Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
This passage brings up a very important issue for Christians; that being whether Christians must follow the law, and if so, what laws must Christians follow. To come to an understanding of this issue we must first decide exactly what the 'Law' is. Here Jesus says the Law right beside the Prophets as if the two are one and the same. I think it would be a mistake to consider this 'Law' to be simply the Jewish law, or the laws given to Moses at Sinai. The meaning is much bigger and much broader, I believe. First, we have laws given from God even before the law at Mt Sinai. The first law was given to Adam (Gen 2:16-17), and then there were many laws given to men throughout the Old Testament, as well as teachings and commands from God. Then, immediately following this passage, Jesus gives commands to his followers, which would also be considered a part of the 'Law'. So I think there is good reason to define 'Law', within this context, as being the entirety of God's commandments. I don't say this to try to explain away the levitical laws, but there is good reason to think that Jesus meant much more with that word, especially considering that he accompanied it with 'Prophets'.
So what then? Should we obey the levitical laws? Well, first I think we must get a better understanding of the purpose of any of the Law, and then we'll try to answer what laws must be obeyed. The Law is not the end all. Jesus makes the point here that he did not come to abolish the Law, and so the Law still stands, but then He says He came to fulfill it. That means Jesus is the end all. Our focus should not be on the Law itself, except to look past it and see Jesus, but our one main aim in life should be to focus on Jesus, who came to earth to show us God. Paul wrote Galatians to correct this problem with them. Some among them were turning the Galatians away from Jesus and having them focus entirely on the law. That is why he wrote: 'All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." ' Paul was trying to get them to focus on Jesus and not so much on the law. He was not trying to abolish the Law, which is why he also wrote: 'Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not!' The Law has its proper place, which is to give us better understanding of righteousness and point us towards Jesus. If a person has yet to understand the inherit good and evil in different things, then that person has the Law to go by. But if a person does understand the inherit good and evil in different things, meaning he has gone past the Law to knowing right and wrong given to him from God by grace, then the Law is like a pleasant memory. Because the Law is not complete, and a person cannot be completely righteous by simply following the Law. A person must know Jesus and true righteousness by faith in Jesus to be complete.
But even though the Law is not sufficient to save us, we must still obey God's laws/commands. Jesus says in the last verse of this passage 'For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.' Its a bit hard to tell exactly what Jesus means by this, because He also makes it very clear, elsewhere, that the Pharisees and teachers of the law are in no way truly righteous. So it might not be that high of a standard to meet, but nonetheless, it is clear that Jesus demands righteous action. So what exactly? Well, I think we can certainly accept Jesus' teachings and commands to be applicable. There is absolutely no indication that they have ever been abrogated, and Jesus did speak only what the Father told Him to. Much of the levitical laws are upheld in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, and so I think we must follow those commands (the ones that are upheld that is). The Ten Commandments seem to be upheld by Jesus when he summed them up in the two most important commandments (Mat 22:37-40). The clean and unclean laws, however, have been abrogated. You can see this in Mark 7:18-19. Of course there is some debate over this, and I'm not really qualified to settle the debate. I believe Christians can disagree, to a certain extent, over which laws apply to us or not. Let each person read the Bible, trust the Lord, and determine what they should do. But always remember that the most important commandment is to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
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