"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).
Perhaps the most widespread controversies about the teachings of Yeshua concern His attitude toward the laws of Elohim recorded in the Old Testament.
The approach of most churches and denominations regarding Yeshua is that He brought a new teaching differing considerably from the instructions of the Old Testament. The common view is that the teachings of Messiah in the New Testament annulled and replaced the teachings of the Old Testament. But do they?
It doesn't ultimately matter what people say about Him. Nor does it really matter what interpretations they give of what He said. What truly matters is what He really said, and whether we're going to believe and accept what He said.
The Sermon on the Mount is a good place to begin. Since this is the longest recorded statement of Yeshua Christ's teachings, we should expect to find in it His view toward the laws of Elohim as recorded in the Old Testament. And indeed we do.
One of the reasons for some of Yeshua' statements in the Sermon on the Mount is that—because His teaching was so different from that of the Pharisees and Sadducees—some people believed His intention was to subvert the authority of Elohim's Word and substitute His own in its place.
But His real intention was to demonstrate that many of the things the Pharisees and Sadducees taught were contrary to the original teachings of the Torah (or Law) of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. Yeshua refuted the erroneous ideas people had formed regarding Him with three emphatic declarations about the law. Let's look at them.
Yeshua explains His view of the law very early in the Sermon on the Mount: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17).
So immediately we see that Yeshua had no intention of destroying the law. He even tells us to not even think such a thing. Far from being antagonistic to the Old Testament Scriptures, He said He had come to fulfill "the Law and the Prophets" and proceeded to confirm their authority. "The Law and the Prophets" was a term commonly used for the Old Testament Scriptures (compare Matthew 7:12).
"The Law" referred to the first five books of the Bible, the books of Moses in which Elohim's laws were written down. "The Prophets" referred not only to the writings of the biblical prophets, but also to the historical books of what came to be known as the Old Testament.
Regrettably, the meaning of " fulfilling the law" has been twisted by many who claim the name of Yeshua but don't really understand what He taught. They say that since Yeshua said He would fulfill the law, we no longer need to keep it.
Another view of "fulfilling the law" is that Yeshua "filled full" what was lacking in the law—that is, He completed it, partly canceling it and partly adding to it, forming what is sometimes referred to as "Christ's law" or "New Testament teaching."
The implication of this view is that the New Testament brought a change in the requirements for salvation and that the laws given in the Old Testament are obsolete. But do either of these views accurately reflect what Yeshua meant?
The Greek word pleroo, translated "fulfill" in Matthew 5:17, means "to make full, to fill, to fill up . . . to fill to the full" or "to render full, i.e. to complete" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 2002, Strong's number 4137).
In other words, Yeshua said He came to complete the law and make it perfect. How? By showing the spiritual intent and application of Elohim's law. His meaning is clear from the remainder of the chapter, where He showed the spiritual intent of specific commandments.
Some distort the meaning of "fulfill" to have Yeshua saying, "I did not come to destroy the law, but to end it by fulfilling it." This is inconsistent with His own words. Through the remainder of the chapter, He showed that the spiritual intent of the law made it more broadly applicable, not that it was annulled or no longer necessary.
Yeshua, by explaining, expanding and exemplifying Elohim's law, fulfilled a prophecy of the Messiah found in Isaiah 42:21: "The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law, and make it honorable." The Hebrew word gadal, translated "exalt" or "magnify" (KJV), literally means "to be or become great" (William Wilson, Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies, "Magnify").
Yeshua Messiah did exactly that, showing the holy, spiritual intent, purpose and scope of Elohim's law through His teachings and manner of life. He met the law's requirements by obeying it perfectly in thought and deed, both in the letter and in the intent of the heart.
The second major statement given by Yeshua in the Sermon on the Mount, in the exact same context, makes it even clearer that He did not come to destroy, rescind, nullify or abrogate the law: "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18).
With these words, Yeshua likened the continuance of the law to the permanence of heaven and earth. He is saying that Elohim's spiritual laws are immutable, inviolable and indestructible. They can only be fulfilled, never abrogated.
We should note that in this verse a different Greek word is used for "fulfilled": ginomai, meaning "to become, i.e. to come into existence . . . to come to pass, happen" or "to be made, done, finished" (Thayer's, Strong's number 1096).
Until the ultimate completion of Elohim's plan to glorify humanity in His Kingdom comes to pass—that is, as long as there are still fleshly human beings—the physical codification of Elohim's law in Scripture is necessary. This, Yeshua explained, is as certain as the continued existence of the universe.
The third statement of Yeshua, quoted earlier in chapter 2, pronounces that our fate rests on our attitude toward and treatment of Elohim's holy law. Again, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least [by those] in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great [by those] in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19).
The "by those" is added for clarification, since, as explained in other passages, those who persist in lawbreaking and teach others to break Elohim's law will not themselves be in the Kingdom at all.
Yeshua makes it very clear that those who follow Him and aspire to His Kingdom have a perpetual obligation to obey and uphold Elohim's law. He is saying that we cannot diminish the law of Elohim by even a jot or tittle—the equivalent in our modern alphabet of the crossing of a "t" or the dotting of an "i."
The value He places on the commandments of Elohim is also unmistakable—as well as the high esteem toward the law He requires from all those who teach in His name. His disapproval falls on those who slight the least of Elohim's commandments, and His honor will be bestowed on those who teach and obey Elohim's commandments.
Since Yeshua obeyed the commandments of Elohim, it follows that His servants, too, must keep the same commandments and teach others to do the same (1 John 2:2-6). It is in this way that the true ministers of Messiah are to be identified—by their following the example He set for them ( John 13:15).
With the next statement in the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua leaves no doubt as to what He meant in the previous three declarations.
He meant without question for His disciples to obey Elohim's law—and He was requiring them to obey according to a standard that went beyond anything they'd heard before. "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).
Who were the scribes and Pharisees? The scribes were the most renowned teachers of the law—the interpreters of the law, the learned men, the experts.
The Pharisees, a related group, were commonly viewed as the most exemplary models of Judaism. They formed a sect of Judaism that established a code of morals and rituals more rigid than that spelled out in the law of Moses, basing much of their practices on years of traditions. The scribes and Pharisees were both highly strict and highly respected in Judaism (Acts 26:5).
While the scribes were the experts, the Pharisees professed the purest practice of righteousness. So when Yeshua stated that one's righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, this was a startling declaration!
The Pharisees were looked up to as those who had attained the very pinnacle of personal righteousness, and the common people supposed that such heights of spirituality were far beyond their reach. But Yeshua asserted that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees wasn't enough to entitle them to enter the Kingdom of which He spoke! What hope, then, did others have?
In actual fact, there was a real problem with the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The heart of the matter was that their righteousness was defective in that it was external only. They appeared to obey the law to those who observed them, but broke Elohim's law inwardly, where it couldn't be seen by others.
Notice Yeshua' scathing denunciation of their hypocrisy in making a show of religion: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence . . . For you . . . indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness . . . You also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness" (Matthew 23:25-28).
These self-appointed religious teachers emphasized minor aspects of the law while neglecting more important issues. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone" (verse 23).
Yeshua was concerned that every part of the righteous requirement be obeyed, and angry that they were blind to the "weightier" parts—the major spiritual aspects—of the law.
While they were fastidious with their ceremonial traditions, at the same time they took liberties to disobey Elohim's direct commands. In some situations they actually elevated their traditions above the clear commands of Elohim (Matthew 15:1-9).
Behind their actions was the base motive of self-exaltation and self-interest. They went public with what should have been their more private devotions toward Elohim—prayer, fasting and giving of alms—all so they could be seen and thought of by others as righteous (Matthew 6:1-6; 23:5-7).
Immediately after His statement that He had no intention of doing away with Elohim's law, Yeshua proceeded to give examples of the traditions and teachings of the Jewish religious leaders that completely missed the point or even contradicted the spiritual intent of Elohim's laws.
The first example He gave was the Sixth Commandment, "You shall not murder." All that the Pharisees understood about this commandment was that the act of murder was prohibited. Yeshua taught what should have been obvious, that the intent of the Sixth Commandment was not just to prohibit the literal act of murder, but every evil attitude of heart and mind that led to murder—including unjust anger and contemptuous words (Matthew 5:21-26).
He did likewise with their narrow view of the Seventh Commandment, "You shall not commit adultery." The Pharisees of the day understood the physical act of sexual relations with a woman outside of marriage to be sin. They should also have known, as in the case of the Sixth Commandment, that lust for another woman was sinful because the one lusting had already broken the commandment in his heart.
These are examples of the "righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees" that Yeshua characterized as making the outside of the cup and dish clean, while on the inside remaining "full of greed and self-indulgence" (Matthew 23:25, NRSV).
Yeshua instructed His disciples that Elohim's law must indeed be obeyed outwardly, but it must also be obeyed in the spirit and intent of the heart. When Yeshua taught such heartfelt obedience to Elohim's laws, He was faithful to what the Old Testament taught: "For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
The prophet Jeremiah looked forward to a time when Elohim would establish a new covenant in which Elohim promised to "put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts" (Jeremiah 31:33). Elohim's original intent for His law was that people would observe it from their hearts (Deuteronomy 5:29). The failure of human beings to obey Elohim's law in the "inward being" (Psalm 51:6, NRSV) inevitably led to outward disobedience.
Yeshua prefaced His contrast of the scribes' and Pharisees' narrow interpretation of the law with its true spiritual intent using the words, "You have heard that it was said . . . But I say to you . . ." (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28).
Some erroneously think Yeshua' intention was to contrast His own teaching with that of Moses and thereby declare Himself as the only true authority. They assume that Yeshua was either opposed to the Mosaic law or was modifying it in some way.
But it's hard to imagine that Yeshua, just after delivering the most solemn and emphatic proclamation of the permanence of Elohim's law and emphasizing His own high regard for it, would now undermine the authority of that law by other pronouncements. Yeshua wasn't inconsistent; He honored and upheld the law in all His statements.
In this passage He is not pitting Himself against the Mosaic law, nor is He claiming a superior spirituality. What He was doing was refuting the wrong interpretations perpetuated by the scribes and Pharisees.
This is why He declared that one's righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Yeshua was restoring, in the minds of His listeners, the Mosaic precepts to their original place, purity and power. (For a better understanding of these laws, request or download your free copy of the booklet The Ten Commandments.)
It should also be obvious that because the same Elohim is the Author of Old and New Covenant alike, there can be no vital conflict between them, and that the fundamental laws of morality underlying both must be and are in full accord. Elohim tells us in Malachi 3:6, "I am the LORD, I do not change . . ."
Among those who claim to follow Yeshua, no biblical command has aroused as much controversy as the Fourth Commandment— Elohim's instruction to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). Here in particular we find that people's interpretations of Yeshua' teaching are all over the map.
Some argue that Yeshua annulled all of the Ten Commandments but that nine were reinstituted in the New Testament—all except the Sabbath. Some believe that Yeshua replaced the Sabbath with Himself, and that He is now our "rest." Some believe that no Sabbath at all is needed now, that we can rest or worship on any day or at any time we choose.
Regardless of which argument one uses, an overwhelming portion of traditional Christianity believes that Sunday, the first day of the week, has replaced the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week.
Can we find support for these views in Christ's practice or teaching? In light of Yeshua' clear teaching on the permanence of Elohim's laws, what do we find when it comes to His attitude toward the Sabbath day?
In studying the Gospels, one of the first things we should notice is that Yeshua' custom was to attend the synagogue for worship on Elohim's Sabbaths (Luke 4:16). This was His regular practice. On this particular occasion, He even announced His mission as Messiah to those in the synagogue that day.
Interestingly, we later find that Paul's custom was also to worship and teach in the synagogues on the Sabbath day (Acts 17:2-3). Neither he nor Yeshua ever so much as hinted to their listeners that they needn't be there or that they should worship on a different day!
Where many people jump to wrong conclusions about Yeshua and the Sabbath is in His confrontations with the scribes and Pharisees. Yet these confrontations were never over whether to keep the Sabbath—only over how it should be kept. There is a crucial difference between the two!
For example, Yeshua boldly challenged the Jews concerning their interpretation of Sabbath observance by performing healings on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-6).
According to the Pharisees, rendering medical attention to someone, unless it were a matter of life and death, was prohibited on the Sabbath. And since none of these healings involved a life-and- death situation, they thought Yeshua was breaking the Sabbath.
But as the Savior, Yeshua understood the purpose of the Sabbath, that it was a perfectly appropriate time to bring His message of healing, hope and redemption to humanity and to live that message through His actions.
To make His point, Yeshua asked the Pharisees the question, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" (Mark 3:4).
He exposed their hypocrisy in that they saw nothing wrong with working to rescue an animal that fell into a pit on the Sabbath day, or watering an animal on that day, yet they were condemning Him for helping a human being—whose worth was far greater than that of any animal—on the Sabbath (Luke 13:15-17; Matthew 12:10-14).
He was rightfully angry at their inability to see that they placed their own traditions and interpretations over the true purpose of Sabbath observance (Mark 3:5). Yet they were so spiritually blind that they hated Him for exposing their distortions of Elohim's commands (verse 6).
On one occasion Yeshua' disciples, as they walked through a field on the Sabbath day, picked handfuls of grain so they would have something to eat. The disciples weren't harvesting the field; they were merely grabbing a quick snack to take care of their hunger.
But the Pharisees insisted this was not lawful. Yeshua used an example from Scripture to show that the spirit and intent of the law were not broken and that Elohim's law allowed for mercy (Mark 2:23-26).
In this context Yeshua gives the true purpose of the Sabbath. "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," He said (verse 27). The Pharisees had reversed the priorities of the law of Elohim. They had added so many meticulous regulations and traditions to the Sabbath commandment that trying to keep it as they demanded had become an enormous burden for people rather than the blessing Elohim had intended it to be (see Isaiah 58:13-14).
Yeshua then claimed to have authority to say how the Sabbath should be observed: "Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (verse 28).
When it comes to Yeshua and the law, we have to conclude that the "Christian" religion has let us down by not holding to the original teachings of Messiah, who Himself held to the original teachings of the Old Testament scriptures. And as the teachings of Jewish religious leaders corrupted Moses, so did later teachers of Messiah—that is, false teachers claiming to represent Him—corrupt His teachings. In reality, Yeshua and Moses agreed.
Let's ask a question here. If Yeshua were here today, which day would He observe as the Sabbath? It would be the day commanded in the Ten Commandments, the seventh day.
Yeshua kept the law and expected His disciples to do the same. He made clear His attitude about anyone diminishing one iota from the law. Anyone not keeping it is only using the good name of Messiah without doing what He said.
He warns us: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21-23).
So where does this lead us? It leads us to the conclusion that not all churches claiming to represent Messiah really represent Him accurately. Like so many of the ancient Pharisees, they have accumulated traditions that lead them astray.
Yeshua often pointed out that His teaching was based in the Old Testament Scriptures. When others challenged Him concerning His teaching He responded, "Have you not read . . . ?" before pointing His challengers to the Scriptures that supported what He had said (Matthew 12:3, 5; 19:4; 22:31).
Those who say that Yeshua departed from the authority of the Old Testament scriptures are simply wrong. In this chapter we have demonstrated that the Jewish religious leaders of His own day and most professing Christians today are incorrect in their assessment of Yeshua' teachings. Yeshua faithfully taught the written word of the Old Testament. Yeshua Messiah is consistent, "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). He has not changed His view of Elohim's law!