Is "until heaven and earth pass away" from Matthew 5:18 an idiomatic expression?

Question

Matthew 5:17 and 18 from the NASB:

Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

I've heard a common interpretation of this verse is that Jesus was referring to the "moral law, not the "ceremonial law," and so Christians today are justified by disregarding things like Sabbath days. But I have a hard time believing that this distinction between the two is the intended message (I don't think that they even had a distinction to represent the two ideas). Though if I am wrong please show me.

I am wondering if "until heaven and earth pass away" is simply an idiomatic expression that would mean something like "[unless] heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

If this is correct, than we might understand that all was accomplished at Jesus' death and resurrection, and that now the letters and strokes of the written code are fading.

Answer 1

There is a similar expression which appears a few times in the gospels, as pointed out by Ellicott's Commentary. That expression is, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." (Mt. 24:35, Mk. 13:31, Lk. 21:33). Jesus makes it clear, repeatedly, that heaven and earth will indeed pass away. I think this sheds some light on Matthew 5:18, as it corroborates the idea that he is speaking literally: until heaven and earth pass away, we must obey the law.

But the law is more than people thought it was. We must consider what comes next in the sermon. Jesus goes on to deliver the Six Antitheses. He shows his audience how people do not really understand what is meant by "Thou shall not murder". Because if you are so much as angry at your brother, then you have committed murder in your heart. The rest of the antitheses are in this vein; upending what was thought to be correct at the time.

There are differing views among Christians about which parts of the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses) still apply. Many (if not most) believe that the ceremonial law has been abolished, and only the moral law still applies. Mark 3:1-6 can be used to argue that keeping the Sabbath is no longer a divine requirement.

But getting back to your original question, the idea that heaven and earth will pass away occurs no less than four times in the gospels. Each time, the expression has nearly identical diction: ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ ("heaven and earth") combined with a form of παρέρχομαι ("to pass away"). Thus "until heaven and earth pass away" is not a proper idiom, as the intended meaning is the literal meaning. It is, however, a recurring idea.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the expression is not idiomatic.

Since Jesus obviously redefined the emphasis of religious life in many areas, being concerned particularly with the 'spirit' of religious life, I consider his reference to the 'Law', here, was certainly moral (rather than ceremonial).

John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

---

Mark 7 The Pharisees... saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were... unwashed... the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”... He replied: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’

In other words, as long as the heavens & the earth exist, the essential & universal moral law will always be as it is; never changing. As Galatians 6.7 states: "Do not be deceived, you cannot make a fool out of God, each person reaps what he sows".

Therefore, when ask how to attain eternal life, Jesus replies:

‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 19.8

The above are the fundamental essential moral laws found in every genuine religion; being reflective of the psychological creation or make up of a human.

Any aspect of the Jewish Torah which, when transgressed/not upheld, does not defile the human heart can be dispensed with because it is only the law of man rather than the Law of God.

About defiling the human heart, it was said:

Mark 7:20-22 What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

Answer 3

In a cursory perusal of a couple of commentaries I did not find any suggestion that "'til heaven and earth shall pass away" was used idiomatically to mean something other than what it literally says but "heaven and earth" is a common idiom referencing the biodome and everything in it created in Genesis 1:

Young's Literal Translation Gen 2:4 These are births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens;

In other words, "heavens and the earth" is a synecdoche includes not only the skies and the land but also everything in it, so when Moses wants to speak of just the land and the skies he reverses the order to indicate he is not speaking idiomatically. We see the same order reversal in Hebrews to indicate literal blood and flesh as opposed to "humanity":

Westcott and Hort / [NA27 variants] ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχεν τῶν αὐτῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ θανάτου καταργήσῃ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, τοῦτ' ἔστι / ἔστιν τὸν διάβολον,

http://biblehub.com/interlinear/hebrews/2-14.htm

Not understanding that most translations mistakenly (and to my mind, recklessly) render it "flesh and blood":

http://biblehub.com/hebrews/2-14.htm

But there is a usage in Jeremiah (which actually appears to be a later addition) that is quite a similar usage and in the sense which you are investigating:

NASB Jeremiah 31: 35Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for light by day And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: 36"If this fixed order departs From before Me," declares the LORD, "Then the offspring of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever." 37Thus says the LORD, "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel For all that they have done," declares the LORD.…

The point (and again, this does not seem to originate with Jeremiah) seems to not be providing the timing or conditions but rather the impossibility that God will ultimately reject the Jews (and violate his covenant with Abraham).

So the point of Matthew 5:17-18 is that Jesus is not going to participate in "binding and loosing" as his rivals, the Jewish leaders were wont to do. That is, he was not going to "practicalize" the Torah by making its more difficult precepts non-binding ("loosed") or as we might say "loosened". Instead he says he came to restore the integrity of the law by resetting all the "binding and loosing" and make the full implications of the Torah solidly established.

The accommodations made by the Jewish leaders, including the very meticulous Pharisees made Torah observance more relative and fuzzy and negotiable and thus more comfortable. Jesus however brought out the many ways that the Torah was profoundly immediate and demanded that the Jews immediately change and repent, which I'll not go into here.

However, his intention was not promote a more meticulous observance of the Torah but rather to evoke a realization of and repentance for sin and a new heart for God and to create despair of being righteous with God without changing their behavior and appealing to God for the mercy and power available only through the "grace and truth" that "came through Jesus the messiah".

Answer 4

Just to add on to what some of these people have said, since I can't comment yet, no I don't believe it was an idiomatic term. There were multiple times that the bible describes the end times. "The end of the age" and "... the heavens and earth have come to pass" as well as "the end of time" all come to mind -- David's visions, Jesus speaking to his disciples and Revelation as some examples.

This gives us a clear idea that the heavens and earth would cease to exist as we know it. For example, The book of Revelations gives a better idea for Christians of what would come to pass and how things would change. Without getting too far into the topic of end times and digging out dozens of specific quotes, suffice it to say that it was meant more literally.

Where I disagree is with many of the Christian interpretations of what the meaning of Matthew 5:18 is. First, remember that Yeshua (Jesus) was a rabbi and thus learned in the scripture. This becomes important because it means he also had a very good understanding of the scripture and the implications of different interpretations as well as being one with YHWH/God/G-d. Thus many Christians interpret "...the law" as being the commandments. This doesn't make sense as Yeshua would have said as much. Rather "The law" was understood to be much more than the 10 commandments, in fact if we look back we can see the 10 commandments were given to us in Genesis:

• Don't worship other gods - Genesis 35:2

• Do not make any idols - Genesis 31:30

• Do not misuse the name of God - Genesis 24:3

• Keep the Sabbath holy - Genesis 2:3

• Honor your father and mother - Genesis 27:41

I could keep going but I think the point is made. I am assuming for this discussion that we will agree in the linear nature of most of the initial books of the Bible/Old Testament. All that to say that the ten commandments were the first of the law to be written down. These laws are seen in many other laws but what they lack is to love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself (the great commandments). Since Yeshua gives us these as great commandments that are found after the 10 commandments (Deut. 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 respectively) and the background of Yeshua it is safe to assume that "the law" was more than the initial 10 commandments and also what many refer to as "ceremonial law."

I do agree with Ruminator that it had to do with binding and loosening of the law. If you take a look into that you find that many of what was being taught was tradition and not actually part of the law. So while he clarified the meaning, which did make some things more difficult, it also made others easier -- such as helping others on the Sabbath as opposed to the understanding prior to that.

Without getting too much more unwieldy in my response I will summarize that Yeshua never meant for there to be a split between "Jews" and "Christians" rather that Yeshua came to fulfill the law and the prophets (old testament) and the Jewish belief. That Christians have been grafted into the family of Christ which is the chosen people of YHWH/God/G-d

The Real Yesua is a good reference for Christians who are interested in looking at an interpretation contrary to the commonly accepted theological perspective on Matthew 5:18.

Side notes:
While the "New Testament" is written in Greek it is almost certain that Yeshua and his disciples spoke Aramaic and/or Hebrew during the time Yeshua was alive. This is important when determining the meaning of what was said prior to the spreading of the word after Yeshua's death.

Answer 5

There are two separate questions here -- A) "what does it mean for the Law (of Moses) to last as long as heaven and earth" and B) "Do Christians need to keep the Law?"

A) "Heaven and Earth" is an idiom for creation. The idea is that the law is a shadow in creation of what is eternal and thus outside creation (Heb 10.1). God revealed himself to Moses and said "build according the pattern you see" (Heb 8.5). Moses, on the mountain, was by God's grace able to pierce the veil of flesh and see "a similitude" of God, and of course God lives in the Temple. Thus Moses saw, if only a glimpse, the true temple which is spiritual, and its eternal service. And then he instructed Israel to make a copy of the temple and service he saw, which contained patterns modeled after the true ways of drawing near to God and performing proper service. God instructed him to do this.

Thus the Law is like a two dimensional painting of a three dimensional person, that you give to your family, so that they know a little about him, even if they never met him like you did. But all second hand copies of what is eternal will pass away when creation is rolled up - all the copies will be rolled up with it. When we die and exit creation, the Law of Moses does not follow us.

This is the transition to the second part.

B) Christians keep the law perfectly 100% of the time, because we are dead, and the law doesn't apply to a dead man.

Romans 7:1–6 (KJV 1900)

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? 2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Rather, Christ in us lives, and he has kept the law perfectly.

Which is not to say that there is no law at all for Christians to keep. The one law we must keep is that we are dead and our life is Christ. But that is the only law, since if it is kept, then all other laws will automatically be kept, not by us, but by Christ.

This is in contradiction to anyone else born after Christ. They cannot keep the law because the sacrifices are no longer being offered. You have to ignore vast swathes of the law to think sacrifices are not necessary to keep the law, or that the shedding of blood exactly in the prescribed ways and by the specified priests and on the specified days is not necessary for the remission of sins, for purification from uncleanness, or for giving any of the offerings, which are required for us to draw near to God. You might as well burn up all of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Exodus, Numbers, and really even Genesis, too. Whatever law you are keeping will not be the Law of Moses. It will be your own personal law, or the law of someone you admire, but then you would be the one thinking you don't need to keep the Law of Moses.

So no one else could keep the law after Christ's crucifixion, even as a matter of principle. The veil was torn, and the sacrifices became ineffectual. And just to put a big exclamation mark on the Law, God destroyed the temple and made it impossible for even the most literal minded person to ever try to keep the law again - I think that was a special shout out to the Pharisees:

y. Yoma 6:3, I.4–5 JT:TC

4.I:4: It has been taught: Forty years before the destruction of the Temple the western light went out, the crimson thread remained crimson, and the lot for the Lord always came up in the left hand. They would close the gates of the Temple by night and get up in the morning and find them wide open. Said [to the Temple] Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, “O Temple, why do you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. “For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!’ ” (Zech. 11:1).

Answer 6

I have studied the Scriptures for 60 years! I was 1st introduced to the concept of Jesus fulfilled the Law and in doing so, the Mosaic Law was completed. We are not talking about the 10 commandments but the signs and prescribed times in the creation of the Sun, Moon and Stars! Those prescribed times set the 7 days, the week, the months, and the year! 24 hour days of darkness and light, 6 days of labor and the 7th day of rest, the moon cycle of approximately 29.5 days, the yearly cycle of 52 weeks, 364 days! With this in place, Seven Feasts or Holy Days were demanded by God to be kept by the nation exactly as He commanded in the Law He gave to them! Jesus was the Passover Lamb, the Unleavened Bread, the First Fruits of Harvest, the Feast of Weeks signaling the Harvest, the Feast of Trumpets signaling time for Judgment, the Day of Atonement signaling the separation of the goats from the sheep and completing His fulfilling the Law is the Feast of Tabernacles signaling He is in His faithful followers as they are in Him! The most important day of Trumpets is the Eighth, the last great day, a day of joy celebrating eternal life of the Family of God!

The Law was fulfilled and heaven and earth, the old law of animal sacrifices performed by priests passed away leaving what was foreseen and told in the Law. The Kingdom of God is here since 70AD. A New City of God, Jerusalem, a New Heavens, Spiritual house of God, a New Earth, the Spiritual church of God, no longer a physical temple on earth with preists and animal sacrifices!

Answer 7

The reference to the passing away of “heaven and earth” must be considered in light of the establishment of that same “heaven and earth” in Isaiah 51:

¹⁵ "I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea whose waves roared–The LORD of hosts is His name. ¹⁶ And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, That I may plant the heavens, Lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, 'You are My people.'”

The LORD was not depicting the original physical creation 3,000 years previously, but rather the establishment of the old (Mosaic) covenant upon bringing His people out of Egypt. cf. Jeremiah 31:32.

This is clearly metaphorical. The same is true of Isaiah 65:17, and Isaiah 66:22, for the context in all these places confines the reference to Jerusalem and the people of God. [Milton S. Terry, footnote in Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 489]

Interpreting “heaven and earth passing away” in Matthew 5:18 as the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple fits with the rest of the New Testament prophecy paradigm, which is the transition of the ages from the Old to the New Covenant. Our Lord spoke of Israel (the “heavens and earth” of Isaiah 51:16) passing away, as the old covenant would become a thing of the past.

And while to some it may seem a stretch to refer to Jerusalem as “heaven and earth,” Jesus will more explicitly make this application in Luke 21:32–33: after describing the coming destruction of Jerusalem vividly, Jesus adds, “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” This is a clear reference to Jerusalem that would in fact (“will”) pass away and would do so within Jesus’ generation. The meaning is certainly the same in Luke 16:17. [and Matthew 24:35 -GG]. The Law itself was eternal and would stand as the bar by which Jesus would sue that generation’s adulterous expression of the Law. [Joel McDurmon, Jesus Vs Jerusalem, pdf p. 108]

Answer 8

Of course the Lord makes an absolute difference between ceremonial law and the moral or ontological (for morality in Christianity is not conventional but based on divine commandment that comes from the One who is the founder of existence of the universe) law, of course! Washing of hands before eating, respecting mother and father only by giving them sustenance, not eating pigs, or reprimanding a person who heals a dysfunctional hand for violating Sabbath, and craziest of all: having a murderous intent against an innocent man, leading him to a sadistic death on a cross and ceremonially caring not get tarnished (!) by standing on an "unholy place" of Roman authority (as if they were not already thoroughly tarnished to their last atom by this murderous and sadistic intent itself!) - all those stupidities and ceremonial idolatries did the Lord dismantle and abolish, all of them!

His Law is that of inner heart's motivations, for you can ceremonially not kill but still be a murderer due to giving in your heart a shelter to an ignominious smoldering pusillanimous hatred towards your neighbor who has wronged against you (was not it 1000 times better to blaze with him in a decent duel, even if duels also aren't a praiseworthy thing, kill him or be killed by him in this noble manner than to be such a naughty man living shamefully with a poison of a stealthy vindictiveness, which you haven't even a courage to fulfill? Ha?!).

As to the heaven and earth, it is possible that it has not at all idiomatic, but a literal sense and Lord here implies that until the history still continues and until "the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells" - as Peter says - has not yet arrived, even the moral/ontological Law is to be fulfilled by means of efforts. But if man becomes perfect in Christ, then he becomes like Him, the heavenly King, God and kings and gods are not under any Law, they are completely free and their very existence coincides with goodness. Thus, history still continues and moral law still will be there until we become gods in our God Jesus Christ, and then this heaven and earth will fade away and new ones will substitute them for all eternity.

Answer 9

Yes. It is determined from the context of the scriptures, and the source is from the Old Testament. Depending upon the subject matter, both "heaven" and "earth" could mean and did mean different things.

Heaven could be the realm where God sits on His throne, as in Deu. 4:39,

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. (KJV)

Or it could mean the rule and authority of kings/queens and their royal houses, as in Isa. 13:5,

“They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.” (KJV)

Isaiah was speaking to the king of Babylon and telling of the fall of Babylon in chaps 13 & 14. In 13:5, "the end of heaven" referred to the borders of the king's rule over his land. So, heaven here was Babylon's kingdom.

It was a type of heaven in that God allowed the king to rule above and over the people of the land of Babylon (or any nation), and that the kingdom /rule was higher than the common or ordinary people of the "earth" over which the king ruled.

Most often, in the Old Testament, "earth" was synonymous with Israel. But, it stood for the land or the people who occupied the land to whom God was speaking, as in Isa. 1:1-2,

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

We identify that the prophet is speaking to Judah and Jerusalem, or the people of both. In verse 2 he calls both the "heavens" and the "earth" of Judah and Jerusalem to hear the words of God. The "heavens" were the kings and rulers of Judah, and the "earth" was the ordinary people dwelling in Judah, the tribe of Judah.

So, we have to identify the people who were being warned of judgment, who the prophet was sent to, and was speaking with to know which "heaven" or king and which "earth" or land was under judgment.

Micah 1:2,

Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. (KJV)

The people of the first half of the couplet were synonymous with the "earth" in the second half of those who were called to hear. And verse 1 tells us that those were the people of Samaria and Jerusalem.

Then God used both "heaven and earth" together as the covenant, the promise between the two, as in Deu. 4:26,

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” (KJV)

What was going to witness against the tribes of Israel but their covenant with God? Moses was reminding, exhorting them to keep the commandments of God, their covenant with God throughout all of chap. 4. Keeping the covenant was the subject of the entire chapter, so if they broke that covenant it would be used to charge them with their sins.

In discussing the return from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild Jerusalem, Isa. 65:17-18,

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (KJV)

The new heavens and new earth of Isa. 65 was the renewing of their agreement to live according to the commandments of God, the system He provided for their return to Jerusalem under the conditions of keeping His laws. He did not literally destroy the entire earth and recreate it again for their return to Jerusalem.

It looked forward to the new heavens and new earth of the new covenant of the gospel of Christ, under the everlasting kingdom of Christ. The old heaven and earth was the old covenant law with the tribes of Israel. So, when Christ said in Matt. 24:35,

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (KJV)

He was not referring to the literal heavens nor the literal earth. He was speaking of the change in the covenants from the old to the new. The old covenant was going to have to pass, and that is what all of Hebrews spoke of... the waxing and aging of, the passing away of the old covenant law. It was replaced with the new covenant of the gospel of Christ, which fulfills the old covenant.