Bible Strands
Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples and the crowds gathered on the mountainside, opening a section that will intensify the Law's demands (5:21–48).
The words — καταλῦσαι (katalusai) is a strong verb: to tear down, demolish, render void. Jesus rejects this as his purpose; the Law is not being dismantled but brought to its intended completion.
The thread — Romans 10:4 calls Christ the telos (end/goal) of the Law; Luke 16:17 echoes the permanence of every stroke of the pen; Galatians 4:4 grounds him "under the law" before sending him.
Why it lands — The verse forecloses the assumption that Jesus came to discard the Law, forcing the reader to take his subsequent "but I say to you" statements as intensification, not replacement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Cross-references
- Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.
- Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
- Galatians 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
- Romans 3:31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.
- Romans 8:4 so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Isaiah 42:21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
- Galatians 3:17 What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.
- Matthew 7:12 In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
- Hebrews 10:3 Instead, those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins,