
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It shows us why we desperately need Christ.
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Exactly. And the gospel doesn't come to
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logo the standard, it comes to provide the perfect
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righteousness that the standard demands.
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Then, once we're saved by the gospel, the Law comes back in
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its third use as our guide for living a grateful life.
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The Law condemns the gospel saves, and the saved person
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turns back to the Law with joy. Justification being declared
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righteous by faith and sanctification being made
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righteous by the Spirit are, as our sources say, distinct, but
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they are inseparable. If Christ saved you from the
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penalty of sin, He also saved you to a life of holiness.
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The security of justification frees you from fear, which lets
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you pursue obedience out of love, not dread.
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You know, when you look at these 4 verses together, they really
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work as a set of theological guardrails.
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They correct three big errors that have always been a problem
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for the Church. 1st, as you said, it refutes legalism or
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works righteousness. Verse 20 makes it crystal clear
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that no amount of human effort can save you.
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Salvation is by grace through faith.
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Second, it refutes antinomianism.
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Verse 19 insists that the moral law is still the rule of life
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for believers and that being casual about obedience is a
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serious problem. True faith produces obedience.
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And lastly, it refutes something we could call functional
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Martianism. Martian was a guy in the early
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church who wanted to throw out the entire Old Testament.
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He saw it as the work of a lesser, angry God.
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Exactly. And the modern version of that
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is the subtle tendency to treat the Old Testament as if it's
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irrelevant or maybe a little embarrassing.
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People imagine the Old Testament is all law and wrath and the New
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Testament is all grace and love. Verses 17 and 18 completely
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reject that. Jesus claims the entire Old
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Testament is God's word. He's the fulfillment of it, not
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the replacement for it. The Kingdom is built on the
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foundation of everything God has revealed.
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By keeping all of this in balance, Christ's fulfillment
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saving us, and the moral law guiding us, we stay on the right
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path. So to bring this all together,
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this deep dive shows us the clear declaration of the King.
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Jesus didn't come to get rid of the law.
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He confirmed its authority down to the smallest detail.
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And then he fulfilled it in every way, prophetically,
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ceremonially and ethically. He met its perfect standards
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that He could give us the righteousness we need to enter
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the Kingdom. And the result for you, if you
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are in the Kingdom, is freedom. You're freed by Christ's imputed
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righteousness. That's your justification, so
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that you can joyfully pursue obedience to God's moral law.
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The law isn't a terrifying judge anymore.
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It's your loving Father's guide for how to live a life of
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gratitude. So here is a final thought to
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take with you, since Christ confirmed the moral law, but
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also intensified it so that it applies to the deepest parts of
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our hearts, to anger, our lust, our anxieties.
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What is the least commandment in your own thought life or in your
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private actions that you're tempted to relax or to ignore?
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And how does resting in the fact that Christ fulfilled that very
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commandment perfectly for you free you to now pursue that
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obedience, not from a place of fear, but from a place of love
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for Him? That's where we'll leave it for
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this deep dive. Thank you for joining us.