Even before the people of Israel entered the land that God had promised them, He knew that they would break the covenant He had made with them:  "And the Lord said to Moses, 'You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to foreign gods of the land they are entering.  They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them.  On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed.  Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and they will ask, 'Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us'?'" (Deut. 31:16-17)  However, God already had a better plan in mind.

 

 “A time is coming declares the Lord; when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them says the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God and they will be my people” (Jer. 31:31-34).

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What does that mean, “I will put my laws in their minds and write them in their hearts”?  This did not mean (as the Pharisees seemed to think) that we would memorise the law with our minds and love the law in our hearts.  Knowing the law does not make anyone closer to God!

We are told, “The former regulation was set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near to God.” (Heb.7:18) The new covenant is “better” because “the law made nothing perfect”.

 

So when Jesus said “Do not suppose that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them” (Matt.5 :17).  He did not mean that he would take us backwards to reinforce the importance of old testament law. 

 

In fact, it is not even necessary for us to know the law to fulfil it!

 

“Indeed, when gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the very things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts,”  (Rom.2:14).  It is the “requirements of the law” that should be written in our hearts. Not the law itself.   

 

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant - not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6).

 

The fulfilment of the law is not in the letter of the law!  For “clearly no one is justified before God by the law.” (Gal 3:11). The fulfilment of the law is the purpose that the law was meant to achieve (the reason behind the law).

 

THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW IS THE PURPOSE THAT THE LAW WAS MEANT TO ACHIEVE!

 

‘To fulfil’ means to achieve, or to bring to a conclusion - to fully accomplish it's purpose!   

The conclusion is this - “Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.” (Rom. 13:10).

Jesus said “I have come to fulfil (the law)”....  Paul said  “LOVE IS THE FULFILMENT OF THE LAW” 

 

All the rules, regulations and rituals in the old testament were given to show us three things;

1. God’s love for us.

2. How we should love Him.

3. How we should love each other.

Put simply; The purpose of the law was to teach us how to love.

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Do not misunderstand me!  I am not talking about the worldly (hippy) kind of 'love', that leads to all kinds of self indulgence, immorality and lawlessness.  I am talking about true love, which is expressed in selfless sacrifice and obedience, as is evidenced in the following two passages. 

"Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (John15:13) and "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." (Eph. 5:25)

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Everything that the law was written for, is achieved in Christ’s love. 

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The law has been fulfilled!  Once a contract has been fulfilled, there is no further need for that contract. -  We are no longer under the supervision of the law!

“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for those who believe”. (Rom.10:4).

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This is not written to the world at large. It is written to people who have been baptised into Jesus Christ and have received his Holy Spirit to guide them!

 

Christ sent the Holy Spirit for this reason.  “but when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth”. (John 16:13)

 

“The law was put in place to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”  (Gal 3:24-25)

 

It is not necessary to check our behaviour against a set of regulations to see if we are living ‘a righteous life’.  We simply need to act in His love. If we allow Christ’s love to flow through us then all the law is fulfilled in our actions.  

 

We are still called to obey the commands of the Lord Jesus (not the ten commandments), and this is crucial.  It is written, “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” (Rom. 1:5).  The Lord Jesus said, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:23)  If we love him, we will obey his commands.  And if we obey his commands, we will love!  We do not obey Christ by following a set of rules that we think will make us righteous people.  We obey Christ in our attitude towards everything that we do.  Our obedience is about what motivates us to act. Our motivation must always be our faith in Christ, and the love that he gives us.

 

That is why it is written, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2).  Our obedience is a product of faith in Christ Jesus. That is, we act in accordance with what we believe, and we believe the Lord Jesus, so our motivation must be to “love” as he loves us, which pleases him.  “So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious; sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.”! (Gal. 5:16-23)