Fulfilment
FULFILMENT
See PROPHECY; QUOTATIONS.
Fuente: Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
Fulfilment
FULFILMENT.The primary meaning of the English word fulfil is simply to fillby a pleonasm, to fill (until) full. We find this use in literature
Is not thy brains rich hive
Fulfilled with honey? (Donne).
Sometimes it is imitated even in modern English, though only by a deliberate archaism. For with us fulfil is specialized to mean not literal material filling, but the carrying out into act of some wordsome promise, threat, hope, command, etc. When the Authorized Version was made, fulfil, according to the great Oxford Dictionary, meant fill, and began to be used by the translators in its remoter sense on the pattern of the Vulgate, which wrote (unclassically) implere and adimplere for Heb. . Thus the transition from one sense to the other, or the metaphor of filling for fulfilling, is Hebrew. But in Greek, too, it is possible that the same metaphor sprang up independently of Hebrew influence; cf. classical references (under ) in Cremer, also in Liddell and Scott (, ii. 5). In OT the usage is not very common. Possibly the earliest instance, chronologically, is Jer 44:25. What the Jews in Egypt have said, they do. Their threat to practise idolatry is not left an empty word; it is filled out, or filled up, in action. At Psa 20:5 we have the word used of answers to prayer: Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions; the empty vessel, as it were, standing to receive the Divine supplies. For fulfilling law or fulfilling a command there is no proper authority in OT, though Authorized and Revised Versions at times introduces the term (Psa 148:8; literally, the forces of nature do Gods word). In 1Ki 2:27; 1Ki 8:15; 1Ki 8:24 we have the most important usage of all, the fulfilling of the prophetic word or prediction. The passages referred to are marked by modern scholarship as Deuteronomic. We may therefore probably conclude that the theological conception of fulfilling is part of the religious language of that great forward movement in OT history, the Deuteronomic reform. Along with these theological applications may mean fill anywhere in the OT. And so in NT ( chiefly): in the parable of the Drag-net (Mat 13:48), the net is filled with all kinds of fish; Mat 23:32, Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. More generally, however, the word bears its derivative sense, and has a theological application. Though rare in OT, the usage is quite common in NT, very noticeably, of fulfilled prophecy, in the First Gospel. A beginning of differentiation or specification is made in the NT in this respect, that while may mean fill, the simpler but kindred form [others assume as root form] never means fulfil.
A second metaphor underlies . This is probably still later theological language. It means specially the fulfilling of prediction. We find it in Ezr 1:1 = 2Ch 36:22. According to Bertholet (on Ezr .c.; he refers to Dan 12:7 also), Fulfilment ranks simply as the of the prophetic word, which, once spoken, enters among the powers of the real world and gradually works itself out. This word and metaphor are also common in NT. Sometimes we have and cognates; though here again there is a tendency (less marked, however, than with in contrast to ) to prefer a more specialized or technical term, . Gods work is by the prophetic word, but till the fact matches the promise.
A third term and metaphor are of some moment in OT, but scarcely enter into NT, . (Gods promise may seem to be tottering to its fall,He will buttress it; support it). See Jer 29:10, Isa 44:26, Rom 15:8; but in the Gospels only Mar 16:20 confirming with signs following. (How fully this is a synonym for we see when we note the usage of at 1Ki 1:14). , lit. return or reward, occurs by an extension of meaning at Isa 44:26; Isa 44:28 for fulfil; not imitated in NT. Also, as already implied, Authorized and Revised Versions sometimes introduces fulfil or be fulfilled where the original has merely do or be. And we cannot say that this is illegitimate. A very important passage is the last clause of Mat 5:18 Authorized Version ; but RV [Note: Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885.] till all things be accomplished [to mark the contrast with , Mat 5:17. See below4.on both verses.]
We have then to look chiefly to , , while not forgetting other forms. And the question may be raised, whether the NT writers were alive to the implication of steady quantitative growth towards fulfilment? Or had the original suggestions of quantity and of continuousness passed away,was there assumed a mere between the word and its fulfilment? (If one pours water into a vessel, it fills degrees. But if one is fitting together a ball-and-socket joint, the socket is empty at one moment, full at the next. The two correspond, but their correspondence is not reached by gradual growth). We shall have to distinguish in this as in other respects between different senses of (or its synonyms).
1. Fulfilment of time. Here, if anywhere, we may expect to find the ideas of continuity and gradualness. Now fulfil is constantly used in the OT of the elapsing of a given timealike in Hebrew, Greek, and English; or, in NT, alike in Greek and English. It is used of the period of a womans gestation (e.g. Gen 25:24; , LXX Septuagint ; Luk 1:57; Luk 2:6; Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 fulfilled in all 3 cases). There is no more striking or more frequently noted parable of
The slow sweet hours that bring us all things good,
The slow sad hours that bring us all things ill;
or sometimes, as George Eliot has expressed it in Adam Bede, of swift hurrying shame, the bitterest of lifes bitterness. But the word is also used of other measured timesof periods fixed by OT law (e.g. Luk 2:21-22, , Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 fulfilled; cf. Lev 12:4, (Qal); LXX Septuagint ). From such usages as these, we pass on to times of Divine fulfilment. The fulness of the time came ( ), Gal 4:4. And our Lords own message is summed up in Mar 1:15 : The time is fulfilled ( ) and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe in the gospel. (Probably secondary in comparison with Mat 4:17, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; yet thoroughly significant of Biblical and primitive Christian beliefs, cf. Isa 61:2, Luk 4:19). The idea is, that God has fixed a time, His own good time, as our pious phrase runs. (Is that a misquotation of Isa 60:22? Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 in its time; Authorized Version [same sense; archaic English] in his time). The number seventy (70 years of exile, Jer 25:11 [Jer 29:10], cf. Dan 9:2; Dan 9:24) was specially important for this conception of a fixed period Divinely appointed. Yet we have signs that the time or its fulness is not, for the Bible writers, mechanically predetermined. The eschatological discourse (Mat 24:22 = Mar 13:20) tells us that the time of trouble, at the worlds end, shall be cut short out of mercy to Gods people. [Lk. omits, and inserts a reference to times of the Gentiles which must be fulfilled, Luk 21:24.] And it is possible that another popular religious phrasethe hastening of Gods kingdommay have Biblical warrant. It appears at Isa 60:22 [quoted above]. But when (as Marti advises) we refer back to Isa 5:19, we find that the word hasten was introduced originally to express the temper of a sneererLet God hurry up, if He is really going to act [and not simply talk]. So that hasten, when used at Isa 60:22, may have come to mean no more than fulfil. Cf. also Hab 2:4; 2Pe 3:4-9. Still, when the fulness of a Divinely appointed time is spoken of, all these qualifications drop out of sight. In some sense a period of time is Divinely ordained; and efflux time brings the day when God acts. Fulfilment of time is not indeed identical with fulfilment of Gods promise [or threat]. The first is a condition of the second. In regard to the first, at least, the quantitative sense of fulfil is maintained in clear consciousness. (My time is not yet fulfilled, Joh 7:8 = mine hour is not yet come, Joh 2:4).
2. Fulfilment of joy (). Here again there is an ambiguity. When St. Paul says (Php 2:2) Fulfil ye my joy, what does he mean? Is it (1) Complete my happiness; unless I hear of your being thoroughly at one, I cannot be perfectly happy? or (2) does he mean, I have sacrificed many ordinary sources of happiness; give me this my chosen joy? Authorities seem to prefer the first; perhaps, complete the joy I already have in you. That is, fulfilment of joy is taken as a quantitative and continuous idea. Elsewhere the phrase is peculiarly Johannine (Joh 3:29; Joh 15:11; Joh 16:24; Joh 17:13, with 1Jn 1:4, 2Jn 1:12). The Baptist, e.g. (Joh 3:29), has his joy in full. He has all the joy he can expect. Yet there is more than this in the words. He has full joyrejoiceth greatly. In the Johannine passages the two thoughts seem included: the joy (Christs joy, e.g.) is given; and what is given is a full joy. So prominent is the latter thoughtthe more quantitativethat one is tempted to regard Authorized Version full as a better rendering, in regard to joy, than the more literal fulfilled of Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 .
3. Fulfilment of prophecy or of Scripture or of Christs words (usually , Mat 1:22 and very often; Mar 15:28 [doubtful text]; Luk 1:20, Joh 12:38 and elsewhere. In Christs words, Mat 26:54; Mat 26:56 [a doublet] = Mar 14:49 [Luk 22:53 has not the word]; Luk 4:21; Luk 21:22; Luk 24:44; cf. Luk 9:31 his decease; Luk 21:24 times of the Gentiles; Luk 22:16 the Passover fulfilled in the kingdom of God; Joh 13:18; Joh 15:25 and elsewhere. But , Joh 19:28. There is perhaps a slight difference in meaningnot the word of Scripture verified, but the terrible things spoken of in Scripture made actualwhen we have at Luk 18:31; Luk 22:37. Purely in the sense of fulfilment, perhaps, at Joh 19:28; Joh 19:30. occurs Mar 13:4; the noun [ end of the world, (Revised Version margin) consummation of the age] in Mt.s, Mat 24:3, and also at Mat 13:39-40, Mat 28:20. [Heb 9:26, end of the ages, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ; marg. consummation]. [Authorized Version finish, Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 accomplish] is used in the Johannine discourses of Christs work [, Joh 4:34; Joh 17:4] or works [Joh 5:36, cf. again Joh 19:30]). As far as the words rendered fulfil are concerned, they are used in the same sense throughout; whether the fulfilment is of the past (the OT) in the present (Christ), or of the present (Christs words) in the (eschatological) future. And several Greek words are fairly represented by the same English meaning. Moreover, for a full index of the Scripture teaching we should need to include passages like Luk 24:25-27, where no word fulfil occurs. (But we have it in Luk 24:44). This holds especially of the fulfilment of Christs own words. It is true, the word as well as the thought, occurs in the Fourth Gospel (Joh 18:9; Joh 18:32), but in the Synoptics the phrasing is different. The nearest approach is Mar 13:30 ||, until all [these] things be accomplished ()a difficult passage, discussed below (under Fulfilment of law). We must lay down, in general, that the NT thinks of fulfilment as occurring in detailed mechanical correspondence with the letter of prediction. God has said so-and-so, therefore it must happen exactly as was said. In Joh 19:28 it is difficult to take any other view of the Evangelists meaning than that Jesus exclaimed I thirst, because the Passion psalms had spoken of the cruel thirst of the Sufferer. We must not, of course, exaggerate the simplicity of the Bible writers. A few verses earlier, where Joh 18:9 interprets Jesus protection of His disciples, at the moment of His own arrest, as the fulfilment of the word which He spake, Of those whom thou hast given me I lost not one, the Evangelist knows perfectly, and trusts his readers to remember, that the true sense of Christs words belongs to a different region. In that one instance, at least, he is consciously accommodating, as we might do in quoting a line of Shakspeare. And there is more. The Evangelist discerns in Christs care for the disciples a type of the supreme spiritual transaction. Even outwardly, Christ saves others, while not saving but sacrificing Himself. Still, in general, the letter of the NT takes the letter of the OT as a magic book, foreshowing what must happen to Christ. Deeper views are no doubt latent in the NT, but they are nowhere formulated by it. They do not rise to the surface of consciousness in Evangelist or Apostle.
4. Fulfilment of law [and prophets?]. [Fulfilment generally?] The interpretation here raises very difficult questions, hardly to be settled without some critical surgery. First let us take what is simple; to fulfil the Law is to obey itat Rom 2:27, Jam 2:8; or , Gal 5:14, Rom 13:8; Rom 13:10. (On these last, see below). Unambiguous, too, is to fulfil all righteousness (, Mat 3:15); and the saying may well be historical, though unsupported in the parallels. It fits the circumstances (see present writers paper on Dawn of Messianic Consciousness in Expos. Times, 1905, p. 215), if perhaps tinged in expression with the Evangelists phraseology. But what of Mat 5:17 (Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy but to fulfil)? (a) Much has been written on this subject since the present writer discussed the passage in Christ and the Jewish Law, 1886. Even more decidedly than then, he must insist that if Mat 5:18and especially if Mat 5:19is a genuine part of Christs discourse, we are shut up to understand fulfil in the sense of obey (so Cremers Lexicon, bracketing Mat 5:17 with Mat 3:15). But (b) the case for omitting Mat 5:18with its Pharisaic aspect, its at least seemingly exaggerated canonization of the whole letter of the Pentateuchis being very strongly pressed to-day (e.g. Votaw, art. Sermon on the Mount in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , Ext. Vol.). If Mat 5:18 [some would say Mat 5:18-19] be a gloss [or belong properly to a different context in a somewhat different form], we may render not to destroy but to perfect the law,raising it to its ideal height of purity, and carrying it to its ideal depth of inwardness. This view probably holds the field at present. It goes well with Mat 5:21, etc., where our Lord, in a series of brilliant paradoxes, sweeps away the mere letter of the OT [? or the legal glosses added to it by scribes and Pharisees (Mat 5:20)]. But there are difficulties. It is hard to think that our Lord ever exercised the supposed conscious detailed intellectual criticism of the OT as such (so the late A. B. Davidson, in conversation with the present writers informant). And would He have called His paradoxes a perfected law? They are at least as like a destruction of the rgime of law! Moreover, we have the reference to the prophets. (c) When fulfil is predicated of prophecy, the sense is well known; the prophets become the predominant partner in such a juxtaposition as to fulfil law and prophets; and we have to think of the OTs moral lawgiving as a sort of type, fulfilled, when the word of the prophets is fulfilled, in Christs person. [Christ and the Jewish Law tried in a particular way to carry through this meaning of fulfil]. Law and prophets repeatedly occur together in Christs words, esp. in Mt. (also at Mat 7:12, Mat 22:40, Mat 11:13 = Luk 16:16, cf. Luk 24:44). We can hardly doubt that our Lord Himself used the expression; and it is probable, too, that He used it as a general designation for the OT. Still, it is conceivable that the Evangelist has brought in the phrase here. A further measure of critical surgery would then dismiss (c), and leave the field so far to (a) and (b). But (d) we might raise a new possibility, either by exegesis, or if necessary by a minor form of critical excision. We might take Mat 5:17 b either as spoken here in pure abstractionI am not a destroyer but a fulfilleror as originally a separate logion worked into this context by the Evangelist.
In view of these rival interpretations one might turn for help to the Epistles. For, especially on ethical points, the teaching of Christ visibly moulds St. Pauls inculcation again and again. And in this way we might learn how the earliest Church understood its Lords words. Gal 5:14 and Rom 13:8-10 [see above], while their use of suggests Mat 5:17, refer in substance rather to Mat 22:35-40 [Marks ||, (Mar 12:31) omits the very element which lives in the Epistleslove to God and man not only the chief duty but the whole of duty. In this case the Epistles decidedly support Mt.s tradition. In Luke (Luk 10:27) we have an unwarranted suggestion that the scribes had already woven together Deu 6:5 with Lev 19:18. Thus Lukes tradition here seems still less exact. On Christs originality in this matter, comp. Montefiore in Hibbert Journal, Apr. 1905]. Commentators seem to take Gal 5:14all the law is fulfilled () in one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyselfas parallel not to Rom 13:9 (all the law is summed upin Thou shalt love thy neighbour, etc.), but rather to Rom 13:8; Rom 13:10, Love is the of the law. St. Paul then takes fulfil = obey, as in (a), above. But does St. Pauls language really support (a)? Is there not something more than obeying law in the Pauline thought of fulfilment (Rom 8:4)? The requirementof the Law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. The utmost we can say is that , in the sense of fulfil, had been given such currency in the Greek version of our Lords words that St. Paul instinctively weaves it in when he is quoting another passage. Thus, after all, the evidence of the Epistles as to the original meaning of Mat 5:17 is neutral, or at any rate not decisive.
Summary.In Mat 5:17, then, Christ claims either (a) to render a perfect obedience to law, or (b) to perfect the moral lawgiving of the OT, or (c) to fulfil absolutely the ideals of the OT generally, or (d) to be in general a fulfiller rather than a destroyer. (a) is not without evidence in its support. (b) is perhaps most generally popular. (c) we are inclined to regard as due to the mistaken intrusion in Mat 5:17 of [law] and prophets,words doubtless used by Christ (of the OT as a whole?) in other connexions. (d) was on the whole supported in the above discussionif necessary, at the cost of regarding Mat 5:17 b as by rights an independent logion. (We have not discussed the extravagant suggestion that there was no Sermon on the Mount in Christs ministry at all).
Mat 5:18. We have quoted with sympathy a suggestion that this verse ought to he struck out of the context of Matthew 5. But there is no ground for denying that it represents one of the sayings of Jesus. We have Lukes ||, Luk 16:17; and, besides that, all three Synoptics have a similar phrase in the eschatological chapter. There they coincide almost to a wordThis generation shall not pass away till all [these] things be accomplished []. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Mat 24:34-35 = Mar 13:30-31 = Luk 21:32-33). This (as has often been pointed out) must surely be an alternative version of the logion Mat 5:18. According to Matthew 5, Christ spoke of the perpetuity of the Law; according to Matthew 24, of the assured truth of His own words. We must note the presence of 3 corresponding clauses in each of the two passages: heaven and earth passing awayall things being accomplisheda Divine word not passing away. In Mat 5:18 the first two elements jar against each other. The same sentence contains two limitstwo clauses each beginning . In that respect Mat 24:34-35 shows to better advantage, and can advance the stronger claim to rank as the original. On the other hand, the verses in ch. 24 are themselves exceedingly difficult. It is no mere blind conservatism which hesitates to believe that our Lord pledged His supernatural knowledge for the conclusion of the worlds story within a generation. The words, as we have them, mean that and nothing else; and it is surely incredible that Jesus should have so erred. We do not deny that He may have expected the end shortly; there is at least a strong NT tradition, direct and indirect, that He did. We do say that He could not stake everything, with the very greatest emphasis, upona date! which besides was a mistaken date. B. W. Bacons solution is attractivethat the original logion referred to the word of God, but not specifically either to the OT law or to the Masters own words, though different lines of tradition insisted on one or the other identification.
5. Fulfilment in general.Some individual passages. (a) Luk 1:1 speaks of the things fulfilled among us (; perf. particip. from a derivative of , or at least of ). The connexion with v. 4the certainty of those things wherein, etc.makes Authorized Version s rendering tempting; things most surely believed. But authority favours the rendering fulfilled. Not, however, in the sense of Divinely fulfilled. In these, the most classical verses from St. Lukes pen, we must look rather to classical models; and we should probably take fulfilled as meaning fully accomplished. So Holtzmann; or AdeneyLuke will record complete transactions, a finished story. Probably, therefore, there is nothing to be made of this passage. (b) In Luk 22:37 we read ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 ), This which is written must be fulfilled () in me, And he was reckoned with transgressors; for that which concerneth me hath fulfilment ( ). Here there is room for difference of opinion. Holtzmann is respectful to the passagea valuable separate tradition of Lukes,but doubts whether the individual verse is a genuine saying of the Lords. And he takes it as meaning merely that death, or the end, is hurrying near; on the analogy of Mar 3:26Satan if divided against himself hath an end. On the other hand, Adeney, like the Revisers (apparently), thinks that Divine fulfilment is pointed to here. It is an interesting possibility. We can hardly say more. (c) If the suggestion offered above(d)regarding Mat 5:17 b should be adoptedif that were originally a separate logion, or if, at any rate, it was spoken quite in generalthen the central Gospel passage on fulfilment gives us a general point of view, in the Masters own words.
Any of these individual passages, if such an interpretation as we have discussed is warrantable, centres round the idea of the fulfilment of prophecy; though Mat 5:17 b would mean something broader or something profounder than what the letter of the NT generally attains to. It will be interesting if we can regard such broader and profounder teaching as coming directly from our Master.
Different senses of fulfilment reviewed again. These do not to any great extent correspond to different Greek words. To fulfil joy is (usually in the passive), to complete joy, but (sometimes at least, we thought) to give joy in its fulness. To fulfil time (again usually a passive) is also , but might be the kindred , which is used even in NT in the less theological applications. The appointed timewhatever authority enacted itis now full. To fulfil Scriptureor prophets words, etc.is indifferently (or cognates, possibly once , Luk 21:22 v.l.; and possibly, but not probably, once , Luk 1:1; see above, 5), or (or cognate ; once ); nor should we forget in construction. To fulfil law in the Epistles is or . In the Gospels we have in kindred applicationsonce, to fulfil righteousness; and once, in the great passage, as we were inclined to think, in a purely general sense, to fulfil. But see above, 4. Cf. further in Epistles , to fulfil ones ministry, 2Ti 4:5; fully to proclaim the message, , 2Ti 4:17.
Can we unify these leading senses? Probably not; probably not any two. They are, of course, connected, especially the first three. It is God who gives joy in fulness, God who ordains times, God who keeps His promise. At His own time His keeping of promise fills His people with joy. Nay more; the fourth sense is also near of kin. Christ, the fulfiller of all promises, is also, on any view of particular passages, the supreme pattern of obedience, and the author of new obedience in others. But the word fulfil probably does not occur on the same ground in any two of the senses discriminated above. There is, in some cases, an idea of fulness as against half fulness (of time, or of joy; two different fulnesses, therefore). In others (prophecy, or law) there is a mere idea of correspondencefulness against emptiness, so to speakthe act answering to the word (but answering it in two different ways).
Fulfilment: modern theological study. The central subject is fulfilment of prophecy. (It has also the most passages). Modern study of Prophecy and Fulfilmenttitle of a book by von Hofmannbrings out a truth which (unless possibly adumbrated in our Lords words, Mat 5:17 b) is nowhere formulated in Scripture. Fulfilment is not only like what prediction expected, but is also in some ways different, because the prophets partial wisdom was not adequate to the full splendour of the fulfilment. Christ, in so far as He differs from the Messianic portrait of the OT, is not lesser but greater spiritually; He necessarily differs. It is true, some elements of the fulfilment are transferred to Christian eschatology. As yet they are unfinished things. But if the First Advent differed (for the better) from the letter of expectation, we may infer that there are symbolical or metaphorical elements in the prophetic pictures of the Second Advent and eschatology. All this, while not formulated in the NT, is learned by believing study of the phenomena of Scripture, and is our ages proper contribution to the conception of fulfilment. The main lines of expectation fulfilled in Christ are perhaps three: (1) The hope of the Messianic King (Is 9 is the great passage)most important, not because of its intrinsic spiritual depth (in that respect it did not stand very high), but from what we may call its dogmatic sharpness, and its emphasis in the NT age. It lent the Christian Church its first creedviz. that Jesus is Christ. It was fulfilled only through the transference of Christs royalty from temporal to exalted, or from present to future conditions. (2) There is the hope of Gods own coming to His people in person, Isa 40:10and throughout Isaiah 40-55. This pointed strongly to Christs Godhead. (3) There is the type or ideal of the Suffering Servant, included in Isaiah 40-55 (also in Psalms 22 and others), chiefly at Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12. This teaching furnished Christian theology with its deepest elements. We can also now explain what amount of truth is conveyed by the idea of double fulfilments. When the historical reference of a prophecy is to some lesser or earlier personage than Christ Jesus, yet if that person is important in the history of Gods purpose, the same principle may be fulfilled partially in him which is (ultimately) more perfectly fulfilled in Christ. Thus we may have a multiple, a repeated fulfilment of great principles; yet all pointing on to Christ as the grand or absolute Fulfiller. We do not affirm a great cryptogram, with designed artful ambiguity. The prophetic human speaker did not mean two (and just two) sets of events. He meant one event. But his words were capable of meaning many. And something in his spiritual messages corresponds to Christ more than to Christs forerunner. Again, individual or detailed fulfilments have their own subordinate place. Some indeed may be rather a play of pious fancy than a serious argument. The OT is full of plays upon words; and the NT citations of I called my son out of Egypt, and of He shall be called a Nazarene (Mat 2:15; Mat 2:23), are probably of this sortthings that carried more weight in Judaea long ago than they can possibly carry now. At times the resemblance to the OT isinnocently and unconsciouslyfilled out. The exact reproduction of Psa 22:8, which we find at Mat 27:43, is unknown to the earlier narrative of Mark. Where the matter is of some weight (e.g. probably the birth at Bethlehem), its chief importance is that it emphasizes or advertises the deeper analogies and correspondences in virtue of which Christ fulfilsand, may we say, transcendsthe spirit or the religion of the OT; alike in Himself and in His gospel.
Literature.See the Lexicons; also the following two articles, and the Commentaries. On Mat 5:17, etc., see further the present writers Christ and the Jewish Law, 1886; works on the Sermon on the Mount (B. W. Bacon; Votaw, in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , Ext. Vol., and literature there quoted). On the fulfilment of prophecy, modern works by von Hofmann, Riehm (Muirheads translation ), A. B. Davidson, Woods (The Hope of Israel), etc. On the eschatological discourse, Schwartzkopffs Prophecies of Jesus Christ (English translation ).
R. Mackintosh.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Fulfilment
(Ger. Erfllung) In HusserlSynthesis of identification, based on conscious processes, in the earlier of which the intended object is intended emptily or is given less evidently than it is in the later. The more evident conscious process is said to fulfil (or to fill) and clarify the noematic-objective sense of the less evident.
Positive fulfilmentFulfilment in which the objective senses of the fulfilled and fulfilling processes harmonize.
Negative fulfilmentFulfilment in which the objective senses of the fulfilled and fulfilling processes conflict. Fulfilment cannot be completely negative, since that would preclude synthesis of identification. — D.C.