How Did Jesus Fulfill the Law?

Modern Christianity teaches that Jesus kept the law for us, so we don’t have too. Many proclaim, “Jesus did everything for you. All you need to do is believe and accept Him.”

But is that what the Bible says? Did Jesus get rid of God’s law? Or did He keep God’s law for you, so you don’t need to?

Let’s look at the scriptures that people use to support these ideas to see what they really say.

Did Jesus Abolish the Law?

Jesus said, “Don’t think that I came to destroy the Torah [the Law] or the Prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).

Many people say that this means that Jesus “fulfilled the law” for us, so now we don’t need to keep the laws in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) about the Sabbath, unclean meat, sacrifices, and all that stuff.

But that is exactly what Jesus said He did not come to do! He said, “For most certainly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away, not one letter or one pen stroke will ever pass away from the Torah, until everything comes to pass! Therefore whoever undoes one of the least of these commandments and teaches people in this way, will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (verses 18-19).

Also notice what Jesus did not say. He did not say that He fulfilled the law for us. He said he came to fulfill “the Torah and the Prophets.” That is the part of the Bible people call “the Old Testament.” There are hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the Torah and the Prophets, and Jesus came to fulfill those prophecies. But He made sure everyone knew that he didn’t come to get rid of the Old Testament.

What Jesus Said about God’s Commandments and Laws

Matthew 7:21-23:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; rather he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will tell Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, in Your name expel demons, and in Your name do many mighty works?’ Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from Me, you who engage in law-breaking!’

Matthew 15:3-7:

“Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God” doesn’t need to honor his father or mother.’ You have revoked God’s commandment by your tradition! Hypocrites!”

Matthew 19:17:

“if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

Matthew 23:23:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.”

What is the New Commandment Jesus Gave?

Some people say that Jesus replaced all of God’s law with “the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), and now the only law is to “love.” But what is love? “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

The new commandment that Jesus gave did not replace God’s commandments—it added to God’s commandments. Before, God required you to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). But Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you—you also love one another” (John 13:34). Now you must love others just as He loved you, which is even more difficult than loving your neighbor as yourself.

We Must Live Like Christ

Jesus said He would come and live in us through the power of the holy spirit (John 14:23). If Jesus Christ is living in us, we should live the same, obedient life that Jesus lived when He was on earth.

1 John 2:4-6:

One who says, “I know Him,” and doesn’t keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him. But whoever keeps His word, God’s love has most certainly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in Him: he who says he remains in Him ought himself also to walk just like He walked.

Saved By Grace, Not Works

Even though we must obey God, we aren’t saved by our works. Our works have earned us death (Romans 3:23: 6:23). The forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life are gifts from God that we could never earn (Galatians 2:16). But once God has forgiven us for breaking His laws, He expects us to stop breaking His laws (Romans 6:1-2).

for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Some Scriptures Are Difficult to Understand

The Apostle Peter warns us that in the Apostle Paul’s letters, “there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). So when we read Paul’s letters in the Bible, we must be careful to understand what he wrote, and not twist them to say something else.

Below are some scriptures that Paul wrote about God’s law that many people misunderstand.

“Christ is the End of the Law”

In Romans 10:4, Paul said, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Does this mean that the is no more law?

The Bible also talks about “the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). Does that mean we should have no more faith?

No! In both places, the word translated “end” means the goal, or end result. The goal of the law is to bring us to Christ. If you get rid of the law, then we are no longer brought to Christ.

Were the Commandments Nailed to the Cross?

Paul wrote, “He [Jesus] has made [you] alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Colossians 2:13-14).

What is the “handwriting of requirements that was against us” that Jesus nailed to the cross? Many people think this is God’s law. But the Greek words here have a different meaning. They refer to a written record of debt or wrongdoings. It is the record of your sins that Jesus removed by nailing it to the cross when you repent. When you are forgiven, your past record is wiped clean, and you have a fresh start. That is why Jesus had to die—to pay for our disobedience to God’s law.

“You are Not Under Law, But Grace”

People say, “we aren’t under the law, we are under grace.” But what does that mean? Read what Paul wrote for yourself:

Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! (Romans 6:12-15)

Think about this. If there isn’t any law, why would you need grace? “Where there is no law, neither is there disobedience” (Romans 4:15). If there is no law, then there is no sin, because “sin is law breaking” (1 John 3:4). We need grace to be forgiven for breaking God’s law, and once we have been forgiven, we should stop living a life of disobedience to God’s law.

The Book of Galatians

There are many verses in the book of Galatians that people twist to “prove” that we don’t need to obey God’s law.

Paul wrote to the Galatians because false teachers had come teaching “a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). These false teachers tried to persuade the Galatians that they must be circumcised (Galatians 6:12). Paul explained that we must be “justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law” (Galatians 2:16).

The Galatians had already believed in Christ, had already repented and been forgiven of their sins, and had already received the holy spirit as a guarantee of eternal life. They would be saved by grace, through faith, not by works. There was nothing they could do to earn their salvation.

Getting circumcised would not help them be justified. Circumcision was given to Abraham and his descendants as a physical sign of their covenant with God (Genesis 17:10). The law did not require foreigners to be circumcised, and circumcision was not a requirement for salvation. Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised (Genesis 15:6). Paul had to remind the Galatians to trust in God for their justification and not to try to make themselves right before God by being circumcised (Galatians 5:2-6).

Does that mean the Galatians didn’t need to keep the law? Certainly not. At the end of the book of Galatians, Paul told the Galatians that they would not inherit the kingdom of God unless they avoid a long list of sins (Galatians 5:19-21).

Still, some claim that Paul said that the law is a curse in Galatian 3:13. Not so. Paul wrote, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.” What is “the curse of the law”? The death penalty (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). Paul said that “the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12), and Paul was careful to keep God’s law (Acts 21:24).

Only Four Laws for Gentiles?

We find another conflict about circumcision in Acts 15.

Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.” Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small discord and discussion with them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question. (Acts 15:1-2)

Many non-Jews had begun to repent, be baptized, and become part of God’s church. Unlike the Jewish believers, these non-Jews had not grown up keeping God’s laws. So there was a question about which laws these non-Jews must keep before they could join in fellowship with the Church of God and get baptized.

Some said, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Others, like Paul and Barnabas taught that the non-Jews could be baptized and received the gift of God’s spirit before learning and keeping every law of God, and that they didn’t need to be circumcised.

So after they apostles and elders discussed this matter, they wrote a letter to the non-Jews:

The apostles, the elders, and the brothers,

to the non-Jewish brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia.

Greetings.

Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment; it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Master Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the holy spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you.

Farewell.

(Acts 15:23-29)

The apostles said that they agreed that these four things were necessary, and that the holy spirit also agreed. How did they know what the holy spirit required non-Jews to do? By looking into the law—the Torah, because the Scriptures are inspired by the holy spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21). These four requirements come from Leviticus 17 and 18, and these regulations were required for all people—both Israelites and non-Israelites.

The apostles concluded that they didn’t need to add any other minimum requirements for joining God’s Church beyond what was already require by the law, “Because Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath” (Acts 15:21). These non-Jews were already coming to listen to God’s law every Sabbath, so in time they would learn the rest of the law and how to keep it.

What about you?

When Jesus returns, will He tell you, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23)?

Or are you among “those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12)?

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