Patty Houser

Purging the Ten Commandments from public places is becoming a focus of hot debate in America’s courtrooms. Lawyers work feverishly to remove God’s laws from community parks, public schools and government buildings. They argue that the commands given to Moses at Mt. Sinai thousands of years ago no longer have a rightful place in American society. But what rightful place do they have in the Christian’s life? Have the laws given to the Israelites in the Sinai Desert become obsolete for those who have accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or are Christians still bound to the Law of Moses in the Old Testament? And how is the Mosaic Law defined? Does it only refer to the Ten Commandments, or does it include something more? When modern day Christians think of the Law of Moses, they tend to visualize Charlton Heston stumbling down the rocky mountain with two stone tablets in his arms. They imagine one limestone tablet containing the first five commandments, and the second tablet containing the other five. Has Hollywood’s depiction of the Law of Moses done the church a disservice in understanding the Law in its entirety? For centuries theologians and biblical scholars have addressed the role of the Mosaic Law in the life of the Christian from different theological and hermeneutical perspectives. To date, they have not been able to reach a consensus.  To help Christians settle the issue, I will demonstrate that  Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament because the function it filled was fulfilled in Jesus Christ  thus rendering it obsolete in the Christian’s life.

Before it is appropriate to address the reasons why Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law, it is first important to define the Mosaic Law. The New Nave’s Topical Bible defines the Mosaic Law as the customs and practices that bind a nation together, and are found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.[1] According to Old Testament scholar Dr. Bruce Waltke, three things must be present for a nation to exist one of which is a common constitution. He goes on to say that the constitution given to Moses at Sinai was a pact that bound Yahweh and His people (Israel) together.[2] Many scholars agree that the constitution was similar in formation to other treaties made in the ancient world, which “had significant impact on confirming the historical validity of the Law.”[3] It was similar, for instance, to the ancient Hittite “suzerainty covenant” in which a vassal swore an allegiance to his king out of a deep gratitude for the favors he’d received living under the king’s protection.[4] Albert Baylis said, “Hittite king-vassal treaties always started with an identification of the king who was extending the covenant. This was followed by the gracious actions and provisions that the king had given in the past, and the call for a response of gratitude and loyalty.”[5] In the constitution made between Yahweh and Israel, Yahweh made the statement “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery,” (Exodus 20:2)[6] which identified Yahweh as the King and the One to whom the nation of Israel, His vassal, owed gratitude for delivering them out of slavery in Egypt. The Mosaic Law then was the constitution made between Yahweh and Israel for their national legislation.

It is interesting to witness the handling of the Mosaic Law by theologians and biblical scholars. What is interesting is that while they are in conflict as to whether or not the law can actually be broken down for better clarification of its purpose and meaning, the end result is that most scholars refer to the Law in three distinct categories whether or not they argue for its unity or disunity. The three components they break it down into is the moral, civil and ceremonial even though most agree that Moses did not originally treat the Law in this way.[7] What differs among scholars, however, is the classification or naming system they use to refer to these three components. I will use the naming system of Dr. Waltke.

The “moral legislation” of the constitution is found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-12 and is called the Decalogue otherwise known as the Ten Commandments. It is also called the “Ten Words.”[8] The “moral legislation” of the Law is the expression of God’s absolute righteous, moral will, and is considered to be the heart of the constitution.[9] The order in which the commandments are given is significant. The first four commandments deal with man’s relationship to God, and the last six commandments deal with man’s relationship to man.[10]

The “social legislation” of the constitution is found in Exodus 20:22 through Exodus 23:33, and is called “the book of the covenant.”[11] The “book of the covenant” details all the laws required for maintaining a just society.[12] The “social legislation” can be broken down into two parts. The first part deals with civil laws, which are given in casuistic form. A statement such as “If your enemy’s ox wanders onto your property, you are to return it back to your enemy” (Gen. 23:4) is an example of casuistic form.[13] The second part is the ordinance, which addresses criminal offenses perpetrated against members of society, and are coupled with appropriate sentences for offenses perpetrated.[14]

Finally, the “cultic legislation” of the constitution is found in Exodus 25 and continues through Exodus 40. It deals with the nation of Israel’s religious expression for worshiping Yahweh. Dr. Bruce Waltke said that this part of the law “made it possible for an unclean people to live among a Holy God.”[15] While I have assigned the three legislations to specific chapters within the book of Exodus, it is true that the three legislations can also be found peppered through the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Now that I have defined the Mosaic Law, I will demonstrate why Christians are not bound to it.

The first reason Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law is because Jesus Christ fulfilled the function of the “moral legislation” of the Law. According to Dr. Waltke, the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites because they were the standards of conduct for which the Israelites were to emulate to express God’s righteous, moral will to the world.[16] In short, the function of the Ten Commandments was to reflect God’s character to the world through Israel’s adherence to them.

However, Christians are not governed under the “moral legislation” of the Mosaic Law because when Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant, a new “moral legislation” was instituted, which became the standard of conduct through which the New Covenant Community was to emulate in order to express God’s righteous, moral will to the world. The Apostle Paul refers to this new “moral legislation” as “Christ’s Law.” In 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 the apostle Paul said, when defending his rights as an Apostle to the church of Corinth in his discussion about becoming all things to all people to win them over for Christ, “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those under the law.” Paul is clear. Now that he has accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he is not under the “moral legislation” of the Law of Moses. Notice, however, that he does not say that he is completely released from “God’s law.” While Paul says that he is no longer under the law of Moses, he also makes it clear that he is governed under a new law. Under which of God’s laws is Paul now governed, if not the “moral legislation” of the Mosaic Law? Paul says it is “Christ’s Law.” Douglas J. Moo said in the book Five Views on Law and Gospel with respect to this passage:

This is perhaps the clearest Pauline statement of the situation of the Christian with respect to God’s law. As we have emphasized, the Scriptures present the law of Moses as a specific codification of God’s will for a specific situation: Israel under the Sinaitic covenant. Paul asserts that from this law Christians, who live under the new covenant inaugurated by Christ, have been set free. But Christians are now subject to God’s law in another of its manifestations: the law of Christ.[17]

Moo also concludes from his examination of Paul’s passage that after accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul no longer sees himself as being governed under the “moral legislation” of the Law of Moses, but rather sees himself as being governed under “Christ’s Law.” Christians in the New Covenant Community are to obey “Christ’s Law” to reflect God’s righteous, moral will to the world. The natural question that arises is, what is “Christ’s Law”?

“Christ’s Law” is the two new commandments given in the book of Matthew. In Matthew 22, the Pharisees questioned Jesus about the law of Moses. Directly after the Sadducees tried to trick Jesus with a question about eternal marriage to which Jesus got in the last word, the Pharisees decided to give tricking Jesus their best effort by presenting him with a question of their own. They said to Him, “’Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’”(Matthew 22:36) to which Jesus replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40). It is important to notice that the two commands that Jesus told the Pharisees were the two most important, did not come from among the commands in the Decalogue. Rather, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 as the greatest command of all, and pulled the second most important command from Leviticus 19. These, Jesus says, are the two commands upon which the entire Law and the Prophets are hinged. It is reasonable to believe that the two new commandments Jesus instituted in Matthew 22 are “Christ’s Law,” or the new “moral legislation” that the New Covenant Community is to emulate to reflect God’s righteous, moral will to the world.

Some might argue that because God’s character never changes, neither does His moral law; therefore, it makes no sense to say that Jesus replaced God’s “moral legislation” in the Mosaic Law with Christ’s Law.” However, Jesus did not replace God’s moral standard with a completely new and different moral standard of conduct. Rather, Jesus took the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic Law and subsumed them into the two new laws of Christ so that “Christ’s Law” still reflects the same righteous, moral will of God. Here’s how it works. If a Christian adheres to “Christ’s Law,” she will be adhering to the Ten Commandments in the Mosaic Law by default. For instance, if a Christian truly loves God with all her heart, soul and mind, she will not worship any other gods, will not make for herself a graven image, and will not take the Lord’s name in vain. Similarly, if she truly loves her neighbor as herself, she will honor her father and mother, will not murder, will not commit adultery, will not steal, will not give false testimony, and will not covet her neighbor’s possessions. It is fair to conclude that “Christ’s Law” is not a new “moral legislation” of God that is different from the standard put forth in the Mosaic Covenant. No, “Christ’s Law” still reflects God’s absolute, righteous moral will, and is still God’s original standard of moral conduct to be emulated. The only difference between “Christ’s Law” and the “moral legislation” of the Mosaic Law, is that Christ’s Law is God’s righteous moral, will, and His standard of conduct for the Christian to emulate under the New Covenant, whereas the “moral legislation” in the Mosaic Law was God’s righteous moral, will, and standard of conduct for the Israelite to emulate under the Old Covenant.

One might notice that the keeping the Sabbath was missing from the list given to prove that if Christians keep the first commandment in “Christ’s Law,” they would also keep the Sabbath by default. This elimination was intentional. Unlike the other nine commandments in the Decalogue, resting on the Sabbath is “not an absolute moral law.”[18] God instituted the Sabbath to serve as a sign for the Mosaic Covenant of His sovereign rule over Israel’s time and loyalty.[19] Dr. Waltke said in an Old Testament Survey lecture that ancient verbal pacts usually had an outward symbol that conveyed a message to the world that two parties were involved in an agreement.[20] Similarly, in the Old Testament, when God instituted a covenant, He always sealed the covenant with an outward sign. For instance, in the Noahaic Covenant where God promised never again to flood the earth, He gave the outward symbol of the rainbow (Gen. 13-15). In the Abrahamic Covenant where God promised to bring forth from one man a great nation that would bless all the people’s of the earth, God instituted the outward symbol of circumcision (Gen. 17:11).  Likewise, in the Mosaic Covenant where God instituted His righteous, moral will to be reflected to the world through the nation of Israel, He gave the outward sign of the Sabbath (Gen. 20:8-11). Under the Old Covenant, when Israel rested on the seventh day, nations recognized that it was because Israel made a covenant with a Holy God. The reason that Christians are not required to rest on the Sabbath, and the reason that it was not subsumed under “Christ’s Law,” is because honoring a symbol for a covenant that was fulfilled with a New Covenant makes no sense.[21]

The second reason Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law is because Jesus Christ fulfilled the function of the “social legislation” of the Law. The purpose of the “social legislation” of the Mosaic Law was to establish a specific set of “obligations and punishments needed to implement a just society.”[22] It was not meant to be a comprehensive list of ethical codes trying to address every situation that arose in life, but rather was meant to serve the purpose of setting an example to the Israelites as to how they should live out their daily lives.[23]

However, the daily lives of Christians are not governed under the “social legislation” of the Mosaic Law because when Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, He gave His followers the Holy Spirit, which was given to govern the Christian’s daily behavior under the New Covenant. Paul E. Little said in his book Know What you Believe that the Holy Spirit is “intimately involved” in the Christian’s “initial conversion and birth into the family of God” and in her “ongoing development as a Christian.”[24] The reason he said that the Holy Spirit is “intimately involved” in the Christian’s life are two. The first reason is because the Holy Spirit is given to every person who submits her life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ when she undergoes a spiritual rebirth (John 3:1-8). The second reason is because the Holy Spirit gives Christians a supernatural ability to execute God’s righteous, moral will when navigating their way through their daily lives.[25] In the fourteenth chapter of John, Jesus was teaching His disciples about Himself and His relationship to the Father. In His discussion, He told the disciples that the time had come for Him to go and be with His Father. In addition, Jesus told His disciples that they could not follow. However, to comfort them He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth (John 14:16).” Shortly thereafter Jesus said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I said” (John 14:26). In these discourses, Jesus says two important things. First, he makes it clear to his disciples that the “Counselor” the Father is going to send them, cannot come to them until after He leaves them. Jesus was referring to His death and resurrection. This is important because the statement implies that the disciples could not be permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit until after the New Covenant was ratified through His blood. Second, Jesus says that the “Counselor” is the Holy Spirit. But notice the name Jesus gives the Holy Spirit in addition to the name “Counselor.” He calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of Truth.” Why?  He calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of Truth,” because the Holy Spirit’s job is to speak God’s truth into the life of the believer. And since the Holy Spirit resides within the Christian’s heart, the “Spirit of Truth” is able to speak truth into the Christian’s life every moment of every day. But one might ask how, exactly, will the “Spirit of Truth” counsel or speak truth into the believer’s life?

The answer can be found in John 16. Jesus said, “When he [Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). According to the Apostle John, the “Spirit of Truth” will internally convict believers of their sin. Therefore, if a Christian attempts to engage in an unlawful act within society, the “Spirit of Truth” will internally alert the Christian that the behavior being considered is wrong and harmful to others. The Christian can then respond to the Holy Spirit’s internal prompting and conform her behavior to God’s standards. It is true that the Christian still has the choice to engage in the sinful behavior in rebellion to the Holy Spirit’s conviction. But that’s not the point. The point is that under the New Covenant, the Christian, unlike the Israelite, is permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit, which internally regulates the Christian’s daily behavior and helps her to conform to God’s standard so that a just society is possible with no other “social legislation.”

The last reason Christians are not bound to the Mosaic Law is because Jesus Christ fulfilled the function of the “cultic legislation” of the Mosaic Law. In the “cultic legislation,” Yahweh gave the Israelites very specific instructions as to how they were to worship Him.[26] Dr. Waltke described the cultic legislation as the “outward, overt religious behaviors,” which “made it possible for an unclean people to live among a Holy God.”[27] Its function was to teach the Israelites through the sacrificial system that it is not possible for sinful man (Romans 3:23) to enter into the presence (Rev. 21:27a) of a Holy God (Isaiah 6:3) without making a blood sacrifice (Leviticus 17:11) as atonement for one’s sin (Leviticus 16). Douglas Moo said in his essay The Law of Christ as the Fulfillment of the Law of Moses: A Modified Lutheran View, “The sacrificial laws teach still another truth about God, that he cannot tolerate sin without some kind of shedding of blood to compensate for that sin.”[28]

However, Christians do not need to participate in the sacrificial system detailed out in the “cultic legislation” of the Mosaic Law because when Jesus Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant, He also fulfilled the sacrificial system in the “cultic legislation” by becoming the Perfect Sacrifice. In his book Know What You Believe Paul Little said, “the whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament was a symbolic portrayal to be fulfilled in Christ.”[29] Albert Baylis said, “Jesus Himself brings the Law to fulfillment in a number of ways. First, he fulfills the sacrificial system.”[30] The author of Hebrews said:

For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.  Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him (Hebrews 9:24-28).

The writer of Hebrews is unmistakable. Jesus Christ fulfilled the sacrificial system by becoming the Perfect Sacrifice. While it is true that Jesus became the Perfect Sacrifice in many ways, I will only discuss two. The first reason Jesus became the Perfect Sacrifice was because He died for sinners once and for all! His sacrifice was not a temporary sacrifice as it was in the Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant. He did not have to be sacrificed over and over and over again as the animals had to be in order to declare sinners justified before God. Rather, Jesus’ sacrifice was complete and final, never to be repeated again. The Hebrew’s writer said, “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by sacrifice of himself.” Again, the Hebrews writer said earlier in the book of Hebrews, “He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27). Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect because it was permanent. Through the one time sacrifice of Jesus Christ, sinners professing faith in Christ can stand in the presence of a Holy God for all of eternity. The second reason Jesus was the Perfect Sacrifice was because Jesus’ sacrifice washed away the sins of the world. The Apostle John called Jesus, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world“ (John 1:29). Unlike the re-offering of the animal sacrificial system that only temporarily cleansed the nation of Israel’s sins in the Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect because His sacrifice washed away the sins of the world.

The application of the Mosaic Law in the Christian’s life is apparent from the biblical text. The Christian is not bound to the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament because Jesus Christ fulfilled its three functions. Jesus Himself 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. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18). Does that mean that Christians have nothing to gain from the Mosaic Law? After they read the book of Genesis, are they to skip past the Mosaic Law and go on to the book of Joshua? “Absolutely not!” The Apostle Paul said that, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). While it is true that the Christian is no longer bound to the Mosaic Law, it still has a valuable place in the Christian’s life as a part of Scripture. Indeed, there is much to be learned from the Mosaic Law. Not only is it good for “rebuking, correcting and training” the Christian in “righteousness” as the Apostle Paul said, but it is also priceless for teaching Christians that the God of the Bible is a holy, righteous God, and a God of justice and mercy.