Basic HTML Version
How
Did Christ Magnify
the Law?
O
ver seven hundred years prior to
Christ's earthly ministry, the an–
cient prophet Isaiah, inspi red of God,
prophesied that the ministry of Jesus
was destined to "magnify the law and
make it honorable" (lsaiah 42:21 ).
According to
Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary,
"magnify" is defined as:
"extol, laud, cause to be held in
greater esteem or respect; increase in
significance; intensify."
Fitting that definition into the pro–
phetic statement made by Isaiah, the
verse would read: " ... H e will extol,
laud, cause to be held in greater es–
teem, increase in significance, inten–
sify the law...." The Hebrew word
literally means, "make great" or
"cause to be great."
Christ Himself verified and con–
fi rmed that this indeed was His pur–
pose. Read it for yourself in Matthew
5: 17. He said, " Think
not
that 1 am
come to destroy t he law, or the
prophets, 1 am
not
come to destroy,
but to
fulfill."
Greek scholars ac–
knowlcdge that the word here trans–
Jated "fulfill" means not only to "do"
or "perform," but to "fiU to the full."
Actually, the Greek word translated
"fulfill" is an lndo-European cognate
of the English words "full " and
"plus.' ' In this context, it has the
meaning "to bring to full expres–
sion,'' i.e., to bring out its fullest sig–
nificance and meaning.
Sorne might confuse the word
"fulfill" in verse 17 with the same
word in verse 18. However, even
though the translators of the King
James Version used the same English
word ("fulfill") in both cases, the
original text actually has two entirely
different
words. The word in verse 18
is the infinitive of
ginomai,
which
means "to take place" or " to come to
pass" in this passage.
So the word " fulfill" in verse 17
means
to develop to fu/1 potentiali–
ties,
and could easily be substituted
by the word "magnífy." So, contrary
to popular belief, He carne not to
destroy, but to fulfi ll or magnify the
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979
very law tbat He Himself wrote on
two tables of stone a t Mount Sinai
over fourteen centuries previously.
As any honest scientist knows, to
"magnify" does not mean to destroy,
but to
show forth
and enlarge an
object or thing to the fullest possible
extent. Jesus perfectly fulfilled , lived
by and magnified God's law to sbow
us its fullest spiritual application and
to set us an example that we should
follow in His steps
(1
Peter 2:21).
Does Love Nulllfy the Law?
But what about !ove? Perhaps many
of you bave tbougbt !ove does away
with the Ten Commandments.
The apostle John, who wrote so
much about !ove, surely would be the
one to know. In I John 4:8, John
wrote: " He that loveth not knoweth
not God; for God is !ove." Again in
verse 16, he said: " And we have
known and believed the !ove that God
hatb. to us. God is !ove; and he that
dwelleth in !ove dwelleth in God, and
God in him."
Obviously then, the apostle John
places a great deal of importance on
!ove. But he didn't say, nor does any
other inspired scripture say, that love
put away, superseded or destroyed
the law. As a matter of fact, the very
apostle who talked so much of !ove
also said: "For
this is
the !ove of God,
that we
k eep
bi s command–
ments ..." (I John 5:3), and para–
phrased Jesus Cbrist's saying,
"If
ye
!ove me, keep my commandments"
(John 14:15).
Love, then, far from superseding
and doing away with the law-the
Ten Commandments-is the very
heart and essence of the law.
lt
is
the
spirit
of the law. Love is the very tool
Christ used to intensify, magnífy,
and fulfill His law (Romans 13: 10) .
The Spirit of the Law
In Old Testament times, God only
required a physical, mechanical and
visible obedience. In other words,
obedience in the
Jetter.
In New Tes-
tament times, God has required
much more. He wants us to follow
Him to the.spirituallimits of His law.
That 's what Christ's ministry was to
teach and demonstrate.
To be sure we understood this new,
magnified style of lawkeeping, Jesus
Christ gave sorne vivid examples. In
Matthew 5:2 1 He said: "Ye have
heard that it was said by them of old
time [Old Testament times], Thou
shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kili
shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you [here comes the
new, magnified application], That
whosoever is angry with bis brother
without a cause shall
be
in danger of
the judgment: and whosoever shall
say to his brother, Raca [vain fel–
Jow], shall be in danger of the coun–
cil: but whosoever shall say, Thou
fool , shall be in danger of hell fire."
Christ said- magnifying the law in
its spiritual intent-that if you even
bate your brother you are a mur–
derer! Does that sound like Christ
was doing away with the law? And
John- the "apostle of love"-said
the same thing! ( I John 3: 15.)
Whoever bates his brother is guilty of
murder.
In verses 27 and 28 of the same
chapter (Matthew 5), Christ said,
"Ye have hea rd that it was said by
them of old time, Thou shalt not
commit adultery: But I say unto you
[here again comes the magnified ap–
proach], That whosoever
looketh
on
a woman
to lust
after her hatb com–
mitted adultery with her a lready in
his heart."
Ra ther than being done away
with, we find the influence of tbe law
extended to include our intent ,
thoughts and altitudes! God's Ten
Commandments are magnified in
scope a nd His !ove is expressed
through keeping them in tbeir spirit
and intent as well as the letter.
And so we see the ancient proph–
ecy of Isaiah fulfilled and the law
indeed magnified and made honora–
ble! o
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