DID JESUS REPLACE THE OLD TESTAMENT?
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Did Jesus Replace the Old Testament?
Let me ask you a question. Did Jesus come to replace the Old Testament … revise it … elevate its standards … or fulfill it completely?
Many people assume they know the answer but when Jesus actually addresses this question, His response is far more profound than many people realize.
Up to this point in the sermon, Jesus has been inspiring and encouraging. But now, the tone shifts. And He makes several statements so bold and so authoritative it demands our full attention.
Welcome to Part Four of our study through the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher to ever live: the Sermon on the Mount, a mountain of a sermon.
In our previous video, we learned that Jesus calls His followers to have a profound impact on this world. He says we are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city on a hill. Today, we will be in Matthew chapter 5, verses 17-20.
For context, in the sections to follow, Jesus is about to confront the most elite religious teachers of His day and reveal to everyone that they have misinterpreted God’s Word and misled the people. But before He addresses murder, adultery, divorce, and many other topics, He says something that sets the foundation for everything that follows:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
Jesus is about to completely dismantle traditions, expose hypocrisy, and correct misinterpretations. Additionally, though He doesn’t say it explicitly in the sermon, He knows a New and Greater Covenant is coming upon His death—one that will transform how people relate to God forever. And under that covenant, all people—not just the Nation of Israel—can be made right with God—not by obeying the Mosaic Law—but by placing their faith in His perfect life and sacrifice on the cross.
And to both groups of people who might be tempted to think that He is minimizing the importance of the Old Testament, He makes it abundantly clear that He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets … He came to fulfill them—completely and in more ways than one.
First, Jesus fulfilled the Law by His perfect obedience. He accomplished something no one before or after Him ever has: flawless compliance to every command. And under the New Covenant, His righteous obedience is credited to us as a gift of grace.
Second, Jesus fulfilled the Law by revealing its true meaning. He clarified the heart behind the commands, ultimately showing that God’s Law is much deeper than external rule-keeping … and can be summarized by loving God and loving people.
Third, Jesus fulfilled the Law by bearing its penalty. The Law reveals the seriousness of sin and the just consequence of death and separation. On the cross, Jesus, who never broke a single law, took the curse pronounced by the Law upon Himself and paid our debt in full.
Fourth, Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets by fulfilling prophecy and promise. There are hundreds of Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah that find their complete fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And in Him, all of God’s promises are “Yes and Amen.”
And finally, by completing every sacrifice and shadow. Throughout the entire Old Testament, there are countless signposts that point to Jesus, the true Passover Lamb, our great High Priest, and the final and sufficient sacrifice.
These are just some of the ways that Jesus showed His authority is not in contradiction to the Law or the Prophets—but in perfect fulfillment of them. Continuing with verse 18, He says:
“Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle will disappear from the Law until all is fulfilled.”
A jot is the smallest Hebrew letter. And a tittle is the tiniest stroke that distinguishes one letter from another. Friends, this is no fleeting comment.
Think about it. If any of the scrolls were in error, Jesus could have corrected them. But instead, He confirms every single word. Not only were the ideas inspired by the Holy Spirit and penned by the Old Testament authors correctly—Christ puts His stamp of approval—until the end of time—not just on the words themselves—but down to the smallest stroke of a pen.
This is absolutely astounding and it shapes how we view every page of Scripture. I know it’s not His main point but this gives me tremendous confidence that I can trust my entire Bible because the same Holy Spirit who inspired the Old Testament authors—and received this blanket stamp of approval from Jesus Christ—inspired the New Testament authors as well. Truly all scripture is God-breathed.
Verse 19:
“Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” And then He repeats that statement in the positive: “But whoever teaches them and does them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
This section is tricky to understand. And as we’ll see in the videos to follow, the religious teachers in Jesus’ day misled the people in many ways. Jesus says they would strain a gnat to swallow a camel. In some cases, they even created loopholes for people to intentionally break God’s commands.
Now, this sermon was spoken before the cross to an audience that was under the Old Covenant. We know this. But it was penned by the apostles after the cross who were under the New Covenant. If we use Scripture to interpret Scripture, we know that Jesus isn’t contradicting the apostles. He isn’t teaching salvation by Law-keeping nor is He encouraging us under the New Covenant to put ourselves under the Levitical system. Scripture is clear:
Under the New Covenant, we are saved by grace through faith.
No one is made right with God by works of the Law.
And to put ourselves under the Law would be to curse ourselves, fall from grace, and be severed from Christ.
I think His main point is that how we handle God’s Word matters. Even though we are under the New and Greater Covenant, the Old Testament doesn’t cease to be inspired and authoritative. It should still be revered and respected as Scripture. In other words, New Covenant Christians are not meant to be “New Testament only” Christians. We can’t fully understand the New Covenant without the Old. Grace only makes sense because the Law reveals our need for it. Blessed are those who understand these things—and teach them to others.
Jesus concludes this section with a statement that would have absolutely shocked the crowd:
“Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
When Jesus spoke these words, the Pharisees were the all-stars of religious righteousness. This would be like saying, “Think of the most righteous person you have ever heard of … and your righteousness needs to exceed theirs.”
His audience would have felt the weight of these words and probably concluded this is impossible. But in the sections that follow, Jesus will show us precisely how we can exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who were more focused on external rule-keeping and impressing other people than loving God and loving people from the heart and demonstrating these inner qualities that define God’s kingdom.
When Jesus talks about a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees, and later on in the sermon when He says, “you must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,” He is setting the stage for a new kind of righteousness, one that doesn’t originate from man but from God.
The Apostle Paul wrote of this righteousness when he says you want to be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of your own that comes from the Law, but having the righteousness of God that is given on the basis of faith.
Friends, if you’re counting on your righteousness to earn your way into heaven, it will never measure up. But if you place your faith in Jesus Christ and declare Him to be your Lord and Savior, not only will His sacrifice on the cross cover over your sin, His perfect life of obedience—the righteousness of God—will be transferred to your account as a gift of grace. Praise God for the gift of the gospel.
Jesus is about to show us how the Law has been misapplied—sometimes too strict, sometimes too permissive, and most of the time completely disconnected from God’s heart. Stay tuned for our next set of videos as our Lord teaches on murder, adultery, divorce, and many other topics.
I hope this video is a blessing to you, and I hope you’ll join us for every episode in this series. From all of us here at Christianity Engaged, God bless you abundantly!
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