Fulfill
by Brad Scott
One of the more controversial verses in the New Testament is found in Matthew chapter 5:
Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
We are all aware of how our religious friends interpret the word fulfill here. "Look! He did not come to destroy the Torah but to end it." In other words, He did not come to destroy the law but to destroy the law!
What does the word fulfill mean? The Greek word used here is pleroo (πληρόω). This downstream Greek word means to fill up or to make full. That ought to end the conversation right there. This is not the Greek word for the ending or ceasing of anything. When we take this word back to the beginning we see that it shows up first in Genesis chapter 1:
Bere’shiyt (Genesis) 1:22And ’Elohiym blessed them, saying Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill [pleroo] the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
The Hebrew word used here is mala' (מלא). In most americanized Hebrew lexicons this word also means to fill something up or to make full or complete. Pictographically, it is a mem (waters), a lamed (to lead to) and an aleph (power). This word means "the power to lead to the waters." Is it just happenstance that the first occurrence is life in the seas? You see, our Master created the seas, but it is just water without life in it. In other words, once life is added to the seas, He can now say that it is good. The same is true when all the creatures of the earth, including Adam and Chavah, are brought forth. The earth is not complete without life in it.
The religious systems of the day had turned the Torah into a rote system of rules and regulations that they had added to God's commandments. They moved the life out of the Torah. Yeshua', the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE, had come to restore life back into the Word of God. He came to fill it up to make it whole once again. Yeshua‘ came to restore the Torah back to HE SAID instead of THEY SAID.
Shalom Alecheim! ◊