Not One Jot Or One Tittle Shall Pass, Until It Is All Fully Accomplished– Jesus, Matthew 5:17-18
The Passing of Torah and Modern Christianity
One of the most commonly held views in evangelical Christianity is that the law of Moses passed away in the first century. Most say it passed at the cross. That is, most Christians do not believe that we must offer animal sacrifices, practice physical circumcision, or travel to Jerusalem three times a year on pilgrimage. Nor do they, when pressed, believe that we live under the Law of Blessings and Cursings of Deuteronomy 28-30. See my YouTube video on this last issue.
The total inconsistency of most Christians in regard to the passing of Torah is something not considered by most commentators. It is one of the most glaring, important issues in theology, but, most seem oblivious to it. In my new book Torah To Telos: The Passing of the Law of Moses, I take note of how critical this issue truly is.
The Passing of Torah– None Shall Pass Until All Is Fulfilled
I want to make one brief point here: Whatever part of Torah that you say has passed, then of necessity, that part of Torah had to come to pass. Catch the power of that statement!
Jesus said Not one iota of the Law of Moses would pass until it was all fully accomplished (genetai). The word genetai does not mean to determine, to predict or anything similar. It means to bring to be, to accomplish, to bring to realization, thus, to fulfill.
In light of this, consider. Virtually all Christians say that Israel’s sacrificial cultus, the New Moons, Feast Days and Sabbaths have passed away.
The Passing of Torah: What Has Passed Has Come to Pass!
Okay, before a single iota of Torah could pass, that part of Torah had to be fully accomplished. Remember, those feast days were “shadows of good things about to come” (Colossians 2/ Hebrews 9:6f). In other words if the New Moons, Feast Days and Sabbaths have passed, then what they foreshadowed has been fully accomplished.
But, the New Moons, Feast Days and Sabbaths foreshadowed the final judgment, consummation of Atonement and the resurrection.
Therefore, if Israel’s New Moons, Feast Days and Sabbaths have been annulled, then the final judgment, consummation of Atonement and the resurrection has been fully accomplished.
Do you catch the power of that?
Jesus’ words are emphatic, undeniable and explicit. No part of Torah would pass until the full accomplishment of the law. So, if you affirm, as, for instance Kurt Simmons did in our formal debate, that the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Law passed at the cross, then of absolute logical necessity, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law– meaning what they foreshadowed– have been fully accomplished. And to reiterate, that demands that the final judgment, consummation of Atonement and the resurrection has been fully accomplished.
Or, if you affirm, as Simmons did, and as Jerry McDonald did in our written debate, that those sacrifices passed at the cross, then the final judgment, consummation of Atonement and the resurrection was fulfilled at the cross! Of course, that is untenable.
Again, Jesus’ words are clear, undeniable and explicit: no part of Torah would pass until Torah came to pass. Whatever part of the Law of Moses that you affirm passed at the cross, you must, logically, affirm the full accomplishment of that part of Torah. To affirm therefore, the passing of Israel’s sacrificial, ceremonial, festal cultus demands the consummation of all that her cultus foreshadowed: the final judgment, consummation of Atonement and the resurrection. has been fully accomplished.
The part of Torah that passed had to have come to pass. This is irrefutably true. And this truth nullifies the idea posited by Simmons and others that the sacrifices passed at the cross, and it falsifies all futurist eschatologies.