Thomas Aquinas Commentary Matthew 5:17-19

"Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew 5:17-19 (ASV)

Do not think that I have come to destroy the law. After setting forth the beatitudes to which Christ’s doctrine pertains, He here begins to proclaim His own doctrine. Firstly, He makes His intention known, and secondly, He presents the rule and precepts of His doctrine, where it is said, For I tell you. Concerning the first part, He does two things: firstly, He rejects what was assumed to be His intention, and secondly, He adds His true intention, where it is said, I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

The Lord had said above to the Apostles: Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, etc. (Matthew 5:11). Therefore, the Apostles could have suspected such a teaching was, so to speak, betraying the Law, for which reason they might have felt the need to go into hiding, as if Christ were saying something contrary to the Law. And therefore the Lord rejects this opinion, saying: Do not think that I have come to destroy the law, etc. Likewise, because it might have been said that no other prophet after Moses, who gave the Law, fulfilled the Law, therefore, the Lord says that He is going to do more than the other prophets. Hence, He says, but to fulfill; for no prophet fulfilled the Law. And note that these words are very effective against those who condemn the Law as if it were from the devil: For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). But He declares: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill; therefore, the Law is not the work of the devil.

By this argument a certain man was converted to the faith and became a Friar Preacher.²⁶ Hence, the Manicheans greatly abhor this chapter. Faustus objects multiple times to this passage, according to Augustine, and all his objections are reduced to three:

1. Firstly, he objects to the authority of the Law, for it is said, A word shall not be added to what I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2); but Christ added to it; therefore He acted contrary to the Law.
2. Likewise, it is said, In saying a new, he has made the former old (Hebrews 8:13); but Christ said that He was the institutor of the New Law, This is my blood of the new testament (Matthew 26:28); therefore, He destroyed the Old Law.
3. Thirdly, it is said, I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also (John 13:15); therefore every action of Christ is a true instruction. Thus, if He fulfilled the Old Law, then we also ought to fulfill it; therefore, we ought to be circumcised and to keep all the prescriptions of the Law. This opinion is also shared by the Nazarenes and the Manicheans.

Therefore, Faustus argued that either Christ did not say these words, but Matthew (who was not present at the Sermon on the Mount) said them, while John (who was present) did not; or if Christ said them and Matthew wrote them, the Gospel is interpreted differently.

For in Sacred Scripture, ‘law’ is interpreted in three ways: there is the law of Moses (We are loosed from the law of death (Romans 7:6) in God’s law), the law of nature (When the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these, not having the law, are a law to themselves (Romans 2:14)), and the law of truth (The law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, has delivered me from the law of sin and of death (Romans 8:2)).

Accordingly, therefore, Faustus examines this matter in three ways: namely, the question of the Old Law; the question of the law of nature (One of them a prophet of their own, said: The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies (Titus 1:12)); and the question of the law of truth (Therefore behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes (Matthew 23:34)).

Therefore, according to Faustus, what He says here, I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill, etc., ought to be understood of the law of nature and of the law of truth, which fulfillment also occurred in certain patriarchs of old. A sign of this is that the Lord, when He was speaking about the precepts, seemed to approve some, while others He did not approve—namely, those which were proper to the Mosaic law, such as what is said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth (Matthew 5:38) and other precepts of this kind.

But, against this, Augustine objects as follows:

1. Firstly, he objects that whoever denies one thing in the Gospel, with equal reason denies everything else in the Gospel, and so destroys Scripture; but a believer ought to believe everything that is in Scripture.
2. Likewise, what Faustus says, ‘He is speaking about another law and about the prophets,’ is false, because throughout the New Testament, whenever the Law is mentioned, it is understood to be the Mosaic law: Who are Israelites: to whom belongs the adoption as of children and the glory and the testament and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises (Romans 9:4). Therefore, the Lord is also speaking about the Mosaic law when He speaks about these precepts.

Hence, we must first see how Christ came to fulfill the Law, and afterwards we will address the objections. Therefore, it should be known that Christ fulfilled the Law of the prophets in five ways:

1. Firstly, He did this because He fulfilled by His actions those things which were prefigured in the Law and the prophets: All things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the psalms, concerning me (Luke 24:44).
2. Secondly, He fulfilled the Law by observing its prescriptions to the letter: When the fullness of the time was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law (Galatians 4:4).
3. Thirdly, He fulfilled the Law by giving grace through His works, which the law of nature could not do. For every law exists so that we humans may be made just; but Christ did this by the Holy Spirit: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son… that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us (Romans 8:3–4).
4. Fourthly, according to Augustine, He did this by satisfying for our sins, by which we had become transgressors of the Law. Hence, having taken away the transgression, it is said that He fulfilled the Law: Whom God has proposed to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to the showing of his justice, for the remission of former sins, etc. (Romans 3:25).
5. Fifthly, He did this by adding perfections to the Law, which concerned either the understanding of the Law or the greater perfection of justice: For the law brought nothing to perfection: but a bringing in of a better hope, by which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7:19). This seems to be Christ’s intention because, when He mentioned all the prescriptions of the Law, He added, Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

Accordingly, we address Faustus's objections as Augustine addressed them.

Regarding what is said, A word shall not be added (Deuteronomy 4:2), I reply that Christ did not add to the Law, but explained it. For they were thinking of the act of murder when the Law said, Thou shalt not kill (Matthew 5:21); Christ explained that it also forbade hatred and anger.

Likewise, regarding what is said, In saying a new, he has made the former old (Hebrews 8:13), I reply that the New Testament is the same as the Old Testament, in that the former testament was a figure and the latter testament is the fulfillment of its figures.

Regarding which Testament we ought to observe, I reply that something can be signified by speech and figure, and what is signified in both Testaments does not differ in any way. Thus, concerning Christ, before He was born it could be said, ‘Christ will be born and will die,’ but now it is said, ‘Christ has been born,’ and so forth. Nevertheless, this shows that different words express the same thing, whether as done or to be done. Hence, what was signified by figures as a future event, now that the event has occurred, is signified as present by new figures, namely, the sacraments of the New Law. Therefore, although Christ fulfilled the figures, now that the truth has come, whoever would observe these figures would do an injury to the truth. In this way, therefore, the words, I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill, are understood.

For amen I say to you. Here the reason for Christ’s fulfillment of the Law is given, and He seems to assign three reasons: firstly, He fulfilled it because of the immutability of the Law; secondly, because of the punishment for those violating the Law; and thirdly, because of the reward for those fulfilling the Law. The second point is where it is said, He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments; and the third point is where it is said, But he that shall do and teach.

He says, therefore, For amen I say to you, and it should be known that in the Old Law all of Christ’s mysteries were prefigured. But, as it is said, The Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7); therefore, Christ’s mysteries will last until the very end of time: And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world (Matthew 28:20). Hence, not all the mysteries of the prophets were fulfilled at Christ’s first coming; indeed, they will not be fulfilled until the end of the world. And what He said cannot be changed: Has the Lord said, and will he not do? (Numbers 23:19). Therefore, if the Law predicted those things which are to come, and so it is necessary that they must happen, He then says, Amen I say to you, till heaven and earth pass… till all be fulfilled, meaning all things will be successively fulfilled until the end of the world.

It should be known that Amen is a Hebrew word, and no translator, out of reverence for this word, because the Lord frequently used it, dared to change it. It is sometimes used as a noun, where Amen means ‘a true thing’; sometimes it is used as an adverb, meaning ‘truly,’ which is how it is used here; and sometimes it means ‘so be it.’ Thus, in Psalms where we have in English ‘so be it,’ in Hebrew it is rendered ‘Amen.’ Therefore, a Hebrew expression is used here, and instead of ‘true,’ ‘truly,’ and ‘so be it,’ Amen is said. Hence, the Lord here draws attention to listening.

Till heaven and earth pass, not according to their substance, but according to their arrangement; For the fashion (figura) of this world passes away (1 Corinthians 7:31), and, The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat (2 Peter 3:11). Till heaven and earth pass, which means, until the end of the world.

One jot (iota). An iota among the Greeks is a letter which we call a small ‘i’; among the Hebrews, however, it is called jod. And iota among the Greeks stands for ‘y’ and it is a new letter (for every letter stands for some number). Hence, it pertains to the perfection of the Decalogue, and perhaps for this reason the Evangelist put jot (iota) rather than jod, according to what holy men say.

The tittle of a letter is put above letters in both Hebrew and Greek, but for different reasons. Among the Hebrews, a tittle sometimes has the sound of the letter ‘a’ and at other times the letter ‘e,’ and this tittle is known by certain dots, and they are called ‘tittles.’ Likewise, among the Greeks, certain signs are put above letters to distinguish aspiration and accents, and these are called ‘diacritics.’

Therefore, the Lord means to say that nothing is so small that it should not be fulfilled.

He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments. Here the second reason is given, and it is taken from the punishment of those breaking the commandments. It is as if He were to say, ‘Whoever breaks one of these commandments will incur a punishment as if he were a transgressor of a divine precept.’ Now the least commandments, according to Chrysostom, are Christ’s commandments; hence, Whoever shall break one of these least commandments which I am about to state. The argumentation can be connected as follows: Since the Law cannot be broken, and from the fact that I do not break it, it follows that whoever breaks these will incur a punishment. And they are called least commandments on account of Christ’s humility, just as He also called Himself a child: Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Or they are called least commandments in regard to their transgression, because one who breaks Christ’s commandments sins less; but the commandments which Christ commanded are greater than those of the Law regarding their observance, because the Law commanded, Thou shalt not kill, whereas Christ commanded people not to be angry.

Augustine and Jerome speak differently, as follows. He speaks of the least commandments in the Law in a literal sense, because He said, One jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. And they are called least commandments because the principal commandments are: Thou shalt love the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 6:5), and, Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). Hence, some observances are called least commandments; for example, there are many observances in Leviticus 19. And He says this to rebuke the Pharisees, because the Pharisees, on account of their observances, were transgressing many commandments: And he shall not honour his father or his mother: and you have made void the commandment of God for your tradition (Matthew 15:6).

Now the Law is broken in three ways:

1. Firstly, by completely denying it;
2. Secondly, by interpreting it badly; and
3. Thirdly, by not fulfilling its moral precepts.

And shall so teach men. One who does evil deeds acts badly, but one who teaches others to do evil deeds is worse: Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel (Revelation 2:14). And therefore He says, He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, namely, to break the commandments, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. According to this, it seems that one who breaks the commandments will be in the kingdom of heaven.

But it should be known that, according to Augustine, the kingdom of heaven here is taken to mean eternal life. The Lord wanted it to be understood that no one will be there who shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, because in that place there will only be great people: Whom he predestinated, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified (Romans 8:30). Hence, those who are too small will never be able to enter.

Secondly, according to Rabanus, it is as follows. People seek fame before others, because in the present life it is a certain glory for a person to be reputed great in the kingdom of humans. But He that shall break one of these least commandments, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven by not being there. For, there, one who transgresses the commandments is deemed a small person, and one who teaches that they ought to be transgressed is deemed the least.

Chrysostom explains this differently. Scripture sometimes calls the Last Judgment the kingdom of heaven, as the Psalm says, The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad. Clouds and darkness are round about him: justice and judgment are the establishment of his throne (Psalms 96:1–2). And there will be different orders there, but one who teaches that the commandments are to be broken shall be the least, because the kingdom of heaven, in this sense, also pertains to those who are in hell.

Gregory explains this verse as follows. The kingdom of heaven stands for the Church; hence, he shall be called the least in the Church, because he whose life is despicable, it remains that his preaching be also despised.

But he that shall do and teach. One who does well is great, but one who does and teaches is greater; hence, such a one will have great glory: Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32), and, In all things you did magnify your people, O Lord, and did honor them .