Many believers struggle to grasp the Old Testament’s significance and role in their lives, given its laws, rituals, holidays, and sacrificial system. Some claim the Ten Commandments must be obeyed for salvation. Others insist the customs and dietary requirements must be followed to earn God’s favor. Many others view the Old Testament as obsolete, playing no part in the lives of believers today.
The Scriptures state the purpose of the Ten Commandments. They were given to reveal God’s perfect standard of holiness (see Exodus 20:3-17) while exposing how far people fall short of it. Paul wrote in Romans 3:20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” He also stated in Romans 7:7, “I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”
Yet, as faultless as the Old Testament law was in defining God’s holy standard and revealing how much people fall short of it, it could not make sinners righteous. Only Jesus’ shed blood could accomplish such a feat. Therefore, God instituted a temporary sacrificial system for sins until the time of Christ, which foreshadowed what Jesus would ultimately accomplish at Calvary, once and for all.
When Jesus came to the earth, He lived a perfect life of obedience to His Father on behalf of all sinners. His sinless obedience satisfied each of the Old Testament’s righteous requirements. Likewise, His suffering and substitutionary death on the cross paid for all sin in full, making salvation and redemption possible for sinners who trust Him for it.
Jesus' death and resurrection established a far superior Covenant than the first one—making the Old Covenant and its requirements obsolete. Hebrews 8:7 says, “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.” Hebrews 8:13 states, “By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”
Those who trust Jesus by faith for salvation are redeemed from the law’s curse and rendered righteous before God (see Galatians 3:13-14 and Romans 3:22). As such, they are not required to follow the Old Covenant system of regulations, rituals, restrictions, and laws because Jesus’ obedient life and sacrificial death satisfied the law’s demands and requirements on their behalf. In other words, Jesus' life and death render believers perfect before God as if they fulfilled every point of the law flawlessly themselves (see Colossians 2:13-14; Ephesians 2:13-16; Galatians 3:19). For Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," and Galatians 2:21 states, “If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Consequently, born-again believers are under the New Covenant of grace and should follow the “law of Christ” described in Luke 10:27. It says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Believers should obey Jesus' instructions in response to God's great love for them, not as a means to maintain or sustain their salvation (see 1 John 4:19).
Interestingly, nine of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament fall within the “law of Christ.” The only Commandment excluded is Sabbath observance. This exclusion is because Jesus Himself is the Sabbath rest for all believers under the New Covenant. His shed blood provides believers with forgiveness and redemption that could never be attained or earned through law-keeping and Sabbath adherence. When Jesus sat down at the right hand of God the Father, He “rested” from His work of redemption. Since nothing more needed to be done or added, Jesus provides permanent Sabbath rest to all who come to Him in faith for what He accomplished on their behalf. Never again do people have to “labor” to obey God’s law to become justified in His presence. Jesus did all of that for them instead, on the cross.
Those who do not trust Jesus for their salvation but attempt to obtain it by following God’s laws, commandments, rituals, or Old Testament practices will not be saved nor enter God’s rest upon their death. The Bible says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Scripture also says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Therefore, salvation is only possible when a sinner repents of their sins and trusts Jesus by faith for what He accomplished on the cross in their place.
For further study on Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament Law and its requirements, read the New Testament books of Hebrews and Galatians. For additional information on believers not being required to keep the Old Testament Law, read Acts chapter 15.
(See the Scripture References link at the top of the page.)
