IBL13: Law in the New Testament

Christ and the Law

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Law

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 1

Track: 129

Dictation Name: RR130BT129

Date: 1960s-1970s

Our scripture is Matthew 5:17-20. Our subject, “Christ and the Law.” Matthew 5:17-20:

“17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18 For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

20 For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Scripture is one word, and therefore, law and grace, that we shall, as we begin our study this week of the New Testament, cannot be opposed one to another. If there is no law, there is no grace. If there is no grace, there is no law. It is precisely because one exists that the other exists. They’re the absolute Law of God, His justice which must be met by man. But man, having sinned, having fallen, is unable to keep the Law of God and therefore, God by His grace re-establishes man in His covenant to enable him to keep that law. Thus, grace is the ground whereby man re-instituted in the covenant is re-instituted into obedience to the law.

Whenever antinomianism sets in the result is that the church soon loses its gospel and ends up in a social gospel. Today in those areas of the church where the law has been forsaken, the church is drifting radically into a social gospel, into another message.

As we begin our studies, therefore, in the Gospels, it is important to face first of all, this central declaration of our Lord at the beginning of His ministry, a declaration repeated more than once thereafter. Our Lord said that He had not come to destroy the law. At that point, everyone is in agreement. The problem with this text in the modern mind comes when we proceed to read, “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” Again, in the next verse, “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, on jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The critical point here is the meaning of the word fulfill. And unfortunately, at this point, our English meaning has shifted badly in recent years. We have come to think of the word ‘fulfill’ as something that has come to an end. This does violation to the text. In no way does the original, the Greek, convey the idea of coming to an end. On the contrary, it has a radically different meaning. This is why, when we go to the older commentators of several centuries ago, we encounter no such interpretation. Two words are here used that are both translated as fulfilled. The Greek word which in verse 17 is translated fulfill, “I am come not to destroy but to fulfill,” is related to our English word, plaroma (to make full or the fullness, the totality). In the Greek, the original word means literally to make full, to fill to the top, to diffuse, to cause to abound, to pervade, or to put into force. In other words, it means bringing to fullness and keeping in fullness. So what our Lord literally said was, I am come not to destroy but to put into force.

Some translators, such as James Moffett have so translated. Till all be in force. The same word or a form of the same Greek word is used when we are told in Colossians 2:10 and Ephesians 3:19 that we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean, you see, that the work of the Holy Spirit is ended. It is put into force in our lives. Again we are told in Ephesians 4:10 that Christ fills the universe with His power and His activity. The word therefore means to fill to the full and to continuously be in forced, for as Christians when we are filled with the Spirit and when Christ fills the universe with His power and His activity, it is not the end of the Holy Spirit or Christ’s fullness. Thus, the meaning is clearly to put the law into force as a continuous thing. Our Lord said, “I have come, not to destroy the law, or the prophets.” I am come not to destroy, but to put into force and to keep into force.

Now in verse 18, the word that is translated as fulfilled is still a different Greek word which means to come to pass, to become, to happen; to come into being. The law, thus, our Lord says, using two different words, shall become the reality of the world’s light to the end of the world. The righteousness of God shall govern the world. As a result, what our Lord declared was that by His coming, He had put the law in force, to remain in force and it would be the reality until the end of time. Rather than ending, Christ as the king, or messiah declares afresh that the law is God’s righteousness and His purpose is to put it into force, first by reclaiming men from the power of sin and death through His atoning work, then by making them new creatures in Him. Writing the law on the tables of their hearts, he makes them able to obey His Law.

It is His Law because He is Christ, the King and there can be no kingship without law. Our forefathers saw this point clearly. And to them, the modern attitude towards the law would have been unthinkable. It was a heresy that only those who were anti-Christian would maintain. As we go back to the preaching of a few centuries ago, it is interesting to see how clearly they saw the matter. For example, in one of the great sermons preached before the House of Commons in Parliament at their public fast on November 17, 1640, the Reverend Steven Marshall, one of the great preachers of the Church of England of that day declared, “First, this is the scepter whereby Christ rules, the dwelling of His Word with the people. It is the greatest proof of their owning Him for their prince and His acknowledging them for His own subjects. If any country esteemed a part of the prince’s dominion that is not—is any country esteemed a part of a prince’s dominion that is not ruled by his law? Neither can any land be accounted Christ’s kingdom where the preaching of the Word, which is the rod of His power is not established. And the Lord has ever-esteemed the hinderers of His Word to be the men that would not have Christ rule over them. Secondly, if all the good laws in the world were made without this, they would come to nothing. Order what you can, leave this undone; you will never do the thing you aim at. Magistrates and ministers of justice will not execute them and people will not obey them. The dark places of the land are ever full of the habitations of wickedness. But if Christ smite the earth with His rod of His power, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. There shall nothing hurt nor destroy where Christ’s scepter reigns. Your laws cannot give men new hearts nor new strength. That is the privilege of the laws of Christ.”

Thus it was that Marshall in his great sermon declared that only a people who were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ and who when moved in obedience to the Law of God, could establish a dominion in which peace, in which law and order, in which prosperity ruled.

Now the fact that Jesus Christ, the messiah king was coming to enforce His kingship and law were stated very bluntly by John the Baptist because he warned the people concerning the wrath to come. Now we don’t understand the meaning of that expression, because for us, wrath has become something that has been very much run down. Child psychologists have emphasized to mothers how wrong it is to ever raise your voice with a child or to be angry and the idea that there can be a righteous indignation, that is an indignation in terms of righteous, in terms of law, has been forgotten. But in the Bible, when the prophets speak of the wrath of God, they are speaking of God’s wrath against those who transgress His commandments. When John the Baptist therefore spoke of the wrath to come in the coming of the messiah, what he meant was that Christ the King was coming, that they would either accept Him as their Lord and King and bow down before Him, and accept His Law-Word, or they would be judged and the entire nation cut down. And so, he declared, and now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree. Therefore, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. He went on to declare that the messiah would thoroughly purge His realm and when the people of faith came and asked John, “what shall we do then?” John’s answer then was, “obey the law and manifest grace by charity to those in need.” As a result, the coming of Christ was inseparable from the coming of both the grace of God and the judgment of God in terms of His Law.

When we turn to the temptations of our Lord in the wilderness, we find that they are inseparable from law. Satan offered a declaration of independence from God and from His Law. He declared, move in terms of man, man’s needs. Give unto these people bread. Turn the stones into bread. After all, there’s economic want in the world. Give them a social gospel. And make faith unnecessary. Enable them to walk by sight. Cast thyself down and have the angels of God sustain Thee so that you can prove that faith is unnecessary. You’ve demonstrated supernatural powers. You’ve demonstrated that God’s angels are going to come from Heaven to sustain you, so faith will be unnecessary. Sight will be sufficient. And bow down and worship me. Recognize the rightness of my position, that faith is unnecessary. Man should walk, by sight, and God should serve man, not man, God. And every one of our Lord’s answers were from the law. “It is written.” “It is written.” “It is written.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, of course, our Lord identifies Himself as the law-giver. It is on the mount so that the comparison to Christ, of Christ to Moses is emphatic. Moreover, He made clear that He was greater than Moses, that He was God the King by declaring, not “Thus saith the Lord,” but “I say unto you.” Moreover, He echoed Deuteronomy 28. Now Deuteronomy 28 begins with a series of beatitudes, or blessings (the words are the same) and then a series of verses. And only God in scripture can pronounce such blessings, or someone who prophetically is inspired of God. And our Lord saying, “I say unto you,” not “Thus saith the Lord” speaks in the Sermon on the Mount and begins with “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” they who feel their spiritual need. “Blessed are they that mourn… they that hunger and thirst after righteousness … they that are persecuted for my sake.” Blessings.

Then at the close of His ministry in Matthew 23, what do we have? A series of curses pronounced upon the Pharisees, the Scribes, the leaders of the people. So that the Pharisees immediately saw who Jesus was. They knew with whom they had to deal. And as a result, from that point on we have a series of conflict between Christ and the leaders of the people, in which they come to Christ, as we shall see on subsequent weeks, to try to prove that He is not truly the spokesman of the law. And if He’s not the spokesman of the law, neither is He the source of grace. They come to Him to make fun of the laws {?}. ‘Master, a certain man died and left his wife childless and his seven brothers each married her and left her childless. Now in the resurrection, whose wife will she be?’ Poking fun at the Law of God; trying to make it ridiculous. ‘Master, according to the law, the tax is to be paid to God, but here is Caesar demanding tribute money. Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar? Isn’t that a violation of the Mosaic Law? ‘ Over and over again in one instant after another; the woman taken in adultery. Are you going to go back to the old Mosaic Law which says that she should be executed for her adultery? We shall examine these incidents in the next few weeks.

Over and over again, they come to shake Him in His adherence to the law, in His declaration of the law, in His demand that the law be put into force, because if they could shake Him in that, they could say, He is not the messiah, nor is He the source of grace. How can He pronounce beatitudes or blessing? How can He offer grace or damnation?

But by pronouncing blessings, beatitudes, and by pronouncing curses, our Lord declared Himself to be the shibboleth, whereby men are tested and judged. And St. Peter identified Jesus Christ in Acts 4:12 as God’s shibboleth, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” This is the name which men must pronounce from their hearts, through the grace of God unto salvation, for they are either saved by that name or cut down by that name.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ is the law-giver, developed the full implications of the law, personal as well as civil, the inner as well as the outer aspects. It is not sufficient, He declared, to say ‘I have not killed; therefore I have kept the commandment.’ If we have anger, hatred without cause against our brother, we have broken the commandment. If we have lusted after someone in our hearts, then we have broken the commandment. And He proceeded then to deal with the various laws, the laws of {?} the laws concerning the limitation of law, the law of charity, the law of worship, and He declared that the test of citizenship in the kingdom of God is obedience to these sayings of mine. And the man whose life is founded upon a rock, or more accurately, The Rock (and rock in scripture is always a type of God, a symbol of God. The only time it is not so used is when Moses says, ‘Their rocks are not as our Rock,’ that is their gods are false gods, they are not like our God, so even there the reference is to divinity). The man whose life is founded upon the rock, upon the atoning work of Jesus Christ, and who builds thereon in obedience, the storms of judgment shall come, but he shall stand, for his house if founded upon the rock. But the man whose house is built upon sand, upon himself, however outwardly fine that house may seem, however outwardly he may seem to be a moral and a law-abiding man, when the storms come, great shall be the fall thereof, for man’s word and man’s law is sand and cannot prevail.

The Sermon on the Mount concludes with the comment of the people, their amazement, for He taught as one having authority. And the word authority there means the power, the liberty to do as one pleases the power of that which is right. The Pharisees clearly understood all this. And so they sinned with knowledge when they rejected Him. And therefore, our Lord declared upon them would descend all the righteous blood shed upon the earth for their lawlessness. And the greatest tribulation of all history should come upon them and their city and their country, because all power having been given unto Him in Heaven and earth, that power brought the total curse to those who oppose Him and His kingdom. But He, Himself, by His saving work is the beatitude of His covenant people, our king of grace. Thus it is, our Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount, as the greater Moses, declared Himself to be the principle of blessing, of salvation, and the principle of judgment, of curses, thus He echoed not only the whole of Moses’ ministry as that greater prophet, but also Deuteronomy 28, by declaring, He who is the source of blessing, of beatitude and of curses is in your midst; the king of salvation, and the Lord of judgment.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Christ is come. The Law is put into force, grace unto salvation made manifest and we called by Thy grace to be the people of the messiah king. Strengthen us therefore in faith and obedience that we may build unto ourselves and unto our country, unto our families structures that will stand against the judgments which Thou doest bring against all workers of iniquity. Enable us, our Father, to re-establish all things in terms of the kingship of our Lord and His saving power, that we might ever rejoice in His grace, prosper under His Law, and be guided by His Word. Bless us to this purpose, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all with respect to our lesson?

Yes?

[Audience] I want to know what purpose does {?}.

[Rushdoony] Yes. The point of view that motivates that is Dispensationalism. It divides the Bible instead of observing its unity and says this belongs to one period, and that to another, and it ends up with really no Word of God, because, if because He addressed the disciples at that point, that word was only for the disciples. Then we have to say the Old Testament was only for the Hebrews because it was addressed to them, the letters of Paul were only for the particular churches, because it was addressed to them, and then you end up with no Bible! Because there’s nothing in the Bible, in terms of that point of view that was ever said for us, you see. Then you end up with no Bible and you might as well be a Humanist, because you say God has no word for me.

But any time God spoke to any man, His Word was for Man. So the whole of scripture is spoken to us, or none of it. and that point of view is wrongly dividing the Word of Truth.

Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] No, it was from Heaven, but you see there was no longer a covenant people who kept the law. Israel had forsaken the law. So a covenant people who were dedicated to re-ordering their lives and the world in terms of God’s righteousness no longer existed. And therefore, He came to establish afresh the covenant of God with a new people called out of all peoples, tongues, tribes and nations by His atoning work on the cross, constituted as a new Israel of God (hence the 12 disciples) and sent into all the world to bring all nations, as we shall see in a few weeks, into the fold of Christ to make disciples of all nations, first to bring them into the realm of grace, and then by His grace to enable them to establish God’s law order.

So you see, the covenant people, having forsaken Him, had to be judged. And hence, the destruction of Jerusalem. This is why in Hebrews 12, we have the statement that this great shaking of the Old Testament shall culminate in the destruction of Jerusalem. And in a sense, it was then that the New Testament era, as it were, began. It began both with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the old ended with the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the old covenant people; judgment upon them for their rejection.

So you see, when Christ left the temple for the last time to go to the cross, to establish thereby the new people of God, he said the old nation, the old temple (because I am the new temple), shall be destroyed, and not one stone shall be left standing upon another.

Yes?

[Audience] God, God told … {?}

[Rushdoony] Right.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Exactly. It’s the same covenant. That’s why St. Paul says that we are Abraham’s children, by faith. So that we are the true Israel of God. And the Old Israel is cut off and we are grafted in. It’s one stalk, one tree, one plant, one covenant, but the bad seed, the bad branches are cut off and cast into the fire of judgment and we are grafted in.

Yes?

[Audience] Modern… {?}

[Rushdoony] We’re going to come to that in a few weeks when we come to what Paul says in Romans and Galatians. But briefly, when we are dead to the law, we are dead to it as a death sentence; as an indictment, you see. When we are criminals, the law to us is a death sentence. St. Paul does not say the law is dead—never! We in Christ, when we die in Christ are dead to the law, but we are also made alive in Christ whereby we are made alive to the law of the righteousness of God. So we die to the law as a death sentence, we live in it as the righteousness of God.

Now, I’ve used an illustration before and I’ll use it again. If we are murderers, fleeing from a death penalty, the law is death to us. But if we are pardoned, restored into full citizenship, and our evil nature, our murderous nature blotted out and a new heart given to us, the law is now our protection, is it not, against evil-doers and murders? It is a fence around us to protect us from evil. So our relationship to the law has changed, from men who are legally dead under the law, who have the death sentence pronounced against us, to men who find the law, the righteousness of God a protection, a way of life. This is the difference.

Yes?

[Audience] In {?} verse 55, {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience] How will that... {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. I meant to comment on that and forgot.

Now, he says, in effect, there are two standards of righteousness. That of the Pharisees is based on the tradition of men, and you’re not going to ever get into Heaven in terms of man’s work, man’s way of salvation. Therefore, you’ll never enter into Heaven in terms of man’s way of salvation and man’s law. Only by Christ’s salvation, my own work, and my law—God’s Law, you see. In other words, our righteousness is first of all the righteousness of Christ imputed unto us and our sanctification and growth therein.

[Audience] In relation to that, {?} is that … {?}

[Rushdoony] Will you restate that?

[Audience] Is baptism a part of God’s law, for salvation, and {?} baptized.

[Rushdoony] Yes, we are, under-this does not mean someone who is unbaptized doesn’t go to Heaven, but it is a part of His Law, as entrance into the kingdom. When we accept Christ, we then become citizens of the kingdom through baptism. And baptism has two aspects, the outer rite which is to signify the inward grace. So when we have the inward grace, when we accept Christ as our Lord and savior, then we seek baptism to show that we are Christ’s people. Now with children, it is a mark of their covenant membership that they have been born into the covenant of grace. But with adults, it is an outward testimony to an inward grace.

[Audience] Well, there’s been, regardless of {?} … professing {?}

[Rushdoony] No, with some of course, the impulse is Humanistic. I was told the other day of someone who sought membership in a church, which is evangelical, and he professed his readiness to believe in the Ten Commandments and his desire to be a church member and to support it generally, but beyond that he didn’t have much faith in anything and he said, I just believe it’s a part of being a good person, a good citizen. Well, he was denied membership; however, he went to a nearby church and he is there an elder right now.

Now, that man, you see, was seeking membership in the covenant on a Humanistic basis. But we are to seek it in terms of the Holy Spirit. That Christ having redeemed us, we come to Him now as response to His call.

Yes?

[Audience] {?} The idea that Christ not only fulfilled the law, in {?} terms {?}was pacified, but that {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. Ah, this comment was made by the Reverend, Mr. Nielson, who is a very able scholar, incidentally. The dispensationalists don’t entirely do away with the law. They do away with it for us. They recognize that the law still has to be enforced sometime, but they postpone the enforcement of it to a millennial kingdom in the future. Now, this in itself adds to the schizophrenia of their position, because they are admitting thereby that the law is God’s righteousness, it is His requirement, but somehow those of us who are caught between these periods of the Old Testament and the millennial kingdom, we’re to be lawless people. In other words, God doesn’t really have a program of righteousness and of law and order for us, which is a rather strange position.

Yes?

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, you find those ideas in the Schofield notes, not in the Bible. The source of them is in old Jewish fables, as St. Paul put it. In other words, in the period between the Old and the New Testament, a great many Pharisaic ideas developed in which the Jews held that they were going to rule the world, they were going to have Christ the King come back and lead them in power against all the nations, that there would be ‘Heaven on earth,’ at least for the Jews, with everyone else being their slaves, and so on. Now, in altered form, this is substantially the picture, the dispensationalists have of the future. And it is a very, very erroneous one. It goes back to these old Jewish fables, Jewish apocryphal writings.

Any other questions? We have just a minute or two left. Well, if not, let’s bow our heads for the benediction.

And now, go in peace. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.