These verses of Chapter 5 of the Book of Matthew provide you an insight into The LAW... TO FULFIL. It is Christ's intention that the spiritual requirement of God's law is fulfilled in the lives of His followers (Rom. 3:31; 8:4). The believer's relation to the law of God involves the following points:
1. The law that the believer is obliged to keep consists of the ethical and moral principles of the O.T. as well as the teachings of Christ and the apostles (1 Cor. 7:19; 9:21; Gal. 6:2).
2. The believer must not view the law as a system of legal commandments by which to obtain merit for forgiveness and salvation (Gal. 2:16, 19). Rather, the law must be seen as a moral code for those who are already in a saved relationship with God and who, by obeying it, express the life of Christ within themselves (Rom. 6:15-22).
3. Faith in Christ is the point of departure for the fulfillment of the law. Through faith in Him, God becomes our Father (cf. John 1:12). Hence, our obedience as believers is done not only out of a relationship to God as sovereign Law-giver but also out of a relationship of children to their Father (Gal. 4:6).
4. Through faith in Christ, believers, by the grace of God (Rom. 5:21) and the indwelling Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:5, 14; Rom. 8:13), are given an inner compulsion and power to fulfill God's law (Rom. 16:25-26; Heb. 10:16).
5. Having been freed from the power of sin and now enslaved to God (Rom. 6:18-22), believers follow the principle of "faith" by being "under the law to Christ" (1 Cor. 9:21). In so doing we fulfill "the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:2) and are thus faithful in ourselves to the requirement of the law.
6. Jesus emphatically taught that doing the will of His heavenly Father is an ongoing condition of entering the kingdom of heaven.
I pray this will add to your study notes within the Word of God.
Blessings
Elder Barbara
FL
