September 2010 - English

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (Matt 5:17) The old Testament Law can be divided into two sections: the moral law, and the ceremonial or sacrificial system. Jesus affirms in this verse that He has come to fulfil both parts of the law. For the latter part, our minds quickly jump to such chapters as Hebrews 9, where the writer compares the system of animal sacrifices to Christ’s own sacrifice on the cross and the presentation of own blood in the heavenly tabernacle, fully satisfying His Father’s righteous judgement against sin. But just as equally, but not so obviously, Jesus Christ also fulfilled the moral law. By His death on the cross, Christ was also able to share the moral quality of His life with us, so that Paul can write: For [God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:21) As one reads through the New Testament time and again one finds the phrase, “in Christ”. For us to fulfil God’s desire of righteousness, we must be born into/baptised into Christ. And once this has happened, all that is necessary to maintain God’s quality of life, is to continue or abide there. As Jesus said: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (John 15:4). Paul shows how the moral law is fulfilled in us, when he writes: There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus ... He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8v1,4). Praise God!