So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Those Jews who loved the Old Testament feared Christ came to destroy it; the libertines hoped He came to free them from it. Both were wrong. Christ keeps the Law and Prophets on the throne as the rule of faith and practice. He cancels nothing that was forbidden by nature or the moral law, and forbids nothing that was permitted by either.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 5:17-20
If any professor of Christianity allows himself in the least voluntary transgression, whether by omitting a known duty or committing a known sin, and encourages others by his example, he is certainly in a state of damnation and shall never enter the kingdom of God.
AI summary
The Pharisees taught that the sanhedrim could dissolve any commandment when convenient, even transgressing God's law to serve their own ends. But Christ strikes at this directly: whoever teaches men to break even the least commandment by express instruction shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
AI summary