by 'scribes and Pliarisees' (v."")]. But there are difficulties. It is ' hard ' to think that our Lord ever exercised the supposed conscious detailed in- tellectual criticism of the OT as such (so the late A. B. Davidson, in ruin er.sil ion «i(li the present
writer's inform. An.l w,,ul,I 11,. have called
His paradoxi'- :i ■ ]iei f.rted ' l:i,« v They are at least as like a ' .le-l i ncii,,ii ' ,,f ih,. rr,,iii„' of law ! Moreover, we ha\e the reference to the ' prophets.' ((■) When ' fulfil ' is predicated of ' prophecy,' tlie sense is well known; the 'prophets' become the ))redoniinant partner in such a juxtaposition as ' to liiHil /inf mill /irif/i/irfx' ; and we have to think of the (»'l"s iiK.ial hi\\,L;iiiii- us a sort of type, ful- lilleil, whciL the woiil of tile propliets IS fulfilled, in (_'lnist's piiM)!!. [I'linsf mii/ the Jeivish Law tried in a paitiinl.ir an.iv to ( .m y through this meaning of ' fnllil J. • La« aii.l iiropliets' repeatedly occur together in ( hi i^ts wor.l-, esp. in Mt. (also at 7" ooju 111=^ Lie IG", ef. Lk 24^^). We can hardly doubt that our Lord Himself used the expression ; and it is probable, too, that He used it as a general designation for the OT. Still, it is conceivable that the Ei-ancjclist has brought in the phrase here. A further measure of critical surgery would then dis- miss (f), and leave the field so far to (re) and (b). But (d) we might raise a new possibility, either by exegesis, or if necessary by a minor form of critical excision. We might take Mt 5'"' either as spoken here in pure abstraction — ' I am not a tlestroyer but a fulfiller' — or as originally a separate loijion worked into this context by the E\ ,ui,L;elist.
In view of these rival interiirri.il ion, one might turn for help to tlie Epistles, lor, r-|ic, lally on ethical points, the teaching of CI ivi^t vi>iMy mu'ulds St. I 'aid's inculcation again and again. And in tlii.s w.iy ve might learn how the earliest Church nn.ler-l'ooa its Lord's words. Gal 5'* and Eo IS^-i" [see above], M-hile their use of wX-qpic^ suggests Mt 5", refer in substance rather to Mt 22''^"'"' [Mark's ||, (12^') omits the very element which lives in the Epistles — love to God and man not only the chief duty but the tchole of dnfij. In this c.nse the Epistles decidedly support Mt.'.s ti;iilil ion. In Luke (10") we have an unw ai lanle.l si|..,^,.stion that <Ac sc«6cs had alreailv ""\ en |o.jiili,r DtG'' with Lv 1918. Thus Luke's ti.Hlition hcie .seems still less exact. On Christ's oi iuin.ility in this matter, comp. Montefiore in ///A/" /■/ .lunnnil, Apr. 1905]. Commentators seem to tal^e C.il ,'."— 'all the law is fulfilled {■n-X-qpoSTai} in one word. Thou slialt love thy neighbour as thyself — as parallel not to Ro 13'' ('all the law is summed up — dvaKe- <jia\aioOTai—m Thou slialt love thy neighbour,' etc.), hut rather tow.*' '", 'Love xeirXijpwiv-e — is the ir\r)p!a/ia of the law.' St. Paul then takes fulfil = obey, as in (n), above. But does St. Paul's language really support ('O? Is there not something more than ii/i.ifiii,/ linr in the Pauline thought of 'fulfilment' (KoS')'.' Tlie requirement — SiKala/ia — of theLawis fnllillcil in those who walk not after the flesh but after the sjiirit. The utmost we can say is that Tr\-i]p6a, in the sense of ' fulfil,' had been given such currency in the Greek version of our Lord's words that St, Paul instinctively w-eaves it in when he is quoting another passage. Thus, after all, the evi- dence of the Epistles as to the original meaning of Mt 5" is neutral, or at any rate not decisive.
Summary. — In Mt 5'", then, Christ claims either
[a) to render a perfect obedience to law, or (b) to perfect the moral lawgiving of the OT, or (r) to fulfil absolutely the ideals of the OT generally, or (f^) to be in general a fulfiller r.ather tli.nn a de- stroyer, (re) is not without evidence in its support.
(b) is perhaps most Lcnrr.illy |.o]iiil,ii-, (. ) «c .are in- clined to ree:aril a.s .Inc to t In- iiiisi :il,rn inlriision in Mt 5'" of ['la«l "„,/ y„v,;,/„7,v,'-.«oi.U ,i..iihtless used by Christ tol tlie UT as a wliule ';) in other
628
FULFILISIENT
FULFILMENT
s. (rf) was on the whole supported in tlie above discussion— if necessary, at tlie cost of regard- ing V.'"' as by rights an independent lugion. (We have not discussed the extravagant suggestion that there was no Sermon on the Mount in Christ's ministry at all).
Ht 518. We li,'i\e quoted with sympathy a suggestion that this verse ou^lit t" )••■ «tni.k out of the context of Mt 6. But there is no iinMinl i ■( ]' nww^ ih.it it represents one of the sayings of Jt.-'i- ' ! : ' s ,:, I6I" ; and, besides that, all three Syno] .1 1 . 1, 1 it jilirase in tlie eschatological chapter. Thrj. 1 il sttoa%\ord — 'This genera-
tion shall ri'^! I - , I i f)i,'^.| thing's be accomplished
[yttrr,.'.. II. , • ! ■ !' -i ,!l |,i-- ;i«.iv, butmy words
shall I ' ■ '■!' -I • Ml. l:"'.M=Lk 2132-33).