The Relation of the Kingdom of God to the Old Testament
Matthew 5:17-47
As we are taking on the section of Matthew 5:17-47, we must observe two things: First, we are entering the body of the great Sermon; Second, Jesus is making a clear effort in showing how His teaching relates to the Old Testament. It is obvious from His last beatitude that those who practice the norms of the Kingdom would enjoy great rewards in heavens and will align themselves, even in suffering, with the prophets (5:12).
Jesus Is the Fulfillment of the Old Testament – Matthew 5:17-20
This short passage is one of the most difficult texts in the whole Bible. From the reading of this section becomes clear that Jesus had a high view and esteem for the Old Testament Scriptures and He states that He did not come to abolish them; actually He emphasized their immutability down to the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In other words, Jesus doesn’t say that the Old Testament writings contain some partial truth; in John 10:35 He declared that, “the Scripture cannot be broken.”
These observations though, may create difficulties regarding the application of the Old Testament Scriptures to the life of the New Testament believer. For instance, it seems pretty clear that Jesus abolished the food laws (Mark 7:19), even though He declared that, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”! Further, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the New Testament writers clearly announced that the sacrificial system of the Old Testament was no longer necessary (Heb. 8:13; 10:1-18). Also, why Christians are not following the details of the Old Testament Laws?
Some Bible commentators (going back to Thomas Aquinas – 1225 – 1274) have attempted to divide the law in three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial, saying that the civil law has passed because the people of Israel was not formed as a nation for many centuries; the ceremonial law has disappeared because it pointed toward Jesus, who “fulfilled” it by dying on the cross, thus annulling all the Old Testament ceremonies. They continue to argue that the only law that that Jesus was referring in this passage is the eternal, never-changing moral law.
But this division of the Law is highly artificial as the laws are intermixed and difficult to categorize. For instance, the Ten Commandments, the clearest examples of so-called moral laws, present problems for the moral, civil, and ceremonial distinctions. For example is the Sabbath law moral or ceremonial? If content is the criterion, then the Sabbath law, which was clearly part of Israel’s worship system, is a ceremonial law and not a moral one. Furthermore, although many Christians claim that the Sabbath law is a moral law, practically none of them obey it. Going to church on Sunday, the first day of the week, can hardly be called obedience to the Sabbath law. Moses would not have accepted the first day of the week as a substitute for the seventh day. So there must be a different explanation to the Jesus’ words in this passage.
In Matthew 11:12-13, Jesus declares, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.” In other words, the whole Old Testament had a prophetic function pointing toward the coming Messiah, and Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. The New Testament interprets the Old as pointing forward to Christ and all the blessings He was to bring. The sacrificial system pointed toward Jesus’ sacrifice (Heb. 9:8) and, as he explained to Cleopas and his friend, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44). “The Scriptures testify about Me,” Jesus said (John 5:39).
Moving the discussion back to the Kingdom matters (v.19), Jesus brings back the Norms of the Kingdom in sight. To enter the Kingdom is required a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees, that was based on self-effort; this new righteousness is based to one’s obedience to the King. Even ranking within the Kingdom will be based on obedience to the Jesus’ commands (5:19). The righteousness Jesus was speaking about was of a prophetic nuance: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Romans 3:21).
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
http://www.amazon.com/Cost-Discipleship-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/0684815001
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
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