For truly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass, one stroke or one pronunciation mark shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
verily.
Matthew 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Matthew 6:2,16 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward…
Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Till.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Psalm 102:26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
pass.
Psalm 119:89,90,152 LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven…
Isaiah 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
until heaven and earth pass away
This phrase indicates the enduring nature of the Law. In Jewish thought, heaven and earth are often seen as the most permanent parts of creation. By using this imagery, Jesus underscores the lasting validity of the Law. This also connects to eschatological themes, suggesting that the Law remains relevant until the end of the current age.
not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen
The "jot" refers to the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the yodh, and the "stroke of a pen" refers to the smallest part of a letter. This highlights the precision and completeness of the Law. Jesus is affirming that even the smallest details of the Law are significant and will not be disregarded. This reflects the Jewish reverence for the Torah and its meticulous transmission through generations.
will disappear from the Law
This phrase asserts the permanence and authority of the Mosaic Law. It suggests that the Law remains intact and authoritative. This can be seen as a response to any notion that Jesus came to abolish the Law. Instead, He affirms its continued relevance and fulfillment.
until everything is accomplished
This indicates that the Law will remain until its purposes are fully realized. This can be understood in light of Jesus' mission to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. It points to the ultimate fulfillment of God's redemptive plan through Christ. This phrase also connects to prophecies throughout the Old Testament that find their completion in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus begins with an oath-like assurance, signaling that what follows carries His full authority.
• In John 14:6 He claims to be “the way and the truth,” so every word He speaks is reliable.
• Revelation 19:11 reminds us His name is “Faithful and True,” underscoring that He cannot mislead.
When the Lord says, “For I tell you truly”, He is alerting listeners—then and now—that we must receive the statement without reservation.
This time marker stretches to the furthest horizon of history.
• Luke 21:33 echoes, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away”.
• 2 Peter 3:10 pictures the current creation dissolving in fervent heat, proving Jesus is speaking of the final consummation, not a temporary phase.
So, the authority of God’s Law stands for as long as the universe endures.
Jesus moves from cosmic scale to the tiniest detail.
• Psalm 119:89 affirms, “Your word, O LORD, is everlasting,” stressing durability down to every letter.
• Proverbs 30:5 says, “Every word of God is flawless,” reinforcing the idea that the minutiae matter to God.
By naming the smallest marks in written language, Jesus assures us that divine inspiration covers the entire text—no accidental leftovers, no expendable clauses.
The Law refers to the Torah, yet by extension the entire Old Testament revelation.
• Romans 3:31 asks, “Do we, then, nullify the Law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the Law”.
• Psalm 19:7 celebrates, “The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul,” confirming its enduring purpose.
Jesus is not pitting Himself against Moses; He is affirming that grace fulfills, not abolishes, God’s earlier instructions.
A second “until” shows the Law’s continuing relevance until its goals are fully realized in Christ’s redemptive plan.
• Luke 24:44 records Jesus saying that everything written about Him “must be fulfilled.”
• Galatians 3:24 explains the Law was our guardian “until Christ,” guiding us to Him.
The Law’s moral standards, prophetic types, and ceremonial shadows all find their completion in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ultimate return.
Matthew 5:18 binds the certainty of God’s Word to the permanence of creation itself. Christ guarantees that every detail of Scripture remains intact and authoritative until His redemptive mission reaches total fulfillment. Consequently, believers are called to respect, study, and obey the whole counsel of God, trusting that not even the smallest stroke will fail before He brings history to its appointed conclusion.
(18) Verily.--The first occurrence in the Gospel of the word so common in our Lord's teaching seems the right place for dwelling on its meaning. It is the familiar Amen of the Church's worship--the word which had been used in the same way in that of the wilderness (Numbers 5:22; Deuteronomy 27:15) and of the Temple (Psalm 41:13; Psalm 72:19, et al). Coming from the Hebrew root for "fixed, steadfast, true," it was used for solemn affirmation or solemn prayer. "So is it," or "so be it." For the most part, the Greek LXX. translates it; but in 1Chronicles 16:36, and Nehemiah 5:13, it appears in its Hebrew form. From the worship of the synagogue it passed into that of the Christian Church, and by the time the Gospels were written had become so familiar that it was used without hesitation by all the Evangelists, sometimes singly, sometimes (uniformly in St. John) with the emphasis of reduplication. . . . Verse 18. - Cf. Luke 16:17, "But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tittle of the Law to fail" (Revised Version). The words are so similar that the two evangelists probably record the same utterance, the difference in the form of the sentence pointing rather to an oral than a written common source. St. Luke places it in an attack on the Pharisees, who had scoffed at our Lord for his parable of the dishonest steward. Verily; ἀμήν (אמן, literally, "established," "sure"). It has hardly been sufficiently noticed by commentators that the New Testament usage of the word "Amen" often slightly differs from that found in the Old Testament. "Amen" in the Old Testament always involves the personal acceptance of the statement to which it refers ("so be it"), whether this be a statement upon oath (Numbers 5:22, perhaps), or a statement of penalties incurred under certain circumstances (Numbers 5:22, probably; Deuteronomy 27:15-26; Nehemiah 5:13); or a statement expressing a pious hope uttered either by another (1 Kings 1:36; Jeremiah 28:6; Jeremiah 11:5 (?); cf. Nehemiah 8:6; cf. also 1 Corinthians 14:16); or by one's self (Psalm 41:13). Hence the LXX. either leaves it untranslated or, with but one exception, translates it by γένοιτο. In Hellenistic Greek, however, it became often used as little more than a mere asseveration ("verily"). The earliest trace of this usage is found in Jeremiah 28:6, where the LXX. renders אמןby ἀληθῶς (Aquila much better πιστθήτω, though generally elsewhere πεπιστωμένως), and it is frequent in the New Testament, cf. especially Luke 9:27, λέγω δὲ ὑμῖν ἀληθῶς, with parallels, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν (cf. also Luke 12:44 with Matthew 24:47, and Luke 21:3 with Mark 12:43). Yet this usage of "Amen" in Hellenistic Greek does not seem to have ever spread into Hebrew or Aramaic. W. H. Lowe ('Fragm. Pesach.,' p. 70) says, and apparently truly, "The Jews never used 'amen in the sense of 'verily.' They say באמת, be'emeth', 'in truth,' הימנותא, hemanutha, 'Faith!' or אמנם, 'omnam, 'verily.'" If so, the fact is interesting, for it implies that, notwithstanding the usage of "Amen" in Greek, our Lord himself, as speaking Aramaic, probably did not use it in the mere sense of strong asseveration, but rather always with its connotation of his entire concurrence in the statement he was making. In his mouth, that is to say, it always emphasized the thought of his personal acceptance of the statement with its legitimate issue. Observe that it makes no difference (cf. Jeremiah 28:6) whether the "Amen" comes at the beginning or at the end of his utterance. N.B. - Ναί (Luke 11:51; cf. Matthew 23:36) may be taken as intermediate between ἀληθῶς and ἀμήν. Ἀληθῶς states a truth; ναί assents with the intellect; ἀμήν, in at least Hebrew and Aramaic usage, accepts it with all its consequences (cf 2 Corinthians 1:19, 20). Till heaven and earth pass; Revised Version, pass away (παρέλθῃ); and so in the next clause. The same almost archaic sense of "pass" recurs in Psalm 148:6, Authorized Version (Revised Version, "pass away"). Observe that our Lord does not say that the Law will then pass away. He says, not till then; i.e. he affirms, as in Luke 16:17, that it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for the Law. For, in fact, as being constantly fulfilled in its ideal and therefore permanent character, it must necessarily remain in the new world; cf. 1 Peter 1:25 (the everlasting duration of the word of the Lord); 1 Corinthians 13:13 (love); 2 Peter 3:13 (righteousness); cf. Meyer. The belief in the permanence of the Law which the Jews had (vide references in Meyer, and especially Weber, 'Altsynag. Theol.,' §§ 5, 84) here finds its true satisfaction. "The least element of holiness which the Law contains has more reality and durability than the whole visible universe" (Godet on Luke). Comp. also Mark 13:31, "My words shall not pass away" - a claim only seen in its full three when put beside these words about the Law. One jot. The permanence of even every yod (y, j), though the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet, is not infrequently referred to by Jewish writers (cf. e.g. in Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.;' Edersheim, 'Life,' 1.537). Observe:(1) The mention of yod, evidently because of its small size, is one proof of the fact that the Hebrew characters in use in our Lord's time were much more similar to the usual form under which we know them (Quadrate schrift) than to the form found on the Moabite Stone (Phoenician), where the god is no smaller than other letters (vide Euting's very complete table of forms of the Hebrew alphabet in Chwolsen, 'Corp. Inscript. Hebr.,' 1882; vide pp. 404-415 of the same work for Chwolson's much-controverted theory of the gradual development of the Quadrat-sehrift, roughly from the time of Ezra till the eighth or ninth century A.D., out of old Aramaic forms slightly removed from Phoenician; and for the early history of the Hebrew alphabet generally, see the introduction to Driver's 'Samuel.'
(2) We may, perhaps, see in our Lord's reference to yod and a "tittle" an indication that even already scrupulous care was taken of the text. The objection to this, derived from the non-literal quotations in the New Testament is due to a misunderstanding of Jewish methods of quotation. Or one tittle. So Wickliffe and Tyndale downwards; "apparently a diminutive of tit, small" (Aid. Wright, 'Bible WordBook'); κεραία (κερέα, Westcott and Heft, vide Appendix, p. 151), probably "a horn," then anything projecting like a horn. Used by the early Greek grammarians, like apex by the Latin, to designate:
(1) A little projection in a letter, especially the top, the apex; Nicander, "the top and bottom are each called κεραία (κεραία λέγεται τὸ ἄκρον καὶ ἔσχατον; gloss, κεραία γράμματος ἄκρον); cf. Plutarch, "disputing about syllables and κεραιῶν (λογομαχεῖν περὶ συλλαβῶν καὶ κεραιῶν); " vide Wetstein. . . .
Parallel Commentaries ...