“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”
King James Version (KJV)
5:17 Think not - Do not imagine, fear, hope, that I am come - Like your teachers, to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy - The moral law, but to fulfil - To establish, illustrate, and explain its highest meaning, both by my life and doctrine.
Mt 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. The preceding verses were so opposed to the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees that some might assert that he was a destroyer of the law. He replies that he has not come to destroy it, but to fulfill. He does not say that he has come to perpetuate it. To fulfill. To complete its purpose. He was the end of the law. It was a "schoolmaster to bring us to Christ", but "after faith is come we are no longer under the schoolmaster" (Ga 3:24,25).