Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 5:17

"Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil." — Matthew 5:17 (ASV)

A new section of the discourse begins here and continues to the end of the chapter. From the ideal picture of the society He came to found, our Lord transitions to a protest against the current teaching of the scribes.

They sometimes adhered to the letter while neglecting the spirit, and at other times they overrode even the letter with unauthorized traditions. In doing so, they lowered the standard of righteousness to the level of human behavior, instead of raising people's behavior to the standard God had established.

Think not that I am come—These words imply that people had already begun to think this way. The Teacher who came preaching repentance while also promising forgiveness was thought to be what has since been called "Antinomian"—someone who attacks the authority of the two great channels through which God's will had been revealed. "The Law and the prophets" was the popular term for the entire Old Testament, though a strict classification also required the addition of the Hagiographa, or "holy writings," which are the poetical and miscellaneous books.

I came not. These words could naturally be used by any teacher conscious of a mission. However, they gain new meaning when we remember that the One who spoke them was emphatically "He that should come." He "came into the world" not in the same way as other people, but in a manner that was uniquely His own.

Not... to destroy, but to fulfil—Explained by the immediate context, these words seem to point primarily to our Lord's work as a teacher. He came to fill up what was lacking, to develop hints and germs of truth, and to turn rules into principles. Interpreted more broadly, He came to "fulfil the Law and prophets"—just as He came "to fulfil all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15)—by perfectly obeying its commands. He also came to fulfil whatever in it was a type of Himself and His work by presenting the reality to which it pointed.

The further idea that He came to fulfil the Messianic prophecies is not really within the scope of these words. No one would imagine for a moment that the Christ could do otherwise, and throughout this entire discourse, there is no reference to those specific predictions. The prophets are mentioned partly according to custom and partly in their role as ethical teachers who expounded and spiritualized the Law, preparing the way for its further and fuller development.

It is worth noting, as a remarkable example of the boldness of some early heretics, that Marcion—who rejected the Old Testament entirely—maintained that these words had been altered by the Judaizers of the apostolic age. He claimed the true reading was, "Think you that I came to fulfil the Law or the prophets? I came not to fulfil, but to destroy."