It Has Been Accomplished

DiDi recently posted the following on Facebook:

John 1: 17 NIV "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." 

Seems simple, right? Thoughts?? 

 One of our friends responded, saying:

Fo' sure, but of course grace doesn't eliminate the law, not one bit.

"I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

Not for me to define that, of course. Sin is between each man and his maker, and only resolved through renunciation and reconciliation. Where we get this daft idea that we're supposed to do a running commentary on everyone else's behavior is beyond me.

Here is my response.

Jesus spoke the words you quote as part of the sermon on the mount. But I read it differently than you do. While I won't argue about the phrase "not the smallest letter or least stroke will disappear", it's the "Until" part that I am focusing on. Because scripture tells us that Jesus DID the accomplishing.

John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to --finish-- his work.

John 17:1 When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by --accomplishing-- the work that you gave me to do.

John 19:28 After this, aware that --everything was now finished--, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” 29 There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, --“It is finished.”-- And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. 

Gal 4:4-5 Brothers and sisters: When the --fullness of time-- had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

We know from Acts that letters and jots were being disregarded in the law, as directed by visions sent to the apostles, and as directed by the logic the same apostles applied to their work of evangelization.

And we know that God himself appeared to violate his own laws even prior to Jesus death through the institution of the Eucharist; His followers were commanded to drink blood, an instruction which clearly went against Jewish dietary rules. Jesus also broke the law many times by performing healings and taking other actions which violate Sabbath laws of behavior.

Jesus was the fulfillment of the law, not it's replacement. But everything --has been accomplished--, through Him.

The real question is, how does He want us to live, and what are the rules that should be maintained within the two greatest commandments?