Matthew: systematically organized Jesus’ teaching for ongoing church instruction.

The Promised King and His Good Kingdom

• Part 1. The Incarnate King (Matthew 1-3)
• Part 2. The Upside Down Kingdom Arrives (Matthew 4-7)
• Part 3. The Kingdom Collides with Darkness (Matthew 8-10)
• Part 4. The King Divides Hearts (Matthew 11-13)
• Part 5. What Kind of King Is Jesus? (Matthew 14-20)
• Part 6. Kingdoms in Conflict (Matthew 21-25)
• Part 7. The King’s Return from Exile (Matthew 26-28)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17–20, ESV)

The Pharisees’ dilemma: an ancient text in a new world.

• Torah was over a thousand years old.
• Roman-occupied Palestine was nothing like tribal Israel wandering in the wilderness.
• Their questions: Oxen laws? Boundary laws? Mildew laws? Roman taxation? Hellenistic culture?

The Main Question: How do we live faithfully under God’s Word?

• The Pharisees answer—Let’s put a fence around God’s Law.
  • They did not want to destroy the Old Testament, but protect it and make it relevant for their time.
  • They emerged from groups that wanted to protect the Jewish culture from the Greek way of life that was invading everything.
  • Pharisees: name means separated ones.
  • The Fence: they developed traditions designed to build a fence around the Law to prevent people from accidentally breaking it.
  • Priestly Practices: They even brought many of the clean/unclean laws of the priesthood into the flow of everyday life—this group was serious about God and his Law.
  • Though they began with a heart to honor God, their method led them to obsess over external behaviors.
    • They tithed, even of their mint and spices.
    • But they forgot justice and mercy!
• But Christ had another answer—I obey and embody all of God’s Law.
  • He obeyed it in its entirety, so he fulfilled it.
  • He embodied it perfectly, so he filled it full of meaning.

Theme: Jesus Christ is the destination of the Scriptural story (5:17). He affirms that the whole story carries divine weight (5:18). He defines greatness as living by the words of that story (5:19). He can bring us into the story by transforming us from within (5:20).

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Questions:

• What are the Law and the Prophets?

• • • Shorthand for the entire Hebrew Bible (the whole of Scripture).
    • Not only some passages or predictions, but the entirety of the Old Testament.

• Why might they wrongfully think Jesus came to abolish the Hebrew Bible?

• • • Do not think
      • Don’t assume. Don’t suppose.
    • They were suspicious of Jesus.
      • Later, he will contradict many of their external, fence-like traditions.
      • But he has already painted the kingdom life as impacting the inner person.
      • So would he reject the Law or the Prophets?

• What does Jesus mean when he says he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets?

• • Abolish: dismantle or tear down.
  • Fulfill:
    • Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law and Prophets.
    • Jesus accurately taught the Law and Prophets.
      • He will show the deeper realities of the heart in 5:21-48.
    • But, mostly, Jesus beautifully completed the Law and Prophets.
  • Stated another way:
    • Jesus did not only come to get a 100% on the test (A+).
    • Jesus did not only come to strengthen our guilty verdict (courtroom).
    • But Jesus came as the destination the Law and Prophets try to takes us to (GPS: you have arrived at your destination).

1. Jesus Christ is the destination of the Scriptural story (5:17).

• He is the terminus, the destination, the place the entire Bible, written before him, but also after him, points to.
  • Scaffolding: The Law and Prophets were scaffolding, Christ is the building.
  • Red Carpet: The Law and Prophets are a red carpet, follow it to Christ.
• The Story in Four Words
  • Created. God made everything good.
  • Broken. Humanity declared independence from God.
  • Promised. God declared someone would come fix it.
  • Here. The rest of the Bible anticipates or celebrates that Someone—his name is Jesus!
• The Treasure Map
  • Imagine an old treasure map: Go past the large rock. Turn left at the river. Find the dead tree. Turn and go into the cave.
    • Every clue is good, but it is pointing somewhere else.
  • Old Testament clues:
    • Lamb dies so people can live.
    • Prophet speak for God.
    • Kings rule with justice.
    • Priests bring people close to God.
      • All the clues point to the same person—his name is Jesus!
• Connect-the-Dots
  • Imagine an old connect-the-dots picture. All you see are scattered dots with numbers. But a picture forms as you connect those dots.
  • The Old Testament is full of dots:
    • Dot: A promise that a seed of the woman would crush the serpent (Genesis 3:15).
    • Dot: Abraham’s son Isaac carried wood up a mountain to be sacrificed (Genesis 22).
    • Dot: A Passover lamb’s blood protected God’s people (Exodus 12).
    • Dot: A king from David’s line would reign forever (2 Samuel 7).
    • Dot: A suffering servant would be “pierced for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53).

18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

• For truly, I say to you
  • Greek: Amen
  • Customarily placed at the end of prayers or truth statements.
  • Signature move: Jesus will say this over thirty times in Matthew—and no other teach did it this way.
    • He didn’t say, “Thus saith the Lord,” or, “As Moses said,” but “I say to you.”
• Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
  • The iota and dot:
    • Iota: smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet (yod, similar to an apostrophe).
    • Dot: refers to the small strokes that distinguish one letter from another (like the line that turns a P into an R).
  • Cosmological stability
    • Heaven and earth were the most enduring, consistent things the ancient world knew.
  • Until all is accomplished:
    • When is this? The cross? If it is, then Jesus means something like, “Once I fulfill the Law on the cross you can ignore it.”
      • Awkward, because “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable” (2 Tim. 3:16).
    • But Jesus spoke of the enduring nature of heaven and earth, which suggests he saw all that needed to be accomplished as something distant, probably completed right before the new creation is revealed.
  • Jesus’ point: The Old Testament is not a discarded rough draft. I’m telling you, even the most enduring thing you know of will not outlast the Law.

2. He affirms that the whole story carries divine weight (5:18).

• The Law was a temporary code for ancient Israel to live by, but holds an enduring prophetic purpose for the whole world.
  • Prescription: Sacrifices for sin.
    • Status after Christ: fulfilled in him—he is the ultimate sacrifice.
    • Eternally Valid Principle: Sin requires death; forgiveness costs the blood.
  • Prescription: Observe dietary laws.
    • Status after Christ: No longer binding for Gentile believers (Acts 10-11, 15; Mark 7:19).
    • Eternally Valid Principle: God’s people are to be distinct and holy.
  • Prescription: Sabbath rest on the seventh day.
    • Status after Christ: debated by Christians—many see it fulfilled in Christ.
    • Eternally Valid Principle: We have limits and must protect time for worship and rest.

19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

• Therefore
  • Since Jesus is the destination and every detail of the Law carries divine weight, how we handle the Scripture matters.
• Least of these commandments
  • Some commandments are greater than others. Jesus will tell us that loving God and neighbor are the most important. But even the least is important.
  • Core principles (mercy, justice, love) vs. specific applications (boundary markers, handling money).
• Relaxes
  • They might have thought Jesus—by his words and actions—was interested in relaxing (loosening up) the commandments.
    • In reality, he was interested in radical devotion to them.
  • Jesus would demonstrate a strengthening and intensification of the commandments in the teaching that follows (5:21-48).
    • Murder? Don’t harbor anger.
    • Adultery? Don’t entertain lust.
  • The Old Testament remains:
    • Authoritative — It’s still God’s Word.
    • Instructive — It still teaches us about God’s character, human sin, and redemptive patterns.
    • Prophetic — It still points to Christ as its fulfillment.
    • Moral — Its ethical vision, rightly understood through Jesus, still shapes Christian discipleship.
  • The Jesus Filter
    • While the Old Testament remains authoritative, the way it applies is filtered through Jesus.
      • Jesus later declares all foods clean (Mark 7:19).
      • Jesus claims authority over the Sabbath (Matt 12:8).
    • So “fulfillment” does not mean a literal preservation of every Mosaic regulation but a realization of what those laws pointed toward.

3. He defines greatness as living by the words of that story (5:19).

• Whoever does and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
• In the kingdom, a solid disciple is someone who lives the Word and shares the Word.
• Personal Bible translations
  • Our lives are meant to be a translation of the Scripture, living by the words of the story as we process them through Christ.

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus Drops a Truth Bomb

• They thought the scribes and Pharisees were the gold standard, the Navy Seals of righteous living.
  • They fasted twice each week! They tithed their spices! They ceremonially washed before every meal! They prayed beautiful prayers in public!
    • Original audience: These are the most religious people we know!

What is Jesus saying?

• What is righteousness?
  • Not abstract moral perfection, but relational integrity—doing right by God and others.
• Jesus: I am looking for internal righteousness.
  • Murder / Anger
  • Adultery / Lust
  • Love neighbor / Love enemy
• Jesus: I can produce it in you.
  • His words drive us to the fullness of the gospel, the source of divine grace.
  • For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3–4, ESV)

4. He can bring us into the story by transforming us from within (5:20).

• He forgives and positions us in him.
• Then he lives within us and shapes us over time.

Conclusion

• How do we live faithfully under God’s word?
  • Jesus: I am the destination of the Scriptural story (5:17). The whole story carries divine weight (5:18). Pursue the great life by living according to the words of that story (5:19). I will bring you that story by transforming you from within (5:20).

Study Questions

Head (Knowledge and Understanding)

1. What does Jesus mean when He says He came to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets? How does seeing Jesus as Scripture’s “destination” change the way you read the Old Testament?
2. What’s the difference between an Old Testament “prescription” and its underlying “principle”? Why does this distinction matter for understanding the Law’s lasting validity?

Heart (Feelings and Desires)

3. When you hear that your righteousness must exceed the Pharisees’ to enter the kingdom, what’s your gut reaction? How does knowing Christ produces this righteousness affect that response?
4. What does it stir in you to think of yourself as being “brought into” the biblical story rather than just reading about it?

Hands (Actions and Commitments)

5. Jesus defines greatness as doing and teaching Scripture. Where are you strong in one but weak in the other? What would growth look like this week?
6. What specific area of your heart needs Christ to transform from within? How will you bring that to Him in dependence rather than self-effort?