Matthew 5:17-20

Fulfillment of the Law and Prophets

5:17 “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. ¹  5:18 I ²  tell you the truth, ³  until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter ⁴  will pass from the law until everything takes place. 5:19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others ⁵  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. 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law ⁶  and the Pharisees, ⁷  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Romans 3:31

3:31 Do we then nullify ⁸  the law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead ⁹  we uphold the law.

Romans 7:7-13

7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I ¹⁰  would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else ¹¹  if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” ¹²  7:8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. ¹³  For apart from the law, sin is dead. 7:9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive 7:10 and I died. So ¹⁴  I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! ¹⁵  7:11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. ¹⁶  7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

7:13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

[5:17]  ¹ tn Grk “not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Direct objects (“these things,” “them”) were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but have been supplied here to conform to contemporary English style.

[5:18]  ² tn Grk “For I tell.” Here an explanatory γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[5:18]  ³ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[5:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “Not one iota or one serif.”

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “teaches men” ( in a generic sense, people).

[5:20]  ⁶ tn Or “that of the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[5:20]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[3:31]  ⁸ tn Grk “render inoperative.”

[3:31]  ⁹ tn Grk “but” (Greek ἀλλά, alla).

[7:7]  ¹⁰ sn Romans 7:7-25. There has been an enormous debate over the significance of the first person singular pronouns (“I”) in this passage and how to understand their referent. Did Paul intend (1) a reference to himself and other Christians too; (2) a reference to his own pre-Christian experience as a Jew, struggling with the law and sin (and thus addressing his fellow countrymen as Jews); or (3) a reference to himself as a child of Adam, reflecting the experience of Adam that is shared by both Jews and Gentiles alike (i.e., all people everywhere)? Good arguments can be assembled for each of these views, and each has problems dealing with specific statements in the passage. The classic argument against an autobiographical interpretation was made by W. G. Kümmel, Römer 7 und die Bekehrung des Paulus. A good case for seeing at least an autobiographical element in the chapter has been made by G. Theissen, Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie [FRLANT], 181-268. One major point that seems to favor some sort of an autobiographical reading of these verses is the lack of any mention of the Holy Spirit for empowerment in the struggle described in Rom 7:7-25. The Spirit is mentioned beginning in 8:1 as the solution to the problem of the struggle with sin (8:4-6, 9).

[7:7]  ¹¹ tn Grk “I would not have known covetousness.”

[7:7]  ¹² sn A quotation from Exod 20:17 and Deut 5:21.

[7:8]  ¹³ tn Or “covetousness.”

[7:10]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “So” to indicate the result of the statement in the previous verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[7:10]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and there was found in/for me the commandment which was for life – this was for death.”

[7:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and through it killed me.”