The Law and the Prophets (Part 1b)

What does it mean that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets—the full range of Scripture? The answer can be found throughout Matthew’s Gospel, where multiple times he speaks of Jesus fulfilling Old Testament scriptures.5 A few examples are:

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.”6

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”7

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’’"8

“Fulfill” in the context of Matthew’s Gospel denotes the coming into being of that which Scripture pointed to—whether by direct prediction or understood typologically, as in the case of Jesus being the sacrificial lamb.9 Jesus was saying that what was written within the Law and the Prophets was being fulfilled in His ministry. Elsewhere in Matthew, Jesus said: All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John (the Baptist).10

Author R. T. France wrote:

Here the Law is linked with the Prophets as looking forward to a time of fulfillment which has now arrived. The Torah is not God’s last word to his people, but is in a sense provisional, looking forward to a time of fulfillment through the Messiah. In light of that concept, and of the general sense of “fulfill” in Matthew, we might then paraphrase Jesus’ words here as follows: “Far from wanting to set aside the law and the prophets, it is my role to bring into being that to which they have pointed forward, to carry them into a new era of fulfillment.”11

According to Jesus, the role of Old Testament Scripture wasn’t abolished, but it changed. Since what they had pointed to—the Messiah, Jesus—had come, the Scripture now was to be understood and practiced in light of Jesus’ teachings. As we’ll see in Matthew 5:21–48 (covered in the next articles), Jesus gives examples of the deeper understanding of the teachings of Torah (Law) when He says: You have heard that it was said … but I say to you12 … From that point forward, the authoritative teaching of Jesus is what governs His disciples’ understanding and practical application of the Law. It is no longer a literal observance of rules, but a deeper understanding of the moral principles that underpin those rules. As Darrell Bock says, He seeks a standard that looks at the law from an internal, not an external perspective.13 The Law isn’t abolished, but in this era of fulfillment it is Jesus, the fulfiller of the Law, who is the ultimate authority.14

5 Matthew 1:22–23; 2:14–15, 17–18, 23; 4:13–16; 8:17; 12:17–21; 13:35; 21:4–5; 27:9–10.

6 Matthew 12:17–18. Quoted from Isaiah 42:1–4.

7 Matthew 8:17. Quoted from Isaiah 53:4–5.

8 Matthew 21:4–5. Quoted from Zechariah 9:9.

9 France, The Gospel of Matthew, 182.

10 Matthew 11:13.

11 France, The Gospel of Matthew, 183.

12 Many times Jesus uses the phrase “You have heard it said.” It is helpful to know that Jesus was using a rabbinic idiom in that phrase—the word “say” (amar) was used by the rabbis to mean “interpret” in terms of giving the proper interpretation of the scriptures as to how to apply its laws. Jesus often preceded his legal rulings with “You have heard it said” (meaning, others have interpreted God's word to mean one thing) and “but I say unto you” (meaning, I interpret it differently, in the following way).—Lois A. Tverberg, "Amar - You Have Heard It Said."

13 Bock, Jesus According to Scripture, 131.

14 France, The Gospel of Matthew, 183.







Director's Corner TFI