Matt. 5:17-20 – The Fulfillment of the Law

Here’s a tough one (as I’m reading through the verses there is a lot of stuff in the first half of this chapter!), the relationship between the Old Testament and the coming of Jesus. Yikes. It’s here that many a fundamentalist might soon find themselves trying to figure out whether lamb chops bought on sale at the supermarket can qualify as a reasonable Festival of Tabernacles sacrifice. The law and the prophets are not abolished but fulfilled in the mission of Jesus. Period. But for those who would misinterpret this as an allowance to disregard scripture altogether Jesus makes the point that the “righteousness” of his followers must surpass that of the teachers of the law and Pharisees, card-carrying members of the anally-retentive-Torah-Fascists. JBB