Matthew 5: 17-18
Jesus and the law
17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abrogate, but to fulfill.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law, until all be fulfilled.
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We see in this passage how Jesus teaches us about the law and grace, when we begin his ministry on earth we see that he makes it very clear that he did not come to eliminate the law that God had established in the time of Moses but on the contrary came to fulfill it , making it clear that not a tittle will pass without being fulfilled.
In what way did Jesus come to fulfill the law?
We see throughout Matthew 5 how our Lord Jesus teaches us that intention has the same importance as action, since it speaks of 5 relevant points in our lives as they are:
The anger / hatred (Matthew 5: 21-26):
Starting from this point we see that he speaks and tells us that not only he who murders someone is justly worthy of judgment, but anyone who is angry against his brother is worthy of judgment, leaving a practical example of which on another occasion I will be speaking. We see how not only does the action matter, so is the intention and what better example of fulfillment of this since Jesus himself in his walk on earth had many enemies who sought his death and did not rest until he got it, but we see that in each episode of his life we only saw his love for everyone.
Adultery (Matthew 5: 27-30):
In this particular, Jesus clearly showed that they had taught that the act of adultery was the sin in the old testament since one could not have sex with people who were not married but Jesus It teaches that the desire to want to have sex with other people is mental adultery and sin. Jesus emphasized that if the act is wrong, so is the intention.
Divorce (Matthew 5: 31-32):
Divorce is as destructive at this time as it was at the time of Jesus and we see how God wants it to be like that, as when He constituted it until now, marriage is a lifelong surrender. When opting for marriage people should never have a divorce as an option to resolve their differences, in these verses Jesus also speaks to all those people who purposely break the marriage commitment, and divorce to satisfy their lustful wishes by contracting marriage with another person.
The vows / promises / oaths (Matthew 5: 33-37):
Jesus talks about telling the truth people then and now often uses a sacred language in a light and careless way, being able to keep the word and promises made helps us to maintain relationships with God and serious and responsible men. We must remember that God knows everything and knows us better than we know ourselves, He knows when we will not fulfill a promise that we make him, that is why he tells us to stop using that irresponsible language of our lives, we become trustworthy and truthful when talking with the truth, with honesty and sincerity the swearing by whatever it is makes us irresponsible people.
Revenge (Matthew 5: 38-47):
Jesus in showing us how to fulfill this commandment as God likes shows us how we should show mercy towards others, what was said in the past "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" was not a guide for use it personally and thus get a justification for a personal revenge, since some people relied on that to achieve their personal revenge, we often hear phrases like "was charging me what he did" is just an excuse to carry out personal acts . When we are aggrieved our first reaction is generally to get even though Jesus taught us that we should do good to those who harm us, we should not resent it, on the contrary we should love and forgive, instead of seeking revenge we should pray for those who hurt us.
We see how the Lord shows us that beyond conceiving sin, it matters perhaps more the intention of what we do than the action itself, remember that this is based on fulfilling the law, not only keeping our acts but also keeping our intentions. and our hearts remember that life and death flow from it.
We must:
- Avoid anger and hatred.
- Have good relationships with God and with others.
- Get greed out of our hearts and be faithful.
- Fulfill our marital commitment
- Avoid making promises lightly and irresponsibly before men and God.
- Show mercy and love to others.
Many times we avoid external sins while knowing or without it we commit those sins that both hurt us then and today, we see how in these examples Jesus points out the kind of life he requires from his followers and this lifestyle is called Grace.
We're free to divorce if our spouse commits adultery.
(Matthew 5:32 NIV) But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
If, however, it is not God's initial plan for marriage, God created marriage for life but some took this word to excuse sin and thus give freedom to the desires of the flesh and that is where we should be wise. and understood