17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 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. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 5:17-20]
Here is perhaps one of the hardest of the "hard sayings" of Christ. By itself it seems easy enough. But taken with the concept of "sola fide"---salvation by faith alone, apart from works---it challenges the simple. Even taken with Jesus' own declaration that all foods are clean, it presents a challenge. Is it one of the mythical contradictions in the Bible?
I think not. But let's consider that the food restrictions in the Bible were in fact laws, and that by declaring all foods clean, Jesus has negated this group of laws. Then has he taught people to put away these certain commands in the Law? It appears he has made the dietary laws obsolete.
But what he says is that not one jot nor tittle of the law shall pass away from the law "until all is fulfilled". What does this mean? When did this take place, such that some (or all) of the law was fulfilled?
I'll come back to this when I blog next.
No comments:
Post a Comment