Matthew 5:17-20 - Sermon on the Mount Study 3

Jesus rebukes those who said he had come to do away with the "law and the prophets" (old testament teaching). Instead he has come to fulfil the law, and he makes it clear that God still requires us to obey his laws. We thought about the different types of law in the old testament:

• Ceremonial Law - such as sacrifice and cleansing which point forward to Jesus. Jesus has fulfilled all of these requirements for us;
• Civil law - such as compensation for injuries etc. This is specific to the culture and society of the time and although we don't follow these laws specifically, we still obey the principles behind them which are present in our own legal system;
• Moral law - things like the ten commandments which still apply to us today - this is what we are talking about.

Points which came up in our discussion included:

• The universal nature of Gods law (Romans 2:13-15) - there is an absolute standard of right and wrong and our conscience tells us this even if we do not know God's Law
• The link between the requirement to obey the law and the beatitudes - acknowledging that we are poor in spirit and cannot do it without him (Matthew 5:3)
• That all disobedience and sin is equal and things that we consider "minor" transgressions are just as bad. When we ask God for forgiveness at the end of the day, are we even aware of most of our "minor" sins?
• If we acknowledge that we can never keep the whole law, and that we are made right with God by his grace, even when we fail should we even bother to try obeying the Law? Definitely according to Romans 6:15 - to honour God, to grow in holiness, to demonstrate our faith.
• The positive example which we set by obeying God's law and the link to last week's study- we are "salt and light" (Matthew 5:13-16)