Excellent question! After doing a lot of thinking and reading about the Sermon on the Mount, I've recently changed the way I think about this incredibly significant section of Scripture. I'll be writing about it in coming months, but here are a few short answers to your questions. 1) When Jesus says he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, I'm now convinced that he's referring to his fulfillment of all the countless messianic prophecies written about him, rather than the way this is often interpreted in terms of his fulfillment of the Mosaic ethical requirements. 2) When he refers to those who nullify "these" commandments, he's not actually referring back to Moses, but forward to all that he himself begins to command in the next two chapters.
How does Matt. 5:17-20 fit in with the paradigm you are making a case for? -- “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Excellent question! After doing a lot of thinking and reading about the Sermon on the Mount, I've recently changed the way I think about this incredibly significant section of Scripture. I'll be writing about it in coming months, but here are a few short answers to your questions. 1) When Jesus says he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, I'm now convinced that he's referring to his fulfillment of all the countless messianic prophecies written about him, rather than the way this is often interpreted in terms of his fulfillment of the Mosaic ethical requirements. 2) When he refers to those who nullify "these" commandments, he's not actually referring back to Moses, but forward to all that he himself begins to command in the next two chapters.
How does Matt. 5:17-20 fit in with the paradigm you are making a case for? -- “Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:17-19 NASB2020
https://bible.com/bible/2692/mat.5.17-19.NASB2020