Destroying vs. Fullfilling
Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. But how can that be, you ask. Good question.
Obviously, Christians don't obey all of Levitical law. See my response to a question on my last blog if you'd like more info. Why don't we? You see, Peter had a vision from God explaining that all things God made are now clean. God placed a great white sheet down on the ground for peter with lots of unclean foods on it. He told Peter, "Take and eat." Peter said, "but Lord, I can't. I've kept the law since birth." God said, "What I have cleaned do not call unclean." He did this three times (Peter's number for understanding something was three, it seems) and Peter understood what Paul was saying about Gentiles. Gentiles, commonly regarded as unclean, are clean if they're cleaned by God. (Clean: faith in Christ as Messiah = forgiveness.) Paul said don't do anything that is lawful if it causes someone else to stumble. That was the only law he said mattered. In other words, if something you do causes someone else to committ sin, even if there's nothing wrong with what you did, it was the wrong thing to do. You are your brother's keeper.
My brother argued the following point with a friend who observes the Jewish diet but is a Christian: The vision was about gentiles not about food. Therefore we are still under the law. Not so, said my brother. God never uses an analogy that isn't true to reveal a truth about something that is true. See what I mean? I'm not going to say, "Nato is like a family. They aren't related." I'm not going to say something about the family that isn't true to prove something about Nato. It's just preposterous. Therefore, because God is very logical indeed, all foods are now clean. We no longer have to live under the law. Paul and Peter even argued about it. You can't make Gentiles keep a law that even Jews couldn't keep. It's too hard. Why would God give people such hard rules? Primarily for their own protection. (see previously mentioned blog's responses: "Crusading Christians.") But why would he then say he didn't destroy it but he fulfilled it?
You see, the law is like a mirror. It show us we're dirty. Without laws against adultery, lying, stealing, coveting, dishonoring, and so forth, we never would know what displeases God and we'd not know we're dirty. The law is that mirror that we look into and go, "Geez, I'm a mess. Look at me!" God had a system that worked a little like hand sanitizer. Good for a jam, but you'd better just try not to get dirty. Jesus, the Messiah, came as the sink that works with the mirror. He allows us to get clean. I mean really clean. We can wash off all that dirt we see staring right back at us. And once we do, we're clean indeed.
That's what He meant by fulfilling the law and not destroying it. He made it complete. Not only do we know we're dirty, we can get clean too. And Paul says whatever causes someone else to do something wrong is wrong. Jesus said we could rest all commandments on these two: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." This is why Christians no longer observe Levitical law.