Will not pass away till all is fulfilled.

Will not pass away till all is fulfilled.

Matthew 5:17-18


17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

This may be a new way at looking at this. I am not sure if any of you have noticed this, if you have, please do tell me. but I have just discovered this alone =D yay :D


So what I discovered is that Jesus was speaking about how the Law and the Prophets will not be abolished but that He will fulfill it all, meaning He'll be the last, of both the law (love) and the Prophets.


Then He gives us two options, Till heaven and earth pass away and Till all is fulfilled. So twice He says Until, which one is it? I believe it is the one of fulfilling.



Jesus came to fulfill, so on the Cross He said, it is finished. Meaning He fulfilled it at that point.


So my question to you is this, (I am confused here) is the law (Old Law) abolished at the time that He said, It is finished? and by the veil that was torn also?

Now we live in the New law.



In a later verse In Matthew 24:35 and Mark 13:31 He says how His words shall never pass away, even if all things pass away. This is not speaking about the Law only but about everything, His Word. So the focus here is on Matthew 5:17-18
 
Christ did indeed fulfill all the demands of the law down to it's conclusion which is always death.

We no longer walk after the Old Law but walk in the newnwss of His Spirit:
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

There is only one way to walk without sin:
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
 
My personal view? The Law of God was an imutable force and had to be satisfied no matter how long it took and regardless of the price. Our righteousness needed to exceed the rightyeousness of the pharisees
Mat 5:20 these were a people who lived by the rules and yet we needed if we were guilty of one law we were guilty of all. How could a man fulfill this? We could not- He did and now we have been given His very righteousness. This world may indeed )and will) pass away but the Word of God endures forever.

Below I have included a few exceprts from some commnetariies on the subject:
Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible:
Mat 5:18
Verily - Truly, certainly. A word of strong affirmation.
Till heaven and earth pass - This expression denotes that the law never would be destroyed until it should be all fulfilled. It is the same as saying everything else may change; the very earth and heaven may pass away, but the law of God shall not be destroyed until its whole design has been accomplished.
Adam Clarkes Commentairies on the Bible:
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven - In the very commencement of his ministry, Jesus Christ teaches the instability of all visible things. "The heaven which you see, and which is so glorious, and the earth which you inhabit and love, shall pass away; for the things which are seen are temporal,
προσκαιρα, are for a time; but the things which are not seen are eternal αιωνια, ever-during," 2Co_4:18. And the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.


 
I really do not read commentairies that often but often they can give a lot of insight. Written by men of God who read and write in the orginial Hebrew and Greek they can often shed ligth on a subject.I really enjoy Albert Barnes so I am adding a expounded version of his text:

Mat 5:18
Verily - Truly, certainly. A word of strong affirmation.
Till heaven and earth pass - This expression denotes that the law never would be destroyed until it should be all fulfilled. It is the same as saying everything else may change; the very earth and heaven may pass away, but the law of God shall not be destroyed until its whole design has been accomplished.
One jot - The word "jot," or
yod (י y), is the name of the Hebrew letter I, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.
One tittle - The word used here, in the Greek, means literally a little horn, then a point, an extremity. Several of the Hebrew letters were written with small points or apices, as in the Hebrew letter, shin (
שׁ sh), or the Hebrew letter, sin (שׂ s), which serve to distinguish one letter from another. To change a small point of one letter, therefore, might vary the meaning of a word, and destroy the sense. The name "little horn" was given to these points probably from the manner in which they were written, resembling a little horn. Professor Hackett says of a manuscript which he saw a Jew transcribing: "One peculiarity, that struck me at once as I cast my eye over the parchment, was the horn-like appearance attached to some of the letters. I had seen the same mark, before this, in Hebrew manuscripts, but never where it was so prominent as here. The sign in question, as connected with the Hebrew Letter Lamedh (ל L) in particular, had almost the appearance of an intentional imitation of a ram’s head. It was to that appendage of the Hebrew letters that the Saviour referred when he said, "‘Not one jot or little horn’ (as the Greek term signifies, which our version renders ‘tittle,’) ‘shall pass from the law until all be fulfilled.’" - Illustrations of Scripture, p. 234. Hence, the Jews were exceedingly cautious in writing these letters, and considered the smallest change or omission a reason for destroying the whole manuscript when they were transcribing the Old Testament. The expression, "one jot or tittle," became proverbial, and means that the smallest part of the law should not be destroyed.
The laws of the Jews are commonly divided into moral, ceremonial, and judicial. The moral laws are such as grow out of the nature of things, and which cannot, therefore, be changed - such as the duty of loving God and his creatures. These cannot be abolished, as it can never be made right to hate God, or to hate our fellow-men. Of this kind are the ten commandments, and these our Saviour has neither abolished nor superseded. The ceremonial laws are such as are appointed to meet certain states of society, or to regulate the religious rites and ceremonies of a people. These can be changed when circumstances are changed, and yet the moral law be untouched. A general in an army may command his soldiers to appear sometimes in a red coat and sometimes in blue or in yellow. This would be a ceremonial law, and might be changed as he pleased. The duty of obeying him, and of being faithful to his country, could not be changed.
This is a moral law. A parent might permit his children to have 50 different dresses at different times, and love them equally in all. The dress is a mere matter of ceremony, and may be changed. The child, in all these garments, is bound to love and obey his father. This is a moral law, and cannot be changed. So the laws of the Jews. Those designed to regulate mere matters of ceremony and rites of worship might be changed. Those requiring love and obedience to God and love to people could not be changed, and Christ did not attempt it,
Mat_19:19; Mat_22:37-39; Luk_10:27; Rom_13:9. A third species of law was the judicial, or those laws regulating courts of justice which are contained in the Old Testament. These were of the nature of the ceremonial law, and might also be changed at pleasure. The judicial law of the Hebrews was adapted to their own civil society. When the form of their polity was changed this was of course no longer binding. The ceremonial law was fulfilled by the coming of Christ: the shadow was lost in the substance, and ceased to be binding. The moral law was confirmed and unchanged.
 
Very nice. I was about to ask you about which Law was Jesus talking about since there are more than 600 but Albert explained a bit and I realized also that Jesus explained it (with the 2 commandments), so all is well.
Thanks brother Larry :)
 
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