As upon nearly all occasions during His last two years of ministry (see on Mark 2:6; Luke 6:11), spies assigned to investigate and report on the activities of Jesus were present. Even as He was speaking they were whispering to bystanders that He was making light of the law (DA 307; MB 47). But, as upon many other occasions (see on Mark 2:8; Luke 4:23; 6:8), Jesus read their thoughts (DA 307) and answered the objection they raised, so giving evidence of His divinity.

 Or, “have come,” or “came.” Jesus here refers to His coming forth from the Father (John 16:28) into the world (ch. 18:37).

 Gr. kataluō, literally, “to loosen down,” as a house or a tent, hence, “to make invalid,” “to abolish,” “to annul.” It was Christ who had proclaimed the law on Mt. Sinai; why should He now annul it (see PP 366)? See on ch. 23:23.

 Gr. nomos (see on Rom. 3:19), here equivalent to the Heb. torah, which includes all of God’s revealed will (see on Ps. 119:1, 33; Prov. 3:1). The expression “the law and the prophets” represents a twofold division of the OT Scriptures (see (see Matt. 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16; John 1:45; Rom. 3:21). The classification is found also in ancient Jewish literature (see 4 Macc. 18:10). However, the more common division among the Jews was the threefold division, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke 24:44), or, according to the title of the Hebrew Bible, “Law, Prophets, and Writings.” The context indicates that Jesus here probably refers primarily to the moral law and the civil statutes contained in the books of Moses and confirmed by the prophets (DA 307; MB 45). In Matt. 5:21-47 Jesus selects certain precepts from the Ten Commandments (see vs. 21, 27) and from the laws of Moses (see vs. 33, 38, 43), and proceeds to contrast His interpretation of them with that of the scribes, the official expositors and teachers of the law (see p. 55; see on Mark 1:22; 2:6, 16; Luke 5:17).

 Christ makes clear that not He but they are destroying the law, making it of none effect by their tradition (Matt. 15:3, 6). It is probable that the illustrations taken from the law (ch. 5:21-47) represent only part of what Christ said upon this occasion (see on v. 2). His discussion may have been much broader. When He spoke of His coming to fulfill the law and the prophets He may have emphasized, in addition, His fulfillment of the types of the ritual law that pointed to Him and His fulfillment of all the Messianic predictions throughout the entire Scriptures (see Luke 24:44). He had not come to abolish any part of the Scriptures He Himself had given (1 Peter 1:11; PP 366), and which testified of Him (John 5:39; cf. Luke 4:21).

 The great point of contention between Christ and the scribes had to do with traditions by which they interpreted God’s holy law (see p. 56; see on Mark 1:22, 44; 2:19, 24; 7:1-14; Luke 6:9). From childhood Jesus had acted independently of these rabbinical laws, which were without foundation in the OT (DA 84). What He now set aside was the false interpretation given to the Scriptures by the scribes (DA 307), not the law itself.

 Gr. plēroō, “to make full,” “to fill full.” In the Sermon on the Mount the Author of the law made clear the true meaning of its precepts, and the way in which its precepts, would find expression in the thinking and living of citizens of the kingdom He had come to establish (see on Isa. 59:7). The great Lawgiver Himself now reaffirmed the pronouncements of Sinai as binding upon those who would be His subjects, and announced that anyone who should presume to annul them either by precept or by example would “in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20).

 The assertion that by fulfilling the moral law Christ abrogated that law is not in harmony with the context of Christ’s statement. Such an interpretation denies the meaning Christ obviously intended to convey, by making Him virtually say, contradictorily, that He did not come to “destroy” the law, but by fulfilling it to “abrogate” it! The interpretation ignores the strong antithesis in the word alla, “but,” and makes the two ideas virtually synonymous! By fulfilling the law Christ simply “filled” it “full” of meaning—by giving men an example of perfect obedience to the will of God, in order that the same law “might be fulfilled [plēroō] in us” (Rom. 8:3, 4).