What is the Relationship Between Jesus and the Law and the Prophets?

Is it correct to say that Christianity is a totally different religion than Judaism? What is the relationship between Jesus and the Law and the Prophets?

Jesus himself tells us that he did not come to abolish or destroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. In what sense does Jesus fulfill the Law and the Prophets?

This question will be the center of my message this coming Sunday morning. I will not give my response now! I hope you come this Sunday to hear what my response is to this question.

I do know that Jesus and the Apostles help to give clarity to this statement. Understanding of this statement is very important to how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus.

One thing I have observed over the years of studying the Bible is that there is continuity between the Old and New Testaments.

Without the Old Testament, the New Testament has no meaning. Without the New Testament, the Old Testament lacks fulfillment.

In Jesus’ day, he brought a radical message to his audience. The word radical refers to the roots of something. The roots of Jesus’ message is found in the Old Testament.

What is new is the reality of the person of Jesus. It is in him that there appears a new dynamic that revolutionizes the first hearers and many beyond that.

This revolutionary teaching is counter cultural and is available to all people groups. What started out with one nomadic family (Abraham) has now reached all around the world.

The “new wine” of the Gospel had to break out of the old wineskin of Judaism and continues to expand in many “wineskins” throughout this age!

 Pastor Fred