One Jot or One Tittle

(MAT. 5: 17-18) 17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law til all is fulfilled.

I bet you know this selection. Sure is a popular one. Tells us the law will never go away. Says right there in black and white "till heaven and earth pass".

I was recently encouraged to get out my Bible and learn God's word, that the Sabbath is a New Covenant thing, because this verse says so. Not one jot or tittle. Not one dot of the I or cross of the T.

Seems pretty convincing to me.

MISLEAD US NOT

A good number of people act as if Jesus only said, "I did not come to destroy the law. Til heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law."

But is that what He said?
Read that one more time. Was anything left out?

So many people read this verse right up to the point where it says "pass from the law", and there they stop. The goal of some readers was never to understand the verse, but to find something that justifies preconceptions. Believing themselves to have achieved the goal, they quickly move on to the next proof text. Yet Jesus does not actually stop there. Neither shall we.

Have you ever heard of the Lord's Prayer? Maybe you know it as the Our Father. You can read it in Matthew 6. Towards the end there, it says, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Have you ever wondered about that? Lead us not into temptation?? What's that all about?

Well, it turns out the people in that time and place had a peculiar way of emphasizing a point. They would lead with an opposite statement to give their main point some contrast. The contrast creates the emphasis. The statement "lead us not into temptation but" is merely there to contrast and emphasize the main point "deliver us from evil." The direct audience Jesus was speaking to would have fully understood what Jesus was doing. It had nothing to do with asking God not to lead us into temptation. God doesn't lead us into temptation, so why ask that. The temptation is the opposite, and thus contrast and emphasis, to the desired result of delivering us from evil. It is the rough equivalent of saying, "I really want you to deliver us from evil."

The form of this kind of emphasis goes like this. You make a contrasting statement for emphasis, then place a "but", then finish with the main idea that you're really after.

Kinda like this: I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

The main thrust of Jesus' statement was not about not destroying but about fulfilling. That's why both verses 17 and 18 end with the idea of fulfilling.

Circling back to my question... So, what was left out: "til all is fulfilled." Fulfillment was left out.

It was left out, but it's the most important point.

FAILURE IN ACTION

I had a very brief conversation with a person who read this verse as if fulfillment wasn't there. They said, "Jesus Himself said that NOTHING shall pass away from the law until heaven and earth itself passes away (Matthew 5:17-18). Has heaven and earth passed away? No, therefore the law (ten commandments) STILL STAND."
I asked them their opinion of how Hebrews 7: 12 fits with their view. They responded, "...that is what you sinful human said."
    o_O

I didn't state anything. I just asked a question.
So, Hebrews 7: 12, which unambiguously says the law has changed (and not just a little), is part of me being a sinful human? I didn't write it.

We cannot have MAT. 5: 18 saying, "NOTHING shall pass away from the law until heaven and earth itself passes away," and HEB. 7: 12 saying massive parts of the law have passed away. These two very incompatible things cannot both be true.

In Armstrongism, or take Adventism for instance, the vast majority of the law is gone. Erased. Even in the person's comments above, look closely at what was said: "...the law (ten commandments)". The Ten aren't the whole law by a long shot. And we all know it isn't the whole ten they're interested in, but only the Sabbath law.
We cannot have NOTHING passing away from the law, and have 97% of it passing away. We cannot have "not one jot or one tittle," and have the ceremonial and national laws removed. You have to choose one.

The person had no answer for my question. Since I asked a question, they had every opportunity to expound on their solution but they chose not to. They just resorted to attacking me. This is because they didn't have a solution. I conclude this is because they didn't come to Matthew to understand in the first place. They only came to proof text some support for a predetermined conclusion. They were willing to die on the hill of "not one jot or one tittle" even while they do not keep anything remotely close to the whole law. (And I am the sinner? I am, but at least I am trying to meet my own standard.) They were willing to hold that both Matthew and Hebrews are true and inspired word of God, but not willing to deal with how their understanding of Matthew forces Hebrews to be woefully false. They hold two utterly incompatible propositions as true at the same time, and attacked me when my question pointed it out. That, my friends, is called cognitive dissonance.

So, what is the solution here? The answer is fulfillment.

TIL ALL IS FULFILLED

The verse should not be read as, "The law will remain until heaven and earth pass away." That is just not what it says. It's not only Hebrews which makes that interpretation unworkable, it's several other places in the New Testament and in early church history as well. If you want more on the early church, see our article "Quartodecimans - Were They Law Keepers?" This verse should not be read as, "The law will remain until heaven and earth pass." This verse should be read as, "The law will remain until all is fulfilled."

Am I just ignoring the part about "till heaven and earth pass away"? No. If you are asking that question, re-read the Mislead Us Not section. I started there for this very reason. But let's go over that just a little.

God takes His covenants very seriously. God made a covenant with Israel and He was going to keep His end of it, regardless. You can see throughout the Old Testament what lengths God would go to in order to keep His covenant. One of my favorite selections in the entire Bible shows this.

(EZE. 16: 62-63) 62 And I will establish My [New] covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.

It says, "I will establish My covenant with you," and, "When I provide you an atonement for all you have done." That is speaking of what Jesus accomplished when He made atonement for all sins and ushered in the New Covenant. Kinda reminds me of Ephesians 2: 8-9.

Understand that Ezekiel (often referred to as "son of man") was a captive in Babylon, and he wrote in the months just before Nebuchadnezzar would go a third time to invade Jerusalem. Ezekiel gets quite graphic about the idolatry and faithlessness of Judah. Yet, even through all that, God still planned their redemption. He never gave up. Even when no one else does, God takes His covenants very seriously.

At As Bereans Did, we emphasize frequently how the Old Covenant law is all a singular body. The law and the covenant are one. The law are the terms of the Covenant. For Jesus to come and simply destroy the law, to use His authority and just wipe it away, would be to abandon the covenant. Why would He do that, especially when He was so close to what He had planned for centuries? He wouldn't! He was so dead set on keeping that covenant that He said, "Til heaven and earth pass away..." Clearly, God would have remained committed to that covenant until the physical universe passed away from heat death.
Thank God He didn't have to!

The whole body of Old Covenant law, all 613 of them, were covenant law, and were binding on Israel. There was but one way to escape the covenant: death. When some individual Israelite died, the law had no further hold on them. (ROM 7: 1-6, GAL. 2: 19, and I COR. 7: 39.) This would continue forever - until heaven and earth passed away - if it weren't for one thing: the death of God. When God died, the entirety of the Old Covenant was dissolved and the law with it. He did not just by fiat declare it gone. He died and wiped it away. He wouldn't destroy it any more than He would lead us into temptation.
Even so, it wasn't so simple as He died. He fulfilled it first. All of it. Every last legal requirement of it, in the way it was intended to be kept. Perfectly.

It is true what Jesus said. He did not come to destroy.
...but to fulfill.

WHERE THERE ARE PROPHECIES

Now that we've looked at fulfillment, let's go back to my question from the Mislead Us Not section. Fulfillment wasn't the only thing left out. The prophets were also left out.

(MAT. 5. 17) Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.

The thinking goes, "The law will remain until heaven and earth pass away." We've addressed that. But when we plug in the second missing piece, the prophets, does it work? "NOTHING shall pass away from the Prophets until heaven and earth pass away." Every prophecy will remain until heaven and earth pass away? Does that seem right to you? Of course it doesn't.

Some prophecies were clearly intended for immediate fulfillment. For example, the prophecies in Ezekiel about God punishing the nations that worked against Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar came the third time and destroyed it. The fulfillment was but months off. Will those last until heaven and earth pass away?
Some prophecies were intended for Jesus' first coming. For example, the prophecies in Isaiah 53, and Psalms 22, and Zechariah 12 have many things that, in hindsight, perfectly match Jesus' first advent. Will those last until heaven and earth pass away?
Anyone who subscribes to a Premillennial view of eschatology (and that is all Armstrongists) will agree there are prophecies that specifically point to the time before and up to Jesus' second coming. Adventism is entirely built on such as these. Will those prophecies remain until heaven and earth pass? 

No. These prophecies have either already passed long ago, or will pass in the relatively near future. At any rate, they will pass long before the end of the earth.

Let's read an example to see if it works.
Until heaven and earth pass, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he shall take away her wealth, carry off her spoil, and remove her pillage; and that will be the wages for his army. (EZE. 29: 19)
Does that work? No.

Well well. Guess what. In order to force Matthew to say "NOTHING shall pass away from the law until heaven and earth itself passes away," a terrible and unworkable problem was created. We must equally apply that same standard to the entire equation. And so we also get, "NOTHING shall pass away from the Prophets until heaven and earth itself passes away."
Everyone knows things have indeed passed away from the law, and clearly everyone should know things have indeed passed away from the prophets.

So, what was Jesus really saying? Precisely as we observed with Jesus' commitment to the Covenant, Jesus was demonstrating His commitment to the prophecies about Himself and His mission.

Even though He had the authority and the means, He was not going to simply sidestep any of it. He made the prophecies in the first place, and He was going to face them head on. When the time eventually came for Him to do what He said, yes, He hoped for another way, understandably, but in the end He kept His commitment (MAT. 26: 39, 42).

He fulfilled all the law and every last prophecy about Himself and His mission. All of them. Up to the point that He had to explain it all to His Apostles after the fact.

(JON. 19: 30) So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

And so it is finished.

All.
Is.
Fulfilled.

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

One minor thing I want to point out here. If the intent of this verse is to say the law is going to last until heaven and earth pass away, then this verse explicitly states the law is not eternal.

There are people who quote this verse to buttress their law keeping, then turn around and say the law is eternal. How many ways can they find to contradict a single verse? So much for that.

For more on this law is eternal stuff, please read our article "Common Legalist Arguments - Part VI".

CONCLUSION

Jesus' point was not to say, "The law will last until heaven and earth pass," but to say, "Nothing will stop me from fulfilling My commitments." (PSA. 89: 34)

That's quite a different interpretation than the one given in Armstrongism, wouldn't you say? Yet, the legalist interpretation is unworkable. Something needs to explain it. We cannot have MAT. 5: 18 saying, "NOTHING shall pass away from the law until heaven and earth itself passes away," and HEB. 7: 12 saying massive parts of the law have passed away. These two very incompatible things cannot both be true. 

The proper interpretation of these verses is, in a word, "fulfillment."

The main thrust of Jesus' statement wasn't about not destroying but rather fulfilling.
Then He fulfilled it all. He accomplished it all. Telestai!

My solution makes both Matthew and Hebrews correct and in harmony, plus it meshes with what we see in church history. The other position makes Matthew true and Hebrews at odds and unintelligible, plus it creates a web of conspiracies through history that cannot be proven out.

If I am wrong, then why aren't you keeping all 613 laws that you say are binding on us all? It's because you also say some jots and tittles have passed away. The only difference between us is you say most have passed away, and I say all have.
And don't even get me started on the Law of God vs Law of Moses nonsense.

The person in the conversation asked, "Has heaven and earth passed away? No, therefore the law (ten commandments) STILL STAND."
No. That's the wrong question.
A better question is, "Has anything in the law and the prophets passed away? Yes, therefore all has been FULFILLED."

 

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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