Matthew 5:17-20: the Law of Moses, Jesus, and us.

[Checkpoint]

Matthew 5:

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.

18 For truly I tell you, 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.

19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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.

20 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."

This is an interesting passage that, it seems to me, is bound to raise a number of questions.

I suspect some of them may not have easy answers.

What are your questions, and/or, your answers?

Each verse has a teaching.

Can you explain one or more of them?

[marco]

20 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."


Can you explain one or more of them?

It is hard to enter the mind of Matthew and guess his intent. The quoted passage, in anyone's language, is an insult directed at a group of people, not all of whom would be hypocrites. It carries no warmth of brotherly love, nor any indication that it is good to love one's foes.


If the law is so important, as Matthew stated earlier, and not a line of it would be erased, then harshness and exactitude are being commended, which presumably is what the Pharisees sell.

Stirring up people against some religious group would today be condemned. If a Pharisee were assaulted in response to these condemnations, the fault would lie with Matthew, and with Jesus who described the poor Pharisees and whited sepulchres. Their sin, it seems, was they offered an alternative to his teaching.

[Checkpoint]

20 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."


Can you explain one or more of them?

It is hard to enter the mind of Matthew and guess his intent. The quoted passage, in anyone's language, is an insult directed at a group of people, not all of whom would be hypocrites. It carries no warmth of brotherly love, nor any indication that it is good to love one's foes.


If the law is so important, as Matthew stated earlier, and not a line of it would be erased, then harshness and exactitude are being commended, which presumably is what the Pharisees sell.

Stirring up people against some religious group would today be condemned. If a Pharisee were assaulted in response to these condemnations, the fault would lie with Matthew, and with Jesus who described the poor Pharisees and whited sepulchres. Their sin, it seems, was they offered an alternative to his teaching.

All is not always what it seems.

It is much harder for some to enter the mind of Jesus.

The whole chapter may give a glimpse or two of it.

[brianbbs67]

Matthew 5:

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.

18 For truly I tell you, 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.

19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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.

20 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."

This is an interesting passage that, it seems to me, is bound to raise a number of questions.

I suspect some of them may not have easy answers.

What are your questions, and/or, your answers?

Each verse has a teaching.

Can you explain one or more of them?

17 Christ is following the law perfectly

18 the law is still here, as all the Prophets is not accomplished. So, everything is not done.

19 We should still hold to and teach, the law that applies today, to be great in Heaven. This would be Probably 40% of the 613. We are not under Israelis rule or have a temple. So those out now.

20 We should strive for the best to assure a spot. Not all Pharisees were fake. Hillel was head of them in Christ's time and was considered good. Several of Christ's quotes are straight from Bet Hillel's philosophy.

[marco]

Not all Pharisees were fake. Hillel was head of them in Christ's time and was considered good. Several of Christ's quotes are straight from Bet Hillel's philosophy.

Obviously not all Pharisees are to be reviled. So why do we have the following false generalisation? Was Christ irritated by rivals?

Matthew 23:27 27

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean."


This is incitement to hate.

[Imprecise Interrupt]

Sadly, I cannot address this question in TD&D. Maybe I will start a similar on in C&A. Someday.

[brianbbs67]

[Replying to post 5 by marco]

Maybe because most of them were? But, we will never know for sure, unless God reveals it , as that time is lost to us. Seems there was enough of a problem to bring it up.

[polonius]

Matthew 5:

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.

18 For truly I tell you, 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.

19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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.

20 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."

This is an interesting passage that, it seems to me, is bound to raise a number of questions.

I suspect some of them may not have easy answers.

What are your questions, and/or, your answers?

Each verse has a teaching.

Can you explain one or more of them?

RESPONSE: Sure. What we call the gospel of Matthew was not written by the apostle Matthew. If fact you will see that nowhere does anyone named Matthew claimed to be the author.

Some writer using about 90% of what is found in Mark
wrote a story. If it were the Apostle Matthew he would hardly have used the writing of Mark not an apostle nor eyewitness.

[Checkpoint]

Matthew 5:

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.

18 For truly I tell you, 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.

19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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.

20 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."

This is an interesting passage that, it seems to me, is bound to raise a number of questions.

I suspect some of them may not have easy answers.

What are your questions, and/or, your answers?

Each verse has a teaching.

Can you explain one or more of them?

RESPONSE: Sure. What we call the gospel of Matthew was not written by the apostle Matthew. If fact you will see that nowhere does anyone named Matthew claimed to be the author.

Some writer using about 90% of what is found in Mark
wrote a story. If it were the Apostle Matthew he would hardly have used the writing of Mark not an apostle nor eyewitness.

This thread is not about authorship, but about what has been quoted, from specific verses, of the teachings of Jesus.

Grace and peace.

[Overcomer]

When Jesus said he came to fulfill the Law, he meant that he came to fulfill the requirements of the Law. No human being could do that completely because all human beings are born with sin natures that make it impossible for us to follow all of the Law perfectly no matter how hard we might try.

Put another way, the Law shows us what we should do, but it does not give us the power to keep it. We can try, but we remain sinners, always failing to keep every single commandment all the time -- and that's what it would take to please God (See James 2:10 and Gal. 5:3). In the Old Testament, people could offer sacrifice after sacrifice for their failure to obey the Law, but those sacrifices only covered one's sins temporarily and had to be done over and over and over again.

Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law, meaning that, being both God and man, he was sinless and kept all of the Law completely and perfectly. He did that on our behalf because we couldn't do it for ourselves. He died in our place, the ultimate sacrifice, made once and for all, so that no more sacrifices were needed. He exchanges his righteousness for our sins and offers us the gift of eternal life with God which we can either accept or reject.

The Pharisees, of course, thought that they could keep the Law, including all the ones they concocted about not carrying a certain load on the Sabbath or walking more than a certain distance that day or washing their hands in a specific manner, etc. They believed themselves to be righteous and they were flat-out wrong.

As for fulfilling the Prophets, he meant that he fulfilled all the prophesies that referred to the Messiah.