"그러나 나는 너희에게 말한다"

"But I say to you" -Jesus and the Law in the Six Antitheses (Mt. 5:21-48)

For the Christians the Old Testament law is not easy to apply to their life as well as to understand. The six antitheses (Mt. 5:21-48) along with the programmatic pericope (Mt. 5:17-20) are undoubtedly of crucial importance for the understanding and application of the Old Testament law. After briefly investigating Mt. 5:17-20, this article focuses on Mt. 5:21-48. The investigation draws the following conclusions. First, all the provisions of the theses being in contrast with the antitheses are from the Old Testament law itself. Second, Jesus' teaching in the first group of antitheses (i.e., 1st, 2nd, and 6th) neither merely affirm the Old Testament law nor abrogate it but rather transcend them by internalizing, radicalizing or extending them without weakening their literal force. These are some illustrations of Jesus' fulfillment of the law, that is, fulfilling the ultimate will of God, to which the law pointed forward. Third, the second group of antitheses (i.e., 3rd, 4th, and 5th) do not involve contradiction to or abrogation of the Old Testament law. They rather reveal the original will of God behind the law. This, however, results in setting aside certain literal provisions of the law, because they were for the people of the old age. Jesus' fulfillment of the law, however, has enabled the disciples to attain the ideal will of God, and consequently those provisions for the old age are no longer suitable or necessary for them.