Matthew 5:17

Berean Standard Bible

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

King James Bible

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

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Matthew 5:17 records the words of Jesus: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This statement occurs early in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is setting forth the character and demands of the kingdom of heaven. It functions as both a clarification and a challenge to His hearers, who might misunderstand the radical authority of His teaching as a rejection of the Scriptures they knew.

The phrase “the Law or the Prophets” is a shorthand expression for the entire Hebrew Scriptures, what we often call the Old Testament. The “Law” refers to the Torah, the first five books of Moses, containing commandments, covenant instructions, and narrative foundations. “The Prophets” encompasses the prophetic writings and historical books that bear witness to God’s dealings with His people and His calls to covenant faithfulness. Together, this phrase represents the revealed will and redemptive plan of God as it was known to Israel. Jesus’ statement makes clear that His mission is not in opposition to these Scriptures. He is not dismantling or discarding them; He is the very one to whom they point.

The verb “abolish” here suggests loosening, dissolving, or rendering void. Jesus disclaims any intention of setting aside the Law or Prophets as obsolete or irrelevant. This is important because His subsequent teaching will deepen, intensify, and in some ways reframe the understanding of the law, moving beyond external compliance to the deeper righteousness of the heart. Such authority could easily be misinterpreted as dismissal. By denying that He abolishes and asserting instead that He fulfills, Jesus roots His work firmly in the continuity of God’s revelation, while at the same time asserting His unique role in bringing it to completion.

The term “fulfill” is central. In Matthew’s Gospel, “fulfill” often means to bring something to its intended goal, to fill it full of meaning, to realize what was anticipated or foreshadowed. Applied to the Law and Prophets, it indicates that Jesus embodies their truth, brings their types and shadows into substance, and accomplishes what they prophesied. In His life, death, and resurrection, He fulfills the moral demands of the law perfectly, embodies the righteous character it aimed to form, and brings to pass the messianic promises embedded in the prophetic writings. He is the obedient Israelite who keeps the covenant fully; He is the sacrificial Lamb to which the temple offerings pointed; He is the King and Servant foretold by the prophets.

To fulfill does not mean to leave unchanged. Once a prophecy is fulfilled, its role as a signpost is completed—not because it was false or discarded, but because its purpose has been achieved. Likewise, the ceremonial aspects of the law find their reality in Christ; the shadows give way to the substance, and the symbols yield to what they symbolized. Yet the moral vision of the law is not set aside but is deepened in Him. He calls His disciples to a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, not by multiplying rules but by transforming the heart, so that love of God and neighbor flows from within.

This statement also asserts Jesus’ unparalleled authority. To claim to fulfill the Law and Prophets is to claim to be the focal point of all Scripture, the one in whom its meaning is realized. This is not the posture of a mere teacher offering commentary; it is the self-understanding of one who stands at the center of God’s redemptive plan. His hearers, steeped in the Torah and the Prophets, would have recognized the magnitude of such a claim.

For the believer today, Matthew 5:17 safeguards against two opposite errors. On one side is the temptation to treat the Old Testament as irrelevant, as though grace has replaced it entirely. Jesus does not allow such a view; the Old Testament is the foundation of His mission and message, and its moral and theological vision remains vital. On the other side is the temptation to cling to the law as though Christ has not already brought it to its intended goal, imposing on believers the ceremonial or national forms that belonged to the old covenant. Jesus’ fulfillment transforms how the law applies, for we now live in the reality to which it pointed.

The verse also calls the follower of Christ to read the Scriptures with a Christ-centered lens. The Law and Prophets cannot be understood in their fullest sense apart from Him, for He is the one who fills them with their ultimate meaning. It is in His teaching, His obedience, His cross, and His resurrection that their deepest purposes are revealed. To know Him is to know the fulfillment of Scripture; to follow Him is to embody the righteousness it always sought to produce.

Thus, in Matthew 5:17, Jesus locates Himself as the hinge of redemptive history. All that came before finds its resolution in Him, and all that comes after flows from His completed work. The Law and the Prophets are not discarded—they are brought to their climax in the One who is both their author and their end.

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Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Word made flesh and the perfect fulfillment of all that was spoken in the Law and the Prophets. I write to you concerning that solemn and glorious saying of our Lord: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In these words our Savior reveals both the continuity and the climax of God’s redemptive plan, so that we might not be led astray by a false liberty that discards God’s commands, nor by a blind zeal that clings to shadows when the substance has come.

Consider, brothers and sisters, what our Lord is declaring. He stands not as a critic of the Law but as its goal, not as an adversary of the Prophets but as the One to whom they bore witness. From the beginning, God spoke through Moses and the prophets to make known His will, to form His people, and to prepare them for the coming of the Anointed One. The Law was holy, just, and good, yet it was not an end in itself—it was a guide, a guardian, and a signpost pointing forward. The Prophets were the heralds of what was to come, their words sometimes like a seed lying hidden in the soil, awaiting the appointed time of fruit. And now, in the fullness of time, the One whom the Law foreshadowed and the Prophets proclaimed has come to stand before them and say, “I have not come to tear down what God has built, but to bring it to completion.”

To fulfill is not merely to keep in part, but to bring to its intended perfection. Christ fulfilled the Law in His obedience, for He alone walked blamelessly in every commandment, loving the Father with all His heart, soul, and strength, and loving His neighbor as Himself. He fulfilled the sacrificial system by offering Himself as the spotless Lamb whose death atones for sin once for all. He fulfilled the priesthood by becoming our eternal High Priest, entering not an earthly sanctuary but the heavenly one with His own blood. He fulfilled the Prophets by embodying their promises—the Son of David who reigns forever, the Suffering Servant who bears the iniquity of many, the Light to the nations who brings salvation to the ends of the earth.

Therefore, dear friends, we must guard ourselves from the error of treating the Old Testament as if it were a discarded garment, for Christ’s coming did not make void what was spoken, but revealed its deepest meaning. To neglect the Law and the Prophets is to cut the root while admiring the flower. At the same time, we must not fall into the bondage of those who cling to the outward form when the reality has arrived, for the old covenant with its ceremonies and shadows has given way to the new covenant in His blood, and to return to the former ways as though Christ had not come is to step backward from the fullness into the preparation.

See, then, how this truth shapes our calling. If Christ has fulfilled the Law, then our righteousness cannot come by works of the Law, for the Law itself has found its perfect keeper in Him. Yet this does not free us to sin; rather, it frees us to walk in the Spirit, who writes the Law upon our hearts so that we desire what God commands and delight in His ways. If Christ has fulfilled the Prophets, then we live not in vague expectation but in the clear light of His accomplished work, holding fast to what remains yet to be completed—the day of His return, when every promise shall be seen in full.

Let this truth, then, make us diligent in the Word. Read the Law and the Prophets not as strangers to Christ but as those who see His face in every page. Let the commands show you the perfection of His obedience; let the sacrifices point you to the sufficiency of His cross; let the promises teach you to trust the faithfulness of the One who cannot lie. And as you behold Him in these Scriptures, let your heart be moved to love and obey Him more, for He is not only the fulfiller of the Word but the living Word Himself.

Now may the Lord grant that we, being rooted in the Scriptures and grounded in Christ, may walk in the righteousness that comes by faith, bearing fruit to the glory of God, until that day when the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in us perfectly, as we are conformed fully to the image of our Savior. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

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O Lord our God, the Holy One of Israel and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come before You in the name of Him who is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, the living Word who was in the beginning with You and who has made You known. We thank You that in Him every promise finds its Yes and Amen, and that He has not cast aside the word You spoke from of old, but has brought it to its perfect completion in His life, death, and resurrection.

We confess, Lord, that too often we have treated Your commands as a burden instead of a gift, and Your promises as distant instead of sure. We have at times acted as though Your Law were void, excusing our disobedience under the name of freedom; at other times we have acted as though Your Son had not come, trusting in our works as if righteousness could be earned by our own effort. Forgive us, O Lord, for both our lawlessness and our self-righteousness, for both deny the truth that Christ has come to fulfill all things on our behalf.

Grant us the heart of those who treasure Your Word as gold and see in it the face of Christ. Teach us to read the Law as the portrait of His perfect obedience and to see in the sacrifices the shadow of His cross. Teach us to hear the voices of the Prophets as heralds of His kingdom, to believe their promises, and to live as those who already taste their fulfillment.

O God, by Your Spirit write Your Law upon our hearts, that we might walk not by external compulsion but by inward delight. Shape our will to match the will of our Lord, so that what He loved we love, what He hated we hate, and what He fulfilled in perfect righteousness we pursue in holiness of life. Let our obedience be not the striving of slaves under fear, but the free devotion of children who know they are loved.

Keep us, Lord, from the error of despising the Old Testament as though it were a relic of the past. Keep us also from clinging to its shadows as though the substance had not come. Give us eyes to see how every page of Your Word finds its center in Jesus, and make our lives a living testimony that Your Word stands forever.

And as we await the day when the fullness of Your kingdom is revealed, let us walk in the light of Your truth, proclaiming Christ as the fulfillment of all that You have spoken, until that great day when the Law is written perfectly in our hearts, the Prophets’ visions are all made sight, and we see our Savior face to face.

To You, O Father, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, be glory, honor, and dominion forever and ever. Amen.