Understanding the Bible
This post is part of our Understanding the Bible series—short, clear explanations of common questions, phrases, images, and themes found in Scripture.
The goal is simple: to help you read the Bible more clearly by explaining what the text says, what it meant in its original context, and why it still matters today.
These studies are designed for personal Bible reading, small groups, teaching preparation, or anyone who wants to grow in biblical understanding without needing technical training.
On this page:
- Quick Answer
- Why This Question Matters
- Why Nehemiah 10 Raises This Question
- What Is the Law of Moses?
- What Did Jesus Teach About the Law?
- How Did the New Covenant Change Things?
- What Did the Early Church Decide?
- What Did Paul Teach About the Law?
- What About the Ten Commandments?
- Does This Mean the Old Testament No Longer Matters?
- Why Do Christians Sometimes Disagree?
- So What Should Christians Obey Today?
- What We Should Avoid
- What This Means for You
- Key Takeaway
Quick Answer
Christians are not under the Law of Moses as a covenant system in the same way Old Testament Israel was. Jesus fulfilled the Law, established the New Covenant, and now calls His people to follow Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This does not mean God’s moral standards disappeared. It does not mean the Old Testament no longer matters. And it does not mean Christians are free to live however they want.
It means Christians do not relate to God through the Mosaic Covenant. We relate to God through Jesus Christ.
The Law points us to Christ. Christ fulfills the Law. And Christians now obey God as New Covenant believers who belong to Jesus.
Why This Question Matters
Few questions create more confusion for Christians than this one:
Do Christians have to obey the Law of Moses?
Should Christians keep the Sabbath the way Israel did? Are dietary laws still binding? What about circumcision? What about sacrifices? What about the Ten Commandments?
These questions matter because misunderstanding the Law can lead to two opposite errors.
- Legalism: treating obedience to Old Covenant law as the basis of salvation, righteousness, or spiritual maturity.
- Lawlessness: assuming grace means obedience no longer matters.
The Bible rejects both.
Christians are not saved by keeping the Law. But Christians are also not saved into a life of disobedience.
Grace does not make obedience unnecessary.
Grace changes the foundation, motivation, and power of obedience.
Why Nehemiah 10 Raises This Question
Nehemiah 10:29 says the returning exiles made a renewed commitment “to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses.”
After returning from exile, God’s people recognized that their disobedience had brought devastating consequences. They wanted to recommit themselves to the covenant God had given Israel through Moses.
That commitment made sense for them.
They were Israelites living under the Mosaic Covenant. The Law governed their worship, sacrifices, priesthood, purity practices, festivals, civil life, and covenant relationship with God as a nation.
But Christians today live after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.
So the question becomes:
If the returning exiles renewed their commitment to the Law of Moses, should Christians today renew that same commitment?
The answer is no—not in the same covenantal way.
Nehemiah 10 shows Old Covenant Israel rightly recommitting themselves to the Law given through Moses. The New Testament shows Christians belonging to the New Covenant established through Jesus.
The difference is not that God changed His character.
The difference is that Christ fulfilled what the Law was always pointing toward.
What Is the Law of Moses?
The “Law of Moses” refers to the covenant law God gave Israel through Moses, especially in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
It included commands about worship, sacrifices, holiness, justice, purity, priesthood, festivals, food, marriage, property, national life, and covenant faithfulness.
Christians often divide the Law into three categories:
- Moral laws — commands about right and wrong.
- Ceremonial laws — sacrifices, priesthood, festivals, dietary laws, and ritual purity.
- Civil laws — laws governing Israel as a nation.
This threefold division can be helpful, but we should remember that the Law came to Israel as one covenant package.
The Mosaic Law was holy, righteous, and good because it came from God.
But it was also tied to a specific covenant with a specific people at a specific stage in redemptive history.
Key point: The Mosaic Law was not given as a timeless covenant system for all nations in all eras. It was God’s covenant law for Israel under the Old Covenant.
What Did Jesus Teach About the Law?
Jesus did not attack the Law.
He fulfilled it.
In Matthew 5:17, 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.”
Jesus fulfilled the Law in several ways.
- He perfectly obeyed God’s righteous will.
- He fulfilled the promises and patterns of the Old Testament.
- He fulfilled the sacrificial system through His death.
- He revealed the true intent of God’s commands.
- He brought the Old Covenant story to its appointed goal.
Fulfillment does not mean Jesus treated the Law as worthless.
It means the Law reached its goal in Him.
The Law was never the final destination. It was always leading to Christ.
How Did the New Covenant Change Things?
The clearest answer to this question comes through the Bible’s teaching on the New Covenant.
Jeremiah 31 promised a coming covenant different from the covenant God made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. In that New Covenant, God would write His law on the hearts of His people, forgive their sins, and create a people who truly know Him.
Jesus announced this covenant at the Last Supper when He said, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).
Hebrews 8–10 explains the significance: the New Covenant is better, Christ is the greater High Priest, and His once-for-all sacrifice accomplishes what repeated animal sacrifices could never accomplish.
Why this matters: Jesus did not come merely to improve the Mosaic Covenant. He came to fulfill it and establish the New Covenant promised by God.
This is why Christians do not offer animal sacrifices, rely on Levitical priests, observe temple purity rituals, or place themselves under the covenant obligations given to Israel through Moses.
Christ has come.
The shadows have given way to the substance.
The promise has reached fulfillment.
Christians now live under the lordship of the risen Christ, with the Holy Spirit dwelling within them, as members of the New Covenant people of God.
What Did the Early Church Decide?
Acts 15 is one of the most important passages for this question.
Some Jewish believers were teaching that Gentile Christians had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved.
The apostles rejected that teaching.
Peter argued that God had already given the Holy Spirit to Gentile believers by faith. He warned against placing a yoke on them that Israel itself had not been able to bear.
Then he declared that salvation comes through the grace of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 15 makes this clear: Gentile Christians do not have to become Old Covenant Jews in order to belong to God’s people.
The Jerusalem Council did not place Gentile believers under the Mosaic Covenant.
That does not mean they encouraged sin. The apostles gave instructions that helped protect fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers and helped Gentiles turn away from idolatry and sexual immorality.
But they did not require Christians to keep the Law of Moses as a covenant system.
What Did Paul Teach About the Law?
Paul consistently taught that sinners are justified by faith in Christ, not by works of the Law.
This was especially important in Galatians, where some were pressuring Gentile believers to accept circumcision and live under the Mosaic Law.
Paul strongly opposed that teaching because it compromised the sufficiency of Christ.
Paul did not believe the Law was evil.
He said the Law is holy, righteous, and good.
But he also taught that the Law could expose sin without giving sinners the power to overcome it. The Law could reveal guilt, but it could not justify the guilty. It could point to righteousness, but it could not produce saving righteousness in sinners.
The Law shows us our need.
Christ provides what the Law could never give.
This is why Paul can say several things at once:
- The Law is good.
- The Law exposes sin.
- The Law does not justify sinners.
- Believers have died to the Law through Christ.
- Christ is the goal of the Law for righteousness.
Paul’s concern was never that Christians would become too holy.
His concern was that Christians would look to the wrong covenant, the wrong foundation, and the wrong source of righteousness.
Christ is enough.
What About the Ten Commandments?
This is where many Christians become especially confused.
The Ten Commandments were part of the Mosaic Covenant. Yet many of the moral commands found in the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament.
Christians do not reject commands against idolatry, murder, adultery, theft, lying, or coveting simply because believers are not under the Mosaic Covenant.
Why?
Because these commands reflect God’s moral character, and the New Testament reaffirms them as part of Christian obedience.
However, Christians obey these commands not because they are trying to place themselves back under the Mosaic Covenant, but because they belong to Christ.
Important distinction: Christians do not obey God in order to become accepted. Christians obey God because they have been accepted in Christ.
Does This Mean the Old Testament No Longer Matters?
No.
Saying Christians are not under the Mosaic Covenant does not mean Christians should ignore the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is Christian Scripture. It reveals God’s character, exposes human sin, tells the story of redemption, prepares us for Christ, and teaches us wisdom, worship, justice, holiness, and faith.
The problem is not reading the Law.
The problem is reading the Law as if Jesus has not come.
Christians should read the Law through the lens of Christ.
That means we ask:
- What does this reveal about God?
- What does this reveal about sin?
- How did this function for Israel under the Old Covenant?
- How does this point forward to Christ?
- How does the New Testament apply, fulfill, or transform this command?
Christians do not throw away the Old Testament.
We read it as fulfilled Scripture.
We read it as people who know where the story was going all along.
Why Do Christians Sometimes Disagree About the Law?
Faithful Christians generally agree that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone and not through keeping the Law of Moses.
But Christians sometimes disagree about how the Old Testament Law applies today.
Some Christians emphasize continuity between Israel and the church and see more direct application of Old Testament commands. Others emphasize the New Covenant fulfillment brought by Christ and see a sharper distinction between the Mosaic Covenant and Christian obedience.
These differences often affect discussions about:
- The Sabbath
- Dietary laws
- The Ten Commandments
- Old Testament civil laws
- Israel and the church
- The relationship between law and gospel
Christians should handle these discussions with humility, charity, and careful attention to Scripture.
But whatever differences exist, the New Testament is clear on the central point:
Christians are not justified by the Law of Moses. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
So What Should Christians Obey Today?
Christians obey Christ.
The New Testament speaks of “the law of Christ” in Galatians 6:2. This does not mean Christians are lawless. It means our obedience is now centered on Jesus—His teaching, His example, His commands, His apostles, and His Spirit-empowered life within us.
Christians still learn from the Mosaic Law because it teaches us about God, sin, holiness, justice, worship, sacrifice, and redemption.
But Christians do not place themselves back under the Old Covenant system of sacrifices, circumcision, food laws, purity regulations, priesthood, temple worship, and national covenant obligations given specifically to Israel through Moses.
Christian obedience is not Moses-centered.
Christian obedience is Christ-centered.
Believers obey God because they have been united to Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and brought into the New Covenant.
The goal is not to become more “Mosaic.”
The goal is to become more like Jesus.
What We Should Avoid
- Avoid legalism: Christians are not saved, justified, or made spiritually mature by returning to the Mosaic Covenant.
- Avoid lawlessness: Grace does not free us to sin; grace frees us to obey God from the heart.
- Avoid dismissing the Old Testament: The Law still teaches us about God, holiness, sin, sacrifice, and Christ.
- Avoid flattening the Bible: Scripture has one unified story, but that story unfolds through covenants that must be read carefully.
- Avoid treating Moses as greater than Christ: Moses was a faithful servant, but Jesus is the Son who fulfills the house of God.
The safest path is not ignoring the Law or returning to the Law as a covenant system.
The safest path is reading the Law in light of Christ.
What This Means for You
- You do not earn God’s acceptance by keeping Old Testament laws.
- Jesus fulfilled what sinners could never fulfill.
- The Old Testament still matters because it helps you understand God’s holiness, your need for grace, and the greatness of Christ.
- Christian obedience flows from union with Christ, not fear of covenant condemnation.
- The Holy Spirit empowers believers to obey God from the heart.
- The goal of the Christian life is not becoming more “Mosaic,” but becoming more like Jesus.
Key Takeaway
The returning exiles in Nehemiah were right to renew their commitment to the Law of Moses because they lived under the Mosaic Covenant.
Christians, however, live under the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ.
The Law still matters because it reveals God’s holiness, exposes human sin, and points us to Christ. But Christians are not saved, sanctified, or governed by the Mosaic Covenant as a covenant system.
Jesus fulfilled the Law.
Jesus established the New Covenant.
Jesus now calls His people to follow Him through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Christians do not ignore Moses.
But Christians do not live at Mount Sinai.
We follow the Savior to whom Moses was always pointing.
If this post helped you understand Who the Bible better, subscribe below for other resources that will help you understand the Bible more.
Leave a Reply