The most-often misinterpreted Scripture I see on Twitter, is Matthew 5:17-19, where atheists twist this passage out of context in order to have a pretext to claim the Bible contradicts itself, and provide a reason for atheists to focus 95% of their attacks on the Old Testament instead of the New.
But it's not just atheists misinterpreting this passage, it's also Christians who use this as support for keeping the Old Law of Moses.
Here is Matthew 5:17-19 in the NET Bible:
| "do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. |
| I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. |
| So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." |
The Correct Interpretation of Matthew 5:17-19, In Context:
We can find the correct interpretation by comparing Luke's account of the words Jesus spoke at Matthew 5:17-19:
LUKE 16:16-17 (NET): “The law and the prophets were in force until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urged to enter it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a letter in the law to become void."
Jesus' words are clearer and easier to understand in Luke's Gospel than in Matthew's, on this particular topic. When compared together, we can see Jesus teaching us that (in God's eyes) the Law of Moses was only in force until John the Baptist (compare Matthew 3:15), and since the time of John, Jesus the Author of the New Covenant, is able to change, edit, remove, or keep any parts of the Law He chooses. That is why we see Jesus editing, updating, and removing the Laws of Moses in Matthew 5:21-41, 19:7-9, and Mark 7:19.
Jesus did NOT say "heaven and earth would be destroyed before the Law is abolished," no, rather, what He actually said is that it is easier for heaven and earth to be destroyed than for the Old Law to be abolished WITHOUT being fulfilled. Reading comprehension is very important when studying the Bible; equally important is reading in-context.
Jesus is promising to preserve the written words of the Old Testament until every prophecy and allegorical foreshadowing is fulfilled (brought to completion). He came to earth to fulfill the written words and bring them to completion. In Matthew 5, Jesus nullifies some of the Laws of Moses, edits others, and keeps some in force, while giving the true, original, deeper meaning of them.
Jesus did keep many of the Laws of Moses in force (albeit, in somewhat different forms) up until His death and Resurrection, at which time the entire written Law of Moses was "nailed to the Cross," "taken out of the way," and "made obsolete." (Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 2:14-16; Hebrews 8:13)
The Law of Moses was never intended to be permanent, but was always just a temporary stopgap until the Messiah arrived (Galatians 3:23-26; Jeremiah 31:31-33), and it contained things which were NOT God's ideal standards (Matthew 19:7-9; Hebrews 8:7-8).
The Apostle Paul forcefully and repeatedly drove home the point that Christians are NOT obligated to obey the Law of Moses (Romans 4:13-14; Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:1-14; Galatians 4:8-12).
I'll wrap this up by quoting Paul's words from Galatians 5:1-6 (NET):
"For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love."
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