Many today claim that Christians no longer have to pay attention to the Old Testament. They are out of sync with Jesus. Here’s what He really said about the issue:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).
Fulfillment doesn’t equal annulment. Many today are in great error by claiming otherwise. In saying He fulfilled the law, Christ declares to us that He has met all of its requirements in our place. Even more than that, He has written the law of God on the hearts of Christians (Jeremiah 31:11, Hebrews 10:16). Through the Spirit’s presence in us, we are able to walk out true covenant righteousness in Christ according to, and even above the standards of the law. We are called to exceed the righteousness of those who came before us but who didn’t have the Holy Spirit.
Of course that which relates to the temple laws no longer have the same meaning as before since the temple age has passed (although they still have something to teach us). The final sacrifice was Christ and so we no longer need to be ceremonially clean to approach the temple. We are the temple in which Christ dwells and by the cross we are always clean in Him (1 Peter 2). But this does not nullify the law. No, it actually elevates it. We are called to be holy in Christ (1 Peter 1:16) and are charged not to use our newfound freedom in Christ as an excuse to sin (1 Peter 2:16).
So we must be careful not to set ourselves against Christ by invalidating the law, which He says He has not abolished, but fulfilled. That which is fulfilled is more alive that it ever was before. As the Holy Spirit says through scripture, a will doesn’t become active until the initiator dies (Hebrews 9:17). In the same way, the law has more life than it ever did because of Christ. What Christ has done for us, is to achieve total faithfulness to God’s law in our place but He didn’t do it so we could then be lawless. He did this so He could qualify us and empower us to join Him where He is. He didn’t save us for less than what Old Testament saints were required to do, but for so much more. With the Spirit in us what was difficult for them can come much more naturally to us through Him. They fought to obey in their own strength. We obey through the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. Do you see the difference? For us Christ has not only clarified and fulfilled the law’s requirements, but has given us all we need to walk it out.
So let’s not attempt to nullify the law and thus dishonor the Christ whom that law came from and is fulfilled in. Rather let us embrace Christ’s cross, His empty tomb, and the power of the Holy Spirit to join Jesus where He is. He condescended to our place, in order to lift us up to His.
