When the Messiah began teaching at the very beginning of His ministry, he started by describing how a person becomes truly HAPPY.
He actually said, “Ashrei,” or HAPPY: אַשְׁרֵי עֲנִיֵּי ברוּחַ כִּי לָהֶם מַלְכוּת הַשָׁמָיִם : “Happy are those who are poor in spirit, for unto them is the Kingdom of Heaven given.”
And then He taught all the characteristics of the spirit of a person who follows God, along with that one: they who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteous living, they who are the merciful, those who are pure in their hearts, those who make shalom, and those who are persecuted for the sake of right living.
And after he basically identifies the characteristics expected of all His followers, who are thus ‘Happy,’ even if they are mourning or are persecuted, He then immediately says that He did NOT come to nullify, make void, abrogate, or abolish the Torah [words used in various translations], but to ‘fulfill’, make full, bring to pass, etc [words used in various translations].
The Aramaic Peshitta text gives us in Hebrew [sister language] לְמַלֵּא , l’maleh, which means at a basic level, ‘to fulfill’. However, Hebrew is far more dynamic, and that word is more properly rendered there “confirm”, especially since that is exactly what Yeshua begins to do starting in verse 21 of the same chapter [Matthew 5].
And, Yeshua ‘confirmed’ the Torah by His own actions, and by His own words. In fact, he told Yokhanan/John the Immerser those very words. John did not understand why Yeshua should be immersed by Him or anyone, but Yeshua said, just two chapters before our chapter here, ““Permit it now, for this is necessary for us, so that all tzedaka [all of the righteousness requirements] may be fulfilled;” לְמַלֵּא כָּל הַצְּדָקָה . So Yeshua is setting the example on how to ‘fulfill’ the Torah: by doing what it says to do! [Immersion (baptism) was already a practice in Israel, John did not invent it].
Over and over Yeshua cites the Torah and the Prophets to get the Jewish people to return to doing things God’s way, if He could just get them to listen. But, like most men, they did not listen to Him.
Yeshua spent three and a half years teaching the proper interpretation and practice of the Torah to His “Talmidim”, or “Torah Students”, whom most call ‘disciples’. He taught them as their ONLY RABBI [Mat 23:8]. They rejected ALL the other Rabbis in Israel, to follow Him and walk His Halakha.
We are supposed to walk Yeshua’s Halakha in the same way, or live our lives according to God’s law the way they did. Yokhanan the Talmid, the Shali’akh, John the Apostle, said so:
5But whoever keeps His Word , in Him truly is the love of God perfected. Hereby we know that we are in Him: 6he who says “I am in Him” ought himself also to walk His halakha. ~ 1 John 2
This was a very, very Jewish phrase, and it comes out that way even in the Greek. Most people just hate the idea of Yeshua being Jewish though.
So, WE are ALSO supposed not to nullify, make void, abrogate, or abolish the Torah. We are also supposed to CONFIRM it by our actions! And Paul SAID SO:
31What, then? Do we nullify the Torah through faith [trusting in God]? What profanity! On the contrary, we firmly establish the Torah! ~ Rom 3
Our lives are supposed to be like Yeshua’s. He is supposed to be our only Rabbi. We are supposed to do as He did. We are supposed to CONFIRM and ESTABLISH the Torah by our ACTIONS.
Yet most teachers are misleading their ‘followers’, teaching what Rabbis and their counterparts teach.
Be like Yeshua! When he ‘confirmed’ the righteous requirements of the law by immersing according to God’s instructions, the Spirit, the very powerful Presence and Breath of God, descended upon Him. That is true for us as well!