Misunderstood Verses of the New Testament - Week 1
We are starting a new blog series called Misunderstood Verses of the New Testament. In this series we will be picking out 2-3 verses every week and then briefly reviewing them listing the problem, solution, a few notes, and teachings we have that go over the verse at least briefly in some way. We are kicking it off this week with a couple of verses from Matthew 5 & 7.
Matthew 5:17-20
Problem: Verse 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.
Yeshua says He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets; it is often taught or understood that “fulfill” means to come to an end, it is finished.
Solution: Verse 18: For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Nothing from the Law changes until heaven and earth pass away. Therefore fulfill cannot mean “to be completed” or “finished”. Instead it means to be made full, filled full of meaning, fully preached. Yeshua was the Word made flesh who taught and showed by example what the Law meant in its fullness and how it was to be applied. – For more on this topic, please see our teachings titled: Abolish or Fulfill, The Error of Dispensationalism, Heaven & Earth and the Law of God, Pleroo the Law, The Least, the Greatest, and the Defiant, Pauline Paradox 1: Is the Majority Ever Wrong?
Matthew 7:15-23
Problem: Verses 15-16: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
It is not always clear what fruit is and how to tell a false prophet. Some are taught that fruit is a large congregation, feelings of love, or only the Fruit of the Spirit.
Solution:
1 John 3:9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
1 Peter 1:23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
The fruit that we are to watch out for is the choosing to disregard God's law. Everything else can be blended but there is no blending the desiring to obey and the desiring to disregard God's Law. You either desire to obey it OR you desire to disregard it. It’s one or the other in the eyes of the Father. And remember, breaking one law is like breaking all of it. For more on this topic and section of Scripture, please see our teachings: Fruit of Wolves, No Law No Love, Pauline Paradox 1: Is the Majority Ever Wrong?, and Narrow Minded