Does Fulfill Mean to Abolish?
By E. S. Webber
Not long since I heard a first-day Adventist preach. He took the position that the law of God was abrogated, or done away; and for proof he used language as follows: “The law and the prophets were until John,” and “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” He claimed that fulfill means to do away, to abolish, and that of a necessity those that keep the law must reject Christ, and seek salvation some way by the law, and not by the gospel or through Christ. This seemed to me to be a perversion of the Scriptures, and a false view of our position. We do not reject Christ, nor expect salvation through any but Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul said, “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Hence, the law teaches the necessity of salvation, because by it we learn that we are sinners, and need salvation; for the “wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life [or salvation from death] through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Salvation strictly means deliverance. What, then, are we delivered from in the salvation of the gospel? Ans. From sin and death. Well, then, let us query a little: What is death? Ans. The wages of sin. What is sin? The transgression of the law. Then, where there is no law, there is no transgression. Where there is no transgression, there is no sin. Where there is no sin, there is no death. And where there is no sin nor death, there is certainly no need of salvation from sin and death. Therefore I conclude that those who reject the moral law, cannot claim the salvation of the gospel, nor preach it in a Bible sense; while those who embrace the law see that they have transgressed it, and thereby become sinners, and need salvation, as they must receive the wages of sin, which is death. But did Jesus do away, or abolish, the law? Jesus said, Matt. 5 : 17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” It seems that some in those days thought he had come to do away the law; but he commanded them not to think so. He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy, to abrogate, to abolish, the law.” This is a plain command, and says Jesus, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. But does fulfill here mean to abolish, to do away, to destroy? If it does, then Jesus plainly contradicts himself in this verse; for he says, I am not come to destroy. Then what does it mean? Let us examine a few passages of Scripture:— Jesus came to John to be baptized of him. John forbade him saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee.” Jesus said, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Matt. 3 : 15. If fulfill means to abolish, then all righteousness is abolished. Again, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.” James 2 : 8. Again, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Gal. 6 : 2. Now if fulfill means to abolish, to do away, we now have the law of God, the royal law, spoken of by James, the law of Christ, and all righteousness abolished, or done away. What a sad condition of things this must be. Again, the psalmist says, “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry and will save them.” Ps. 145 : 19. Is Christ going to do away, or abolish, the desire of them that fear him, and then hear their cry and save them? I think not. Again, we read in Acts 13 : 22: “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.” Did David do away, or abolish all the will of God before Jesus was born? If so, how could Jesus do the will of his Father who sent him? We might continue this method of reasoning still further; but we think this will be enough to convince all that this is not the meaning of fulfill, in these passages. Now let us give what we think is the meaning of the word. Dr. Barnes in his comments on the word in Matt. 5 : 17, says: “It means to accomplish what was in the law and the prophets.” Worcester gives the meaning of the word fulfill, to accomplish, to perform. See Worcester’s Elementary Dictionary. Let us review some of the passages referred to, with this meaning. First, the one found in Matt. 3 : 15: “Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness;” to perform all righteousness. This sounds better. Again, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill [perform] the law of Christ.” “If ye fulfill [perform] the royal law,” etc. “He will fulfill [accomplish] the desire of them that fear him,” etc. Ps. 145 : 19. “A man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill [perform] all my will.” Acts. 13 : 22. “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill [to accomplish].” Matt. 5 : 17. By giving the word its proper meaning we find that the Scriptures harmonize, and that Jesus did not abolish, or do away, the law. “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Such are the words of Jesus. Matt. 5 : 18. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Rom. 7 : 12. “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.” “For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man.” “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Rom. 7 : 14, 22, 25. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8 : 7. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3 : 19, 20. “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Rom. 2 : 13. “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Rom. 3 : 31. See also Rom. 7 : 7; Ps. 19 : 7; 119 : 34, 126, 136; Prov. 28 : 4, 7, 9; James 4 : 11; 2 : 9, 10, 11; Zeph. 3 : 4; Mal. 2 : 9. “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” Ps. 119 : 34.—E. S. Webber.