 Does Matthew 5.17 or any other passage for that matter teach that we should keep the law? Thanks more Christians, welcome back. This particular passage was brought to my attention and I want to give it some attention to see if indeed it teaches that we should keep the law. Now, I'll say this upfront before I go into it. No, we should not keep the law. There are some dire consequences for trying to keep the law, even to try to remember the law. I understand that some people might want to maybe keep some sort of Jewish roots or what have you, but that is not prescribed for us, especially if we are not Jewish to begin with. Gentiles wanting to become messianic or Gentiles wanting to adhere to certain facets of the law, one we're never told to keep any portion of the law. As a matter of fact, Gentiles are not familiar with the law in the New Testament. We do see the therapy that come around who try to tell the Gentile believers that they should first convert to Judaism, receive circumcision and so forth, and then place their faith in Jesus Christ as the Jewish Messiah. But that is unlivable. As a matter of fact, Paul calls that a gospel, a different gospel that really is not a gospel. But before we even get to that, let's go to Matthew chapter 5 verse 17. In there he says, Do not think Jesus says that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law. And some folks might say, well, see, he's saying that he didn't come to abolish the law, but look what he says. He says he's come to fulfill the law. The question is, what does that mean? We'll get to that in a second, but let's continue reading. He says in verse 18, For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Well, the question is going to be then what is meant by until all is accomplished? All of what is accomplished? We'll get to that in a second, but let's continue reading. Verse 19, Whoever unknowals one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now, I think one key would be to kind of get a good understanding of what Jesus' whole point is. First of all, he's not just bringing this passage out just out of thin air. He's in the middle of a conversation in the middle of a thought and he wraps it up in this very next verse. He says in verse 20, For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, his point is he's focusing on the kingdom of heaven. In other words, salvation. Now, is salvation brought about by the law? Well, remember at this point in time that Jesus is making this statement, what is still in effect, the old covenant, the law. He's speaking to these Jews and if anyone is to go around telling anyone to annul any of this, well, then they are, they're in danger. We are to keep them as far as he's concerned at this point in time. Similarly, no one is to teach someone to tell someone not to keep it, but we are to do our very best. Now, the point of the law, and lest we forget is that we are not going to be able to adhere to, we're not going to be able to keep. There's not been one person safe for Jesus who has ever kept the entirety of the law. Everyone is guilty of the implication of failing in the law, which is everybody who was under the law. And that was a problem. Now, your righteousness was brought about by what? Your works in the law? No, your righteousness was brought about by your faith in what the law ultimately brought, which was what? Atonement. Let's go back to it. Let's look at what Jesus says. He says, I didn't come to destroy the law or to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Well, how so? Recall, the law requires that there be atonement for sin. How was that done? Obviously by the priest who's a mediator who would go before the Lord and there would be this laying on of hands on the scapegoat. All the sins are professed on the head of the scapegoat and sent away. In other words, signifying that their sins of the people are taken away. And then also we have this perpetuation, this shed blood by this animal blood sprinkled on the altar. And so in that regard, atonement was made for Israel. So what is Jesus going to do? Jesus is going to do the exact same thing. And in this case, he's going to play the part of all three of the elements, the high priest, the scapegoat, the land that takes away the sins of the world. And then thirdly, he will be the perpetuation. He would be the one who would provide the shed blood. So in that regard, Jesus fulfills the law. How do we know so? Because after that's done, there is no more need for the law. So what does he do on the cross? He not only ends the old law, not only does he bring it into its requirements, but he then also inaugurates for Israel the new covenant. Paul makes a mention of this in Romans chapter 10. So let's go there. Verse 4 says, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. How? Look what he says, to everyone who believes. And in this case, the ones who are believing, if you are believing in what Christ has done, one, it's an end of the law. But then it brings about righteousness. Your faith brings about righteousness. In other words, your faith makes you right. Not your works, not your deeds, not your adherence to the law. Now this was always what God had in mind, which is why he says, going back to that passage, verse 18, he says, for I say to you that until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the first stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. All of what is accomplished? This ultimate atonement. One, as the law requires, but then be fulfilled in Christ. Which is why he says later on in verse 20, he says, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom. Well, what was the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? They wanted to be someone who gave the impression that they were keeping the law, all the tins of the law. Well, that's what their righteousness was based upon. We already know that that particular type of righteousness that they tried to obtain cannot be gained by them trying to adhere to the law. Why? Because no one can do it. Paul covers us again in Galatians. Remember, in Galatians we have this issue of these Judaizers who come and they want to make them become adherents of the law. And Paul is bothered by this. As a matter of fact, he even calls them foolish and wonders and marvel at how quickly they are turning from this faith, believing that, oh, you know what? It's no longer about our faith. I guess we have to also keep these. And so Paul rebukes them as well. But then in chapter three, starting in verse 23, Liberty says, he says, But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. In other words, we had no idea what was going to be revealed. We didn't really know what this whole point purpose of this was. We had an idea, but we were shut up to this idea. Look what he says. Verse 24 says, Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith, exactly not by works, but by faith. And so what we find out is that in trying to observe and to keep the law, we find out that none of us, at least none of them, were able to do so and they would struggle and see that I can't do this, which is the point of having this atonement at the end to make atonement for your souls the same thing now. And so what does this do? It shows that we can't do it. We can't be right. We can't be justified by our works. We are only justified by our faith in his work on the cross. He says in verse 25, But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor, for you are all sons of God, how? Through faith, for you are all baptized in the Christ, have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham the Senate, heirs according to promise, not according to the law, but according to promise. And how does this come about? By our faith in what he's done. And so returning to the original passage, does Matthew chapter 5, 17 teach or any other passage teach that we are to adhere or to keep the law, keep the different elements of the law, trying to figure out which portion of the law is more important? No, that's why we don't have a passage in the New Testament telling specifically us as Gentiles to keep or to adhere to the law. As a matter of fact, those that are reviewed are those that are trying to bring about this idea of keeping the law. That's one group that's reviewed. The second group that's reviewed are the believers who are going to the law in order to justify themselves or to make themselves feel even better about one having faith and keeping the law. Paul calls them foolish. Let's not do so because there is no passage that tells Christians that we are to keep the law. Amen.