It is a very sad, troubling thing for many who believe that Christians and Christianity is not tied to or associated with the Pentateuch (the Law of Moses/Mosaic Covenant.) This is not hard to understand. To those that believe "we are not under the Law" have a Christianity that is excised from God's commands to His people, specifically the Hebrew people, to whom the Law was given for the purpose of living righteous, blameless lives before God.
Although there are a great many reasons why God's Law is binding to God's people, I will provide a couple of reasons why the Law is still binding upon God's born-again people.
Justification: This is the act of God in which we as born-again people have been DECLARED righteous by God.
According to Scripture no one was able to "keep the Law" (obey all points of the Law), for Jesus says that if one were to violate any
one of God's commands or written Laws, they have violated
all commands and written Laws.
But there was One Person who DID obey PERFECTLY all God's commands and written Laws, and that Person is Jesus Christ. Simply put, IF Jesus DID NOT obey any one of God's commands, then He would have sinned and this would have prevented God the Father from resurrecting Him from the dead/grave, and Jesus would still be in His tomb dead as nails and dead as dead can be. Jesus was able to perfectly obey all of God's commands and Laws and this is what set Him apart from sinful men (and women.)
This is a fundamental question in Christian theology, and the answer, as understood by most mainstream Christian denominations, is
no, born-again Christians are not under the Law of Moses in the same way ancient Israel was.
Here's a breakdown of why, focusing on the New Covenant and the role of Christ:
1. The Old Covenant vs. The New Covenant:
- The Law of Moses (Old Covenant): This was a specific covenant God made with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. It included civil laws, ceremonial laws (like sacrifices, dietary restrictions, temple rituals), and moral laws (like the Ten Commandments). Its purpose was to set Israel apart, reveal God's character, and, crucially, to expose humanity's inability to perfectly keep God's standards, thereby pointing to the need for a Savior (Galatians 3:24).
- The New Covenant: Prophesied in the Old Testament (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and inaugurated by Jesus Christ, the New Covenant operates on different principles. It's not based on external law-keeping for righteousness, but on faith in Jesus' finished work on the cross.
2. Christ Fulfilled the Law:
- 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" (Matthew 5:17).
- His fulfillment means several things:
- Perfect Obedience: Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, perfectly fulfilling all the righteous requirements of the Law on our behalf.
- Sacrificial System Ended: His death on the cross was the ultimate sacrifice, doing away with the need for animal sacrifices for sin.
- Moral Law Internalized: While the ceremonial and civil laws had a specific purpose for Israel, the underlying moral principles of the Law (love God, love neighbor) are upheld and deepened by Christ. He teaches that sin is not just outward action but also internal thought and desire (e.g., lust as adultery in the heart).
3. "Not under law but under grace":
This is a key theme in Paul's letters (e.g., Romans 6:14, Galatians 3-5). It means salvation and right standing with God are not earned by obeying the Law, but are a free gift received by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Attempting to gain righteousness by keeping the Law means falling from grace (Galatians 5:4). The Law, in this sense, condemns because no one can perfectly keep it.
4. The Law of Christ / Law of Liberty:
While Christians are not under the Mosaic Law as a system for salvation, this does
not mean we are lawless.
We are now under the "law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2), which is summarized in love: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37-39).
The Holy Spirit, given to believers in the New Covenant, writes God's law on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10), empowering us to live in a way that honors God, not out of obligation to earn salvation, but out of gratitude and love. This is often referred to as the "Law of Liberty" (James 2:12).
In Summary:
Born-again Christians are under the
New Covenant, which is based on
grace through
faith in Jesus Christ. This new covenant releases us from the legalistic burden of the Mosaic Law
as a means of salvation. However, it does not release us from moral obligations. Instead, it empowers us through the Holy Spirit to live a life of
love that naturally fulfills the true intent of God's righteous standards. The Old Testament, including the Law, remains valuable for understanding God's character, His purposes, and the history of salvation, but it is to be interpreted through the lens of Christ's fulfillment. In other words, Jesus Christ is our substitute before God and the Work He performed and lived is what God accepted as being complete and by having obeyed FOR US all God's commands and written Laws, He became our substitute to stand in our place and our Mediator to represent us to God and God to us. He mediates. After all, what is the New Covenant, but the Old Covenant fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
IF we are no longer "under the Law" then we no longer must obey commands like "Thou shalt have no other gods before us" and we can have any and all gods to worship in our lives, or to obey even the command that Jesus says is the first and that is "to love the Lord our God with all our heart, strength, etc.", and the instruction by Saul to Timothy that:
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect (complete), throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16–17.
is a lie.
If we are no longer under the Law (of God) then we are law-
less, and this leaves us to live our lives according to the leanings of our own minds, according to what WE THINK we are to live before God. Whether you know this or not, without the Law (the Psalms and the Prophets - the Bible/Scripture) then we have nothing upon which we are to follow and obey as instruction for righteous living before the Presence of God.
What does it mean that [the Law] was "nailed to [His] Jesus' cross?"
Simply put this means that by obeying perfectly all the commands and written Laws of God, Jesus Christ OWNS all the commands and written Laws of God and that when He died, in a sense, the Law died with Him and was buried with Him. But as Jesus Christ rises from the dead/grave, we, too, rise with Him in newness of life and He was judged in our stead and declared "NOT GUILTY!" by God and this is the basis of our justification.
Therefore, there is NO CONDEMNATION as God sees us as "NOT GUILTY!" in Christ. And if there is no guilt, then there is no punishment.
