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. (Matthew 5:17)
The law was never created for man to fulfill. This is why God FORBADE man from eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17); unfortunately, Adam and Eve partook of this tree instead of the fruit from the tree of life which represented Christ Jesus. The law is so holy that no man can satisfy its standards; thus, making the statement of the apostle Paul true: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What the whole Bible is saying is that only Jesus Christ can fulfill the law.
Adam placed us under the law.
The majority of Matthew 5 talks about the standards of the law. When the holy law of God forbids murder, The Lord Jesus Christ interprets it as “you cannot be angry at your brother or sister” and Christ goes on: And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell (Matthew 5:22).
When it comes to the law of adultery, God doesn’t see it only as channeling our sexual behavior to only one person, our spouse. The Lord Jesus unfolds the full glory of the law of adultery as: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28)
No honest person can say that they have kept all the laws of God and no honest person can say that they do not need Jesus Christ, the Saviour. Because man is so deep into sin and failure, God out of His love, mercy and grace, has to send forth His Son to pay for our sins by literally going through hell for us.
Jesus Christ redeemed us from the law.
We now therefore stand in Christ and behold His perfect obedience and fulfillment of all the laws given by God. But for Christ to give us His righteousness, He must first receive our sins. And this is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross. Because Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law and provided us His righteousness, we can now boldly say that we are the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
The Law says we all go to hell, but Jesus Christ says we live with Him in paradise!
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