Matthew 5:13-20
Salt of the earth13 You are the world's salt. But, if the salt loses its zest, how can it be made salty? It is worth nothing and so is thrown out, where people walk all over it.
14 You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that can't be hidden.
15 No one lights a candle and puts it under a basket; it is put on a candlestick and sheds light for everyone in the house.
16 Similarly, let your light shine before people so that they may see your good works and praise your heavenly Father.
17 Don't think I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not here to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 Very seriously I tell you, Before the world ends, not one jot or dash will vanish without everything in it being fulfilled.
19 Whoever breaks one of the least of these rules, and teaches people to do likewise, will be called the least in heaven's realm. But whoever does them and teaches others likewise will be called great in heaven's realm.
20 I am telling you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you are getting into heaven's realm.
You, once you become born again, are supposed to be DIFFERENT from the mass of humankind. If you are no different, then you are wasting time just playing church.
Matthew 5:13
The difference shows in your behavior, especially your behavior toward
others. If you have the light of Christ in you, how can your walk not
change as you attempt to be guided by that light?
13 You are the world's salt. But, if the salt loses its zest, how can it be made salty? It is worth nothing and so is thrown out, where people walk all over it.
As we may know from various old-fashioned salted meat recipes, salt is a preservative that tends to retard spoilage. So, the true Christian ought to count for something, to make a difference. If he is just like everyone else, what use is he? In fact there are quite a few nominal Christians whose activities don't differ significantly from the behavior of the worldly. Jesus here is pointing the way toward the inward change that should begin as people hear his word and which will show in outward behavior, especially once they are reborn of the Spirit. By turning back to your old self, you have made yourself pretty much useless.
You are the bearers of hope to the fallen world. You are the antidote to the misery and despondency everywhere. But if you sink back into that pool of gloom – perhaps by self-interest run wild – how are you any different from the suffering lost? You won't be offering them even a ray of hope.
A person may say, and even (perhaps doubtfully) believe, that he has been born again, without that assertion being so. For example, consider Billy Graham, who had grown up in a Protestant church but who had not fully responded to Jesus. Yet, he tells us, that when he heard a call at a particular church service, he was convinced by God's Spirit that he was in dire need. That act of obedience led to his being used by God as an evangelist who reached large numbers of people for Christ. [1*]
Once Graham was endued with the Spirit, there was no longer concern that he wouldn't have enough zing for God.
This thought is recapitulated in the following verses.
Light of the world
Matthew 5:14-15
You can tell a real Christian by his Spirit and by his deeds. Talk by
itself is insufficient. You don't necessarily have to make a big fuss
about being a Christian. Your compassion, friendliness and actions
will say it all. At least some people will thank God for you. Even so,
don't try to hide your faith in Jesus. Christ's light is supposed to
reach people through you, once you are born anew.
14 You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that can't be hidden.
15 No one lights a candle and puts it under a basket; it is put on a candlestick and sheds light for everyone in the house.
16 Similarly, let your light shine before people so that they may see your good works and praise your heavenly Father.
A few years ago I became friendly with a fellow. A former computer programer in his fifties, he was out of work and on the dole. [1a] Though a very cheerful, friendly sort, when the subject of God would come up, he would demur, saying that that subject was something he did not know much about. Yet, his behavior, looked at objectively, was solid-gold Christian: always willing to help, to act the friend. Often he would chat with me about some little project or other that he was doing to help someone, which serendipitously might lead to small money-making gigs. He walked everywhere, often quite a few miles at a clip, and he was always busy, much like the Apostle Paul in the sense that he "redeemed the time." I suppose that what I am getting at is that Christ cannot really hide. He is proclaimed even by those who don't proclaim him!
The Law and the Prophets?
Matthew 5:17-20
In 5:17, the opposed theses are not "destroy" versus "keep" but are
"destroy" versus "fulfill." It is not Jesus' relation to the law that is in question, but rather
it is the law's relation to him that matters.
17 Don't think I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not here to destroy, but to fulfill.
18 Very seriously I tell you, Before the world ends, not one jot or dash will vanish without everything in it being fulfilled.
19 Whoever breaks one of the least of these rules, and teaches people to do likewise, will be called the least in heaven's realm. But whoever does them and teaches others likewise will be called great in heaven's realm.
20 I am telling you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you are getting into heaven's realm.
Some scholars believe that Luke's version of Matthew 5:18 is closer to the original saying.
Luke 16:17
One cannot easily rule out that Jesus may have given the teaching in slightly different form on different occasions.And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
On the other hand Matthew's version of this saying does seem to reflect a tendency of an author or redactor toward some sort of conformity.
Elsewhere, Luke quotes Jesus as saying that his resurrection, not as a ghost but as a full-blooded man, was what he meant by telling his disciples that everything in the the Law and the Prophets, and the Psalms, was bound to be fulfilled. [4*]
Luke 24:44
Luke is no doubt giving here the sense of what the Lord said to the disciples, rather than a verbatim account. Perhaps we can see from this example how the Spirit can interpret and reinterpret Scripture and sayings of Jesus in new and unexpected ways. There is not necessarily a hard-and-fast meaning to be ascribed to every Scripture. It's the Spirit that counts, not mere human understanding.And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
A mark of authority
In verses 17-20, Jesus could have justly said, "I am the Law and the Prophets" since they stemmed from God. But he tended to keep a low profile in public, not vaunting his true status.
The English fulfill has a somewhat grandiose ring to it, which may be why some scholars think he used the Aramaic word qûm (=establish, validate or confirm). This idea faces objections because it seems to run counter to the idea that Jesus is the man who sets people free. But use of the word confirm could be taken in two different ways, and as we know, double meanings are often found on the lips of Jesus. That is, the saying could be taken as something a good rabbi would say. But the more profound thought is that Jesus is referring to the more fundamental Law in the heart of God and to the true meaning of what the prophets said. That this is so may be seen from J's interpretation of the meaning of the Law and the Prophets:
Mark 12: 29-31
In verse 18, the actual first word is amen. We note that
when Jesus prefaces his teaching with the word amen, he intends to convey the authority of his words. Though my paraphrases seriously and I mean it when I tell you get across the point as well as the traditional English renderings of verily and truly, we should keep in mind that the way Jesus uses amen should be heard as Jesus saying that a word of God is now being directly revealed.29 Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
According to the scholar Bruce M. Metzger,[5*]
The point of the amen before such sayings is to show that their truth is guaranteed because Jesus himself, in his amen, acknowledges them to be his own sayings, thus making them valid. The whole implication is that through this characteristic mode of speech Jesus affirms his unique authority, presenting himself as one who speaks in the name and with the sanction of God himself. The reader is not surprised, therefore, to be told at the close of Jesus' 'Sermon on the Mount' that "the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." (Matthew 7:28-29)
(For further discussion of amen sayings, please see Felix Just's comments.)
By "every jot and tittle," Jesus is not speaking of the laborious interpretations of the scribes and Pharisees. He meant every jot and tittle that was in God's mind that was behind the Torah law. Note that according to some rabbis, the law provided easy divorce. But Jesus invoked God's higher law: no divorce permitted but for adultery.
Here is the point that should not be lost sight of: When the completely pure and innocent Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, every single human infraction of God's perfect law was punished. God's high law was not canceled, and neither was the Mosaic law. Jesus was actually made into sin and thrown in hell so that the Law would be fulfilled while we are able to go free! The Law was not abolished. Every jot and tittle -- even the "tiniest" sin -- was punished.
We who live under grace are no longer bound by the law. Its obligations were fulfilled when Jesus paid the price of all human sin for all time. We are not under the law, whether Jewish law, Greek law or any law whatsoever. We are under the "law" of love and don't need to be told what not to do. But not all of you are participating in this grace because you have not turned your life over to Jesus. What that means is that you are under God's law, which is hanging over your head like the sword of Damocles. You will pay dearly for every little sin, every bit of idle gossip... Would it not be a good idea to get out from under that curse by seeking God's forgiveness and putting yourself in the hands of Jesus?
Least of these rules?
In any case, my first question for Matthew 5:17-18, is WHICH rules (or commandments) is the evangelist talking about? The Sermon compiler seems to mean the Torah. But maybe he is talking of the teachings in this Sermon. Or both. I suggest that the compiler placed this saying here because he thought it seemed to fit well. It is hard not to think that the compiler is laying down an alternate, or revised, "law." As Moses received the 10 commandments on a mountain, so Jesus delivers his commandments from a mountain.
But because we are quite sure that the Sermon compiler drew from a collection of traditional sayings, the supposition is reasonable that he imposed on them what he discerned as a good ordering. On the other hand, that means that more than one context is possible and that perhaps Paul's doctrine of grace was not fully apprehended by the compiler at the time the Sermon was composed. In addition, we should bear in mind that the Sermon was composed so that a number of important sayings would be read to the congregation regularly. That is, its form is partly dictated by liturgical needs.
Scholars tell us that for a "generation or more most of the materials in the Gospels circulated only in separate units," writes Metzger. [5*]
Only rarely were geographical and chronological details mentioned as a setting for an individual story. When, therefore, the evangelists set about putting these materials into a connected whole, they had only meager hints as to when and where Jesus' sayings and deeds ought to be placed.
But are we to think that the Apostle Paul would be called "least in heaven's realm" because he rejected observance of Jewish law by non-Jewish Christians? And clearly, Paul felt free to "violate" fine points of this code as the Spirit led, just as Jesus "violated" these points on the Sabbath, as Matthew tells us at Matthew 12:9-14. Whatever the compiler of the Sermon may have intended by verses 5:18-20, we should not think that Jesus was laying a heavy burden on Jews or Gentiles. As the compiler placed verse 20 with verses 18 and 19, it is so that we might get the impression that we have to live up to some extreme code to gain entry into paradise.
But what was Jesus' objection to the scribes and Pharisees? It was that they were pious frauds. You can't get anywhere with God by showing off! You must have a truly repentant heart. That's the ticket for entry into Christ's realm.
Paraphrasing Jesus:
"Holier-than-thou" won't work to get you into God's realm. Let me tell you what true morality is [which is summed up in the Sermon sayings]. So you see, you can't get anywhere with your religious formalities. Don't you see? You are all sinners – and "being religious" won't cure that. If you want to get into God's realm – which is dawning right now – you have to stop spinning your wheels and get real. You must admit your sin – face yourself – so that you can seek entry. Humility, not pride, is the ticket, friend.Before the world ends...
With respect to the words "Before the world ends..." (or "Before heaven and earth pass away..."), I offer a suggestion, which you may regard as a stretch, but which to me accords with how God sometimes operates. Recall that when Jesus died, according to Mark 15:33, a great darkness fell across the land, lasting three hours. So at this time "the sky" along with "the earth" – which became very hard to see – "passed away." The old system was done away with, and the new dispensation was at hand: a new heaven and a new earth were brought into force. [3*] For some, this could mean the start of the Millennium (Jesus ruling the hearts of the born again who do not die, even if they do die), while the unregenerate see nothing much.
Clearly one can come up with a "natural" explanation of the atmospheric darkness. The idea of an eclipse has been debated; another thought is that an exceptionally heavy sand and dust storm shrouded the region. In addition, Palestine sits in the Great Rift Valley, which is known for the volcanic activity caused by plate tectonics. One of the volcanoes along the Arabian coast might have erupted. But, even if such is the case, the miraculous element is not curtailed one iota.
When Jesus says, "Sky and land [=the natural world] will vanish, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35), he means that God's mind upholds all. The Father is speaking through him: I AM the cause of all.
Matthew 24:32-35
(I am not arguing that a Millennium won't one day arrive in full force for the settling of
all accounts.)
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
The meaning of the Law and the Prophets
As for verse 19, I take that to be speaking of the important ideas in the Law and the Prophets. It is not about the minutiae that no one could possibly keep up with, nor was it about the detailed hair-splitting of the scribes and Pharisees. We are told elsewhere in Matthew that the Law and the Prophets can be summarized by loving God with all you've got and loving your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:34-40
With respect to 5:17, we may consider the words of Jesus as quoted by
John: "It is finished" (John 19:28-30). By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the author of John
understood that Jesus had completed his earthly mission and had
expressed that sense of fulfillment heavenward, even though he was in
anguish.
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
We may entertain the possibility that the Sermon compiler did not quite grasp that, once he had transformed all human destiny with his crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus at once became the spiritual fulfillment of all divinely-endorsed, but human, law. That is, just as the Christ ended the era of human prophets with a new era of worship of God in spirit and in truth, so he fulfills the meaning – including every "jot and tittle" – of the Jewish law. If we come to see that Jesus, on resurrection, assumes his proper role as Creator/Logos, I think we can rest assured that he knows how to fulfill the law – even if he transcends human understanding as he does so. For example, he was fulfilling the real purpose of the law when he healed people on the Sabbath, not breaking or annulling the law – though he was upending a human-devised interpretation of the Sabbath law.
In fact, one can say that the teachings of the Sermon are what the Old Testament laws point to, though those laws were written with human frailty in mind, as Jesus mentions when speaking of Moses granting men the right to divorce their wives (Matthew 19:8; also Matthew 5:31-33 [sidebar]). But the Sermon's teachings are the real deal. If you were to follow these teachings, then you would be fulfilling the intent of the law and of the admonitions of the prophets.
We should read Matthew 5:18 in light of other passages – for example, Matthew 12:19-14. The final principal redactor of Matthew – who easily could have been the same man who compiled the Sermon – made plain that Jesus did not regard the legal interpretations of the scribes as counting for "law." Jesus, by healing on the Sabbath, demonstrates that he is indeed the fulfillment of the "Law and the Prophets." Such mercy is true religion; the doctrinal hair-splitting of the "doctors of the law" is not praiseworthy.
Matthew 12:9-14
Jesus' emphasis on a religion of the heart as opposed to ritualistic game-playing is a theme found in all four gospels. Mark 7:1-23 lays that issue on the line.
9 And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue:
10 And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
13 Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.
14 Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.
Mark 7:1-23
Again, we have:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things ye do.
14 And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
17 And when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
19 Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Matthew 12:1-8
From this, and the other "lawbreaker" passages, we discern that the final version of Matthew does not promote excessive finickiness about the vaunted Old Testament Law. We will have to leave Bible scholars to debate whether such material was inserted sometime after the Sermon was composed. But, in any case, Matthew as recovered from the earliest extant versions does not promote an extreme anti-Pauline viewpoint.1 Then on the Sabbath, Jesus went through the grain fields. His hungry disciples began plucking the ears of grain and eating.
2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "See there. Your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath."
3 Jesus answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he was hungry [and those who were with him]?
4 How he went into God's house and ate the show-bread, which was unlawful for him to eat [as it was for his companions, though it was lawful for the priests to eat it]. [2*]
5 Or haven't you read in the law that on Sabbath days the Temple priests profane the Sabbath, but are blameless?
6 But I am telling you, in this place is one greater than the Temple.
7 If you had known what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the son of man is Lord of the sabbath.
A relevant point: Elsewhere, Paul says that when we pray, we don't know what we are talking about, really, and that – once we have been reborn – the Holy Spirit will interpret our words and convey them to God in a pure manner (Romans 8:26), so that we may obtain the true desires of our hearts. We think we know what we want. But God knows what we really want. Similarly, can we not reasonably infer that the various details of the old law are now to be interpreted by the Holy Spirit in such a way that Jesus fulfills them?
By the way, if you are not Jewish, you are not bound by Jewish law; and if you are Jewish, one must ask, which set of laws apply? Much of the legal structure of Judaism was destroyed by Rome. So, if the Old Testament law cannot fully apply, then what of the law codified after the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea? Where is the sanction for that? Human rabbis?
In any case, Jesus did not come to negate God's work with the Jews, but to fulfill that work through the Jews. A fortunate remnant of Judaism obtained the everlasting kingdom of Zion as a result of Jesus' work. I doubt very much whether any of those Jews are fretting about legal technicalities.
We may find notable that, on examining Jesus' reported words and actions, we see that they adhere to the inner heart of Jewish Scriptures, even though the prophecies concerning him were fulfilled in surprising ways. How could this executed "criminal" (he literally became a criminal for our sakes) be The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord? Yet, a great and awesome day dawned with his resurrection. In other words, yes, there remains a Big Event to come, but bear in mind: He is IT! The Great I AM. The Cause of All. And he is risen!
If you look back to the beatitudes, he is the answer to all those promises. If you are thirsting after a right way to live, he is your answer.
Not to belabor the point, but it bears repeating: The teachings that Jesus espouses show that God's standard is very high, for God is pure. And a completely pure-hearted person would somehow follow the guidelines that many see as a terrible strait jacket – a list of impossible don'ts – that no one can possibly endure. What he is giving here is the "platinum standard," to which we ought to aspire, even though we cannot come close to matching that standard. He is making sure we understand that we have all sinned and are in desperate need of God's mercy.
So, yes, do whatever the religious authorities say, but don't necessarily be like them (Matthew 23:2). Admit your guilt before God instead of trying to prove that you are very religiously observant.
As the way, the truth and the life, Jesus himself is the meaning of the law and the prophets (the Old Testament Torah and the books of the prophets). By "the law and the prophets," Jesus does not include human traditions, including much scribal commentary. Jesus has authority to interpret the law and the prophets.
Verse 18 is clearly meant literally. But what does it mean? I suggest that a Matthean writer or editor is, for one thing, trying to reassure his Jewish audience that the Old Testament law is still in force – for Jews. Nevertheless, if we consider that Jesus paid the price of all the violations of the law, along with the price of all human sin, we see that God was assuring that the law, which brings condemnation, is satisfied to the last iota. Recall that, according to John 19:30, Jesus said as he expired, "It is fulfilled [or finished, or accomplished). His death consummates the demands of the law.
What then does "Till heaven and earth pass away" imply? Once Jesus was resurrected, all the condemnation due to the law was overcome. So the old law was superseded by its meaning and fulfillment, Jesus himself. And this "law" continues to be fulfilled as Christians learn the law of love.
But if so, then verse 19 seems to be contrary. Yet, the idea is highly plausible that Jesus warned people not to ignore any of his teachings, and that those who taught others to bypass anything he said would face consequences. But I cannot accept the idea that he is placing another heavy millstone on believers by saying that they must follow every detail of Jewish religious law – or else!
A perhaps overlooked meaning for verse 19: For God's light to shine within and among Christians, believers should stick to what Jesus says. Those believers who skimp on Jesus' word have less light and their churches suffer as a result.
Avoid fake righteousness
Looking at verse 20 standing alone, the meaning comes through loud and clear. Put-on's and show-off's need not apply. You can't enter God's realm by lip service and going through the motions, all the while excusing your dirty dealing. These gentlemen think they are righteous, but what Jesus has said about really good conduct holds up a light to their sin. Don't be like them. They don't really acknowledge their sin and truly turn to God. In fact, we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that the believer obtains righteousness, not on account of obeying the "code of conduct" in the Sermon, but by putting trust in Jesus, who has paid the full price for human sin. The believer receives the righteousness of Jesus as a free (to him) gift, and enters God's realm. Without the righteousness of Jesus imputed to you, you will in no way enter God's realm.
To adopt a metaphor used by Jesus, we are robed in a wedding garment for the heavenly banquet (as brides of Christ). If a party crasher somehow got into the banquet hall, he or she would soon get the boot, not having on the right garment. That is, such an impoverished soul would not be wrapped in the righteousness provided by Jesus on account of his death.
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