Our Completion in Christ

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
(Mat 5:17)

To fulfill is to bring to completion or full realization, for Jesus it encompassed the Law (we must think of it as a whole, not just as laws, for if we break one, it’s as good as breaking all, Jas 2:10) and all prophecy. What Jesus fulfilled was in fact the will of the Father with reference to the Old Testament. In fact the fulfillment was so complete that there was an oneness that Jesus had with the will of the Father and it was as important as the sustenance of food (John 4:34). As Jesus continued He began to unfurl the spirit of the Moral Law…. About murder, adultery, etc.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(Jer 31:33)

Antinomian teaching try to nullify the law, but here Jesus is further affirming it. If we see that the moral Law as coming from the mouth of Christ, and thus we know the oneness with the Law as also our oneness with Him. Hebrews also mentions twice (Heb 8:10, 10:16) about writing them in our hearts. In Deuteronomy 17 and 27, the king and elders are to write a copy of the law, but now God has gone another step further to write it in our hearts.

Why the heart? Because there is the seat of our emotions, for example Jesus spoke of anger being as good as murder. So if we are one with Christ and His Law, anger and any other emotions can be brought into subjection. Secondly, our mouth reveals the content of our hearts (Matt 12:34). Also from the intent of our hearts comes forth actions as with good trees producing good fruits and bad trees producing bad fruits (Matt 7:16). So the law and the spirit of it are for Christ disciples, the others who are not disciple will deem the law as legalistic. To us who are disciples it is a freedom from sin and fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life (Rom 6:22).

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
(Mat 5:20)

What does it mean to exceed their righteousness? In Matt 5:19, Jesus did not just say that we must not just break (to annul or make invalid) any of His commandments but also to teach them. Jesus pronounces woes unto them that sit at Moses (representing the Law) seat (Matt 23:1), who impose high standards unto others but themselves are not doers. To exceed their righteousness means to obey and to teach, Jesus abhors hypocrisy. He wants us not just to fulfill, but to be fulfillment of the Law as He was. We become one with the Law that it becomes an unforced obedient life, not one that is legalistic. Secondly, we are taught to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt 5:6), meaning to be void of any other forms of righteousness save that which comes from God as even righteousness was accounted to Abraham by God. The danger of self righteousness is legalism which the scribes and Pharisees subscribe to.

As our Lord fulfilled every jot and tittle of the Law, so let Him do a work in us so we are made complete by Him writing His Law into our hearts that He be God to us and we be His people.