Matthew 5:17-20
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. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Reflection
When Jesus says that he came to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17), he means that both the Mosaic law (Israel’s national contract with God that was first given to Moses at Mount Sinai) and the Prophets pointed forward to his teaching. They brought the purposes of God to a certain point in the salvation story, and now Jesus picks up their message and completes it.
Unlike the Mosaic law, the Sermon on the Mount is not giving specific instructions on how to run a government or a nation. The law was just a seed, but Jesus is the mature blossom— the fulfillment. The eternal principles that were at the core of the law come into full bloom as Jesus teaches his disciples what it looks like to live as a citizen of God’s kingdom within a sinful world.
Christ wants his people to live a life of doing what is right (“righteousness”; v. 10), but it is different than the so-called “righteousness” of the rule-keeping scribes and the Pharisees. Their basic problem was that their hearts didn’t match their claims or actions (23:3–7). They said and did many of the right things, but their hearts were far from God (15:8). What Jesus wants from his disciples, therefore, is obedience that flows from a changed heart.
Romans 3:21-26
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Reflection
After three chapters of brutally exposing our sin, at last Paul gives us a reason to rejoice. Jesus Christ has made it possible to have a right standing before God “for all who believe” the gospel (Rom. 3:22). Yes, the sinful human condition is universal and deadly (v. 23), but believers are declared righteous (“justified”) by God’s “grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24).
The term “redemption” (v. 24) brings up the idea of slaves being purchased and freed. Paul also says that God sent his Son to be a “propitiation” (v. 25): this word means that Jesus endured the wrath of God in our place when he died on the cross. Because of the cross, our sin was punished, and yet we are simultaneously declared “not guilty” in God’s courtroom. This is what Paul means when he says that God is both “just” and the “justifier” (v. 26). Because of Jesus, both justice and salvation have been accomplished. Our hearts are moved as we marvel at a God whose wisdom provided a way to rescue guilty sinners without compromising his justice and holiness. We marvel, too, at a God whose love is so gracious that he would send his own Son to accomplish this salvation.
Psalm 119:32
32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
Jesus wants us to have a humble heart that beats with a genuine love for God and compassion for others. Ask God to give you a heart for the things he loves.