Should Christians Obey the Old Testament Law? An Unbiased View
Should Christians obey the Old Testament Law, including the Ten Commandments? Is there a difference between the Moral Law and the Ceremonial Law? Which Law did Jesus nail to the cross? Let’s take an unbiased look at what the Bible has to say.
There are commands throughout the Old Testament that I think all of us would agree don’t apply to us today. Laws like:
Don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Build an ark.
Leave your homeland.
Sacrifice your son Isaac.
So, when we ask the question, “Should Christians obey the Old Testament Law?” or “Should we follow the Torah?” what we are talking about is the Law that God gave to the Israelites when he rescued them from Egyptian bondage. Laws like the Ten Commandments and Jewish dietary laws.
Who was the Old Covenant For?
Lets see what Exodus 34:27-28 says,
“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.” (Exodus 34:27–28 | ESV)
From these verses, we see that God made a covenant with Israel, which included the Ten Commandments.
In Deuteronomy 5:1-3 we see more clearly who God made this covenant with.
“And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.” (Deuteronomy 5:1–3 | ESV)
God made this Covenant with Israel at Horeb, not with their fathers Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or Joseph. We also see that God didn’t make this Covenant with any other nation, such as Egypt.
If we read all of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we would see that this Covenant entailed more than just the Ten Commandments. It contained:
Moral Laws: Such as do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, and honor your father and mother.
Civil Laws: These were National laws about things like inheritance laws, penalties for breaking laws, and sanitary codes.
Ceremonial Laws: The sacrificial system (blood sacrifices), religious feasts and the Sabbath, the ritual system regarding ceremonial purity, circumcision, and some health and dietary laws.
Was the Old Covenant Unconditional or Conditional?
Let’s see what God had to say in Joshua.
“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed. But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.” (Joshua 23:14–16 | ESV)
The Old Covenant was absolutely conditional. They had to obey the laws that God commanded otherwise God would destroy them from the good land that He had given them.
So, did they obey that Covenant? Well, If you have read the Old Testament, you know they didn’t.
“‘Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”
“Again the LORD said to me, ‘A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble.’” (Jeremiah 11:8–12 | ESV)
Because Israel didn’t obey the Covenant, God said He would bring disaster upon them that they could not escape. This disaster came when both Israel and Judah were taken into captivity. But there was still hope! God promised to give them a New Covenant.
Future Hope for Israel: the New Covenant
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34 | ESV)
This New Covenant came about when the Law was fulfilled. Jesus said,
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17–18 | ESV)
Until all what is accomplished? In this context, Jesus is referring to His fulfilling the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus fulfilled the Prophets by fulfilling the hundreds of prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah.
He fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly and bringing it to its intended purpose.
We Are No Longer Under the Old Law
The writer of Hebrews said,
“But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says…” (Hebrews 8:6, 7b | ESV)
He then goes on to quote from Jeremiah 31, which we just read. He concludes from this that,
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13 | ESV
The Bible also says,
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian…” (Galatians 3:24–25 | ESV)
Here the Bible clearly says we are no longer under the Law. Did the New Covenant of Christ replace the Old Covenant God made with Israel? It seems like it did, but with part of it?
What Part of the Old Law was Replaced?
Did the Old Covenant consist of three separate Laws: a permanent “Moral Law” and a temporary “Ceremonial and Civil Law”? Or was there a single Law for ancient Israel containing moral, ceremonial, and civil aspects?
“And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.’” (Deuteronomy 5:1–2 | ESV)
“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. (Malachi 4:4 | ESV)
From these verses, we see that the Old Law is also called the Law of Moses. But also check out what the Law is called in Nehemiah 8:
“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.” (Nehemiah 8:1 | ESV)
“They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” (Nehemiah 8:8 | ESV)
“And they found it written in the Law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month…” (Nehemiah 8:14 | ESV)
“And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.” (Nehemiah 8:18 | ESV
In this one chapter, the Old Covenant was called:
Law of Moses
The Law of God
The Law
There doesn’t seem to be a distinction made between the Moral, Ceremonial, and Civil Law. The Jews had one Law with Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial aspects. It was called the Covenant, the Law of Moses, the Law of God, or just the Law.
In Romans 2:17-18 we see that they only had one law.
“But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law… (Romans 2:17–18 | ESV)
Notice that Paul referred to the Law, singular. Jesus even considered the book of Psalms to be part of the Law (see John 10:34; 15:25).
We Have Died to the Law
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:4–6 | ESV)
What does Paul mean when he says that we have become dead to the Law (v. 4) and have been released from the Law (v. 6)? The next verse shows that Paul is referring to the same Law that contains the Ten Commandments.
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7 | ESV)
What We’ve Learned So Far:
God made a Covenant with Israel when we brought them out of Egypt.
That Covenant was referred to as the Law of Moses, the Law of God, or just the Law.
It was a singular Law containing Moral, Civil, and Ceremonial aspects.
That Covenant was conditional.
The Jews didn’t keep the commandments and God made a New Covenant.
Christ fulfilled the Law and brought the New Covenant which made the old one obsolete.
We have died to the law and been released from the Law.
The Law was a tutor to bring us to Christ. We are no longer under the tutor, that is, we are no longer under the Law.
So, What’s the Big Deal?
So many churches and pastors are just like the Pharisees in Acts 15 and the Judaizers in Galatia and Colosse. They want to make Gentile Christians keep the Law of Moses with rules like:
You must be circumcised
You must keep the Sabbath
You must not eat pork
You must tithe
But listen to what God says in Galatians:
"For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’” (Galatians 3:10 | ESV)
“I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.” (Galatians 5:3 | ESV)
Which of the following are we to observe from the law today?
7th-Day Sabbath = Exodus 20:8-11
Animal sacrifices = Exodus 20:24
Slavery= Exodus 21:7
Polygamy = Exodus 21:10
Stoning transgressors to death = Exodus 21:29
Three annual feasts = Exodus 23:14-17
Daily offerings = Exodus 29:38-42
Death penalty for Sabbath-breakers = Exodus 31:15; 35:2
Forbidden foods = Leviticus 11:4-47
Circumcision = Leviticus 12:3
Death penalty for immorality = Leviticus 19:20; 20:10
Levitical priesthood = Numbers 3:1-13
Tithing = Numbers 18:25-32
Dancing/musical instruments = Psalm 149:3; 150:4
Daily incense = Malachi 1:11
If you choose any of the above you should keep them all, plus about 600 more rules and statutes contained in the Law.
Let’s look at Galatians 5 again.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” (Galatians 5:1–4 | ESV)
What is the consequence of trying to follow the Old Law? You are severed from Christ and you have fallen away from grace.
Some people may respond by saying that if we don’t have to keep the Ten Commandments, that means we can murder and steal. But in reality, all of the Ten Commandments are reiterated in the New Covenant except for the Sabbath. It was wrong to murder, steal, commit adultery, etc. under the Law of Moses and those things are still wrong under the Law of Christ. Not because God commanded it in the Old Testament, but because He commanded it in the New Testament.
Let’s look to the New Covenant as our standard for life and godliness, and not try to justify ourselves with the Old Covenant by keeping the Sabbath, food laws, and other shadows of the law.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know in the comments below!
