“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. 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.” Matthew 5:17–18
Everybody wants to be better. A quick trip to your closest Barnes & Noble will show you that the “self-help” section is one of the largest sections in the store. Publishing companies are making millions of dollars trying to show people how they can reach their full potential, better their financial situation, find the lover of their dreams, or be the best version of themselves they can be. (Don’t even get me started on the “Christianized” version of this phenomenon.) I am convinced that deep down inside every human heart, there is a knowledge that we are all deeply sinful and broken.
Jesus, in this famous passage from the Sermon on the Mount, highlighted an aspect of his earthly ministry that is crucial to understanding his purpose: Jesus came to live a perfect life. Have you ever thought about how crazy that is? Other passages in the Bible support this idea.
In John 8:46, Jesus challenges anyone to accuse him of sin. No one takes him up on the offer.
In Luke 23:4, Pilate says that he can’t find any fault with Jesus.
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:19 that Jesus was a perfect sacrificial lamb “without blemish or spot.”
Here’s what Jesus is claiming in Matthew 5—not only did he live out the Old Testament law perfectly, he was what the law was pointing to the whole time! This is a truly audacious claim.
In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul highlights one of the reasons why Jesus’ perfect life was so important to us: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Do you see that? Jesus knew no sin, he was perfect, and he fulfilled the law of God perfectly so that we might be treated as though we have done the same. In Christ, God sees us as fulfilling the law perfectly. What an amazing gift!
“Then all my servile works were done,
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose His ways .
To see the Law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear His pardoning voice
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.”
–No Strength of Nature Can Suffice, William Cowper
