By Margie Littell
Adventists learned to use Matthew 5:17, 18 to “prove” that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians. We who have been Adventists know the argument well. We used these two verses out of context and thought we had proof that the Decalogue was God’s command for His people for all time. Here are the two verses:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Matthew 5 is the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and contains His long sermon about the Torah. He warns His listening children of Israel, who knew the Torah backwards and forwards, that HE, on HIS authority, was changing it.
The Jews knew that no one had the authority to change the Torah. In fact, Deuteronomy 4:2 set the standard for honoring the Torah in Israel:
“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.”
Ever since God gave the Torah through Moses, Israel knew that no one had the authority to change even one word in it. Now here was Jesus stating His principles of His new covenant which He was bringing to them—and they were different from the Ten Commandments at the heart of the Torah.
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Mt. 5:3–9).
Then Jesus warned His Jewish audience that because of these new principles—these changes that would define the new covenant He was bringing and make it different from the old covenant—their fellow children of Israel who worshiped and adored the Torah more than Jesus would do the following:
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
A New Law
Right up front at the start of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus led with a statement of the new terms of a new covenant which He was bringing, and He even articulated how those who loved the Law more than the fulfillment of the Law would treat those who embraced Him. In making these statements, Jesus was not explaining the Torah; He was establishing something new.
After describing the heart of the new covenant which was coming, Jesus quoted six laws from the old covenant—two from the Ten Commandments and four from the rest of the Torah—and He changed them. He didn’t merely interpret them; He quoted them as they appeared in the Law and changed them with these words: BUT I TELL YOU…!
First, in Matthew 5:21, He quoted Exodus 20:13 and said,
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’”
Then He changed that sixth commandment by saying,
“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Jesus then changed the seventh commandment found in Exodus 20:14. We find this change in Matthew 5:27—30:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
After changing two of the Ten Commandments that regulated crimes of passion, Jesus addressed the old covenant law of swearing and oath-taking found in Leviticus 19:12. He said this in Matthew 5:33–37:
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”
Jesus next addressed the old covenant law of divorce found in Deuteronomy 24:1 and set a new demand:
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Mt. 5:31,32).
Finally, Jesus established new commands regulating retaliation and love for one’s enemies. In Matthew 5:38–42, Jesus refers to a well-known law found in three places in the Torah: Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21, and He declares an entirely new standard:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
Finally, Jesus redefined His people’s relationships with their enemies. In Leviticus 19:18 the law said,
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
To the Jews, the levitical command applied to their Israelite neighbors. They lived separated from the gentile nations, and their neighbors were the other Israelites from the 12 tribes. Jesus, however changed the command from being directed at neighbors to including one’s enemies. To the Jews of the first century, “enemies” had a clear meaning: the Romans who were in control of their nation.
In Matthew 5:43–47 Jesus says,
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
New Implications
Jesus systematically reminded His audience that the Law required certain moral and civil behaviors. At the end of each statement of law, however, He declared that He was giving them new requirements. Not only was He establishing new levels of both internal and external morality and integrity, however, but He declared that the Jews had new, higher requirements for compliance.
First, in Matthew 5:20 Jesus said,
“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.”
The law never required the level of righteousness that Jesus now demanded from them. He both set new standards for behavior and for internal morality, and He demanded that they had to keep those changed commandments better than the Pharisees and teachers of the law kept the original commandments.
Next Jesus explains that their compliance with the new laws He gave are so necessary that they were to pluck out their eyes or cut off their hands if that sort of self-discipline would help them keep these new requirements:
“If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Mt. 5:29).
Finally, Jesus ends this part of His sermon by giving His audience an impossible standard of behavior to reach:
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
If I had been listening to this sermon about the Torah…I would have just given up.
“Jesus,” I would have cried if I had been there; “I can’t keep the least of these changed commandments! I become angry too much, and you say being angry at my brother is as bad as murder! You said,
“BUT I TELL YOU that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ [An Aramaic term of contempt] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell”(Mt. 5:22).
“I cannot help but be condemned to hell!”
And Jesus would have smiled at me and said, “I know!”
The New Lawgiver
Jesus would have smiled because He knew the purpose of the Torah:
“So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified [made good] by faith. Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision by the Law” (Gal.3:24-25).
Jesus intentionally challenged his Jewish audience with the facts they didn’t want to face: they were unable to please God by keeping the law. In spite of their possessing the oracles of God (Rom 3:1, 2), their hearts and desires and passions were unable to meet God’s standards of righteousness.
Jesus had just shown them that the law was insufficient for righteousness. Further, He established a new law for His people: a law that demanded sinless hearts, not just compliant behavior.
Jesus had just done what Deuteronomy had said no one could do: He changed the law. He added requirements that the Torah had not articulated. He even demanded that they be as perfect and righteous as God Himself!
Jesus could not have changed the law if He had not been God, the Lawgiver Himself. He alone had the authority to change the law—and He changed it because He was also fulfilling it. Only God the Son could both fulfill the old covenant law and established the new covenant requirements. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was showing Himself to the Jews to be the Promised One of whom Moses had said,
“The Lord Your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen” (Deut. 18:15)
Jesus knew that the Torah was intended to drive people to despair and to increase sin because in their natural state of spiritual death they could not please God nor obey His Law. He deliberately exposed Himself as the One with the authority to change the law and to demand the righteousness of God from His people—and He knew these new requirements were impossible for them.
He knew they could never be righteous without His fulfillment of the law, and He knew they needed Him to give them righteousness that they could never attain.
After Jesus died, was buried, and rose again according to Scripture, the old covenant was fulfilled. In His own person and work the requirements of the law had been fulfilled.
A few short years later Paul would write,
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify (Rom. 3:21).
…and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith (Phil. 3:9).
If I had been on the Mount that day Jesus gave His sermon, I would have felt helpless to be able to attain righteousness like God’s. Jesus, though, would have known my helplessness, and He knew He was fulfilling the law’s demands so I could be freed from them.
Jesus was leading people to Himself by revealing their inability to be good enough for God. He wanted them to see that they were not obedient, and they did not have trusting hearts.
He wanted them to know that they needed Him—the One who had the authority to declare a new law to God’s covenant people was drawing them to trust Him. He was meeting all the righteous requirements of the law including its requirement of justice and punishment for sin. He was the One who was making the righteousness of God possible for those who would believe.
Jesus wanted His audience to know that He was the Promised One who had finally come, and He would be faithful to remove the curse of the law and bring them life.
And now you know what Jesus wants you to know, too. †
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