Christ fulfills the Law...

[wc4Jc]

Matthew 5:17-20

The Fulfillment of the Law

17"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. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For 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.

Are the Laws of the OT null, and void or are we still required to follow them. If not then why do we have the OT?

Edited January 7, 2008 by wc4Jc

[Tehilah Ba'Aretz]

I only have one Bible. It has 66 books. I only have one God. He never changes. There is only one way to Salvation. By grace through faith in the finished work of Yeshua our Salvation. I don't believe in a separate or different way of salvation for the Jews before the revelation of Jesus. There is only one way and that will never change. All of the Saints listed in the hall of faith in Hebrews were saved and gained eternal life exactly the same way as Peter, Paul and I.

So, the law? It carries exactly the same weight today as it did 4 thousand years ago. It points out sin, informs us of the things God hates and helps us to better know our beloved Almighty God. It never did produce salvation and it still doesn't. Jesus fulfilled the entire list of the things God loves as well as never doing any of the things God hates. God did not change His mind about those things after Jesus achieved this.

[OneLight]

Matthew 5:17-20

The Fulfillment of the Law

17"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. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For 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.

Are the Laws of the OT null, and void or are we still required to follow them. If not then why do we have the OT?

Christ fulfilled them. We are to be like Christ and try to do as He did. We will not loose our salvation over it, but, if you check what is in bold and black, you will see that we are to obey them. The OT stands!

[wc4Jc]

The reason behind my posing this question was based upon something that was talked about on another forum, to which one person told me that the laws of the OT only pertained to those of yesteryear. I am in total agreement with the posts made so far. Thank you so much for the responses. MGBUR!

[Guest yod]

he "made full" the teachings of Torah. In other words, He gives them their fullest meaning.

We are to interpret the spirit of God's instruction...there is a purpose and reason behind every letter of every word in the bible. He doesn't change and He makes no mistakes. He would not instruct Israel one way and then tell all of those who are joined to Israel that they can ignore what He has said.

Yes, some things are for the specific people He was speaking to, but His character and will is revealed through these instructions (torah)

[stan4257]

Matthew 5:17-20

The Fulfillment of the Law

17"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. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For 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.

Are the Laws of the OT null, and void or are we still required to follow them. If not then why do we have the OT?

The law is not nor ever could be abolished, that would make nonsense of the motivation for and coming of the law in the first place. As your quote says, the coming of Jesus Christ was a fulfilment of the law of which every 'jot and tittle' is included in the command to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbour as yourself.

Follow those last two commandments and the law is fulfilled in every aspect of your life.

[Openly Curious]

When Christ Jesus came to earth born of the virgin Mary it was Jesus whom fulfilled the OT law for us. This was so because there was not a law given to mankind in the law of Moses that one could do by their own works that they could follow and obey to make them righteous within so the law could never make one righteous or clean within they just had a knowledge once a year that they had been forgiven because they obeyed the covenant as the priest would offer the sacrifice for sin on behalf of the people yearly.

So the first covenant had fault in that it could make none perfect or cleansed from sin in conscious or heart because no law was given them to follow and practice that would do such and make permanent reconciliation with the Father.

This is why God sent his only begotten Son into the world in order to be a law for us that by faith we could accept the perfect sacrifice for our sins instead of the blood of bulls and goats that the priest would offer up on our behalf that could not cleanse or make mankind clean and free of the guilt of sin. In that what the OT law could not do Jesus came and did for us as his own body was the perfect sacrifice that fulfilled the OT law of Moses making in null and void in order that the New Testament based on better promises could be established as the blood of Christ who is now our High Priest and one that shall never die but liveth ever to make intercession for us it was Christ blood that brought in a new covenant to follow that is the work of God as there is nothing you and I can do physciallly that by following and obeying that can imput the righteousness of God unto us thus making us a new creature in Christ and give unto us the precious gift of eternal life.

The New Testament is based on the sacrifice of God's only begotten Son and not the works of the law that Moses had but based upon the blood of Christ the perfect blood sacrifice once for all doing away with the levitical priesthood Read Hebrews 7-10

Now saying all that I have said thus far it is important that one realize it takes the work of God to be clean within from sin and that work of God was sending His only Son to this earth in order to be that one spotless lamb to be offered up for the sins of mankind but one's salvation does not come by works it comes by faith in that one sacrifice and the blood that was shed that makes one righteous within and not the blood of the bulls and goats that was continually having to be shed under the law of Moses and the Levitical priesthood. Our salvation comes through faith in Christ period.

Having the OT law of Moses and the Levictical priesthood duties fulfilled and done away with (meaning we no longer have to offer up animal sacrifices for our sins according to the OT law). But Jesus did fulfill that part of the OT but their are things in the future that are yet still to be fulfilled that are recorded in the OT books of prophecy relating to the latter end time or the end-time events that are also yet to be fulfilled in the future. So not all of the OT has been fulfilled as a result of Christ coming to earth and giving himself as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

I will end with this as the scriptures say, Matthew 5:117-18--"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill (or complete or finish it up). vs 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."

blessings

OC

[Natt]

The law was to point to Jesus. Without the law we would not know what sin was

Romans 3:20

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

We are meant to keep the moral laws by living by the spirit. We do not need to keep all the OT laws. E.g Jews are allowed to associate with Gentiles..

Acts 10:28

He said to them: "You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.

Also all the law we need to obey is fulfilled by loving our neighbour as ourselves

Romans 13:8

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

I see it as, we are not under the Old covenant but under the new covenant. We are also free from the law, but only by living in the spirit. If we live by loving each other we should fulfill all the law.

Galatians 5:13-14

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Romans 7:6

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

Galatians 2:16

know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

[wc4Jc]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I only wanted to make sure that I was not the only one to believe that the entire Word of God applied to us today. I understand that as many of you have presented that some were meant for those of the times. The most important thing that I have gotten from your responses is that as a Christian, we should live our lives as God so wishes and not have to worry about breaking the Laws.

Thank you all so much.

[jeffnevins]

Yeah, what they said. Except we don't stone people anymore. So that part has changed.