Matthew 5

Jesus answers a rumor before it hardens: He has not come to scrap Moses and the Prophets. Abolish is denied twice; “fulfill” names His mission—bringing the Scriptures to their intended goal in His person, teaching, and work.

The passage carries continuity of God’s moral will under grace. Ceremonial shadows find their end in Christ, yet the holy demand of love is not repealed. Fulfillment means clearer light and Spirit-enabled life, not license to ignore what God has spoken.

The King of the new covenant refuses antinomian caricature. Law and Prophets stand; Christ claims to complete them as covenant Lord—filling what they pointed toward and embodying their righteousness.

Fulfillment includes His perfect obedience and the unveiling of Scripture’s true aim. He does not invent a rival religion; He brings Israel’s story to its Messiah and makes the written word stand firm under His authority.

“Most certainly” seals certainty: heaven and earth are the horizon; the smallest stroke of the Law is safer than the cosmos. “Until all things are accomplished” looks to God’s purpose completed—not a loophole that empties commandments early.

God’s will does not wobble with fashion. Disciples may trust that every jot matters, and that grace aims at the righteousness the Law always sought, not at a cheaper path around holiness.

Iota and dot are proverb for total permanence. Scripture’s authority is not provisional until a more lenient teacher arrives; Christ Himself stakes creation’s endurance on the Law’s standing until God’s design is finished.

Comfort: the very Lord who will accomplish all things upholds His word. Believers rest under a Law that has found its Yes in Christ, not under a God who shrugs at what He once wrote.

“Therefore” ties status in the kingdom to handling God’s commands. Relaxing even a “least” precept—and teaching others to do so—earns the title least; doing and teaching earn greatness. Example and doctrine travel together.

Arminians press a serious warning: grace does not authorize soft peddling sin. Teachers and hearers are responsible under assisting grace to keep and commend the Lord’s word. Common reading: greatness is measured by fidelity, not by clever exemptions.

Kingdom ranking tracks fidelity to the King’s law. Dissolving obligation—especially while instructing others—is not gospel freedom but rebellion dressed as insight.

Those Christ brings into the kingdom are still under the law to Christ as a rule of life. Doing and teaching flow from hearts the Spirit renews; antinomian “least” is exposed as empty profession, while greatness reflects Spirit-wrought obedience under the Mediator.

Entry language is blunt: without a righteousness greater than the scribes’ and Pharisees’, no one enters. Their reputation for exactness is not enough; Jesus will soon show how heart-deep the Law always was.

The call is sincere and searching. Prevenient and assisting grace enable a surpassing righteousness—inward holiness and love that outstrip external religion. The warning is grave; the gospel offers power to walk in what God commands, not a shrug that Pharisaic form was already enough.

“Enter” bars self-made religion. Pharisaic righteousness, however meticulous outwardly, cannot open the kingdom. What exceeds it is first of all alien righteousness—Christ’s obedience counted to sinners—and then Spirit-wrought heart-obedience that the Law always required.

Imputed righteousness grounds entry; sanctifying grace produces a life that the Pharisees’ glosses never reached. The Sermon that follows does not raise the bar beyond Moses; it restores Moses against hypocrisy and drives hearers to the only righteousness that avails before God.