Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets (the Old Testament). I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
This is a statement by Jesus Christ. The Law or the Prophets simply means the Old Testament. There are very serious implications to this statement made by Jesus Christ that all believers and non-believers must pay close attention to.
First, the Old Testament is relevant for Today.
Second, everyone (believers and non-believers alike) would have to fulfill the commandments given in all of the Old Testament.
All the teachings of Jesus as well as in Matthew 5,6 and 7 must not be interpreted as redefinitions to the Laws but as explanations to what the Laws really mean.
Jesus’s fulfillment of the Law is accounted to any one who is united with Christ
First, the Old Testament is relevant for Today. Jesus said that till heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest or minute part of the law will be left unfulfilled (Matthew 5:18) and “whoever breaks the law and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19)
Everyone would have to fulfill the commandments given in all of the Old Testament.
In Matthew 5:19 Jesus said “WHOEVER therefore breaks one of the least of the commandments and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but WHOEVER does and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
WHOEVER implies that everyone is expected to obey the commandments. Not even the believer is exempted from obeying the commands in the old testament.
The teachings of Jesus must not be interpreted as redefinitions to the Laws but as explanations to what the Laws really mean.
Often in Matthew 5-7, Jesus said “You have heard it said…. but I say to you” These teachings must be interpreted as explanations to what the laws really mean and not as a redefinition of the law since Jesus has stated that He did not come to destroy the law.
Jesus’s fulfillment of the Law is accounted to any one who is united with Christ
But how do people obey all the commandments of the Old Testament? How does it work?
The unbeliever and the believer living by the flesh will need to fulfill the law by their own strength, and the believer walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) will fulfill the law through Jesus Christ.
Let us explain in a moment the difference between living by the flesh and living by the Spirit. A grasp of this difference plays a very important role in understanding how we fulfill the law.
To walk or live by the flesh means to depend on human effort for all you do and to live by the Spirit means to be influenced by the Holy Spirit in all that you do.
This includes all your day-to-day activities such as the air you breathe, the work you do, your studies, etc. The believer who is still depending on self to fulfill the commands of God will end up in a perpetual life of struggle and defeat. This is exactly the experience Paul explains in Romans 7. The experience presented there is not that of an unbeliever only, but also that of some believers (those still depending on self to obey God)
Remember that the believer is to “work out his/her salvation with reverence and great diligence (fear-reverence and respect, trembling -great diligence, not carelessly or casually Philippians 2:12)” and he can only do so because “God is at work in him, to make him willing and to give him the energy to obey Him (God)” But if God works in you the willingness to obey and the ability to obey, all you then need to do is to respond positively to his work in you.
Thus, the believers who depend on the finished work of Christ would have Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law accounted to him/her as having fulfilled the Law through Jesus Christ. Not by our own strength, but Jesus' fulfillment of the law is credited to us as having fulfilled the Law by virtue of our union with Him.
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