The Permanence of the Law And The Warning To Observe It Truly So As To Experience A Fuller Righteousness (5:17-20).
Having spoken to His disciples of a life which acts as a preservative in the world, and which abounds in ‘good works' which glorify and reveal God because of the love that they reveal, a love that shows them to be ‘sons of God' and to be imbued with the righteousness of God (Matthew 5:3-16), Jesus commences this central section of His sermon by declaring that they are therefore now to see Him, not as a destroyer of the Law or the Prophets, but rather as their fulfiller (compare Matthew 2:15; Matthew 2:23; Matthew 4:16). They should recognise that He has come to ‘fill the Law and the Prophets to the full'. They must not therefore think that the message of repentance and forgiveness, and of the working of the Holy Spirit through the Messiah, makes their required response to the Law or the Prophets unnecessary. Rather it encourages it. And He stresses the essential permanence of the message of both the Law and the Prophets. By responding to both the Law and the Prophets (note how the ‘or' indicates that they should be seen as separate issues in the argument) they will be what they ought to be. He thus thoroughly vindicates the Law and the Prophets and points out that in order to fulfil them truly the people must rise well above the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees. They must reveal a righteousness which is the result of the working of the One Who works in righteousness and deliverance (Isaiah 46:13; Isaiah 51:5; Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 61:3). And they must see to the heart of God's message, and not be tied up by the observance of regulations, even though such observance may be helpful within reason (Matthew 23:3). In that way they will experience and walk in the way of true righteousness as preached by John (Matthew 21:32) and Himself (Matthew 5:6; Matthew 6:33).
The fulfilment of the Law is very much in mind in the first part of the sermon and the fulfilment of the Prophets in the last part, but it would be a mistake to make this a strict separation, for in the end both are fulfilled throughout.
Analysis of Matthew 5:17-20.
a Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfil (Matthew 5:17-18 a).
b For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass away from the law, until all things be accomplished (Matthew 5:18 b).
c Whoever therefore shall loose (relax, release from) one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, will be called least in the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 5:19 a).
b But whoever shall do and teach them, he will be called great in the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 5:19 b).
a For I say to you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 5:20).
Note that in ‘a' He has not come to destroy the Instruction (Law) of God, or the words of the Prophets. Rather His aim is the true ‘filling full' of the Law, and in the parallel the true achieving of it is demanded and if not He will destroy their hopes of entering the everlasting Kingly Rule. In ‘b' the permanence of the Law is emphasised and in the parallel the doing and the keeping of it leads to a permanently high place in the everlasting Kingly Rule of Heaven. Central in ‘c' is the warning against failing to support even the ‘least' of the commandments, something which will result in being ‘least' in the Kingly Rule of Heaven.
But there is also another pattern to be found here, as well as the chiasmus.
a Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.
b For truly I say to you, until Heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass away from the law, until all things be accomplished.”
c Whoever therefore shall loose one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so
d Will be called least in the Kingly Rule of Heaven,
c But whoever shall do and teach them,
d He will be called great in the Kingly Rule of Heaven.
c For I say to you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees,
d You will in no way enter into the Kingly Rule of Heaven.
Here again, as well as the chiasmus, we also have a sequential arrangement. ‘a' leads to ‘b' and each ‘c' leads to its ‘d'. Furthermore each ‘d' reveals a consequence as regards the Kingly Rule of Heaven, (the least, the great, and the no way), while the first two ‘c' and ‘d' items are also direct contrasts with each other.
We also remind ourselves that in Matthew 5:17-20 the ‘Law' is firstly to last as long as the present creation does (Matthew 5:18), secondly it is not to be relaxed but is rather to be done and taught (Matthew 5:19 b), and thirdly it must be fulfilled in the right way, and not in the way of the Scribes and the Pharisees.
We shall now consider each verse in detail.