"One Jot or One Tittle!" by Holger Neubauer

One Jot or One Tittle!

by Holger W. Neubauer

The Lord said, “till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18). When Jesus referred to this jot, He referenced the Hebrew “yod” the smallest Hebrew letter. The “tittle” referred to a stroke of the pen by which some letters were distinguished. The language of Jesus is very powerful and clear. No part of the Old Testament could pass until it was all fulfilled. By what hermeneutic then, can anyone say that Jesus was only speaking about a part of the Old Testament? The very language forbids it.

Let us consider. When Jesus spoke of the “jot” and the “tittle” did He include prophecy? Did he include Isaiah 53 which foretold His suffering? Does the jot and tittle include Moses' prophecy of what would take place in the “latter days” of Israel (Deuteronomy 31:27)? Does this include the Gentiles coming into the kingdom (Isaiah 11:10)? If Jesus referred to the whole of the Old Testament, which is irrefutably true, then by what stretch of an unbalanced hermeneutic did Jesus exclude the prophecy of Zechariah 14:1-11 which foretold his return and destruction of Jerusalem? Why is not Daniel 12:2 included which speaks of resurrection? The whole of the Old Testament includes the whole of the Old Testament. Neither the Cross nor Pentecost satisfy the requirements of the “one jot” or “one tittle” of the Law.

The word “fulfilled” in Matthew 5:18 is genetai, 3rd p. sing., 2 aor., of ginomai. Rienicker and Rogers says of this word, “to become, to come to pass, to happen.” Jesus was predicting the whole of the Old Testament, “to become, to come to pass, to happen.” The very language demands that we include the prophecy of the Old Testament. Jesus used the same word in Matthew 24:34 which says, “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” The word fulfilled therefore includes prophecy! Jesus said in Luke 21:22, “These be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Again, by what unnatural stretching of Jesus' statement does anyone have the right to say that the Lord did not mean the whole of the Old Testament? He most certainly did. Jesus in fact included all prophecy in Matthew 5:18. Some attempt to use Psalm 102:25 as a prophecy that has not yet come to pass suggesting that the physical earth is the subject of the phrase, “They shall perish.” The context refers to Israel as Psalm 102:25 says, “the people which shall be created.” The heavens and earth is simply Hebraic poetry and   refers to Old Covenant Israel (Isaiah 51:16; Deuteronomy 31:27-32:1).

The Law certainly was done away by means of the Cross, but not at the Cross. This is what Colossians 2:14-17 teaches. Please read carefully, "Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, taking them out of the way, nailing them to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of holy day, or the new moon or of the Sabbath days: Which ARE a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

How could Paul say that the things of the law “ARE” a shadow of things to come if the law was done away? Paul uses the word “eimi” which has no past tense. If Paul meant to teach the Law was already past then, he could have used the word “eien” which means “past” or “were.” The body in this passage is the church (Colossians 1:18). Yet, the true picture of the church was still in the future because it still had remnants of the law in it. The true spiritual picture of the church was soon to be revealed. This is what Peter affirmed, as “salvation was to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). The salvation that was preached on Pentecost was about to be fully revealed! As God revealed the gospel the law was being done away!

Now please consider:

1.   Acts 6:14, The Jews accused Stephen of saying, “Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.” Why did these Jews accuse Stephen of saying that Jesus “shall change” the customs of Moses, when it would have been a stronger argument to say that Jesus “had” changed the customs Moses delivered? The laws had not been changed for the disobedient Jews. The only way to escape the condemnation of the Law was to obey the gospel. This is strong evidence that the Law was still in force when Stephen died.

2.   Acts 10:13, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” Why 8-10 years after Pentecost does Peter and the whole Jewish church still keep Old Testament dietary laws? If you answer ignorance, then you implicitly agree that ignorance buoyed the entire church and at the same time kept the Gentiles out of the church. This is not harmless ignorance. If this ignorance persisted for 8-10 years after being baptized today, could that person be in a saved state? Can one believe after being a Christian for 8 years that only the Caucasian race should have the gospel today? Prior to this event Peter and all the church considered the Gentiles an “unclean” people (Acts 10:28). Since God could have revealed this at Pentecost, we must conclude that it was God's will that the Jewish practices would continue in the church until such time that God saw fit to end them. God had to repeat the vision of eating the previously unclean meats three times before Peter got the message!

This passage demands an incremental revealing of God's word which in turn allows for a gradual doing away of the law for Jewish Christians.

3.   Acts 13:40,41 “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” How does Paul quote from a dead law (Hab. 1:5), to bring dead promises upon these disobedient Jews if the Law was dead to them? The Law was alive to the disobedient Jews, for the Law demanded they obey the prophet who was like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).

4.   Acts 15:21, “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” Why did the Jerusalem council make this statement? It was no doubt because the Jews as Jews continued to keep the practices of the Law. The argument that the apostles and elders settle is not whether the Jews had to keep the Law but whether or not the Gentiles had to keep the Law. What the council never debated was whether the Jews were to keep the Law. There was no lack of teaching about the Law in “every city” because Jewish Christians also attended synagogue on Sabbath day. If this is not an overlapping of laws, then what was it?

5.   Acts 21:20, “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law.” 15-20 years after Pentecost the Jewish believers in Judea are still following the law. Were all these Jewish believers apostates? Were they all spiritual adulterers? Or was the law still being practiced by Jewish Christians? God in His own time period was doing away with the Law. This verse alone is proof that the law must have went away gradually.

6.   Acts 22:12, “And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there.” Why was Ananias chosen to baptize Saul? Ananias was disciple, a Christian (Acts 9:10). How could he be devout according to the Law if he was a Christian? If the Old Law had passed for the Jews, Ananias could not have been called devout! God took a 40 year (A.D 30-70) period to incrementally reveal the truth, for the Jews simply could not bear the truth all at once! Did not Paul say, “we know in part and we prophesy in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9). Jesus said to the apostles, “I have yet many things to say to you now, but ye cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). The gospel was winding up while the Law was winding down.

7.   1 Corinthians 15:56, “the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.” If the law here is not the Law of Moses, then Paul is arguing that the strength of sin is the gospel. This would be nigh blaspheme. The gospel destroys sin, it was the Law of Moses that was the “ministration of death” (2Cor 3:7). I challenge every preacher with a conscience to think before he calls the strength of sin the gospel. The Old Covenant Law of Moses was the strength of sin and nothing else!

This verse is sufficient proof that the Law had strength until Jesus returned in AD 70.

8.   2 Corinthians 3:7, “which glory was to be done away.” Paul is referencing the glory which Moses received at Sinai. Paul is referencing the whole of the law including the whole of the Old Testament. The Greek “katargougamenou” is a present passive participle. Literally “being done away” as Zondervan's Parallel New Testament Greek affirms. The NKJV corroborates this use. The Old Law was passing away at that time. Paul's statement here taught false doctrine if the Law had passed away at the Cross. But Paul taught the TRUTH!

9.   2 Corinthians 3:11, The NKJV accurately translates that the law was “being done away.” The law was being done away as Paul wrote! I beg the reader to get out any Greek Interlinear and notice that the law was being done away!

 10.   2 Corinthians 3:18, “are changed into the same image from glory to glory.” The NKJV says, “are being changed.” The Jewish church was steadily taking on the spiritual change from glory to glory. Isaiah asks, “Can a nation be built in a day?”

(Isaiah 66:8). The traditional position avers Yes, and points to Pentecost, but God says NO, and points to the fall of Jerusalem. The A.D. 33 advocates are in a real bind here!

Notice now the continuity of thought of the Hebrew letter which tells us that the coming of the Lord would do away with the law.

  

'''     Hebrews 8:13''', “A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” How many times does God have to say it? The law was being done away! One critic avers that the law was being done away from the writer's perspective. Was not the writer an inspired man giving divine commentary? Only desperation can explain such misunderstanding!

Hebrews 9:28, “and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” This is the salvation that was “about to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). It was the last time when John wrote (1 John 2:18). This would take place at Jesus' second coming!

Hebrews 10:1, "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." Here Again we find the law is still active. The Hebrew writer could have easily said the law had a shadow of things to come, however, he couldn't say that if the law was still at work. Inspiration again affirms the Law still had force and this thirty years past the cross.

Hebrews 10:9,10, “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that he might establish the second.” This is another reference to the second coming of Jesus. Jesus was coming to take away the first (Old) testament to establish the second (New) Testament. This harmonizes beautifully with Matthew 17:1-5 as Jesus pointed to a time when His voice would be exclusively heard. Peter would say the Lord made known his coming on the “holy mount” (2 Peter 1:16-18).

Hebrews 10:37, “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” All three texts refer to the same coming. He was coming for salvation, to do away with the law, and He was coming in a very little while. The original has, “micron, hoson, hoson.” Literally, a little, little while. There is no justification for separating this coming from Jesus' second coming of the same context (9:28)! The second coming would take place in a “very little while.” This coming would do away with the Law!

Though the law was slowly disappearing for the Jewish Christians (the Gentiles were never under the law), the whole of the law would judge the disobedient Jews. This is how not one jot or tittle would fail till all be fulfilled. The law demanded that the Jews honor their prophet (Christ) or be destroyed (Deut 18:15-18). As the Jews obeyed the gospel they became “dead to the law” and escaped its condemnation (Romans 7:4). The law could no longer condemn them for they were free in Christ (Rom 8:1,2). Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” Notice the Law ended for “everyone” that became a believer.

But what of the law for the unbeliever? Those Jews who did not obey the gospel had the Law to condemn them, for their mouths were stopped by the Law (Rom 3:19). Every jot and tittle would come upon the disobedient Jews as their temple and life would be destroyed. Isaiah 66:11 says, “Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire.”  This came to pass when Jerusalem fell. Not one jot or title failed until all was fulfilled!

'''Now hear again Jesus' own words, “These be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled” (Luke 21:22).'''