Matthew 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Why did the Lord give the Law? Jesus shows that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them. “Law” here refers to the Torah. Torah means Law. The Law’s core is love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22). This is crucial. The foundation of the Torah is the Ten Commandments or the Decalogue. Matthew 22:40 says, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The Ten Commandments are summarized into two: Matthew 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Why did Jesus say “the Law” rather than “the Decalogue” or “the Ten Commandments”? We should note that He spoke in a Jewish context. The Ten Commandments were their legal foundation, just as Pancasila is Indonesia’s state foundation. The practical applications of the Ten Commandments were outlined in various regulations known as mishpatim, or civil laws. Jesus naturally used the term “the Law” in the Jewish context. All legislation given through Moses—under the Father’s guidance—concerned two matters: God and neighbor. In that Jewish context, Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the Law.” By keeping the Law, one “paints” God’s holiness in one’s life, so one’s life is of quality or has eternal life.
Note the young man’s question in Matthew 19:16–19: “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” He meant: How can I have a quality of life? How did Jesus answer? “… do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony….” Those are the contents of the Ten Commandments. Thus, the Law creates a holy, or eternal, life of a certain quality. The Law’s core was elaborated in Israel’s various regulations (mishpatim), thereby making Israel a people of high moral conduct.
Jesus came to fulfill (Greek – plēroō, plērōsai), meaning to complete or perfect. From Jesus’ statement—that He did not come to abolish—He wanted to affirm to His listeners that He had not come to make people lawless or betray the Torah, but to enable humans to fulfill the law perfectly. Jesus first fulfilled all the law in Himself, and He also taught His followers to fulfill it in their lives.
Do not think that only Jesus fulfilled the Ten Commandments by doing them for believers. Jesus indeed fulfilled the law for us, but that does not mean our part is finished. He had to be the corpus delicti—He had to conquer sin by His holy life. He fulfilled the law and went beyond mere law-keeping: Jesus did the Father’s will. We must not conclude that because He did it all, our responsibility no longer exists. Believers still must obey.
Yet a misleading dumbing-down has occurred, as if Jesus did it all so we need not do it, or need not do it earnestly. Coupled with teaching “only by grace” and the reality that holy living is hard, a justification arises: “Holiness is difficult, so it’s okay not to be extreme.” This corrupts. This is deception. This is an error.