Jesus came to fulfill the Law

The Pharisees always accused Jesus of abolishing the law, but that was further from the truth, Jesus never came to do away with the law but He came to fulfill it. He even went out of His way to promote the authority of it as a teacher and doer. Jesus said in Mathew 5: 19 that, Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is most certainly the greatest in the Kingdom because He is the King.

Fulfill in Matthew 5:17 does not mean to obey. Fulfill in the scriptures means to bring to a designed goal, to fill up and complete, to bring to full expression. Jesus was declaring that he fulfilled the prophecies and even the patterns of Scripture; he showed their true meaning. Jesus fulfilled so many prophesies told in the Old Testament by the prophets. From birth to His death and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled everything that was written.

Matthew 5:17 does not mean to obey but to complete the law, which is to bring man back into right fellowship with God. This is because of the fallen state of man in the Garden of Eden. God saved Noah and his family to do this, and all these generations later Jesus comes to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament. Sinful flesh could not do it, this is divinely ordered by God.

Paula, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I loved how you shared the meaning of fulfill as I only thought to look up law and review the scriptures. I agree that Jesus has fulfilled prophesies from the Old Testament and with each, He makes the Bible and the creation story so much more powerful.