Monday, August 24- Matthew 5:17-20

-The more I read thru Matthew 5 the more interesting it gets. This passage is really seems to be the intro for the rest of the chapter.

17"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.
-Jesus doesn't come to take away the law, but to be the only perfect person that can fulfill all of the laws. Throughout the rest of the chapter he redefines the laws making them even more impossible to attain, but this is what he's fulfilling. A perfection that nobody else can do.

18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
-Jesus is the word. He's not going anywhere. Jesus is the law and the fulfillment of the law. In the end when perfection comes the law won't be necessary.

19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
-These people can still enter heaven, but they won't have much reward there. This is why doctrine is so important to understand if you're a teacher or in any position of influence. Teachers will have great reward if they do it well. Key is practice and teaching. It's easy to teach without practicing.

20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
-Dunno if we should consider them righteous at all because they were such hypocrites, or do we look at the fact that they tried to live so holy and surpass that. Either way they were the mark of religiousness of the day and this was something that the people of the day at least shot for. So in one way the standard is low and in another the standard is high.