After some pretty pointed statements of promises with conditions, the scribes and Pharisees were probably thinking that Jesus was opposed to everything taught in the Law of Moses. Of course, that wasn’t the case; but that is exactly what they accused Jesus of during His three-year ministry. They used this because they were unwilling to accept Him as the Messiah promised throughout Jewish history.

So, Jesus included in His sermon this statement, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17 KJV).

Jesus said that He had come to fulfill or complete the purpose of the Law of Moses. If that is the case, we need to understand what that means.

Let’s take a modern-day example to help us determine how Jesus could fulfill the law.

Suppose you have a will that designates to whom your belongings will be distributed at your death. In order to destroy that will, you would need to write a new one or tear up the one you have. Either of those would “destroy” the original will.

Now let’s suppose you die. You leave a will properly written and witnessed, and that will is read to your heirs. That will has not been destroyed but rather fulfilled.

Jesus told the people in Matthew 5 that His purpose was to fulfill the law. His purpose was not to violate the law but to bring them a new one. Under the new law there would not be the offering of animals, but He came to offer Himself as a living sacrifice for those that would obey Him.

In Galatians 3:24-25, Paul said, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

In Roman times, the schoolmaster was the slave that took the children to school. In the same sense, the law brought us to Christ. It was also fulfilled in Christ.

The Law of Moses was perverted by the Jewish leaders, scribes and Pharisees. They held to some laws, but not to others. They took some laws to the extreme, perverting them. For instance, they accused Jesus of violating the Sabbath by healing a lame man in John 5 and a blind man in John 9. Neither healing violated the Law of Moses since certain acts of necessity and mercy were allowable on the Sabbath Day under that law. In spite of the good done by the healing of these two men, the scribes and Pharisees used these to condemn the Lord.

In Deuteronomy 18:15-22, Moses himself spoke of the coming of a prophet from among the Jews that would be like him. We see the fulfillment of this Mosaic prophecy in John 1.

We are no longer under the Law of Moses today, not even the Ten Commandments. That law was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross. We are under a completely different law based on the commands of Jesus Christ.

We are told to worship on the first day of the week, not on the Sabbath or Saturday. The first day is our day of worship because Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week, and because it is commanded under the New Law.

The early Christians were told to take the Lord’s Supper on the first day, Acts 20:7. Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that those that worship God should worship Him in spirit and in truth.  Paul told the Colossians in Colossians 3:16 that Christians are to teach and admonish one another in song. None of these were commanded under the Old Law.

In Matthew 15:9, Jesus said that some worshipped in vain because they taught doctrines of men rather than commands of God. Some people do just that today, worshipping God by deciding for themselves how they want to worship rather than obeying the commands of the scripture. Those people are no different than the scribes and Pharisees.

Hebrews chapter 9 describes the rites and sacrifices of the law. It also tells us how the blood of bulls and goats no longer serve as the sacrifice for our sins. The blood of Christ, according to verse 28, bears our sins.

Sandra Oliver