Christ is Filling up the Law

Mat 5:17
"Don't think that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill."

This is an very interesting verse if we look at the original Greek. Almost every word in it has a deeper, more interesting meaning that what we read in English.

First, "destroy" is the Greek word kataluo, which means to dissolve, destroy, or specifically, in the case of referring to laws or customs, to annul or abolish.

Next, the word used for "law" is nomos, which means habitual use or custom, much more than it means formal laws. It also means legal statutes or the law of God, but the idea is more of common practices, the way things are done today.

Finally, we have "fulfill" or in Greek pleroo, which means to fill full of something, like being filled full of food. It also means to impregnate or make complete.

In the original, the sense is that Christ's mission was to fulfill the prophecies, but looking more deeply at the words, Christ is also saying that his job is to fill out the customs and laws, to make them more complete. In other words, before Christ, there were good customs and practices, but he is coming to make them better or more complete. And if you look at what Christ said, as we will on this blog, you will see that he explains each of the ten commandments in more details and how they are misinterpreted.

God's will and the true good are what is real. Our laws, customs, and prophecies are shadows of what are real, that is, what is good or Godly. Christ came to fill out our idea of what was godly or good because it was incomplete.