Did Jesus Come To Abolish The Law Or To Fulfill It?
Question: Did Jesus really die for all so that he could abolish the Law on the Cross?
Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!
You must remember, it is Jesus who vividly said, "17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:17-20). So we must know from the above Scriptures that the Cross is the fulfillment of commandments of God and therefore it does not stand against the commandments of God but rather for it. In other words, the Cross of Jesus helps us crucify our flesh and carry our own cross to continue to be pleasing to God and fulfill His purposes for our life (Luke 9:23). The only difference about the abolished law of the Old Testament and the walking in the law of love in the New Testament is the requirement to fulfill it perfectly (Jam 2:10), which has been demanded by God in the Old Covenant but has been given as a royal law of liberty to do out of love and gratitude towards God in the New Covenant, as the law in itself is good when it is used lawfully (Rom 7:12; 1 Tim 1:8; Jam 2:7, 12; Rom 13:8-10). The OT law of Moses and prophets was of the letter written on stones, it was replaced by the law of the Spirit which is written in the hearts of the children of God in the NT (2 Cor 3:7-8, 9; Heb 10:15-18).
So we must understand that "writing of requirement" that demands perfect obedience which was against our humanity which we could never keep it because of the weakness of sin nature in us was working against us (Rom 8:3; 7:5, 14-15; 6:14), it made us condemned again and again before God, even though many of us wanted to keep the law wholeheartedly by our own strength even before we received the grace of God to fulfill it by God's strength (Rom 7:9). Jesus by dying on the cross for all sinners because of His love for each one of us (John 3:16), He has taken it [(i.e.) the "requirement" to achieve righteousness through keeping the letter of the law legalistically] out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross and fulfilling the demand of the law through His sinless life lived as a human. Thus Jesus having done what we could never do it on our own, He has given us now his very own righteousness in exchange for us to live righteously for the Glory of God by being led by the Spirit of God who helps us fulfill the law by writing it on our heart and helping us to fulfill those things now by His strength (Col 2:12-14; 2 Cor 5:19, 21; Rom 8:3; 6:14; 10:6, 10; 8:14; Gal 5:18, 25, 16; 3:24-26). Thus Jesus has provided through His Spirit the grace to overcome, which is the empowerment to keep the laws of God and become great in the Kingdom of heaven from where God rules the entire universe. Those who waste the grace of God in vain will be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven which operates universally from heaven (1 Cor 15:10; 2 Cor 6:1).
The only way we could exceed the "righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees" who have been sold out to keep the law of the letter is through accepting ourselves as a sinner before God, and receive God's way to be reconciled with Him by receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and then continue to walk in the Spirit by the "righteousness of faith" to please God all the days of our lives here on earth (Matt 5:20; Rom 10:6, 10). We can become great or least in the Kingdom of heaven based on how we keep the law in love towards God and fellow humans by God's strength of His grace through Jesus Christ or our own strength, which really matters to God (1 John 4:11, 20-21). If we love and keep the commandments by the grace of the Lord Jesus which is the empowerment of God on us where His strength to overcome sin, self and Satan is released from within us, we will fulfill all law as love is the fulfillment of all law (Rom 13:8-10). If we keep the commandments of God by our own strength, we will receive curses only for breaking any law any time any place which was meant to convey to us that the law was never given to us by God with any intention to keep by ourselves (Gal 3:19; 1 Tim 1:9-11), rather it was given by God to make sin more sinful and thus make us humans understand that no matter how much we try without God and His strength we will ultimately fail and will never please God by keeping His commandments legalistically (Gal 3:10; Rom 7:9, 13). Love always stands against legalism. Love can only be truly given by God and God only, but religion gives legalism without love which never pleases God. So understand that it is not legalistic law keeping that pleases God now, but Spirit led and induced law keeping that pleases Him which God has promised the believers through the Spirit's help (Heb 10:15-17; Ezek 36:27; Rom 8:26). Glory be to God! Hallelujah!
Much Blessings....
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