These verses wear on first view a Judaistic look, and have been regarded as an interpolation, or set down to the credit of an over-conservative evangelist. But they may be reconciled with Matthew 5:17, as above interpreted. Jesus expresses here in the strongest manner His conviction that the whole O. T. is a Divine revelation, and that therefore every minutest precept has religious significance which must be recognised in the ideal fulfilment. Ἀμὴν, formula of solemn asseveration, often used by Jesus, never by apostles, found doubled only in fourth Gospel. ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ, etc.: not intended to fix a period after which the law will pass away, but a strong way of saying never (so Tholuck and Weiss). ἰῶτα, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. κεραία, the little projecting point in some of the letters, e.g., of the base line in Beth; both representing the minutiae in the Mosaic legislation. Christ, though totally opposed to the spirit of the scribes, would not allow them to have a monopoly of zeal for the commandments great and small. It was important in a polemical interest to make this clear. οὐ μὴ π., elliptical = do not fear lest. Vide Kühner, Gram., § 516, 9; also Goodwin's Syntax, Appendix ii. ἕως ἄν π. γεν., a second protasis introduced with ἕως explanatory of the first ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ; vide Goodwin, § 510; not saying the same thing, but a kindred: eternal, lasting, till adequately fulfilled; the latter the more exact statement of Christ's thought.

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Old Testament