I CAME NOT TO DESTROY

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 5, 1901

I CAME NOT TO DESTROY.

After pronouncing what are commonly called “the beatitudes,” Christ begins His first formal discourse by saying, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Matt. 5:17. In other words, it might be expressed thus: Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or relax anything that the prophets have written. I have not come to abolish, that is not my intention, but my purpose is to fulfill, or fill full, in respect to the law,—this He did by magnifying the law, and making it honorable (Isa. 42:21),—and to bring to pass everything the prophets have written concerning me.

The specifications of the context will guide us to what law He has in mind; for He immediately proceeds to enlarge upon the thought. He gives an expression as to the immutability of the law and its perpetuity: “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 [all things, for this word is neuter] be fulfilled.” The law spoken of, then, is one of which every jot and tittle—that is, the minutest letter or point of a letter—is more fixed in its sacredness than the heaven and the earth are fixed in their position; for till they pass (or pass away) the law shall remain; or as Luke expresses it, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass [or pass away, be destroyed], than one tittle of the law to fail [or be abolished].” This being the nature of the law and its binding force, there is some obligation in regard to it to be enforced upon all men. Therefore Christ continues: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do [or practice], and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:19. This instruction reaches over the whole of the so-called gospel dispensation; and the duty Christ enjoins upon His followers is to do, or practice, these commandments, under the condition of being called least (or of no esteem, if they do not do them) or great (that is, honorable, if they do them) in the kingdom of heaven.

Everything typical or shadowy, or that was an essential part of the Mosaic dispensation, was to cease at the cross. There the shadows were lost in the substance. There the types of all the sacrifices met their antitypes. And this was all present to Christ’s mind when He made the sweeping declarations of Matt. 5:18, 19. It is therefore impossible to apply what He here says to any temporary and transitory part of the dispensation just then coming to an end.

But there is more than this to show what law is referred to. The Great Teacher continues: “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 20.

This statement is a deduction from what He had just said concerning teaching and doing the commandments which He came not to destroy, and one jot or tittle of which was not to pass away so long as nature maintained her standing and heaven and earth endured. And this expression shows that the law He is speaking of is the standard of righteousness, and shows the measure of that quality which each man must possess. The scribes and Pharisees were strict observers of all the ceremonies and conditions of the typical, or Mosaic, system. They had all the righteousness that was to be derived from that system, but Christ said that the righteousness of His followers must exceed all that, or they could by no means enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This settles the matter that the only law referred to is the moral law. The distinction between moral and ceremonial laws is broad and distinct, and sharply defined, and the distinction in this case is just as definite. The Jews made numerous, and somewhat arbitrary, distinctions, or classifications, in their writings; as, the “law, the prophets, and the psalms,” “the law of Moses,” the “books of Moses,” etc. But such expressions as that the standard of character, or rule of righteousness, is to be determined by the writings of Moses, or that it would be easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for any change in a jot or tittle to occur in those divisions of their writings, are not to be found.

The sacred writers often recognized their authority for what they said, as when Paul wrote, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” 1 Cor. 14:37. But there is no instance where they put in obligations or commandments to interfere with, or interrupt, the established regulations of the Lord, or His regular course of procedure in regulating the conduct of men.