"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 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. 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. 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." -Matthew 5:17-20

At first glance, the above can be alarming. Are we supposed to keep the law, while being under the grace of Christ? The Bible calls the law "works," but says that we are not under the law of works, but under the law of liberty in Christ. Remember, every Word is important, so let's break the above Scripture into points, and go through each point.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."

Fact - Jesus didn't come to destroy the Old Covenant (which is the law and the prophets - that's another word for the Old Testament/Covenant). Jesus came to fulfill. Did his first coming and sacrifice on the cross fulfill all of the law? Not yet, as is clear from "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." The complete fulfillment of the law will occur after Jesus' second coming.

"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:"

What commandments are Jesus speaking of here? We need only read further in this chapter, to find out:

The Spirit of the Law - thou shalt not kill:

"21Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

The Spirit of the Law - thou shalt not commit adultery:

"27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

Etc... The Sermon on the Mount shows the spirit of the Torah. Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial portions when He died on the cross. He opened the New Covenant, when he came back to life three days later. A Christian goes through this in a form. When we become a Christian, we die to our old selves (die to the law of sin and death), and are born again as new creatures in Christ (to the law of liberty).

The commandments spoken of are the spirit of the law, not the letter, as is verified and clarified by 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

If we want to be very black and white, then we could safely say that Jesus was telling us that we are not to teach others to break the Ten Commandments. After all, he started listing a few of them, didn't He?

I agree, of course. I keep the Ten Commandments - even the Sabbath commandment. However, I don't observe Seventh Day Sabbath anymore, and I'll show you very detailed Scriptures as to why that is, and how I am still keeping all of the commandments. This will be discussed in a future part in this series of articles.

Moving on with the key Scripture in Matthew 5 that I quoted at the beginning of this article:

"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."

Did you see that?! That still holds true today - it has not changed, nor will it ever. This was true even before there were such thing as Pharisees. We have to be perfect to enter heaven. This is a universal truth, that never changes with times or dispensations. It is a law that can never be changed or broken.

If you want to go to heaven, then you have to keep ALL of the Torah - perfectly. If you have ever broken any part of the law, then you are NOT going to heaven!

Let's look solely at just a few of the Ten Commandments. Have you ever lied? If so, then you have not kept the law perfectly. Have you ever stolen? Even if it was just a paperclip or a pen from the bank - whoops, you have not kept the law perfectly.

Look at this verse:

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." -James 2:10

Even if you've kept all of the law perfectly your whole life, except you made a little white lie once, then according to the Word of God, you are GUILTY of having broken the whole law. Breaking one point of the law is just like breaking all of it. It will keep you out of heaven either way. Remember, we have to be perfect:

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." -Matthew 5:48

Sinning is the breaking of the Law of God. If you have broken any part of God's Law, then you have sinned. What does the Bible say happens to sinners? It says they must pay for their sins. What are the wages (payment) for sin? Look:

"For the wages of sin is death" -Romans 6:23a

We have to die to pay for our sins. Would we then go to heaven after that, since we've died to pay for our sins? NO! Our deaths don't pay enough, because here's the catch 22. The death has to be one of pure blood. A sinner is corrupt, they are not pure in spirit. In the Old Covenant/Old Testament, lambs, rams, and goats were sacrificed to pay for the people's sins. However, they couldn't sacrifice just any lamb, for example. It had to have no spot or blemish. It had to be as near perfect as possible.

It wasn't these animal sacrifices that paid for the people's sins, but what they symbolized. These people trusted in God, and their hearts was for Him. They looked to the messiah, who would conquer sin, and save them. They looked for their SAVIOUR.

People who were faithful to God, followed His law to the best of their ability, and looked for (and believed on) the coming Saviour Messiah didn't go to heaven, but they didn't go to hell, either. They were in a paradise-like holding place. It wasn't heaven, but it wasn't hell. It was a beautiful paradise, where they awaited their Saviour.

When Jesus died, what did He do during those three days? Here's one of the things He did:

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;" -1Peter 3:18-19

"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." -Matthew 27:52-53

Now we are in the New Covenant - under the New Testament. Christ has died, rose from the dead, and ascended to the Father. The Godly people of the Old Testament looked forward to Jesus:

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." -Hebrews 11:13

Through the Saviour Messiah, we can be made perfect. Only through Him can we be made perfect. Jesus died on the cross as the Lamb of God, without spot, blemish, or sin. He died in our place, so that when we accept this free gift, we are washed of our sins by His blood. Believe this and receive it into your heart, and you will be made perfect. Of course Christians still mess up, and that is why we have an advocate with the Father:

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" -1John 2:1

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1John 1:9

We confess our sins to God, and through Jesus, our advocate, we are cleansed and forgiven. - Made to remain perfect. 100% heaven bound.

Remember that Scripture I quoted earlier, about the wages of sin?

"For the wages of sin is death" -Romans 6:23a

Now let's look at the WHOLE verse:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 6:23

Here is Christ's relationship to the law, and the Christian's relationship to the law through Christ:

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." -John 1:17

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." -Romans 7:4

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." -Romans 10:4

"And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment." -1John 3:23

Next in this series: Part Three - The Christian's Relationship to the Ten Commandments