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The Law is something we are quite familiar with in our country. Since 1789 Congress has enacted over 30,000 statutes. When those statutes go to the Administrative Regulators, the laws increase exponentially. Our legal code is housed in over 200 volumes containing an estimated 100-300 million words. There are over 1 million individual legal restrictions which use terms like “shall” or “must”. And we as good citizens obey the law.
The Jewish People Jesus addressed in His Sermon on the Mount were familiar with the legal creep of Administrative Regulators. They started with 613 laws in the Torah and by the time Jesus started preaching, those laws had expanded into code that became known as the Midrash. Through later refinement (200 AD and after) further developments, refinements, and expansions in the Mishna, Gemara, and the Talmud produced dozens of volumes of Jewish laws containing millions of words and legal instructions too numerous to comprehend.
It is in the middle of expansion process that Jesus does a little expanding of the Law on His own. After all, He wrote it in the first place, so He has every right to say what it means. This he does in the 2nd half of Matthew 5. He sets up his discourse by assuring the people that His intention is not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. He then warns them about mishandling the Law. Finally, He informs them that those people trying to tell them what the Law means, the scribes and Pharisees, are not the people to look to for guidance because following their ways just won’t cut it. Only by trusting in Jesus through faith can we receive the righteousness which is imputed to us by Him. His righteousness is sufficient. His righteousness is the final word on the subject.