Peace and grace brethren!
In this Q&A article, we will seek to answer the question above. Someone said to us, "I found it interesting that you said 'Jesus fulfilled the law' and didn't abolish it. Can you talk more about the Old Testament Law and how it was not abolished? I have doubts about the laws."
Thanks for asking! This is a good question, one that many sincere believers have. We have asked this question to ourselves in different occasions. We came to realize that embedded in this question is usually another question, Should new testament believers obey The Law or The Old Testament Laws? Often the latter ends up being the real question when someone asks Law-related questions. Perhaps that's why you said, "I have doubts about the laws."
In either case, by the grace of God, in this article, we will seek to answer both questions in a somewhat straightforward manner, so the article doesn't get as lengthy, and another detailed article directly addressing the question, "Should New Testament Believers Obey The Law" will follow. It's our prayer that God though these articles will establish your heart regarding this issue or lead you to learn more through other materials. Let's go to the question!
Did Jesus abolish The Law?
Jesus Himself gave a direct and precise answer to this question, and His answer was: NO! In Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "'“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.'" The verb translated destroy carries the meaning of "abolish, cancel nullify, make void, and etc." The New Living Translation translated it in the following way, "'“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.'" Matthew 5:17. The phrase that we used that led you to ask the question was essentially a paraphrase of Jesus own words. Jesus didn't abolish the law but came to accomplish its purpose. But Jesus didn't stay there, his answer was broader.
While we seek to understand only whether the law was abolished or not, we see that Jesus' answer included the prophets also. The Law refers to the set of laws that Moses received in the Mount Sinai and others that followed when the Israelites first enter their covenant with God. The Law also refers to the covenant itself and indicates the time period in which that covenant was in effect. Whereas, the Prophets refer to the writings of the Prophets according to Jewish tradition, which includes Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, plus all the known prophets from Isaiah to Malachi as we have in the new testament. Interestingly enough, all these prophets wrote during the time period when the covenant of the law was in effect, and spoke in figures about the coming of Jesus.
Just like He did not abolish the Law, He didn't abolish what the Prophets said either. So, if He did not abolish, what happened then? On the latter part of Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, "...I came to accomplish their purpose.'" Instead of abolishing it, Jesus fulfilled the law, He accomplished its purpose. He explains further in verse 18 of Matthew 5 saying, "'For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.'" Jot and tittle refers to the smallest characters in the Hebraic alphabet/writings. Jesus is saying that all that is written in the law and all that the prophets prophesied will be fulfilled, and not abolished. Jesus came to fulfill them, bring them to pass, bring them into existence, meaning accomplish their purpose.
Perhaps its important for us to seek to comprehend the purpose of the law, so we can better understand what Jesus meant. The Law had several specifics purposes and one general purpose. The specifics are: 1) Expose our offenses or sins. It's written, "'Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,'" Romans 5:20. 2) Make us guilt before God. It's written, "'Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.'" Romans 3:19.
3) Grant us the knowledge of sin. it's written, "'Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.'" Romans 3:20. Moreover, "'What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.'" Romans 7:7-8.
4) Keep us until faith came. It's written, "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed." Galatians 3:23. 5) Foreshadowing the future blessings in Christ. All the sacrifices, the feasts, the burning of incense, the ceremonies, and etc. had a prophetic nature, they were not the real things, they pointed to superior realities that would be fully revealed and available to us in Christ. It's written, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect." Hebrews 10:1.
All these specific purposes converge to the general purpose of the Law which is: Bring us to Christ. It's written, "Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. " Galatians 3:21-25 NKJV.
You see, the ultimate goal of the law was and is to lead us to Christ, and from Christ we get to the Father. The law was never meant to save us, that's why Romans 3:20 says "'Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.'" Often when we read the old testament, we get astonished with the amount of laws and with the idea of having to keep all of them without failing a single one, otherwise, as James says we would be guilt of all of them; it's written, "'For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.'" James 2:10. This is a serious demand and speaks of the holiness of God, He is Holy and those who approach Him must be Holy (Leviticus 10:2).
The requirements of the law scares us, leads us to conclude that it's impossible to keep them without failing at least one. Yes, indeed it's impossible; therefore, by the law you can see that we cannot obey God, and thus we become guilty before Him, unless we receive mercy, which is only found in Christ. In other words, the law reveals our inability to obey God, leaves us desperate, screaming, "Lord, have mercy on us, we are sinners," and then God comes and says, "Yes, you are a sinner, that's what I wanted you to see, so you can receive grace gladly. By your own deeds or your attempts obey me by keeping the law, won't work, but I made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin, so you could be justified, saved, made righteous before my eyes." [Ref, 2 Corinthians 5:21].
Is The Law Bad Then?
The Answer is: No, By no means! Paul argues this saying, "'What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.'" Romans 7:7-12
Here again, Paul reminds us that the law was not a mistake. The law is holy, the commandment holy and just and good; we were the problem, we did not have the capacity to obey it. Our inability to obey the law doesn't make it bad, rather it shows that we need help. For instance, in our society we have traffic laws right? Why we have them? So that people don't go about driving anyhow, endangering themselves and other people's lives. However, how many people break the traffic laws? Many! Out of these people, how many break the law repeatedly? Several! Does it mean that the laws are useless or bad? By no means, if not for the law things would be even worse. But what about those who repeatedly break the laws? They simply show that they need help and not more and more laws!
Traffic laws help us knowing what to obey but they don't give us the ability to drive well or the capacity to obey; again, they simply give us something to obey. A defensive driving course on the contrary can help us by correcting our bad driving habits. Once, one corrects his poor driving habits or rather is "empowered" to obey the traffic laws and begins to drive safely, he can surely acknowledge that the problem was never the law, but their inability to obey it. Same is applicable to us with respect to the law. The law is good, it is an extension of God's own character, and it was given in part because of transgression to keep us in line (1 Timothy 1:8-11) while The Savior, Christ, was to come, and at the same time, show us that we are guilty and helpless sinners, needing God's mercy. So, the law is good, not bad; therefore, it didn't need to be canceled.
The law was not a mistake in God's agenda, as if He had given it and then realized, 'They won't be able to obey it, let me give then grace', Not at all! God knew from the beginning that Israel and we would never be able to obey the law fully, yet He gave it to us so we could be led to Christ by the revelation of sin that the Law brings. Again, this was the purpose of the Law, therefore, when Christ came, the Law had done its job and no longer was needed. Therefore, instead of saying abolished, Jesus said fulfilled. An illustration would be, If you want to go to a certain destination, and to get there, you need to take a taxi. By the time you get to your destination through the taxi, you will not say, 'The taxi was abolished because it took me to my destination'.
Instead, you would say, 'The taxi fulfilled its purpose by taking me to my destination, consequently, I do not need to take the taxi again; I am at my destination'". The taxi accomplished its purpose, instead of being canceled. The Law was the means, taxi, to lead us to Christ, our destination, and by the time we are in Him, Christ, we no longer need a taxi, the law; not because taking a taxi is bad but because we no longer need it - it's not useful for us anymore. Perhaps, you can begin to see the answer of the implied question: should new testament believers obey the law? The answer is: No, because they are already at their destination, Christ. However, we can learn, and only learn, from the essence of the Law, because it still reveals the Holy nature of God, but this must be done in the light of the New Testament, without ever submitting ourselves to the Law again.
Conclusion
Jesus did not abolish or canceled the law, instead He fulfilled its purpose. Once the law finished its course, it was set aside, not canceled, and a New Covenant was ratified. It's written, "'For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord , when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— [...] In that He says, “A new covenant ,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.'" Hebrews 8:7-8,13.
The Law could not save or transform us, therefore, a new one had to be ratified. The priesthood was changed from Levitical to Christ's, therefore the laws also changed. It's written, "'Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.'" Hebrews 7:11-12.
The Law could not save or transform us, not because the law was bad but because we are sinners who cannot obey God's law and salvation was never meant to come through the law but by Faith because 430 years prior to the law, God had already justified Abraham by faith and promised that in Abraham's seed, who is Christ, all the families of the earth would be saved, or justified by Faith like Abraham was. Thus, from the very beginning the law had a temporary nature; it would only be in effect until the seed of Abraham came to scene, and He did (John 1:14).
It's written, "'Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise'" Galatians 3:15-18.
This covenant of Faith is the new covenant, the one that Jesus ratified in His blood, under which new covenant believers are bound, therefore, they don't have to obey the demands of the old, but in obeying the new, they fulfill the old and are made righteous before God because of Christ. Hallelujah!
Hope this article was helpful in answering your question. To help you further, we recommend that you read the books of Romans, Galatians and Hebrews as they provide valuable insights about the law and the new covenant, and stay tuned for the next article. May God bless you, may you continue in knowing Him, and may your love for Him grow more and more in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.
In Christ
Knowing-God Family
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