Matthew 5:18 Commentary and Bible Study

The law is perpetual. God says nothing that he later retracts. The Scriptures are all given, Old and New Testament, to all generations, until the end of the world. Christ cannot work against his own revelation, and it was he who gave the revelation of the law and the prophets through his Spirit; he cannot contradict anything that he has said before, for God cannot be inconsistent with himself. ‘Jot’ and ‘tittle’ refer to elements of the Hebrew calligraphy. The word ‘jot’ is a rough translation for the 10^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter yod. A tittle is a serif, a mark on a letter, to distinguish it from another similar letter. Nothing can ever change because it is perfect. If we break the least word, we lose hope of heaven and are condemned. If any say, this is minor, less important, then we are under judgment of God. Every letter is vital to him. Even though mistakes are made by scribes in the copying out of the word of God, God will ensure that what was originally given will come to pass. Yes, heaven and earth will pass away, and what seems to mankind the most enduring things of all will be no more, but the word of God is more stable even than these. God watches over his word, as it were, to ensure that it never fails. He made the heavens and the earth that now exist for a limited time, for a particular phase of his eternal plan, but one day they will have served their purpose, and ‘They shall perish … and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed’ (Hebrews 1:11-12), This will fill mankind with dread, when he begins to see it happening at the end. He will realise that he has placed his trust in things that are passing away. But the Son will endure forever: ‘thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail’ (Hebrews 1:12). His word will serve its intended purpose, and that purpose will be complete when every Scripture has been fulfilled, including those prophecies which refer to the end of the world, the return of Christ, and the final judgment. Then the law will pass, but not like the world which passes away as something tired and cursed, and which is unworthy to be kept. The Bible will pass in a different way, in that it will be swallowed up by a fuller and more wonderful revelation of God, but even then there will be no contradiction between anything that God has ever said before or will ever say in the future.