Matthew 5:17-18 NIV

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 5:17

Matthew 5:17. Think not that I am come to destroy To abrogate, annul, or repeal, (which seems to be the meaning of the word καταλυσαι , here,) the law or the prophets As your teachers do. It is manifest from the following discourse, that our Lord principally spake of the moral law, several of the precepts of which he afterward explains and vindicates from the corrupt glosses of the scribes and Pharisees. For, as to the ceremonial law, though he also came to fulfil it, as the great... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 5:18

Matthew 5:18. For verily I say unto you This expression, whereby our Lord often prefaces what he is about to say, always imports the great importance, as well as certain truth of it. Till heaven and earth pass away Till the whole visible frame of nature be disjointed and dissolved, one jot or one tittle “The word ιωτα , which we render jot, undoubtedly answers to the Hebrew letter י , jod, whence the English word here seems to be derived, and which, being the least letter of the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 5:17-20

39. A right attitude to the law (Matthew 5:17-20)In a lengthy section that runs through to the end of the chapter, Jesus points out that it is not good enough merely to follow the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. Realizing that people may think he is in some way opposed to the law of Moses, Jesus explains at the outset that this is not so. He does not abolish the Old Testament or overthrow its authority. On the contrary he gives it fuller meaning. He is its goal, and it finds its... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 5:17

Think not, &c. = Deem not for a moment. A very necessary warning against making this mount another Sinai, and promulgating the laws of the kingdom proclaimed in and from Matthew 4:17 . I am come = I have come. Implying former existence. Compare Matthew 8:10 . destroy = pull down, as in Matthew 26:61 . the law. The first of fifteen references to the Law by Christ (Matthew 5:17 , Matthew 5:18 ; Matthew 7:12 ; Matthew 11:13 ; Matthew 12:5 ; Matthew 22:40 ; Matthew 23:23 .Luke 10:26 ; Luke... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 5:18

verily. Greek. amen . Used only by the Lord. Same as Hebrew. 'amen, preserved in all languages. Should be so given at the beginning of sentences. Always (except once) double in John; twenty-five times. with the earth. (See notes on Matthew 6:9 , Matthew 6:10 .) earth = the earth. App-129 . jot = yod . Greek. iota . Occurs only here. The smallest Hebrew letter (= Y). The Massorites numbered 66,420. tittle = the merest ornament. Not the difference between two similar Hebrew letters, e.g.... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 5:17

Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy but to fulfill.Of course, this touched on the great difficulty. The Jewish nation had long held the Law of Moses in the utmost respect and honor. Any change in the status of their law was sure to be received unfavorably by them. Therefore, Christ quite early in his ministry took pains to spell out for them his true and proper relationship to the Law of Moses. Nevertheless, the difference in "fulfilling" and... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 5:18

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.Jots ... tittles ... were the minutest markings and characters, forming parts of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Christ here expressed full confidence in the Old Testament with the strong warning that it should never be disparaged or set at naught. The New Testament teaches that all of the prophecies of the Old Testament shall indeed be... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 5:17-20

Matthew 5:17-20. Think not that I am come to destroy, &c.— Because the doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning happiness was contrary to that which the Jews were accustomed to hear, and which their preachers pretended to derive from the prophets, whose descriptions of the glory of the Messiah's kingdom they understood in a literal sense; also because he was about to give explications of the moral precepts, of very different tenor from those which the Scribes and Pharisees commonlygave,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 5:17

17. Think not that I am come—that I came. to destroy the law, or the prophets—that is, "the authority and principles of the Old Testament." (On the phrase, see Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:40; Luke 16:16; Acts 13:15). This general way of taking the phrase is much better than understanding "the law" and "the prophets" separately, and inquiring, as many good critics do, in what sense our Lord could be supposed to meditate the subversion of each. To the various classes of His hearers, who might view... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 5:18

18. For verily I say unto you—Here, for the first time, does that august expression occur in our Lord's recorded teaching, with which we have grown so familiar as hardly to reflect on its full import. It is the expression manifestly, of supreme legislative authority; and as the subject in connection with which it is uttered is the Moral Law, no higher claim to an authority strictly divine could be advanced. For when we observe how jealously Jehovah asserts it as His exclusive prerogative to... read more

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 5:17

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Matthew 5:18

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Matthew 5:17-20

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 5:17

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Matthew 5:18

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 5:17

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Matthew 5:18

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Matthew 5:17-20

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 5:17

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Matthew 5:18

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