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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 5:17 - 5:17
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17–20. The poetical form traceable throughout the Sermon on the Mount is especially observable here. οὐ καταλῦσαι and πληρῶσαι are the key-words. The γὰρ in v.18 (ἀμὴν γάρ) introduces an explanation of οὐ καταλῦσαι: the second γὰρ in v.20 (λέγω γάρ) carries out the thought of πληρῶσαι. Then note to what a height the contrasting climax rises. So far from being a κατάλυσις of the whole law, not a jot or tittle shall pass from it (Mat 5:18). So far from Christ himself destroying (καταλῦσαι) the whole law, if his followers break even (λῦσαι, a weaker word) a single one of the least of the commandments he shall be least in the Kingdom. So also in Mat 5:20, περισσεύῃ is an advance even on πληρῶσαι, which in itself is more than οὐ καταλῦσαι.
πληρῶσαι. To give the full and true meaning to the law: not to extend or develop it so much as to teach the deep underlying principles of it. Thus St Paul says, πλήρωμα οὖν νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη, Rom 13:10.