Matt 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
[Part 1 of 2] Firstly, [the word "fulfill" in Matthew 5:17] means that Christ came to keep the law on the positive side. When He lived on earth, He kept every aspect of the old law. No one else has ever kept the ten commandments; the Lord Jesus kept them completely. He kept the law of the old dispensation in a very positive way. Because Christ kept the law, He became the perfect One. His perfection qualified Him to die on the cross for us. This is the keeping of the law in a negative sense. This is the second way Christ has fulfilled the law. All of us have broken, transgressed, the law. But our transgressions have been dealt with through the Lord's substitutionary death. On the cross He was our substitute, dying for us to fulfill the law's requirement on the negative side. [Thirdly], Christ's substitutionary death brought in the resurrection life. When this resurrection life comes into us, it is able to do the wonderful job of completing the law. It enables us to fulfill the higher law. By the resurrection life within us, we are able to be kept not only from murdering others, but even from being angry with them or hating them. This resurrection life is much higher than the natural life, for it is actually the divine life, the eternal life, the life on the highest plane. This highest life within us can fulfill the requirements of the highest law. [continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, 1986, pp. 212-213. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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