The complete verse from which the above is taken reads;
“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19).
In vv. 17 and 18 Jesus is emphasizing that his mission is to fulfil the law, and not to destroy it. He assures them that not one jot or tittle of the law shall fail till all be fulfilled. The “jot” was the Hebrew letter jod, which is shown preceding v. 73 in Psalm 119; it is the smallest of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Over v. 161 in Psalm 119 is the Hebrew letter schin, and it has three projecting tiny “horns”. One of these projections is the “tittle” referred to. What Jesus says is “… not one tiniest letter, nor a tiny portion of a letter, shall fail till all be fulfilled”. This further means that the complete Law of Moses was in full operation until all was fulfilled in the death of Jesus, who was the end of the Law.
In v. 19 the emphasis requires to be on “one” and “shall teach men so”. To break one of the commandments was inevitable—everyone broke commandments every day, due to the weakness of human nature, and such could be forgiven and would not exclude from the Kingdom of God. It was, however, a further and a deliberate sin to teach men that any commandment could be broken “until all be fulfilled”.
To teach that even one could be broken, while it would not necessarily exclude from the Kingdom, would result in the law-breaker attaining to a much lower place than would otherwise be the case. To attain to the Kingdom would be dependent upon a far greater righteousness than that exhibited by the scribes and Pharisees, as v. 20 plainly says. The parable of the publican and the Pharisee in Luke 18:10 demonstrates this very clearly.
“The Valley of the Shadow”