How Jesus Fulfills the Law

The gospels teach us that Jesus’ teaching and activity were disruptive to all kinds of notions related to the law, including Pharisaic tradition, the keeping of the Sabbath, and who constituted an insider vs. an outsider. It is not unreasonable, therefore, that someone might think that Jesus had come to abolish the law and the prophets. After all, the gospels bear witness that Jesus taught according to his own authority; isn’t it then possible to conclude that Jesus is dismantling the law and the prophets, the authority of God’s revealed word? It seems, then, that Jesus begins to describe his relation to the law and the prophets according to this possible objection: “do not think I have come to abolish…”

Quite to the contrary, Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets. This reflection considers what it means for Jesus to fulfill the law and the prophets. In the first place, as we note this choice of words, Jesus does not say, in contrast to abolishing the law, that he has come to preserve the law, or even obey it, do it, or keep it.[1] That is to say, Jesus does not counter “abolish” with a directly inverse equivalent. Instead, Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the law. In contrast to “abolish,” dismantle, or break down, “fulfill” suggests that Jesus has no intention of leaving the law untouched, even as he denies any intention of destroying it.

But what does it mean for Jesus to fulfill the law? First of all, the phrase, “the law and the prophets” is shorthand for “the whole Hebrew Bible” or “the Old Testament.” It means that Jesus has come to fulfill God’s special revelation that has led up to the revelation of himself by the Son in these last days. Second, John Stott points out that the law includes three major parts: doctrinal teaching, predictive prophecy, and ethical precepts.[2] When Jesus says that he has come to fulfill the law, he means that he has come to bring doctrinal teaching, predictive prophecy, and ethical precepts to their fullest expression. What does that look like? Well, everything that Jesus taught in his public ministry brought the doctrinal teaching of the OT to full expression. To give just one example, all of Jesus’ kingdom parables, along with his comments to Nicodemus, Pontius Pilate, and others, fulfill the doctrinal teaching of the OT on the kingdom of God. Jesus is the king of Israel, and he rules over a kingdom that transcends socio-political boundaries. He doesn’t destroy the idea of a kingdom but rather brings it to its fullest expression in himself.

In the same way, Jesus fulfills the predictive prophecies of the OT. He is God’s firstborn Son, the prophet like Moses, the Suffering Servant who is Messiah. He inaugurates the new covenant, atones for the sin of his people, and restores the glory of God to the temple. To trace just one (long) line of fulfillment, Moses declares in Num 11:29, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” Moses’ wish is taken up in Joel 2, promised by Jesus at his ascension in Acts 1, and fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2. Far from coming to destroy the law and the prophets, Jesus came to fulfill them.

Finally, we should not forget that Jesus actually does keep the law as a part of his mission. Jesus fulfills the ideal of the righteous and wise man of Proverbs whose starting point and first principle is the fear of the Lord. Thus, all of the ethical principles of the OT are kept by Christ. He fulfills the essence, the heart, of the law, for he himself is perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect, and holy as YHWH his God is holy; he is the way, the truth, and the life because he fulfills the law, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps 119:105). Yes, “the commandment is a lamp and the teaching [i.e., torah] a light, and the way of life is chastening reproofs” (Prov 6:23).

So, then, we see that there is great depth and significance to Jesus’ mission as he fulfills the law and the prophets by bringing their significance to its full expression.

[1] R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 182.

[2] John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 71–72.