Daily Bible Study

Are the Old Testament commands still in effect for us today?

In the pages of the bible, we clearly read of two laws that were given: the law of Moses and the Law of Christ. It is, therefore, all together important that we know which of God’s two laws is binding on us today. Without knowledge of what law he is under, man is unable to be assured he is doing the things which God expects of him.

God’s laws are always authoritative and binding upon those to whom they are given. John 1:17 says, “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” At the time it was revealed to Moses, the Law was the fullness of truth given only to the Jews. God’s covenant was made with Moses and the nation of Israel (Deuteronomy 5:1-3, Exodus 34:27,28).

In the book of Hebrews, the writer quotes an Old Testament prophecy from Jeremiah 31:31-34. “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,“ This foretold that God was to make a new covenant and the old would vanish away (Hebrews 8:8-14). The writer goes on to say that in coming to earth, Christ did the will of the Father in order to “take away the first that he may establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9).

Jesus himself said that the Law would not pass away until all was accomplished. “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18). Jesus knew the time when the law was to be fulfilled and pass away. As John records the final moments of Jesus’ life before his death on the cross, he says, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, ‘I thirst!’…So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:28-30).

Once the law was fulfilled, it was replaced by the law of Christ. The Old Testament law given by Moses was “done away” (2 Corinthians 3:11). Jesus “abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Ephesians 2:15).
Paul confirms Jesus’ death on the cross as being the end of the Law. “Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross“ (Colossians 2:14). Therefore, the law passed away when Jesus died on the cross.

In writing to the Christians at Rome, Paul uses the marriage covenant to illustrate that they are no longer bound to the law. It would not be lawful for a woman to have two husbands at the same time according to God’s law of marriage. “Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God“ (Romans 7:1-4). Likewise, it would not be acceptable to God for man to bind himself to both the Law of Moses and the law of Christ (Romans 7:6).

Because of this change of law, what was binding in the Old Testament is no longer binding upon Christians today. Under the law of Christ, we are no longer ruled by a tutor (Galatians 3:24-25). The Law of Moses was to last only until the gospel, the law of Jesus Christ, came. The faith, which is the gospel, replaced the law of Moses. We are now subject to the “law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, Hebrews 1:1-2), following only after His commandments and requirements.