The Law Fulfilled [Jesus Reveals His Mission in Matthew 5]

HAROLDO CAMACHO | Former Adventist Pastor

The many references to the Law and the Old Testament in the Gospel of Matthew indicate that Matthew wrote this “Good News” with the Jewish reader in mind. His purpose was to introduce Jesus Christ “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:1) to both the children of the seed and of the faith of Abraham. 

Thus, one needs to read this gospel first as a Jewish reader might, informed by the many narratives of the Old Testament and its teachings from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

In Matthew’s time, believers were aware that Jesus understood the Old Testament Scriptures were fulfilled in Him. The gospel of Luke tells us that Matthew himself had been in the upper room when Jesus, after His resurrection, came in among them (Luke 24:33). Matthew heard directly from Jesus how the Old Testament pointed to His sufferings and death and what His death meant for sinners. 

“And He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me.’ And He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures. And He said to them, ‘So it is written, and so it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be proclaimed in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’ ” (Luke 24:44-47)

Therefore, as we read Matthew’s gospel, there should be no doubt that Matthew is writing with Jesus’ words in mind. It must be assumed that when Matthew refers to the Law, his direct purpose and intention is to show that the Law was fulfilled in Jesus so that the readers may be led to believe in Him for salvation. Matthew’s purpose cannot be contrary to what he heard from the resurrected Christ in the upper room.

As Matthew begins to write chapter five, he remembers the surroundings in which Jesus spoke those words on that day:

“And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain. And when He had sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying… “(Matt. 5:1).

To the Jewish reader acquainted with the Torah (the five books of Moses), two scenes in their history would come to mind. The first (as found in the Torah) is of Moses going up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Law, the multitude of Israel surrounding the mountain, and the admonition not to climb the mountain (Exodus 19:17-20). The second scene was the pronouncement on Mount Gerizim of the blessings they would receive if they kept that law (Deuteronomy 27-28). 

…in Deuteronomy the blessings are ­conditional upon the people keeping the law, but Matthew has Jesus pronouncing His blessings upon whoever is there ­listening to His words.

Matthew, however, reverses this order and has Jesus pronounce the blessings before dictating His law. Another contrast with the Old Testament is that in Matthew the people come close to Jesus instead of having to stay away from the Lawgiver as He speaks. Further, in Deuteronomy the blessings are conditional upon the people keeping the law, but Matthew has Jesus pronouncing His blessings upon whoever is there listening to His words. 

Further, the last blessing tells on account of whom the blessings would come: “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake” (Matt. 5:11). Christ’s followers would be reviled, persecuted, and defamed because of their faith in Him. Yet, because the persecution was on His account, the suffering would become a blessing.

It is Jesus who gives meaning to the blessings. The words “for my sake” are the clue given in v. 11 to understanding the Blessings. All the blessings arise because of Him, not because of keeping the Law as had been the case in Deuteronomy. There are those hearing Jesus who will grasp the meaning of His words because they have faith in Him. Others will feel threatened by His authority and will feel antipathy, resentment, and even murderous hatred against Him (see vs. 20-22). 

Those who respond to His authority with faith, however, perceive that He is the key to receiving the blessings. They hear the blessings with this understanding:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” – because He is their kingdom.¹

“Blessed are they that mourn” – because He is their comfort.²

“Blessed are the meek” – because they shall share His inheritance.³

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness” – because He will fill them with His righteousness.⁴

“Blessed are the merciful” – because He is their source of mercy.⁵

“Blessed are the pure in heart” – because clothed with His purity, they shall see God.⁶

“Blessed are the peacemakers” – because through His peace they shall be called the children of God.⁷

“Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness’ sake” – because He is their salvation.⁸

“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” – because He is their reward.⁹

Contrast to the Torah

In contrast, the Jewish listener or reader would have expected, based on the Torah,¹⁰ to hear Jesus say:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit” – because they keep the Law.¹¹

“Blessed are they that mourn” – because they keep the Law.¹²

“Blessed are the meek” – because they keep the Law.¹³

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness” – because they keep the Law.¹⁴

“Blessed are the merciful” – because they keep the Law.¹⁵

“Blessed are the pure in heart” – because they keep the Law.¹⁶

“Blessed are the peacemakers” – because they keep the Law.¹⁷

“Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness’ sake” – because they keep the Law.¹⁸

“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” – because they keep the Law.¹⁹

The Jewish reader would have caught the difference between Jesus’ words and those of the Torah immediately and would have asked the obvious question, “What about keeping the law as a condition for receiving God’s blessings?”

Jesus addresses this unspoken question in verses 17-20:

(17) “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.  (18) For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.  (19) Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.  (20) For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.”

There are some Christians who see v. 17 as Christ’s direct command to keep the Ten Commandments, either as a means of becoming acceptable to God for salvation or as a way to sustain and maintain their salvation with their obedience. Jesus’ words here, however, are not a command to obey the Law. Rather, Jesus’ command is, “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets.” In order to understand what Jesus means by this command, we will look at the meanings of some of Jesus’ specific words in this clause.

First, the word translated “think” is the Greek verb nomizo. The synonyms “suppose”, “presuppose”, “assume”, and “consider” all come close to this word’s meaning. They do not, however, catch the entire nuance of nomizo.  The phrase “to make a law” comes close. Therefore, what Jesus is saying in this command is something like this: “Do not make it a law to think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets”. ²⁰ Jesus knew the Jews listening to Him would assume He was advocating abolishing the Law since the Blessings He listed were not conditioned upon their keeping the Law. He was making sure they knew He was really saying, in effect, “Do not make it your starting assumption about Me that I have come to abolish or undo the Law or the Prophets”.

He was making sure they knew He was really saying, in effect, “Do not make it your starting assumption about Me that I have come to abolish or undo the Law or the Prophets”.

Second, the Greek term used here for “Law” sheds light into Jesus’ meaning. It is the Greek nomos, which, incidentally, contains the same root as the word nomizo discussed in the previous paragraph. Nomos refers to the larger corpus of the Law, which the New Testament most clearly translates “Torah”, or the five books of Moses which include the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus.²¹ Interestingly, the Jews considered the Day of Atonement (described in Leviticus 16) to be the center of the law, not the Ten Commandments. In fact, if one counts words forward from the beginning of Genesis and counts words backward from the end of Deuteronomy, Leviticus 16 is physically the center of the Law. To the Jews the position of the Day of Atonement in the Torah is no mere coincidence. It shows the centrality and importance of Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement—as the center of the Jewish faith

Jesus’ understanding that He was the Lamb of God led Him to interpret the entire Torah as announcing His sacrifice. Therefore, if He had annulled the Law, He would have been annulling the prophetic evidence that He was who He claimed to be, and that by His death He would take the guilt of humanity’s disobedience upon Himself. This fulfillment of the law is what He taught the disciples on the road to Emmaus as well as the disciples in the Upper Room.

After Jesus gives the negative command, “Do not make it a law to think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets”, He then declares what He has done: “I have not come to destroy but to fulfill”. There is no direct command to keep the Law in this statement, either. Rather, Jesus wants us to understand His relationship to the Law so we can then understand our relationship to it.

Further, Jesus refers to the prophets. His implication is that both the Law and the Prophets are of equal value in their foreshadowing of His mission. As He later told the disciples,

“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me” (Luke 24:44). 

To understand Jesus’ fulfillment of the law and the prophets, we must look at the underlying Greek words. The Greek term for “fulfill” is plero. It means to fill a container by packing it down until nothing more can be packed in, or until it overflows. Jesus expands the meaning of “filling to overflowing” by the synonym He uses in the following verse, “until all is fulfilled”. Here “fulfilled” is not plero but a form of the verb ginomai which means “to become”—“to come into being through generating.” ²² The meaning that Jesus gives to “filling to overflowing” is that He will generate whatever is needed to fulfill the requirements of the Law to the point that they are not merely satisfied but that they overflow.

Jesus’ claim exceeded all the rabbis’ claims to obedience. His claim was that one man could be in Himself the fulfillment and the filling up of all the obedience and righteousness taught, preached, and prophesied in the Torah and the Prophets. It was an astounding claim.

Then, to show how thorough His fulfillment of the Torah and the Prophets would be, He makes another astounding declaration:

(18) “For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.”

The jots and tittles are the smallest parts of the Hebrew character script. Whether they are part of a character or not makes all the difference in the pronunciation and meaning of a word. By referring to these figures, Jesus is saying He would both fulfill and fill with meaning every single part of the Torah and the Prophets. Not “till heaven and earth pass away” would the Torah and the Prophets stop demonstrating that Jesus has fulfilled every nuance of meaning and obligation they foreshadowed.

The phrase “until all is fulfilled” cannot be seen apart from the previous phrase “I have not come to destroy but to fulfill”. These words of Jesus are talking about much more than the permanency of the Law. They are talking about the eternity of His work in fulfilling the Law on humanity’s behalf. 

Righteousness exceeding the Pharisees

The following passage is sometimes interpreted as Jesus instructing us to keep the Ten Commandments meticulously. It must be understood, however, within the context that He is the One who fills the Torah’s requirements for righteousness and obedience to the brim.

(19) Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.  

(20) For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.  

The relaxation, or literally the “loosening”, of any of the commandments of the Law (the entire Torah) would call into question whether Jesus is actually the fulfillment of the meaning of that commandment. To say that a particular commandment does not have significance would detract from His mission: to show that His life is the fulfillment of even the smallest and seemingly most insignificant commandment. 

The doing and teaching of even the least of the commandments must now be seen in the light that He came to fulfill all of them, even the least of them. His fulfilling of the Torah and the Prophets with all their commandments is now the basis for our new relationship to the Law. Now what matters is our relationship to Him as the One who fulfills the law and fills it up with meaning.²³ 

 By His authority as the One who will fill the Law to overflowing, Jesus can now make the following astounding judgment: 

“For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven” (v20).  

In order to understand this amazing statement, it is important to stay within the context of Jesus’ words that he had come to fulfill the Law to overflowing with righteousness. His mission was to surpass the best of human obedience by finally giving the Law what it required: perfect obedience from the heart.

Jesus had already made the connection between Himself and righteousness right there in the Beatitudes. If He Himself were not the righteousness of God provided for humanity, He would have been cursing them instead of blessing them when He said:

(6) Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled.

(7) Blessed are the merciful! For they shall obtain mercy.  

(8) Blessed are the pure in heart! For they shall see God. 

(9) Blessed are the peacemakers! For they shall be called the sons of God. 

(10) Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness sake! For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

(11) Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake.

The term “righteousness’ sake” in verse 10 is parallel to the phrase “My sake” in verse 11. Jesus is clearly equating Himself with righteousness. He is saying that those who are blessed would find their fulfillment in Him and would also be persecuted on His account. They, like Paul, would suffer for teaching that they would “be found in Him; not having [their] own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith” (Philippians 3:8-9). 

In this passage, Jesus the Christ is announcing His identity and mission as the Messiah, “the Lord our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5,6). Since He is exceeding the law with His own righteousness, then He has the right to declare what the Law means and how it is applied. Those who contend that Matthew 5:17-19 is a direct reference to and defense of the Decalogue may be surprised at v. 21 where Jesus continues His startling teaching. 

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ ” True, the first part is considered the Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13): “Thou shall not kill”.  But what about the second part, “Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court…everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell”? 

These words are not part of the Ten Commandments at all. In fact, they are not a direct quote of any part of the Torah. This passage is Jesus’ own editing of the Torah. As the fulfillment of the Law, His Law goes beyond deeds to the motive behind the deeds. When it comes to murder, the actual deed deserves a day in court. But the anger previous to the deed makes one guilty before “the supreme court”. This court in Judaism was none other than the Sanhedrin, and only the very elite scribes and Pharisees were members of that court. Were they angry at Him for lessening the value of their righteousness? 

Further, Jesus said if one calls another “You fool”,²⁴ he is guilty of “fiery hell”.²⁵ Hell was a judgment reserved for God alone. Thus Jesus pointed beyond what the Torah could judge to what only God could judge. 

Anger and lust tend to keep company, and it was no different in Jesus’ audience. How many men (and women) were caught off guard by Jesus’ words regarding adultery? 

(27) You have heard that it was said to the ancients, “You shall not commit adultery.”  (28) But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  (29) And if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown into hell. (30) And if your right hand offends you, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown into hell.  

Jesus’ “filling up” the meaning of the adultery law surprises his listeners on two accounts: His definition of adultery and its punishment.

Moreover, Jesus removes the responsibility of punishment from the public. For the private sin of lust which precedes the more public sin of adultery, Jesus holds the offender fully responsible for his own guilt and for dealing with his sin before God.

Adultery is more than the deed. “Whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. A conviction of violating the adultery law had grave consequences, literally death by stoning for both (Deuteronomy 22:21-25). Those participating in the stoning had to pick up a stone, or pluck it out from a pile of stones and throw it at the man and the woman until their death. Yet what Jesus asks to be plucked out and thrown is not a stone but the offending lustful eye or the hand used in the sexual fantasy. Moreover, Jesus removes the responsibility of punishment from the public. For the private sin of lust which precedes the more public sin of adultery, Jesus holds the offender fully responsible for his own guilt and for dealing with his sin before God.

Of divorce and oaths

Although not generally seen as connected, Jesus’ words regarding lust are closely related to His next pronouncements regarding divorce.

(31) It was also said, Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce.  (32) But I say to you that whoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever shall marry her who is put away commits adultery.

The Torah allowed for a husband to put away the wife if she did not find favor in his eyes because he found some indecency in her. Jesus, however, reissues the divorce commandment so as to fill the Law to overflowing with righteousness. The exception clause for divorce, “except for the cause of fornication,” needs to be seen in relationship to the inclusive clause in the case of adultery: “whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. If a man’s wife commits adultery, he may divorce her. Jesus allowed for that human situation and its resultant limiting effects on the human heart. In view of His previous clause in which He includes lust of the heart within the scope of adultery, however, He raises the norm for divorce to another level. If a man’s wife commits adultery, he may divorce her, but how can he divorce her if in his heart he has ever lusted after other women and is also guilty of adultery? 

Even though Jesus allows for divorce, He calls for all to know their sinful hearts and on that basis make the choice to forgive and not divorce. If, however, one does divorce on account of unfaithfulness, divorce with love and forgiveness because “God has called us to live in peace” (1 Corinthians 7:15). Once again, Jesus raises the Law’s demand for righteousness to a level that only a higher kind of love can give: His divine love. That love is the Law by which He, as the righteousness of God, relates to sinners. He is espoused to His people forever. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (Jeremiah 31:3).

It is not surprising that, after discussing divorce, the next commandment that Jesus fills with meaning refers to the taking of oaths. 

(33) Again, you have heard that it has been said to the ancients, “You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord.”  (34) But I say to you, Do not swear at all! Not by Heaven, because it is God’s throne;  (35) not by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; not by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King;  (36) nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.  (37) But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.  

Initially, two things are striking about this declaration. First, Jesus introduces this command the same way he introduced the previous two by saying, “You have heard that it has been said to the ancients”. This command, unlike the previous two, however, is not in the Decalogue. Jesus is showing that He fulfills everything that was written about righteousness and obedience in the Torah and the Prophets. 

Second, the commands He presents are not direct quotes from any one specific place in the Torah, but He takes the liberty to “copy and paste” related words and phrases from different parts of the Torah and quote them together. This passage is an example. He uses the idea of the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11), without quoting it directly. He combines it with Leviticus 19:12, “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God.” The phrase “you shall perform your oaths to the Lord” was understood to be the positive corollary to the negative command not to profane God’s name, but those words were not actually written anywhere in the Torah. Jesus was using His authority as the Righteousness sent from God to reveal the filled-to-overflowing intent and spirit of God’s commands regarding oath taking. 

Jesus’ commandment regarding the taking (or giving) of oaths applies to all human desire to fortify and validate one’s promises by calling on the permanence of something greater than one’s self. Jesus shows the futility of calling God as witness to the frailty of human promises. Even though the oath taker may not directly be invoking the name of God, Jesus shows that swearing by anything that belongs to God is but a veiled attempt to call on God’s sovereignty to guarantee one’s inconsistent human promises. God does not guarantee our promises, however; He guarantees only His own. 

Even though the oath taker may not directly be invoking the name of God, Jesus shows that swearing by anything that belongs to God is but a veiled attempt to call on God’s sovereignty to guarantee one’s inconsistent human promises. God does not guarantee our promises, however; He guarantees only His own. 

By reminding the listeners of the frailty of human promises, Jesus reminds His Jewish audience of another failed promise made by their fathers. When God met with the children of Israel to give them His covenant, on their own initiative they swore, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Exodus 19:8). It was a false promise, however, because they swore to do something only He could do: qualify themselves to be His own people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. They swore falsely by attempting to promise something that was His alone to give and to fulfill for His people.²⁶

All they needed to say was “Yes” to His promise.²⁷ Therefore, as Jesus announces the beginning of the New Covenant, He commands the believers to just give a simple “Yes” or “No” in all their dealings, including their response to God. Whatever is more than these comes from evil (v. 37). That they knew their promises would come from evil hearts was nothing new to them. They were acquainted with Jeremiah’s words, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Only God could swear by His own name. Only His promises were truly faithful. Even the most faithfully kept human promises do not require what God required from Himself: the giving up of His own beloved son to bear the “rod and stripes” for the transgressions of humanity. In one of the most poignant promises God made to David is found this oath taken by God regarding the work of the Messiah:

(30) If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;  (31) If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;  (32) Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.  (33) Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.  (34) My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.  (35) Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.  (36) His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.  (37) It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah (Psalms 89:30-37).

God made the promise of the establishment of His throne, and He swore on His own holiness! The right to swear by God’s holy name is a right which God reserves to Himself. God’s Holy name was at stake if He failed to provide the Son as the Lamb who would bear the sins of the world. 

Jesus knew what was at stake when He began His mission. His life and death and resurrection fulfilled the law concerning oaths, demonstrating that it is God’s oath to save Israel which should be trusted. Israel’s promises failed once, and promises fail every time anyone would swear by God’s name to atone for his own sins or to guarantee his own oaths. What is left for humans when they interact with each other is simple honesty in their dealings: “Yes” for “yes”, “No” for “no”. Anything else is but a cover up for the weaknesses of their promises. 

Regrettably, the breaking of human promises often leads to vengeance and violence. Thus, the next commandment that Jesus fills to overflowing is the law concerning how to respond to an injustice. Once again, this is not a commandment found in the Decalogue. Jesus quotes from various parts of the Torah which deal with the law of retribution. In responding to the commandment on His terms, He literally changes the law of retribution to the law of responding to an injustice with love.

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” (39) But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.  (40) If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.  (41) Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. (42) Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you. (Mat 5:38-42)

By changing the commandment from retribution to responding to injustice, Jesus teaches the gospel of His life. He himself is the true meaning of the law. Humanity deserved God’s retribution, but God responded with salvation. In Jesus, God turned the other cheek, receiving the unjust and wicked slap of our sins on His face. In Jesus, God gave humanity the saving robe of righteousness while His son went naked on the cross. In Jesus, God went the second mile, offering His son to become sin for us. In Jesus, God gave to us the gift of eternal life. With His life and His obedience unto death He showed how to respond to all human injustice.

Thus the greater Law of God’s love is fulfilled. Jesus ends his discourse by reformulating the law of love. His declaration is a new formula for living—and it is lived out in His life to the fullest.

(43) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  (44) But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you,  (45) so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven.

Here Jesus’ quote from the Torah is most fascinating. Only the clause “You shall love your neighbor” is part of the Torah (Lev. 19:18). “Hate your enemy” was assumed to be law because it was the opposite of loving the neighbor. Jesus challenged that basic human assumption, however, and established love of the enemy as the corresponding part of loving one’s neighbor. Again, Jesus was speaking prophetically of His life.

“For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10).

It was Jesus Who, from the cross, blessed those who cursed Him, carried the sins of those who hated Him, and prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” on behalf of His tormentors. This counterintuitive love is our gift from God, and when we are in Christ, it is the love He places in our hearts by His Spirit.

Be perfect in Christ

The culmination of Jesus’ reformulation of the Law is contained in the well-known passage, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (v. 48). The word translated here as “perfect” comes from the Greek word telos which means “fully completed in its nature or purpose”.

The Father trusts in the fully completed righteousness of His Son to represent His love as fully perfect. Similarly, it is only as we trust in the fully completed righteousness of Christ which fills the Law to overflowing that we will be complete in nature and purpose before God.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduced Himself as the living Righteousness and Perfection the law had always demanded. In His radical reformulation of the Law, He began to unveil the mystery of His life as the fulfillment of all morality and holiness before God for all time and for all creation. Only He could fulfill the demands for perfection required by the law, and only when we are hidden in Him will we be covered with His righteousness and perfect obedience. Grounded in the assurance that we are fully complete in Him, we can then experience the power of God’s perfect love engraving His life into our own.

 “Do not make it a law to think that I have come to destroy the law of the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to fill to overflowing”. †

Endnotes

1. Colossians 1:13; Philippians 1:21
2. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
3. Romans 8:16-17; Ephesians 1:18-23; Revelation 20:6; 22:5
4. Philippians 3:9; Romans 9:30
5. Ephesians 2:4-8; Titus 3:4-7; Hebrews 4:16
6. 1 John 3:3; John 15:3-4; Romans 6:22; Hebrews 12:14;
7. Ephesians 2:14-15; John 14:27; 16:33; Romans 8:6-8, 15-17
8. Romans 8:35-39; 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 
9. Matthew 10:40-42; Colossians 1:26-27
10. Psalm 119:56 
11. Psalm 119:20, 21
12. Psalm 119:28, 29.
13. Psalm 119:78, 141 
14. Psalm 119:81, 131 
15. Psalm 119:77 
16. Psalm 119:9-11
17. Psalm 119:163-165 
18. Psalm 119:86-88, 157  Note the contrast with Jesus’ blessing regarding the persecuted. The psalmist says the persecution is without cause. Jesus says the blessed are persecuted with cause, the cause of righteousness—for His sake and His righteousness.
19. Psalm 119:47, 72 
20. nomizo: “literally referring to what attains the force of law (nomos), and then, ‘to be of the opinion’”: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. See also the use of nomizo in Mt. 20:10, Lk. 2:44, Acts 7:25, Acts 8:20.
21. Every time the phrase “the Law of Moses” is found in the New Testament, the Greek word nomos is used. However, the phrase refers to the Torah as a whole (see Luke 2:22, Luke 24:44, John 1:45, John 7:19, John 7:23,  Acts 13:39, Acts 15:5, Acts 28:23, 1 Cor. 9:9, Hebrews 9:19, Hebrews 10:28). In not one instance does the phrase refer exclusively to the Ten Commandments. 
22. ginomai has many other nuances, but they all arise from the basic meaning “to become” through generating.
23. He will later give an example of the doing and teaching of a small commandment and how He fills it with meaning (vv. 23,24).
24. The literal word used here is Aramaic, reqa, a highly offensive insult, meaning “imbecile” to say the least.
25. A concept found in Jewish apocalyptic literature, Enoch 90:26.
26. Thus the Old Covenant was based upon a false promise. All other attempts of Christians to make similar promises today are promises made under the same false pretenses and are bound for the same failure.

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Haroldo Camacho was born to an Adventist pastor’s family in Cartagena, Colombia, and holds a Ph.D. in theology. He emigrated to the United States early in his life with his parents. He became an Adventist pastor and worked for the Adventist denomination for nearly 20 years until 1991. Since 1993 he has been teaching and writing about the gospel as a lay person in the Southern California area. He has three adult children and works as a Certified Court Interpreter for the Judicial Council of the State of California. (2005)