Jesus, in the gospels, says he has come to fulfill the law, yet many people object, understandably, that Christians don't keep the laws. Its taken a long time for me to understand how to understand what is going on, and I want to share it. It has to do with the passage of time and cultural losses.
First let me refer to an explanation of the word 'Fulfil' as used in the gospels. It means to imitate, to be an impression of something as a was seal is the impression from a ring. Whatever the Greek Koine word seems like in dictionaries it is not used that way in the gospels, and as evidence I refer you to the tautology of Matthew's use of the word here: Which Old Testament Prophecy Fulfills Luke 24:46-47
There are many hucksters who print things like The Bible Promise Book which promotes the false idea that the gospels prove truth, miracles, God and Christ through completions of predictions. Nothing could be further from the truth! This is not how the gospels work, is not what they are for. Liars have printed such material, whether they are lying to themselves and others I can't say. They are deceivers, caught up in the making of webs to trap flies, not people seeking to make disciples for Jesus. Those who repeat them on stage and refer to them become accomplices in their falsehood whether intentionally or otherwise and bear responsibility for such slovenly work.
This idea of impressions used in the gospels when speaking about fulfilling the law or fulfilling a prophecy comes from multiple directions. First of all there are the wax seals once used on documents long ago. They were an ancient security measure for sending documents to guarantee who the sender was. Once an intricate seal on a letter was broken it was almost impossible to falsify the seal. Therefore you could receive an envelope or crate and with some sense of security know who had sent it by examining its seal and comparing it to another copy that you knew was legitimate. The idea of impressions also comes from the ancient conception of light. Light was considered to be a small copy of the real world which made an impression upon the eye, working much like a wax seal. You saw the light and therefore knew what had happened. This is what to think about when you read the word 'Fulfil' in the gospels -- not miraculous predictions followed by completions.
Disciples of Jesus are not made through devices. They join Christ out of admiration for his works or because they have been convinced inwardly through conscience. Some people can't imagine this, because they believe in convincing arguments and pummeling people about the head, boxing ears. People count heads, but God counts hearts. If the kingdom of God is like a field filled with wheat and tares, then some people are in that field not knowing what they are. It is a sad and empty lie to believe we are followers of Christ and instead to be artificers of traps, arguments with which to catch men. These are not God's traps but our own, so those we catch are caught not in Christ's name but in our own name. We become rivals with God, not God's representatives.
Returning to the idea of the impression there is a usage in part of Hebrews 1:3 which appeals to it "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." This appeals, like the word 'Fulfil' to the idea of a wax seal but more specifically to the seal of light upon one's eye. The writer implies that The Son is the seal that something is from God. He is in effect claiming that we (who are not Jews) have now received a message sealed by the God of the Jews whereas before we could only read such a message 2nd hand by way of the Jews, through their prophecies and their filters. Everything about the verse is not clear, because it is a verse in a context. The rest of the letter must be read to give it more definition and to limit its meaning, but that is a first poke at the verse meaning.
So when a gospel says Jesus has fulfilled the law what he means is that Jesus has certified its importance, verified its author, not that Jesus has ended it or has finished its use.
First let me refer to an explanation of the word 'Fulfil' as used in the gospels. It means to imitate, to be an impression of something as a was seal is the impression from a ring. Whatever the Greek Koine word seems like in dictionaries it is not used that way in the gospels, and as evidence I refer you to the tautology of Matthew's use of the word here: Which Old Testament Prophecy Fulfills Luke 24:46-47
There are many hucksters who print things like The Bible Promise Book which promotes the false idea that the gospels prove truth, miracles, God and Christ through completions of predictions. Nothing could be further from the truth! This is not how the gospels work, is not what they are for. Liars have printed such material, whether they are lying to themselves and others I can't say. They are deceivers, caught up in the making of webs to trap flies, not people seeking to make disciples for Jesus. Those who repeat them on stage and refer to them become accomplices in their falsehood whether intentionally or otherwise and bear responsibility for such slovenly work.
This idea of impressions used in the gospels when speaking about fulfilling the law or fulfilling a prophecy comes from multiple directions. First of all there are the wax seals once used on documents long ago. They were an ancient security measure for sending documents to guarantee who the sender was. Once an intricate seal on a letter was broken it was almost impossible to falsify the seal. Therefore you could receive an envelope or crate and with some sense of security know who had sent it by examining its seal and comparing it to another copy that you knew was legitimate. The idea of impressions also comes from the ancient conception of light. Light was considered to be a small copy of the real world which made an impression upon the eye, working much like a wax seal. You saw the light and therefore knew what had happened. This is what to think about when you read the word 'Fulfil' in the gospels -- not miraculous predictions followed by completions.
Disciples of Jesus are not made through devices. They join Christ out of admiration for his works or because they have been convinced inwardly through conscience. Some people can't imagine this, because they believe in convincing arguments and pummeling people about the head, boxing ears. People count heads, but God counts hearts. If the kingdom of God is like a field filled with wheat and tares, then some people are in that field not knowing what they are. It is a sad and empty lie to believe we are followers of Christ and instead to be artificers of traps, arguments with which to catch men. These are not God's traps but our own, so those we catch are caught not in Christ's name but in our own name. We become rivals with God, not God's representatives.
Returning to the idea of the impression there is a usage in part of Hebrews 1:3 which appeals to it "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word." This appeals, like the word 'Fulfil' to the idea of a wax seal but more specifically to the seal of light upon one's eye. The writer implies that The Son is the seal that something is from God. He is in effect claiming that we (who are not Jews) have now received a message sealed by the God of the Jews whereas before we could only read such a message 2nd hand by way of the Jews, through their prophecies and their filters. Everything about the verse is not clear, because it is a verse in a context. The rest of the letter must be read to give it more definition and to limit its meaning, but that is a first poke at the verse meaning.
So when a gospel says Jesus has fulfilled the law what he means is that Jesus has certified its importance, verified its author, not that Jesus has ended it or has finished its use.
