22 - Chapter 16 The Believer's Rule Part 5

But what did Christ mean by saying he had not come ‘to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled' (Matt. 5:17-18)? I have already glanced at this,54 but I now examine the way some use Christ's words to try to blunt his emphasis on the newness of his law in the Sermon on the Mount. It is claimed that Christ here was not setting out anything new, but ‘explaining', ‘establishing' or ‘upholding' the law, declaring its real or intended meaning in light of Pharisaical efforts to get round its full significance.