Quotes & Notes on:
Matthew 5:17
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John Wesley's Notes:
To establish, illustrate, and explain its highest meaning, both by my
life and doctrine.
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* to destroy the law. Lu 16:17; Joh 8:5; Ac 6:13; 18:13; 21:28; Ro 3:31;
10:4; Ga 3:17-24
* but. Mt 3:15; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 42:21; Ro 8:4; Ga 4:4,5; Col 2:16,17 Heb
10:3-12
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
Do not imagine that I am come to violate the law, I loose, violate, or
dissolve-I am not come to make the law of none effect-to dissolve the
connection which subsists between its several parts, or the obligation
men are under to have their lives regulated by its moral precepts; nor
am I come to dissolve the connecting reference it has to the good things
promised. But I am come, to complete-to perfect its connection and
reference, to accomplish every thing shadowed forth in the Mosaic
ritual, to fill up its great design; and to give grace to all my
followers, to fill up, or complete, every moral duty. In a word, Christ
completed the law: 1st. In itself, it was only the shadow, the typical
representation, of good things to come; and he added to it that which
was necessary to make it perfect, HIS OWN SACRIFICE, without which it
could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men. 2dly. He completed it in
himself by submitting to its types with an exact obedience, and
verifying them by his death upon the cross. 3dly. He completes this law,
and the sayings of his prophets, in his members, by giving them grace to
love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their
neighbour as themselves; for this is all the law and the prophets.
It is worthy of observation, that the word gamar, among the
rabbins, signifies not only to fulfil, but also to teach; and,
consequently, we may infer that our Lord intimated, that the law and the
prophets were still to be taught or inculcated by him and his disciples;
and this he and they have done in the most pointed manner. See the
Gospels and epistles; and see especially this sermon on the mount, the
Epistle of James, and the Epistle to the Hebrews. And this meaning of
the word gives the clear sense of the apostle's words, Col 1:25. Whereof
I am made a minister, to fulfil the word of God, i.e. to teach the
doctrine of God.
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Family Bible Notes:
Destroy the law; set aside either the principles or the moral
precepts of the Old Testament. To fulfil; rightly to explain the nature
and perfectly to enforce the precepts of the moral law, as well as
perfectly to obey them in his own person, bear the curse which was
prefigured in the ceremonial law, and thus fulfil the predictions of the
prophets concerning the Messiah. Christ came not to make void the moral
law as a rule of action, but to establish it, and give it practical
efficacy over the hearts and lives of men, by leading them to love and
obey it.
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1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
Christ did not come to bring any new way of righteousness and salvation into the world, but indeed to fulfil that which was shadowed by the figures of the Law, by delivering men through grace from the curse of the Law: and moreover to teach the true use of obedience which the Law appointed, and to engrave in our hearts the power for obedience. (g) That the prophecies may be accomplished.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets. The
preceding verses were so opposed to the teachings of the scribes and
Pharisees that some might assert that he was a destroyer of the law. He
replies that he has not come to destroy it, but to fulfil. He does not
say that he has come to perpetuate it.
To fulfil. To complete its purpose. He was the end of the law. It was a
"schoolmaster to bring us to Christ" (Ga 3:24), but "after faith is come
we are no longer under the schoolmaster" [Ga 3:25].
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
I came not to destroy, but to fulfil (ouk êlthon katalusai alla
plêrôsai). The verb "destroy" means to "loosen down" as of a house or
tent (2Co 5:1). Fulfil is to fill full. This Jesus did to the ceremonial
law which pointed to him and the moral law he kept. "He came to fill the
law, to reveal the full depth of meaning that it was intended to hold" (McNeile).
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Albert Barnes' Commentary:
Think not that I am come, etc. Our Saviour was just entering on his
work. It was important for him to state what he came to do. By his
setting up to be a teacher in opposition to the Scribes and Pharisees,
some might charge him with an intention to destroy their law, and
abolish the customs of the nation. He therefore told them that he did
not come for that end, but really to fulfil or accomplish what was in
the law and the prophets. To destroy. To abrogate; to deny their Divine
authority; to set men free from the obligation to obey them.
The law. The five books of Moses, called the law. See Barnes for Lu
24:44.
The prophets. The books which the prophets wrote. These two divisions
here seem to comprehend the Old Testament; and Jesus says that he came
not to do away or destroy the authority of the Old Testament.
But to fulfil. To complete the design; to fill up what was predicted; to
accomplish what was intended in them. The word fulfil, also, means
sometimes to teach or inculcate, Col 1:25. The law of Moses contained
many sacrifices and rites which were designed to shadow forth the
Messiah, Heb 9:1-28. These were fulfilled when he came and offered
himself a sacrifice to God--
"A sacrifice of nobler name, And richer blood than they."
The prophets contained many predictions respecting his coming and death.
These were all to be fulfilled and fully accomplished by his life and
his sufferings.
{l} "the law" Mt 3:15
{m} "the prophets" Isa 42:21
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
to destroy the law, or the prophets--that is, "the authority and
principles of the Old Testament." (On the phrase, see Mt 7:12; 22:40; Lu
16:16; Ac 13:15). This general way of taking the phrase is much better
than understanding "the law" and "the prophets" separately, and
inquiring, as many good critics do, in what sense our Lord could be
supposed to meditate the subversion of each. To the various classes of
His hearers, who might view such supposed abrogation of the law and the
prophets with very different feelings, our Lord's announcement would, in
effect, be such as this--"Ye who tremble at the word of the Lord, fear
not that I am going to sweep the foundation from under your feet: Ye
restless and revolutionary spirits, hope not that I am going to head any
revolutionary movement: And ye who hypocritically affect great reverence
for the law and the prophets, pretend not to find anything in My
teaching derogatory to God's living oracles."
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil--Not to subvert, abrogate, or
annul, but to establish the law and the prophets--to unfold them, to
embody them in living form, and to enshrine them in the reverence,
affection, and character of men, am I come.
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Spurgeon Devotional Commentary:
The gospel honors and establishes the law. The life and death of Jesus
show both the beauty of righteousness and the evil of sin, and thus
cause the principles of right and truth to triumph eternally.
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William Burkitt's Notes:
Our Saviour here informs his followers, That he had no design to
abrogate any part of the moral law, or to loose mankind from the least
measure of their duty either towards God or man, but that he came to
fulfil it:
1. By yielding a personal obedience to it.
2. By giving a fuller and stricter interpretation of it, than the
Pharisess were wont to give; for they taught, that the law did only
reach to the outward man, and restrain outward actions.
As if Christ had said, "Though I preach a more special doctrine than is
contained even in the letter of the moral law, yet think not that I am
come to destroy and dissolve the obligation of that law, for I came to
fulfil the types and predictions of the prophets, and to give you the
full sense and spiritual import of the moral law."
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Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:
Let none suppose that Christ allows his people to trifle with any
commands of God's holy law. No sinner partakes of Christ's justifying
righteousness, till he repents of his evil deeds. The mercy revealed in
the gospel leads the believer to still deeper self-abhorrence. The law
is the Christian's rule of duty, and he delights therein. If a man,
pretending to be Christ's disciple, encourages himself in any allowed
disobedience to the holy law of God, or teaches others to do the same,
whatever his station or reputation among men may be, he can be no true
disciple. Christ's righteousness, imputed to us by faith alone, is
needed by every one that enters the kingdom of grace or of glory; but
the new creation of the heart to holiness, produces a thorough change in
a man's temper and conduct.
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The Fourfold Gospel:
This verse constitutes a preface to the section of the sermon which
follows it. It is intended to prevent a misconstruction of what he was
about to say. "Destroy" is here used in antithesis, not with
"perpetuate," but with "fulfill." To destroy the law would be more than
to abrogate it, for it was both a system of statutes designed for the
ends of government, and a system of types foreshadowing the kingdom of
Christ. To destroy it, therefore, would be both to abrogate its statutes
and prevent the fulfillment of its types. The former, Jesus eventually
did; the latter, he did not. As regards the prophets, the only way to
destroy them would be to prevent the fulfillment of the predictions
contained in them. Instead of coming to destroy either the law or the
prophets, Jesus came to fulfill all the types of the former, and
(eventually) all the unfulfilled predictions of the latter. He fulfills
them partly in his own person, and partly by his administration of the
affairs of his kingdom. The latter part of the process is still going
on, and will be until the end of the world.
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