Jots and Tittles
Matthew 5:18
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 till all is fulfilled.
Now, please analyze that sentence construction. There are two different "till"s there that Jesus used. "till heaven and earth pass away" and "till all is fulfilled." How does the word "till" operate linguistically? It can mean that something will continue until a condition is met, and it can also mean that something cannot stop unless a condition is met. It doesn't always point to a cause and effect; it just states that two events are coincident. For example, you could say "I'll be broke until my grandfather's birthday" because you know you will get paid on that day, but his birthday has nothing whatsoever to do with your being broke--it's just a coincidence that you'll also be getting paid on that day. You might say "I'll drive this old car, till I die, till I get a new car." So you'll either die driving this car, or you'll get a new car, whichever comes first. Notice how either one of the two conditions being fulfilled automatically terminates both conditions; it's a "first to the finish line" situation. If you die, you'll not be getting a new car; and if you get a new car, you'll not be driving the old one any more. And notice that the order in which the two conditions are stated has absolutely no effect on their precedence; they are both always of equal weight, and first to the finish line wins. It's exactly the same sentence if I had expressed it as "I'll either drive this old car until I get a new car or until I die." Switching the order of the two conditions and adding "either/or" has no effect. The meaning has not changed one bit; either condition being fulfilled is equally sufficient regardless of their order in the sentence.
So in this way, Jesus putting two different "till" conditions inside of the same sentence means either of the two will trigger the event. Jesus is saying that not one jot or tittle will pass from the law till: 1, heaven and earth pass away; or 2, all is fulfilled. So "heaven and earth pass away" is like a way of saying "forever." Heaven and earth is a Biblical way of describing the whole physical universe. When heaven and earth cease to exist, that's the whole universe, and so time also ceases to exist. Time is a physical dimension, and so if you take away the physical dimensions, you've taken away time as well. So, on the one half of Jesus's "till" dichotomy, you have a "forever" statement. So the law will endure until the end of time--forever, essentially (but notice that eternity is not bound by time, so His statement doesn't mean eternity but only time). But in the other half of Jesus's parallel "till" construction, notice He places the condition "till all is fulfilled." Fulfilled is a different concept from "pass away." Heaven and earth could pass away without all being fulfilled and all might be fulfilled without heaven and earth passing away (notice Jesus doesn't give us the slightest clue as to what "all is fulfilled" refers to in this statement--He leaves that discussion for us to consider elsewhere). Fulfillment does not imply passing away but rather the opposite. Passing away means to cease to exist, but fulfillment means accomplishing a purpose or reaching full potential, the culmination of a plan.
If 2 conditions are met: heaven and earth still exist, and all is not yet fulfilled, then the written law remains in force. If heaven and earth pass away, then the law becomes irrelevant; there are no subjects to the law surviving, so it is moot. So we can safely ignore that condition as something that is not the deciding factor in this larger question. It is not a trigger for the possible, theoretical event of the law passing away but is rather a scope. With "till heaven and earth pass away," Jesus is establishing the scope, the window of time in which the second condition must be met, if it is to be met. The second condition is therefore charged with an overriding mandate; He's saying that "till all is fulfilled" can not be broken by anything short of the universe ceasing to exist. Nothing can stop the second condition from having ultimate authority--there is nothing that can abrogate or nullify the second condition. It remains in force forever until it is fulfilled, Jesus was saying. So the real emphasis here, the decisive factor, is not on "till heaven and earth pass away" but on the "till all is fulfilled" part; that's where all the power of His statement lives.
We need to look carefully into the second condition: "till all is fulfilled." If all is fulfilled, then heaven and earth don't need to pass away in order for the written law to pass away, because the condition has indeed been met.
It would be a fairly trivial exercise to point out how Jesus did indeed fulfill "all." (Remember when Matthew, the same author of the "one jot or one tittle" passage recorded Jesus telling John the Baptist that "it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness" and how John recorded that Jesus cried out on the cross when He died "It is finished.") I certainly will go into more depth if you need me to, but first let's stay on the written law and get better grounded on what it actually is, what function it serves, and what relationship it has to a human being's right standing with God.
Jesus was very careful and precise when He made it clear that He was referring to the written law, the law of Moses, when He pointed out that not one jot or tittle will pass away forever until all is fulfilled. We know that all is fulfilled by Him and in Him, and our New Testament theology is built on that foundation. So why was it so important for Him to emphasize the written law and how it is not to be ignored if in such a short time it was to basically become irrelevant? Because the people He was talking to, standing before, the people who ultimately judged Him as being a blasphemer and a faker and operating by the power of Beelzebub, those people had fallen into the trap of pride and of unbelief. Through their selective readings and self-motivated interpretations of the law, they declared themselves to be righteous. And Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:34). He wasn't preaching the Gospel to the gentiles, even though He predicted multiple times that this would be the ultimate outcome.
So why did Jesus point out that the law cannot be abolished or annuled except by fulfillment? Why was that so important? Because of the tendency of humans to make the law into a weapon against others and as a platform to exalt self. Jesus was telling the people under the law that the law condemns them and that they do not have the option of picking and choosing which parts of the law to obey and which to ignore. Because this same attitude has leaked into the Christian church as well. There are many denominations that teach that we are under the law, but they pick and choose which parts of the law we are under. Some will teach that we still need to observe the Sabbath or the various food laws, but they make exceptions for the laws governing sacrifices and the laws governing clothing and the laws governing uncleanness. Some churches teach that we are under the Law but not the ceremonial laws. Jesus does not give us that option. He said "not one jot or tittle will pass away." So He was saying, "if you are going to observe the law and be judged by it, then you must observe all of it, or you will be found guilty by all of it." And in the same sense, Paul also reasoned that if you observe any of it, you are bound by all of it. And James as well said in James 2:10 "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." And so Paul concluded in Galatians 5:2 with "Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing." Jesus wasn't saying that the written law of Moses is eternal; He said that it cannot pass away until all is fulfilled. So either Jesus fulfilled it, or else we are under the entire weight and burden of it and cannot pick and chose which parts of it to obey. The choice is stark and clear. There can be no mixture between law and grace whatsoever. Jesus did not give us that option.
Psalm 19:7
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple
So in this verse, the law of the Lord is called "perfect." Notice how its activity is described, though: the psalmist does not say that following the written law makes a person perfect; it says that its effect is the conversion of the soul. The changing of a person is the determining factor, not simply following of the letter of the law. So this is perfectly in line with what Paul means when he says in Galatians 3:24 "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
Now, the law being perfect, does that mean that the law is complete? Is the law all we need to come to God? No; the law is something that tells us of our need for God, and it is the conversion of the soul that brings us to God. Remember the word "repent" in the original Greek New Testament language, "metanoia." Meta and noia, meta meaning "after" or "with" and noia meaning "mind." So it's like saying "be mindful," meaning "reconsider your life choices on a profound level." This is almost identical to the meaning of being "born again" or "born from above." Repentance is not a change in behavior but the conversion of the soul.
The law is not complete.
Notice that in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus lays out multiple pieces of evidence that the written law is not complete but is merely a minimum standard--a baseline--for acceptable behavior. He said "you have heard it said 'thou shalt not murder' but I say to you that if you hate your brother you are already guilty of murder. You have heard it said 'thou shalt not commit adultery' but I say to you that if you look upon a woman to lust after her, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart." Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength." If this is literally the law we are to be judged by, then that means that none of us is without sin; none of us meets that standard; none of us loves God as much as that commandment says that we must. So the written law is a two-edged sword that cuts us down by condemning us on the one hand when we don't measure up, and it is a stumbling block for us when we believe that we do measure up; because then we become polluted with pride and blind to our own shortcomings. By the written law we are either condemned or we are made prideful; neither of which brings us into a living relationship with God.
The bottom line is this: the law never made anybody righteous. If you think you are righteous according to the law, then you are abusing the law by misinterpreting it and ignoring most of it and are guilty of trying to make yourself into your own god by making yourself the standard of righteousness instead of Jesus. A sinner is not made holy by observing the law; a sinner must be transformed into a new man.
When was the written law given? Not until after God had already miraculously delivered Israel from bondage to Egypt. Up until that time, there was no law except for the tradition given to Abraham of circumcision. Before that, God's covenant with mankind, the first shedding of blood between God and man, was when God gave Adam and Eve coverings of animal skins after they partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden. But God made no mention of the blood in that account, and He never implied that it covered their sin or atoned for them in any way. It was just a clue given to us that we wouldn't figure out its real significance of until much later.
Abraham's covenant with God was based on God simply choosing Abraham and Abraham simply believing God. The Bible says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. That was before the law. If righteousness were from the law, then Abraham couldn't have achieved it.
Hebrews 7:18-20
For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.
Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
James points out that faith without works is dead. Because a man who does not obey God does not have faith--simple as that. You can believe God all day long, but until you actually rely on His promises, those promises are useless to you and will give you no benefit. The rewards promised are always predicated on walking in them. Jesus promised us many things, but only by stepping out and relying on those promises can we see them in action and prove His faithfulness. God's faithfulness is brought to bear in our lives when we do according to His word. If we shrink back, we make His promises of no effect. We can experience lack of God's faithfulness in our lives by not believing Him, by not depending on Him, by not obeying Him. His power is activated in our lives by our faith, and our faith is substantiated by our obedience.
James 1:25
But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Notice that the word "law" has different meanings, both in scripture and in our common understanding and useage of the term in everyday life. The word "law" can mean a statute, an ordinance, or a written commandment. And the word "law" can also mean a principle or a fundamental rule that is not a commandment or an ordinance but a description of how the universe behaves. We have the law of gravity, for example. We have Newtonian laws of physics. We have laws of quantum mechanics. And these laws reliably describe how the universe works, whether we agree with them or not, whether we understand them or not. They are laws, not to be obeyed, but to be understood and to be used for our benefit, because they simply *work.* They can either work for us or against us, but they never stop working.
In the same way, there are also universally-true, always-active, non-negotiable spiritual laws which govern the realm of consciousness, understanding, soul, mind, and spirit and which find significant expression in the biological realm, in the body, as well. So notice how James refers to the "perfect law of liberty." Also notice how Paul refers to the "law of the Spirit of life" and the "law of sin and death" in Romans 8:2 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." The "perfect law of liberty" and the "law of the Spirit of life" are not the written law, the law of Moses or like the penal codes of the government. These are living, eternal, spiritual principles. Like the law of gravity and the other laws of physics define and govern the physical universe, these spiritual laws govern the metaphysical universe, the spirit realm, the heart, the mind, and the soul.
So what is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? It is the law of love and truth and freedom.
Romans 13:4-7 (DLNT)
Love is patient. Love shows kindness. Love does not envy, does not brag, is not puffed up, does not behave dishonorably, does not seek its own things, is not provoked, does not count the bad (keeps no record of wrongs), does not rejoice over unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
God is love. (1 John 4:8) So God's personality is described in Romans 13. We can be sure that God is patient and kind and does not keep a record of our wrongs. It is only by imputing our own personality traits on God that we become afraid of Him or convinced that He doesn't love us. But "God is not a man that He should lie." He has told us about Himself, and He has shown us with many proofs of His love for us, in the person of His Son, Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
So any theology that is based on punishment is based on fear, which is not love. Any theology that is based on legalism is not of Christ, because it is not based on freedom.
John 8:32
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:36
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Look at this search of the word "free" in the book of Romans...
Romans 3:24
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 5:15
But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Romans 5:16
And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.
Romans 5:18
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
Romans 6:7
For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Romans 6:18
And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:20
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Romans 6:22
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
Romans 7:1-4
Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
So we walk in freedom in Christ, with our minds renewed in the Holy Spirit, and our nature regenerated into His image, where we do not fear punishment and are bound in marriage to our new husband, Who is Christ, and set free from our old bondage to sin, which was made alive by the law which condemned us. Our new nature is sinless and is created in the image of His Son.
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Romans 8:29
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Hebrews 10:14
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
God has made us into a new species of humanity by restoring into us His image that was lost when Adam and Eve descended into trying to pursue their own righteousness through the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus is the new Adam, the new Head of mankind, and we are His offspring, made according to His image and likeness in the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
So if there is a spirit of religion in Christ's church today, it will certainly reveal itself in fear, in condemnation, in self-righteousness, in judging others, and in finding ways to exalt itself over the knowledge of God. The Gnostic heresy is one of those spirits of religion that boasts of its own knowledge and in delighting in thinking it has special or secret knowlege which it trusts in instead of God's grace and instead of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. The religious spirit of legalism is that which always seeks to make God just one more act of obedience away, always striving, always judging one's self, never being good enough, the idea that everything depends on me and that God is displeased with me.
If you are afraid of God punishing you, John says you have not entered into God's love. If you feel condemned by your unworthiness, you don't comprehend that the blood of Jesus is the worthiness by which you enter into the holy of holies. If you feel comfortable in your religion, you don't understand that you are not meant to rest in your own good deeds but to press in constantly to seek God's face and fresh revelations of His glory. If you feel the need to strive to acheive God's acceptance, you do not understand the finished work of the cross. If you feel like there is some special way to interpret scriptures that is necessary to understand the deeper hidden truth, then you are following a Gnostic spirit of religion rather than trusting God to say what He means and mean what He says. If you are trying to enter in by any other way other than the Gate, which is Jesus, and what He accomplished for you, then you are in unbelief; and without faith it is impossible to please God. You don't have to work to please God; only believe. Even if you could somehow work to earn His favor, what could you possibly give Him? What could you possibly do for Him? He has need of nothing, and therefore His offer of grace is actually and literally free. There is no way you could ever pay for it even if you had a thousand lifetimes to try. He knows you could never repay Him and yet He bids you to come and receive. He has already paid the price for the full restoration your soul and unlimited fellowship with Himself. None of it was because of your worthiness or your ability to pay.
Isaiah 55:1
Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
John 7:37-38
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
Matthew 11:28-29 "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."