Matthew 5:18: Disappearing Act!

Presented to Swift Current Corps 16 May 2010
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Last week was Mother’s Day when I was preparing for this sermon so I naturally thought that I would talk about rules, about laying down the law so to speak. Rules are very important this time of year – Stanley Cup play-off time. If anyone was ever looking for a way to be unpopular they might want to try refereeing a NHL play-off game. If you make a mistake enforcing the rules, there will be a consequence (for the teams). Likewise – in my house growing up, anyways – if you made a mistake interpreting mom’s rules, there would be a consequence.

It is the same in school. I remember Grade 5. It seems that my Grade 5 teacher enforced the rule of the law of the school quite vigorously. It seemed that he was much more effective at enforcing the law than I was at interpreting it; so as a result, I tended to spend a fair amount of time in the exclusive detention club after school. In those days, the teacher would write your name on the board the first time you did something wrong and if he didn’t take it off by the end of the day (because he figured you earned your time off for good behaviour) you would have to stay after school. Most days I would come into the class and find out that he just left my name up there from the day before – why waste all that effort to erase it when he’d just have to write it up there anyway. I certainly paid the price more than once for transgressing the school’s laws.

But I can take some solace in the teaching of Christ pertaining to the law, right? Jesus says about the Old Testament Law that can be as rigid and constraining as my Grade 5 teacher’s rules: Matthew 5:17 and 18: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law…” and Matthew 5:20: “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Okay, maybe there isn’t a whole lot of comfort necessarily here at this point but have you ever wondered what this passage means?

We studied the letter/sermon to the Hebrews a few months ago here and there it is recorded that “By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one [and the Law] obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:13). But Jesus says that until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until it is fulfilled. And we Christians - since the resurrection of Christ - no longer follow all the rules and regulations that were laid out in the Law and the prophets. We aren’t forced to eat only kosher foods. I personally am very grateful for that: I really enjoy a good ham steak whenever I can get it – especially since my wife and daughters are all vegetarians. We, today, don’t live our lives by all the old pre-Christian ceremonies of the Law but Jesus says that not the least part of this Law will disappear until everything is accomplished. So how is that possible and what does it mean?

The Apostle Paul says about the Law and the important Jewish ceremony of circumcision (to the Christians in Galatia who were getting circumcised) he says, “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all” (Galatians 5:2). Circumcision had become a symbol of the Law and should someone be circumcised for religious reasons Paul tells us “In that case the offence of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, [those suggesting that people must obey the whole law and be circumcised, Paul says] I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves” (Galatians 5:11-12)!

These are harsh words about circumcision and the Law. Indeed Paul says that people were being even trapped by the Law and are even under a curse by still following it (Galatians 3-5). In Hebrews 8:13, it is recorded that the Law is “…obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.”

So how can this be? How can this Law that is so constricting that Paul calls us cursed if we remain under it be so irrelevant that it is even now obsolete will soon disappear and yet Jesus himself in our text today says, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law… until completed”, until it is fulfilled.

How can this be? Is Paul simply contradicting Jesus? (Some people have suggested that sort of thing) Or does Matthew not understand the teaching of either Jesus or Paul? To answer these questions, we should take a look at some more of Jesus’ famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’, of which this remark is a part. This sermon is quite interesting. Jesus says in it, “…I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets... I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, … will by any means disappear from the Law…” (Matthew 5:17-21) and right after this Jesus goes on to say ‘you have heard what the Law says about something but I say something completely different’

Not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law; however the Law says do not murder, 5:21, but he says something different. The law says do not to commit adultery, 5:27, but he says something different; the law says do not break your vows, 5:33, but he says something even more. Jesus says he hasn’t come to abolish the Law but relating to what it says, apparently, he says something entirely different.[1] Biblical Scholar Paul Walaskay, when faced with this conundrum involving this part of the Sermon on the Mount enlightens us with the following statement. He says, “THIS PASSAGE IS ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT in the New Testament. It is loaded with problems that are theological, exegetical, and practical.”[2] Okay, so maybe that isn’t so enlightening

D.A Carson tells us that there are a few different perspectives on what this all means. [3] These are many historical denominationally distinctive views of this passage. I won’t run through them today but given that there is a great the historic diversity of thought on this text, what are we here in the early 21st Century to make of it? How can, as Jesus says, not the smallest letter of the Law disappear at the same time as, like Paul says, the Law is already disappearing and soon (in his time) be gone altogether?

Remember this question. First I want to share some interesting laws that I ran across on-line while researching the Law for this sermon; I thought you might enjoy these:[4]

- In Scotland, it is illegal to be drunk and in possession of a cow.
- In Hartland, New Brunswick you are not aloud to make jokes about people with moustaches, unless that person’s first name begins with the letter "A" and last name begins with the letter "N";
- In BC, It is illegal to kill a sasquatch;
- A law requires jailers to bring convicts in debtors’ prison a pint of beer on demand;
- In Alberta, If you are released from prison, it is required that you are given a handgun with bullets and a horse, so you can ride out of town;
- In Ottawa, on Sunday, it’s illegal to eat ice cream on Bank Street;
- In Toronto, on Sunday, it’s illegal to drag a dead horse down Yonge St.;
- In Toronto it is also against the law to swear at your mother in public;
- In Montréal, it is illegal to swear in French;
- In Quebec City it is illegal to swear in any language other than French;
- It is also against the law to impersonate a foreigner;
- And Montreal again, the owner of a hotel apparently can be fined if he cannot provide ‘proper accommodation’ for any guest with a horse.
There is one more that I remember from my younger days – it may just be a myth - but in Victoria it is apparently illegal to accompany a lady after dark if you are not carrying a sword.

One of the interesting things about many of these laws is that none of them were abolished; they are still on the books but many of them are no longer needed or no longer relevant – such as those relating to debtors’ prison, horses and swords. The time for these laws is fulfilled and even though not a word of them has disappeared from the law books, they are definitely obsolete and therefore they have disappeared from our daily practice and the police officers and judges application of the law. We no longer enforce a law about walking around with a sword when accompanying a lady at night because
a) We have a solid police force these days who can take care of matters;
b) Not a lot of people have swords in this day and age; and
c) Some ladies these days are much more capable of defending themselves then any of us men are at using a sword

It is similar with the Law. Paul says, as recorded in Romans 10, “‘Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who has faith’ (Romans 10:4). Followers of Jesus live in relationship with God by God's grace, not through the law (Romans 6:14).”[5]

There is even more to this pericope though. Biblical scholar, Robert Banks says that the best interpretation of these verses is that Jesus fulfils the whole Law and all that the Prophets foretold in that they point to Jesus as their fulfilment. “For Matthew, then, it is not the question of Jesus' relation to the law that is in doubt but rather its relation to him!”[6]

Scholar Douglas Moo says – You know Douglas Moo? He, among other things, is the head translator for the NIV Bible He says, – “The history of Israel reaches its ‘fulfilment’ in Christ (cf. Matthew 2:15)… Matthew presents a theology of salvation history which pictures the entire Old Testament as anticipating and looking forward to Jesus” and “Jesus’ new, eschatological demands do not constitute an abandonment of the law but express that which the law was all along intended to anticipate.”[7]

And Jesus says that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it and he says that as a result we don’t need to be tripped up by sin we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, can be holy as the Lord our God is holy (1 Peter 1:15, Leviticus 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7) - or as Matthew says, perfect as the Lord our God is perfect (Matthew 5:48; cf. 2 Corinthians 13; Colossians 1:28; Hebrews 11,12) - not by worrying about rules about murder or adultery for who can add a moment to our lives or a hair to our head by worrying (Matthew 6:24-34; 7:7-12; Luke 12:1-11, 22-34)? We citizens of this Kingdom don’t need to get angry with our brothers; we should reconcile with our enemies and not even entertain temptation (Matthew 5:17-48). Jesus says along with this that as we simply do unto others, as we would like them to do unto us – he says, this really sums up the Law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12) that Jesus has come to fulfil. Jesus finished the Law between the cross and the grave. He said it wouldn’t disappear before it is accomplished, before it is fulfilled. And this is what the accomplished, the fulfilled Law and the prophets should look like now in the Church and in Jesus’ proleptic kingdom on earth: we should love God and love our neighbour (Matthew 22:34-40; Cf. Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43, 6:33, 7:12; Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-37; Romans 13:6-10; Galatians 5:14; James 2:8). The Law pointed to Jesus.

Jesus has now come and the Law is now completed, accomplished through his death and resurrection; and it is only because it is now fulfilled that it can now fade away and indeed even now has already disappeared (Hebrews 8; Romans 10:4). The Law pointed to the coming of Christ and now Christ has arrived. So the Law – and all that it encompassed – with all its societal and dietary regulations which were no longer practiced in the early church even in the time of Matthew, the time and the place for the Law is now fulfilled. Jesus, who declared ‘it is finished’ on the cross; Jesus through his incarnation, death and resurrection, has indeed fulfilled the Law. He said that it will not disappear before it is fulfilled and now indeed, praise the Lord, it is fulfilled and has disappeared. [8]

The primary purpose of the Law and the prophets and the history of Israel (and indeed the whole world) were to point to the Messiah who will usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Law was like a lookout waiting for reinforcements and the lookout is no longer needed when the one you are looking out for arrives (Cf. Galatians 3-5).

The Law is also like a babysitter that God gave us until He returned in Jesus’ incarnation. Now that Jesus has indeed come, the purpose and effect of the Law has been fulfilled and this is exciting. The Law then, like a babysitter or even like your mother sometimes may have said, the Law called out to us from history, ‘wait till your father gets home’… well, our Father has come home and he has sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ and He loves us and He cares for us. And as all of history hits its most important moment with the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus; as God has defeated sin and death so that the lookout of the Law, the babysitter of the Law is no longer needed; so God loves us and Jesus is coming back soon. So with that in mind let us turn our whole lives over to Him who is the fulfilment of the Law, the prophets and all of history. Let us turn our whole lives over to Jesus and be holy as the Lord our God is holy. Amen.

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[1] Douglas Moo, “The Law of Moses or the Law of Christ.” In Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship between the Old and New Testament. Essays in honour of S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., ed. John S. Feinberg. Westchester, IL: Crossway, 1988. P. 205: “I say unto you” designates something new – not a restatement – from someone in authority.
[2] Paul Walaskay, Matthew 5:17-20 in Interpretation, 56 no 4 Oct 2002, p.17
[3] DA Carson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/B. First Discourse: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29), Book Version: 4.0.2
[4] See the following links: http://www.lufa.ca/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=7235 , http://www.changinggears.ca/articles/legal/legal31.html , http://www.mundayweb.com/weirdlaws.php , http://www.weird-websites.info/Strange-Laws/Canada-Canadian-laws-most-stupid-weird-10-old-legal-rules-online.htm , http://weird-websites.com/justweird/strangelaws.htm
Paul Walaskay, Matthew 5:17-20 in Interpretation, 56 no 4 Oct 2002, p. 417.
[6] Robert Banks, "Matthew's Understanding of the Law: Authenticity and Interpretation in Matthew 5:17-20," JBL 93 [1974]: 226-42. Cited from: The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM: Matthew/Exposition of Matthew/II. The Gospel of the Kingdom (3:1-7:29)/B. First Discourse: The Sermon on the Mount (5:1-7:29)/3. The kingdom of heaven: its demands in relation to the OT (5:17-48)/a. Jesus and the kingdom as fulfilment of the OT (5:17-20), Book Version: 4.0.2
[7] Douglas Moo, 205; Cf. Greg L. Bahsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics (Nutley, NJ: Craig, 1977), p.48.
[8] Alternative ending: "So now instead of following rules and regulations and everything else with the Law that pointed to Jesus, all we need to do is turn our eyes upon Jesus and he will make us holy. There is no name under heaven be which people may be saved. Let us pray..."