“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.
This section of Matthew (chapters 5-7) is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. It covers a variety of topics and is powerful in understanding both Jesus’ mission and the believers’ purpose and practical way to live out that mission. The above passage has so many truths to unpack but the one highlighted is very practical for today’s age. In our society we have many teachers, pastors, clergy, priest and other religious leaders wanting to relax the commandments of God. Obviously when Jesus is talking about commandments, He is referring to the Old Testament Law specifically for the hearers of this teaching. But it is also applied to all of God’s laws, principles and teachings He gives us. What Jesus is saying is that He didn’t come to abolish His Father’s Word. He came to fulfill it. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were always twisting and revising the Word of God to fit their interpretations and life style. It is nothing new for a religious leaders in our day, to also relax God’s Word to fit their life style. Today we have a rampage of this type of relaxing. The word used for relaxing, in the above passage is the Greek word, lyō. This is Vine’s definition for it:
lyō; a primary verb; to “loosen” (literally or figuratively): — break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-)loose, melt, put off.
It is translated as follows:
AV (43) - loose 27, break 5, unloose 3, destroy 2, dissolve 2, put off 1, melt 1, break up 1, break down
When we lyo (pronounced loo-o), Scripture we attempt to diminish the power and/or authority of it. We here someone say that a Bible passage no longer means that. We might hear them talk about the Bible has to be taken for the culture and God no longer holds to that thought today. The relaxing of the authority of God’s Word means that there is nothing absolute. God’s Word is absolute. Jesus didn’t come to make God’s relative for today. He came to fulfill God’s Word in His life in front of us so that we can fulfill all of His Word (in the power of its meaning) in front of Him.
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