✨ The Law Is Fulfilled in Jesus
“I Have Not Come to Abolish the Law, but to Fulfill.”
In the Gospel of Matthew 5:17, Jesus speaks words that echo across centuries:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
These words stand at the heart of the Christian mystery.
The Law is not discarded.
It is not denied.
It is not replaced.
It is fulfilled.
But what does that mean?
The Law is Holy, Beautiful — and Heavy
The Law reveals the holiness of God.
It shows us what love looks like in action:
Do not kill.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not bear false witness.
Love your neighbor.
The Law is good because it reflects God’s own character.
And yet — when we truly listen — the Law also exposes something painful.
As the apostle writes in Epistle to the Romans 7:7:
“I would not have known sin except through the law.”
The commandment is light.
But in that light, we see our shadows.
The Law does not create sin.
It reveals it.
It shows us not only what we have done —
but what we are unable to do on our own.
From Stone to Heart
Through the prophet Book of Jeremiah 31:33, God promises:
“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”
This is the turning point.
The Law was once written on tablets of stone.
Now it is written within the human heart.
What changes?
Not the goodness of the command —
but the source of obedience.
The Law outside us instructs.
The Law within us transforms.
“You Have Heard… But I Say to You”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus deepens the commandments:
“You shall not kill” becomes
“Do not even harbor anger.”
“You shall not commit adultery” becomes
“Do not even lust.”
“Love your neighbor” becomes
“Love your enemies.”
The Law moves from external behavior
to internal desire.
From visible action
to hidden intention.
From rule-keeping
to heart-transformation.
This is not moral intensification for its own sake.
It is revelation: the Law has always been about love.
And love cannot be forced from the outside.
Fulfilled — Not by Us, But in Him
Here is the heart of the Gospel:
Jesus fulfills the Law perfectly.
Where humanity failed,
He obeyed.
Where we fractured love,
He embodied it.
Where we turned away,
He remained faithful — even to death.
In Him, the Law reaches its full meaning:
self-giving love.
But the story does not stop there.
The astonishing claim of the New Testament is this:
What the Law could not produce by command,
God produces by grace.
As written in Epistle to the Romans 8:3–4:
“What the law could not do… God has done… so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk according to the Spirit.”
Not merely fulfilled for us.
Fulfilled in us.
The Law Becomes Life
The Law says, “Love.”
Jesus says, “Abide in me.”
The difference is everything.
The command alone reveals what is right.
Union with Christ makes it possible.
The Christian life is not striving to climb up to holiness.
It is allowing divine life to flow within.
The Law becomes fulfilled when:
- Forgiveness replaces resentment.
- Purity replaces hidden corruption.
- Generosity replaces self-protection.
- Mercy overcomes judgment.
Not because we grit our teeth harder,
but because grace reshapes the heart.
From Obligation to Participation
The Law can feel like obligation.
Fulfillment feels like participation.
Participation in what?
In divine love.
The early Christian witness speaks boldly of becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (see Second Epistle of Peter 1:4).
This does not mean becoming God by nature.
It means sharing in God’s life by grace.
The goal of the Law was never mere compliance.
It was communion.
The commandments are not arbitrary demands.
They are the architecture of divine love.
When Christ lives in us,
obedience is no longer external pressure —
it becomes the flowering of a transformed heart.
The Cross is Where Fulfillment Is Revealed
On the Cross, we see the Law completed.
Love God completely.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus does both — perfectly.
He entrusts Himself entirely to the Father.
He gives Himself entirely for humanity.
The Law reaches its summit in sacrificial love.
And from that Cross flows the Spirit —
the very life of God poured into human hearts.
The Law is fulfilled
because love has been poured out.
The Ongoing Journey
Yet we know the struggle remains.
The old impulses surface.
Anger flares.
Selfishness whispers.
The Law still exposes.
But now exposure is not condemnation —
it is invitation.
Invitation to return.
Invitation to surrender.
Invitation to let grace do what effort cannot.
The fulfillment of the Law is not a one-time achievement.
It is a lifelong transformation.
What This Means for Us
If the Law is fulfilled in Jesus:
- We do not despair at our weakness.
- We do not reduce faith to rule-keeping.
- We do not dismiss the commandments as irrelevant.
Instead:
We look to Christ.
We abide in Him.
We allow His Spirit to shape our desires.
The Law becomes not a ladder to climb,
but a life to receive.
A Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus,
You did not abolish the Law —
You filled it with Yourself.
Where I see only command,
give me communion.
Where I see only failure,
give me grace.
Write Your love upon my heart.
Fulfill Your Law in me
by making me share in Your life.
Amen.
