Lexicon

{Do} not

Μὴ

(Mē)

Adverb



Not, lest. A primary particle of qualified negation; not, lest; also (whereas ou expects an affirmative one) whether.

think

νομίσητε

(nomisēte)

Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 2nd Person Plural



From nomos; properly, to do by law, i.e. To accustom; by extension, to deem or regard.

that

ὅτι

(hoti)

Conjunction



Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because.

I have come

ἦλθον

(ēlthon)

Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular



To come, go.

to abolish

καταλῦσαι

(katalysai)

Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active



From kata and luo; to loosen down, i.e. to demolish; specially to halt for the night.

the

τὸν

(ton)

Article - Accusative Masculine Singular



The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Law

νόμον

(nomon)

Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular



From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.

or

ἢ

(ē)

Conjunction



Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

the

τοὺς

(tous)

Article - Accusative Masculine Plural



The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

Prophets;

προφήτας

(prophētas)

Noun - Accusative Masculine Plural



From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.

I have not come

ἦλθον

(ēlthon)

Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular



To come, go.

to abolish [them],

καταλῦσαι

(katalysai)

Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active



From kata and luo; to loosen down, i.e. to demolish; specially to halt for the night.

but

ἀλλὰ

(alla)

Conjunction



But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

to fulfill [them].

πληρῶσαι

(plērōsai)

Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active



From pleres; to make replete, i.e. to cram, level up, or to furnish, satisfy, execute, finish, verify, etc.

(17) Here a new section of the discourse begins, and is carried on to the end of the chapter. From the ideal picture of the life of the society which He came to found, our Lord passes to a protest against the current teaching of the scribes, sometimes adhering to the letter and neglecting the spirit, sometimes overriding even the letter by unauthorised traditions--lowering the standard of righteousness to the level of men's practices, instead of raising their practices to the standard which God had fixed.

Think not that I am come.--The words imply that men had begun so to think. The Teacher who came preaching repentance, but also promising forgiveness, was supposed to be what in later times has been called Antinomian, attacking the authority of the two great channels through which the will of God had been revealed. "The Law and the prophets" were popularly equivalent to the whole of the Old Testament, though a strict classification required the addition of the Hagiographa, or "holy writings," i.e., the poetical and miscellaneous books.

I am not come.--Better, I came not. The words might be naturally used by any teacher conscious of a mission, but they gain a new meaning when we remember that He who so spake was emphatically "He that should come;" that "He came into the world" not in the same sense as other men, but in a manner absolutely His own.

Not . . . to destroy, but to fulfil.--Explained by the immediate context, the words would seem to point chiefly to our Lord's work as a teacher. He came to fill up what was lacking, to develop hints and germs of truth, to turn rules into principles. Interpreted on a wider scale, He came to "fulfil the Law and prophets," as He came "to fulfil all righteousness" (3:15) by a perfect obedience to its precepts, to fulfil whatever in it was typical of Himself and His work by presenting the realities. The further thought that He came to fulfil what are called the Messianic prophecies hardly comes within the range of the words. No one could dream for a moment that the Christ could do anything else, and throughout the whole discourse there is no reference to those predictions. The prophets are named, partly in conformity with usage, partly in their character as ethical teachers, expounding and spiritualising the Law, and preparing the way for a further and fuller development.

It may be noted as a singular instance of the boldness of some of the early heretics, that Marcion, who rejected the Old Testament altogether, maintained that these words had been altered by the Judaisers of the apostolic age, and that the true reading was, "Think ye that I came to fulfil the Law or the prophets? I came not to fulfil, but to destroy."

the position that they should hold towards the religion of the day

Verses 17-20.







(1)

Verse 17.

Think not

νομίζω

That I am come

that I came

ὅτι η΅λθον

To destroy

καταλῦσαι

λύσῃ

vide

The Law

or the Prophets.

καταλῦσαι

e.g.

the prima facie

fil"

vide infra

exponents of the will of God. I

am not come to destroy

But to fulfil

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- Having spoken of the ideal character of his disciples (vers. 3-10), and of their need of allowing that character to appear (vers. 11-16), our Lord turns to speak of(ver. 17 - Matthew 6:18 ), of which the Law was the accepted standard.With this aim he first states summarily and in nucleus the position that he himself holds towards the Law - a statement which was the more necessary as he had already (ver. 11) claimed to be the object of his disciples' devotion.- Matthew only.. Probably the tendency of his teaching was even already seen to be so different from that of the recognized authorities, that some had in consequence formed this opinion () of him which he now repudiates, and which was near akin to the basis of the charge formulated afterwards against St. Stephen ( Acts 6:14 ). In both cases the tendency of the new teaching ( Mark 1:27 ) to abolish temporary forms was perceived by at least those whose powers of perception were quickened through their opposition.; Revised Version,). Our Lord, both here and in the next clause, lays stress on his coming as an historic fact. The primary reference is probably to his coming forth from private life (cf. John 1:31 ). Yet in his own mind there may have been a further allusion to his coming from above (cf. John 8:14 ; and further, Matthew 10:34 ).. The connexion betweenhere andver. 19 (note) is lost in the English.The Phrase,'" the law and the prophets," is sometimes used as practically equivalent to the whole of the Old Testament ( Matthew 7:12 Romans 3:21 ; cf. Matthew 11:13 Acts 24:14 ),and our Lord means probably much the same here, the "or" distributing the(cf. Alford), and being used because of the negative. Such a distribution, however, though it could not have been expressed in an affirmative sentence, has for its background the consciousness of a difference in the nature of these two chief components of the Old Testament. Observe that the third part of the Hebrew Scriptures, "the (Holy) Writings" - of which 'Psalms' ( Luke 24:44 ) form the most characteristic portion - is omitted in this summary reference to the Old Testament. The reason may be either that of the three parts it was used less than the other two as a basis for doctrine and for rule of life, or that it was practically included in the Prophets ( Acts 2:30 ). The essential teaching of the Law may be distinguished from that of the Prophets by saying that, while the Law was the direct revelation of God's will as law for the people's daily life - personal, social, and national - the Prophets (including the historical books and the prophets proper) were rather the indirect revelation of his will for them under the fresh circumstances into which they came; this indirect revelation being seen more especially in God's providential guidance of the nation, and in his explanation of principles of worship, as well as in occasional predictions of the future. It is to his relation to the Prophets in this connexion, as an indirect revelation of God's will under changing circumstances (cf. Weiss) that our Lord here chiefly refers. For he is led to speak of his own relation to them from the bearing that this has on the conduct of his disciples. Many, however (Chrysostom), consider that he is thinking of his relation to them as containing predictions concerning himself. In answer to this it is not sufficient to say (Meyer, Weiss, Alford) that it was impossible that Messiah could be thought to abrogate the Prophets; for, in fact, to many Jews during his ministry (even if not at this early stage of it), and much more to Jews at the time when the evangelist recorded the words, our Lord must have seemed to contradict the predictions about himself as they were then understood. It is indeed true thatground that existed for thinking that our Lord's teaching was opposed, not merely to the religion of the day as dependent on the Law and the Prophets, but also to the predictions of Messiah contained in them, is enough to give a certain plausibility to this interpretation. But that is all. The absence in the context of any hint that he refers to his relation to predictions as such quite forbids our accepting it. It was probably derived solely from a misinterpretation of "ful), no regard being paid to the train of thought by which our Lord was led to speak of the subject at all. Our Lord says that he is not come to "destroy" the Prophets as; emphasizing his statement by repetition.. By establishing the absolute and final meaning of the Law and the Prophets. Christ came not to abrogate the Law or the Prophets, but to satisfy them - to bring about in his own Person, and ultimately in the persons of his followers, that righteousness of life which, however limited by the historical conditions under which the Divine oracles had been delivered, was the sum and substance of their teaching. The fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets "is the perfect development of their ideal reality out of the positive form, in which the same is historically apprehended and limited" (Meyer). Martensen puts the matter thus: "How can he say that not a tittle shall pass from the Law, since the development of the Church shows us that the ceremonial law, that the whole Mosaic dispensation, has been annihilated by the influences proceeding from Christ? We answer: He has fulfilled the Law, whilst he has released it from the temporary forms in which its eternal validity was confined; he has unfolded its spiritual essence, its inward perfection. Not even a tittle of the ceremonial law has passed away, if we regard the Mosaic Law as a whole; for the ideas which form its basis, as the distinction between the unclean and the clean, are confirmed by Christ, and contained in the law of holiness which he teaches men" ('Christian Ethics: General,' § 125); cf. ver. 18, notes, "till heaven and earth pass," "till all be fulfilled."Alphabetical: abolish but came come did Do fulfill have I Law not or Prophets that the them think to