THE COMMANDS OF CHRIST MT. 5:17-20

The Commands of Christ    Matthew 5: 17-20  12.12.12      

     There is a mistaken notion held by some; Jesus Christ, 
God the Son, came to annul the Law of God.  This notion 
cannot be true,  for in Christ’s own words;  “Do not think 
that I  came to destroy the Law or  the Prophets.  I did not 
come to destroy but to fulfill...”  Matthew 5:17-20.  Since 
Jesus did not  come  to  destroy  the Law of  God,  what is  
His take on  the commandments.   What are "His" Com-
mands?  

    When we look in His Word at His words, we are taken 
with the number of references  to law and the command-
ments.  His words support  fully Old Testament law and 
the Ten Commandments in particular.   It is also accep-
ted by Bible scholars that Christ was;  “...born under the 
law...” as in Galatians 4:4.  If  you continue to read this 
passage you  find the purpose of  His incarnation was to 
purchase  freedom  for those of  His who  were  under the 
law,  turning them  from slaves (to sin) to  free men  and 
sons of  God.  No where do we find Him saying anything 
but  good of  the Law of  God.  His only references  to the 
Law  that could  be construed  as negative is  to this  fact; 
justification  is  not  accomplished  through  keeping  the 
Law and  the weakness of  Law was/is the flesh.  No man 
has kept the law before or since our Lord Jesus Christ.
  
    So, just what did Christ come to do with respect to the 
    Law of God, “Jewish” Law?  Our Lord interprets the 
    law for us and enables us to keep "His commands."

    There were no laws annulled by Jesus Christ.  He was 
opposed to  the rules some  leaders added to  the “Law of 
Moses,” according to the Bible.  He clarified the law, 
making it plain, as only He could.  When He was tested 
by a lawyer about the great commandment in the law, 
he gave the sum all of the commandments in verses 37-
40, Matthew 22. He did, as was His custom, quote from 

Scripture, Deuteronomy 6, 10, and 30.  Adding that all 
of the law hung on the two great commandments.  (Love 
God with all your heart and love your neighbor as your-
self.) In another place he hung the law on the “Golden 
Rule” or “As ye would that men should do for you, do 
you also unto them.” (Matthew 7:12) The former showed 
His summation of the law and the latter indicated how it 
is to be practiced.  As our Lord gave these two examples 
of how to satisfy the law, “The Golden Rule” and “The 
Law of Love” for God and man, he freed us from narrow 
interpretations of the Law.  
  

      In redemption, Christ removed the curse of the Law 
from those who placed their faith in Him through an act 
of repentance for the deeds of the flesh.  This repentance 
is a turning away from justification by works of the flesh 
and turning to the work of Jesus Christ.  The key in this 
act is the believers joining Christ in His death, burial 
and resurrection.  The picture is Believers Baptism, lived 
out in the life of the believer through submission to the 
Son in all of life.  The believer no longer lives his own 
life, but has submitted that life to Christ living in the 
believer, just as our Lord submitted to the Father in His 
incarnation.  Since our Lord was as we are in every way
except for personal guilt, He was not born with original 
sin.  He had God for his father and not man.  He kept 
the Law of God perfectly.  When we receive him, we are 
considered to be free of guilt, in Him.  We have died to 
ourselves as we identify with Christ in His death. We are 
free from our sins as we take part in His burial and are 
alive, in Him.  He died, was buried and rose from the 
dead as our substitute.  Since Christ, and what He did 
are unique in history, there are no parallels on which 
we might draw to illustrate what He did for us. We can 
say, he was punished (bruised) for our iniquity and by 
His abuse (stripes) at the hands of sinful men, we are 
pardoned (healed). (Isaiah 53) His sacrifice fulfilled 
the law of ritual blood sacrifice of the Jewish Temple 

or Tabernacle which was, in reality, a picture of His 
death on the cross.  There is no longer a need for such 
sacifice.  (Slaughter of lamb without spot or blemish)

     We could say Jesus Christ had a very high regard 
for the Law of God, since He was God.  He did not des-
troy it, but fulfilled it.  Now men need no longer look 
at the  law as a  burden, but  as a  guide,  or "School-
master" to bring us to Grace. There He unburdens us 
of our sin/guilt as we see the Law of God was not the

problem.  It  was/is our sin,  separating us from God.  
The law displays our sin to us and shows us our utter 
inability to keep the law.  As the Children of God we 
are  not saved  through  the works of  the law, “..not

through works of righteousness...” or of any effort in 
the  flesh.  We are  made right with  God through His 
grace and mercy. Our part; to accept the gift through 
faith in our Savior.  His teaching shows us how to live 
life well pleasing to God the Father,  above reproach 
before our peers.  He  already fulfilled the “righteous

requirements of  the law,” on our  behalf.  It is not re-
quired nor expected of mere beings of flesh and blood. 
We are instructed by the Apostle Paul to die to the flesh 
every day, reckoning ourselves dead to the flesh, alive 
in Christ.  In "Dead reckoning,"  God the Son, through 
His Holy Spirit, takes up residence in our mortal bodies 
and quickens them to life.  Since it is now Christ living 
in us, He will, over time, mortify the deeds of our flesh, 
for He is responsible in the sanctification process.  It is 
no longer us, alone, trying to keep laws we do not under-
stand.  We have Christ along side and within, doing the 
regeneration.   He has already fulfilled the Law of God.

   One sticking point with many is keeping of the Sabbath 
as required in the Ten Commandments.  There is one pos-
sible answer to this. When one reckons himself dead, his 
life is in Christ. He has entered into rest promised to all 
who are in Christ. This one is no longer working.  He is 
at rest and every day a Sabbath or day of rest, worship 
and praise to his Lord.  Jesus Christ kept the law and is 
keeping the law on our part... AMEN!  The Sabbath in
the Law of God was merely a picture of Salvation in our
Lord, Jesus Christ.

CAVEAT:  If one has not received the gift of Jesus Christ,
what he did on earth to free us from the penalty of our 
transgressions of the Law of God, he is still under the 
full weight of the law and the penalty of eternal (death)
separation from the Lord as well as our family and 
friends.  
"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will 
   gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and 
   those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into 
   the furnace of fire.  There will be wailing and gnashing 
   of teeth."  Matthew 13: 42-43

(This is not to be construed as an attempt at scholarship 
on law or grace.  Of that, the author is hardly capable.  
It is an attempt to show my limited understanding of the 
matter.  No one I’ve heard or read has addressed it to my 
satisfaction.  I'm still not so sure it has been adequately
 addressed.)                      donporter  12.12.12

If you have a comment or clarification of something that 
is not crystal clear, contact me at jlrsbnch@msn.com                                                                                      

   Since writing this, there has been a book brought to my 
attention; "Jesus Did It Anyway," (The Paradoxical 
Commandments for Christians) Kent M. Keith, author 
came up with this at age 19 as a student a Harvard Uni-
versity.  It is eye-opening, humbling and well worth 
reading.                            donporter  edited on 1.11.14