How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law and the Prophets in Matthew 5:17?

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

In Matthew 5:17, Jesus announces, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Some who have contemplated on His meaning sometimes believe Him to be saying that His intent was to preserve the Old Testament (OT) even while He adds to it. Others see “fulfill” to somehow be connected with an Aramaic word, qûm, that means to establish, validate, and confirm. Assuming this connection, this group of translators argue that Jesus, through His actions, somehow established and confirmed the teachings in the OT. Given the many competing views surrounding the interpretation of “fulfill,” this article will attempt to uncover Christ’s original meaning.

To begin with, the Aramaic word (qûm) nor any of its cognates are not ever translated as “fulfill” (in Greek, plēroō) in the Septuagint. Along with this, those who press forward this seemingly faulty linguistic connection also face another major obstacle. Specifically, the context of Matthew 5 is focused upon the relationship between the OT and Christ’s teaching as opposed to His actions. Given this information, one should avoid the conclusion which interprets Jesus to mean that He would establish and confirm the Law.

The next view maintained by some is that Jesus sought to preserve the moral part of the OT. Those in this camp impose a tripartisan distinction onto the Law and the Prophets. For them, the Law is composed of three components: moral, civil, and ceremonial. While this categorization my prove helpful for some purposes, one must remember that Jesus Himself affirmed the entirety of Scripture when He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets.” Then, He proceeds to inform His audience that His purpose was not to abolish the OT in any way, which of course includes this piecemeal approach to categorization of the OT.

In a similar vein to the second view, some interpret the Greek Word behind “fulfill” as “fill up,” an interpretation which is at least linguistically possible. Taken this way, one could understand Jesus to have filled up the Scripture by providing its full meaning. In this way, Jesus is seen as preserving the OT even while He supplements it. Despite the linguistic viability of this understanding, the context reveals that Jesus does not have in mind the idea of adding to Scripture. That this is so is revealed in v.18 when Jesus specifies that He is discussing the content (“the smallest letter or stroke”) of Holy Writ.

To properly understand Matthew 5:17, one should first be aware that the distinction is between “abolish” and “fulfill.” Jesus made clear that His purpose was not to abolish the OT; on the other hand, He makes no reference to His intent or lack thereof to keep them. Instead of focusing His actions toward the OT, Jesus wanted to address His relationship to Scripture. In other words, Jesus is pointing to His eschatological relationship with the OT as the promised Messiah.

As the Messiah, Jesus has the authority, granted to Him by the OT and ultimately by God, to establish His teachings in the Sermon on the Mount which follow after this present verse being studied. As Jesus gave His sermon, Jesus never set aside the OT. Instead, He drove it to its deepest application. As the Person of God in the flesh, Jesus had the authority to demonstrate the full intention and purpose behind all that had been written. For Him, casting aside the Word of God was not option, since the Word served as the central component of His teaching even while He added His own divine interpretation which further elucidated the minds of those who were divinely enabled to understand His teaching.

In conclusion, Jesus never intended to unhitch His ministry from the OT. As the eschatological fulfillment of it, He had been authorized to explain and apply its meaning it ways that could not have been foreseen apart from His being the Messiah who the Scriptures had been pointing to all along. As such, Christ was divinely enabled to point to the ultimate meaning and application of the OT and thereby fulfill it through His interpretive work, work that included all aspects of His incarnational ministry.