By Every Word: The Law Fulfilled, the Heart Reforged
How Christ transforms the Commandments to lead us from despair into joyful obedience.
“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.” — Matthew 5:17
We live in an age that longs for a gentle Jesus—meek, forgiving, and affirming—but often resists the Jesus who commands, convicts, and corrects.
Yet the true Christ is all of these, and more: both gentle and holy, forgiving and refining.
Many want a Christ who saves them from guilt, but not from sin itself. But Jesus doesn’t offer half of Himself. He came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it perfectly, entirely, and personally.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t relax God’s commandments. He deepens them. The Law forbade murder; He condemns hatred. The Law forbade adultery; He calls out lust. He reveals that God’s Law was never merely about outward obedience, but about the inner life: our desires, our loves, our fears. The Law isn’t just a boundary. It’s the very shape of love itself.
And in Christ, this Law is no longer our condemnation but our calling.
The Heidelberg Catechism reminds us in Q&A 114–115 that even the holiest among us only have but a small beginning of obedience. Yet God commands it so that we might learn two things: the depth of our need for Christ, and the pattern of life that pleases Him. The Law drives us to grace—and then guides us in gratitude.
Christ has fulfilled the Law for us and now begins to fulfill it in us. He’s not merely our righteousness, but also our sanctification. More than just a pardon, the Gospel is the power to live a new life. In Him, we’re not only freed from sin’s penalty but unto holiness.
So we don’t throw off the Law as if it were a burden. In Christ’s perfect sacrifice, it becomes a blessing. His commands aren’t chains, but the very shape of grace—leading us into true humanity, full life, and joyful obedience.
Reflections
In my flesh, I often resist them. The old man in me kicks against the goads, imagining freedom lies in self-will. But the more I walk with Christ, the more I learn that His commands aren’t merely weights to drag me down. They’re wings that teach me how to fly. They aren’t bars in a prison, but rails on a mountain path keeping me from the cliff’s edge, guiding me toward the heights of joy.
What once felt like death to self becomes, in Him, life to the soul.
Because when I see what He commands, I see what He endured. Every “You shall not” that I’ve broken, He bore in full. Every demand of holiness He met with joy. The Law shows me the perfection of Christ, and the depths of His love—that He fulfilled it not only for me, but in place of me.
And now, with His Spirit within me, I begin to desire what He desires. I no longer see in the Law a cold code, but the contours of His own heart: holy, just, good.
I’ve learned that repentance isn’t despair; it’s daily return. Obedience isn’t drudgery; it’s delight. The Law convicts me, but only so I might be led again to the cross, where mercy meets me anew. And each time I return, I don’t come as a slave cowering before a master, but as a child welcomed by a Father.
Through water, the sign and seal marked me as His. Through the Spirit, He drew me near. And now, by fire, He purifies what He has claimed.
So I rejoice in the fire—burning away the dross, kindling love, and reforging me, day by day, into the likeness of the One who fulfilled the Law with nail-pierced hands.
Prayer
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit—who in mercy redeems, in power sanctifies, and in love perfects His people, now and forever. Amen.
Further Reading — Heidelberg Catechism Q&A
Question 113. What doth the tenth commandment require of us?
Answer. That even the smallest inclination or thought, contrary to any of God's commandments, never rise in our hearts; but that at all times we hate all sin with our whole heart, [Rom. 7:7-25] and delight in all righteousness.
Question 114. But can those who are converted to God perfectly keep these commandments?
Answer. No: but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of this [Rom. 7:14] obedience; yet so, that with a [Rom. 7:15-25; James 3:2] sincere resolution they begin to live, not only according to some, but all of the commandments of God.
Question 115. Why will God then have the ten commandments so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them?
Answer. First, that all our lifetime we may learn [1 Jn 1:9; Rom. 3:20; Rom. 5:13; Rom. 7:7] more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin, [Rom. 7:24] and righteousness in Christ; likewise, that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us, in a life to come. [1 Cor. 9:24; Phil. 3:12-14]
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