Does Matt 5:17-19 say that Christians should obey the Law of Moses?

This text is used to argue that Christians should obey the Law and in particular the Sabbath law. Is this a correct reading?

(1) The statement is positive, ‘I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets’ and as such it pertains to Christ’s ministry (‘I’), but not necessarily the ministry of the Christian apostles and prophets; this needs to be established.

(2) Jesus uses the contrary expression ‘but to fulfil’ which shows that his mind is on the fulfilment of types and prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures.

(3) Jots and tittles might pass from the Law if it was ‘all’ accomplished, but the ‘all’ here ranges over what Jesus regards as to be ‘accomplished’. The Greek here is different for ‘fulfil’ (plhro,w) and ‘accomplish’ (gi,nomai).

(i) Jesus (and others) identify what it is that will be accomplished as his work of sacrifice (Luke 9:31; 24:44; Acts 3:18 plhro,w; cf. Luke 12:50; 18:31; 22:37; John 19:28 tele,w; Heb 9:6 evpitele,w; Matt 26:54, 56 gi,nomai).

(ii) The narrator identifies what else is to be accomplished in Jesus ministry (e.g. Matt 8:17; 21:4; 26:54; Mark 1:15).

(iii) In the apostolic ministry the Law was ‘fulfilled’ (Matt 12:8; Rom 8:4) and so Jesus’ statement applies both to his ministry and that of the apostles.

If the Law was fulfilled and accomplished in Jesus’ ministry, sacrifice and the apostolic ministry, then jots and tittles can indeed pass from the Law, i.e. Christians are not under the Law, for example the Sabbath law.

(4) ‘Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments…’ does not refer backwards to what Jesus has said about ‘the Law’; rather the demonstrative ‘these’ refers forwards to what Jesus will be saying. This is shown by the repetition of ‘whosoever’ in vv. 21, 22, 31, 32. The ‘least’ in ‘least commandments’ picks up on the lesser aspects of the Law among the greater laws that Jesus goes on to discuss.