"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).