Q.Matt 5:17-19 states the following: “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.For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.Therefore whoever relaxes 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 does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Doesn’t this imply that Sabbathkeeping is required?
A.Sabbathkeepers often use these verses as an assertion that Christians need to keep the Sabbath.
The context of the Scripture talks about far more than the Sabbath.The term “Law and Prophets” refers to the entire teaching of the Old Covenant and the prophets.The commands of the Old Covenant include about 615 commandments.
The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and the nation of Israel (Ex. 31:12-17).The Ten Commandments are a summary of the Old Covenant (Ex. 31:18, 34:28; Deut. 4:13, 9:9, 11).The Old Covenant is no longer in effect for anyone (2 Cor. 3:4-18, Gal. 3:17-25, Heb. 8:13-9:4).The Sabbath, therefore, is not in effect for anyone (Gal. 4:10, Rom. 14:5-6, Col. 2:16-17).Christians are under the New Covenant, which has higher demands and different commandments (Luke 22:20, Heb. 9:15; Jn. 13:34, 15:12, 17; Rom 13:10).The chief of those commandments is to love others as Christ loved us (Jn.13:34).
Assume the Old Covenant applies today (which it does not).In order to be consistent, the person who asserts these verses require Sabbathkeeping must also keep the rest of the Old Covenant, or he is using them disingenuously.He is not free to pick and choose which ones apply today.
Christ came to fulfill everything that the Old Testament said about him, including his death on behalf of those who place their faith in him as predicted in Isaiah 53.He came to live a perfect life of obedience to the Old Covenant on our behalf.As God, he was able to be sinless and to fulfill the entire law.If a person accepts Christ’s sacrifice in faith, his sins are placed on Christ, and the merits of his perfect life are given to the believer (2 Cor 5:21).That is how our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…we receive the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.