The entire tone of the New Testament is determined by the idea that Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law and the prophets (Mat 5:17) as well as time (Mark 1:15; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:10), the church (Eph. 1:22-23) and all things (Eph. 4:10). In our discussion of the shadow character of the law we received a brief glimpse of the idea that the fulfillment of the law does not mean that it is abolished. At the beginning of the Gospel Jesus states: "I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them" (Mat. 5:17). From this it is clear that the word `fulfillment' as it is used in the Bible is so completely the opposite of the idea of `abolishment', that the fulfillment of the Old Testament and therefore of the law does not mean the abolishment of the law.4.42 The concern of the remainder of this chapter will be to clarify the meaning and significance of this fulfillment.
In our discussion of the Torah we saw that it must be understood as the saving presence of God himself. God's Word of revelation in the Old Testament was His indwelling and presence in the flesh. God the Son was the Mediator of Creation. Later, when God revealed himself to man, the Son was the mediator of revelation and as such was present (spirituali modo) in the flesh of man. This Word of revelation (who is the Eternal Word of God) became flesh in Christ.4.43 "De oerwoorden Gods, welke God in de wereld heeft gesproken, en in het Oude Testament ons zijn bewaard en geschonken, deze zijn nu lichamelijk waar geworden."4.44 The words that God spoke in the Old Testament have become bodily true in Jesus Christ. There is an identity between the law and Christ. The law has received its body and its head in Christ. This means that the law has been restored to its proper meaning. "Christ restored the law to its integrity, in that he freed and cleansed it when it had been obscured by the falsehoods and defiled by the leaven of the Pharisees."4.45
This fulfillment by Christ brings the kerygmatic significance of the law to the foreground. Christ's fulfillment of the law is completely and exclusively an act of God. In Christ God himself (the Eternal Word) became flesh. God himself made Christ the Messiah and Christ's messiahship is his fulfillment of the law. Man was radically pushed aside. "De messias zelf is daad Gods, de daad der tegenwoodigheid Gods in het vleesch."4.46 Therefore Christ's fulfillment of the law emphasizes that the law describes in the first place what God himself does. God gives his salvation as a free gift. The Old Testament is filled with God's promise of salvation and this promise has been fulfilled in Christ. This does not mean that in Christ the promise of salvation has been replaced with the reality of salvation. That would be a confusion of the fulfillment with the consummation. We still experience God's salvation in the modality of promise. Christ's fulfillment of this promise means, firstly that the promise has fully come to power. Christ was completely obedient to God's law and it was fulfilled in him in that it was put into effect in Him. Therefore he was sent by God in the fullness of time, born of a woman and born under the law (Gal. 4:4). "Hij wordt onder de wet geplaast, omdat zij het heil uitbeelt, dat door hem gewrocht moet worden. Hij is de eigenlijke concentratie en het eigenlijke paradigma van en voor de gansche existentie in het heden."4.47 Christ placed himself under the total structure of God's dealings with his people Israel as this structure is described in the law and the prophets, and everything is paradigmatically put into effect in him. This means it took place once for all and thus "has decisive content; it took place with saving power. It is thus paradigmatic in the sense that, in him, it is fulfilled in his body and in the nations of the earth."4.48<1842>>A.A. van Ruler