Think Not That I Am Come To Destroy The Law, or The Prophets, I Am Not Come To Destroy But To Fulfil – Matthew 5:17

Above are the words of Yashua Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ) from Matthew 5:17 in the King James Version of The Holy Scriptures, and just lately I have been going head to head with a satanic Judaiser who repeatedly used this verse from Matthew’s Gospel and the one that follows it i.e. Matthew 5:18 to try and prove that The Law and The Commandments are still binding upon born of God sons and daughters of God.

Matthew 5:17-18 (KJV) Think not that I am come to destroy The Law, or The Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from The Law, till all be fulfilled.

To be honest, I have always found these Holy Scriptures to be a slight thorn in my flesh. The reason for this is that they can too easily be abused and misused and thereby portrayed in a very negative sense in order to support the erroneous demonic ideas of Graceless blasphemers who want to put sons and daughters of God back under The Law of Moses – The Commandments.

We must understand that these outward show commandment keepers (those of the 21st century Pharisee concision) truly believe there is salvation in Moses. They will deny it, of course, until they’re blue in the face, but that changes nothing. That is what they believe and they only ever pay lip service to His Sacrifice and His Grace. They believe salvation is in obedience to The Law – The Commandments and not through living under Yashua Messiah’s (the Lord Jesus Christ’s) Glorious Saving Grace alone.

So, let’s analyse what Yashua Messiah was saying here in these verses – the opening statement first:

“Think not that I am come to destroy The Law, or The Prophets.”

And from the Greek MSS transliteral:

Matthew 5:17 (Greek Transliteral) No ye-should-be-inferring that I-came to-down-loose the law or the before-averers (prophets) not I-came to-down-loose but to-fill.

I will be returning to one crucial word here later.

And from Young’s Literal Translation:

Matthew 5:17 (YLT) Do not suppose that I came to thrown down the law and the prophets—I did not come to throw down, but to fulfil.

I have used the YLT version here because I believe the words ‘throw down’ are more accurate and descriptive than the KJV word ‘destroy’, and because Yashua Messiah is NOT a destroyer. Satan The Devil is The Destroyer, not Yashua Messiah. We therefore learn from this that Yashua Messiah did not come to throw down The Law and The Prophets nor do away with them or what they represented, and why would He? He was under The Law Himself and were The Prophets not His messengers in Old Covenant (Testament) times and did they not uphold The Law? Didn’t Yashua Messiah Himself instruct Moses about The Law and tell him what to write down over a period of forty days and forty nights on Mount Sinai? Doesn’t Paul also make it all clear?

Gal 3:24-26 (KJV) Wherefore The Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by Faith (righteousness). 25 But after that Faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (The Law). 26 For ye are all the children (sons) of God by Faith in Christ Jesus. (Brackets and emphasis mine)

The Law WAS our school master in order to bring us to Yashua Messiah. That is all The Law is for, IF you are a follower of Yashua Messiah – The Way and have Faith in Him for your salvation. If you do not have Faith solely in Him for your salvation then you must have your faith in YOURSELF, in YOUR own abilities, and in YOUR vain attempts at keeping The Law and The Commandments. As we can see this is about the individual involved and not about Yashua Messiah.

Paul also said:

Romans 7:12 (KJV) Wherefore The Law is Holy, and The Commandment Holy, and just, and good.

So what is Paul saying? He’s saying The Law and The Commandments are perfect and Holy – no fault can be found in them. However there is one BIG PROBLEM – man CANNOT OBEY THEM and has never obeyed them. Man in the weak fleshy condition is incapable of keeping The Law and/or The Commandments. So why do Graceless Judaisers think the opposite is the case? Why and how do they think that man can achieve the impossible? Where in the Holy Scriptures does it state that man will one day (sometime never LOL) obtain the ability to OBEY The Law and The Commandments? It ain’t there folks!! Nowhere in The Holy Scriptures does it say that man will one day OBEY The Law or The Commandments. Yes, it does say that mankind will be called by The Father to follow Yashua Messiah willingly and voluntarily, but not obediently under The Law.

Furthermore, this is a question I have put to these wretched wayward Judaising people a hundred and one times before and never once received an answer. How can they give an answer, there isn’t an answer other than simple Faith in Yashua Messiah, to which they can never humble themselves.

OK, back to the Greek Transliteral Version and that crucial word and I will copy again:

Matthew 5:17 (Greek Transliteral) No ye-should-be-inferring that I-came to-down-loose the law or the before-averers (prophets) not I-came to-down-loose but to-fill.

Now notice right at the end it says ‘to fill’ NOT ‘fulfil’. So what I hear you say? Ah but this is far more significant than we may at first realise. The word ‘fulfil’ as used in the KJV does not convey The Truth correctly!! Now there’s a surprise!! And how many times do we find these subtle satanic changes within the pages of the KJV? Too many times is the answer to that.

Moreover here’s an analogy: Imagine that The Law and The Commandments are a empty bucket and an empty bucket that always needs filling in order for the demands of The Law and The Commandments to be met.

Now in Old Covenant times under The Law and The Commandments all they could do was offer and sacrifice animals in order to meet the demands of The Law and The Commandments so they would slaughter animal after animal in their attempts to fill The Law Bucket, but never accomplishing their aims, because the sacrifices were not substantial enough and always temporary so turned to ash, blew away on the wind, and the bucket never filled.

However, after John the Baptist ALL THINGS CHANGED which Yashua Messiah confirms for us here:

Matthew 11:13 (KJV) For all The Prophets and The Law prophesied until John.

Luke 16:16 (KJV) The Law and The Prophets were until John: since that time The Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

So what does this mean? It means quite simply that Yashua Messiah’s death (total sacrifice) and resurrection FILLED THE LAW AND COMMANDMENT BUCKET!! Yashua Messiah is the water (The Living Water) that easily fills the bucket. This is why the word ‘fulfilled’ is a very weak or even a false and ever so slightly deceptive translation, because The Greek MSS says “to fill” and the KJV says “fulfil”. If we put it another way, can something that needs filling, be fulfilled or completed? No, because ‘to fill’ has a different meaning from ‘fulfil’ and the translators knew it and they deliberately mistranslated it.

As a final point I will quote Strong’s Concordance for the word ‘fulfil’ and reveal more Truth:

G4137 – fulfil – plēroō – play-ro’-o – From G4134; to make replete, that is, (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.: – accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.

If we now copy Strong’s definitions for ‘fulfilled’ from Matthew 5:18 what do you think we will find? Answer: a different word entirely, would you believe it? Much mirth for the author!!

G1096 – fulfilled – ginomai – ghin’-om-ahee – A prolonged and middle form of a primary verb; to cause to be (“gen” -erate), that is, (reflexively) to become (come into being), used with great latitude (literally, figuratively, intensively, etc.): – arise be assembled, be (come, -fall, -have self), be brought (to pass), (be) come (to pass), continue, be divided, be done, draw, be ended, fall, be finished, follow, be found, be fulfilled, + God forbid, grow, happen, have, be kept, be made, be married, be ordained to be, partake, pass, be performed, be published, require, seem, be showed, X soon as it was, sound, be taken, be turned, use, wax, will, would, be wrought.

We can now see their plot unravelling because ‘fulfil’ or ‘fulfilled’ are the correct words for the Greek word ‘ginomai’ and yet they translated the word ‘plēroō’ as ‘fulfil’ when it clearly wasn’t. We need to understand, too, that these 17th century translators of the KJV were highly educated people and very literate in more than one language so this was not an innocent mistake.

Furthermore, see how the above first definition of the Greek word ‘plēroō’ fits nicely with my Law and Commandment Bucket? The first definition for ‘plēroō’ is ‘replete’ which means to be ‘filled to satisfaction’ – or filled right to the brim and so it is with The Law and Commandment Bucket in terms of Yashua Messiah’s sacrifice and His resurrection. His sacrifice filled the Law and Commandment Bucket right to the brim and flowing over.

Yashua Messiah came after John had completed the era of The Law and The Prophets, so after John that was it – NO MORE LAW and COMMANDMENTS and NO MORE PROPHETS for those who put their Faith in Yashua Messiah for EVERYTHING! There it is again folks: the simplicity that is in Christ – 2 Cor 11:3