Many sincere Christians have been told that the laws of God in the Old Testament—about the Sabbath, the Holy Days, clean and unclean foods and tithing—have been abolished and are no longer relevant for New Testament Christians. Supposedly, these ancient laws were “nailed to the cross” by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Professing Christians are told that they are no longer “under bondage” to the Old Covenant and its “outdated laws” recorded by Moses, but are now under a New Covenant—at liberty to worship God in whatever manner they choose.
Words of the Apostle Paul are commonly cited in support of this teaching: Romans 6:14—that we are no longer under the law but under grace; Colossians 2:14—that Jesus blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us; Galatians 3:13—that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law; and Galatians 3:24–25—that the law was only a tutor to bring us to Christ and that we are no longer under a tutor.
Concluding that these scriptures “abolish the law” may seem logical to some who do not read the whole Bible carefully and who lack the Holy Spirit. But do these scriptures really teach that the law is abolished? Or is this false doctrine a part of the subtle scheme Satan has devised to deceive the professing Christian world? We need to understand what the Bible reveals about this vital subject, because this issue has divided and splintered the body of Christ down through the ages. Conflicts over the law have crippled the work of God and confused many people. To misunderstand this issue could result in losing your salvation and your eternal reward!
New Testament Warnings
One of the first things to note is that a misunderstanding of isolated verses in Paul’s writings may suggest to some that Christ abolished the necessity to keep the laws of God, yet the Apostle Peter clearly warned that Paul’s epistles contain “some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). At the beginning of His ministry Jesus warned about false teachers who would come in sheep’s clothing (claiming to be Christians) and lead people astray (Matthew 7:15–20). At the end of His earthly ministry Jesus issued a prophetic warning, “take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name [claiming to be Christian teachers]… and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:3–5).
Paul also warned that false teachers would arise within the Church, and draw disciples away from the truth (Acts 20:29–31). Paul specifically stated, “in the last days” many would follow a false Christianity “having a form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:1–5). We deny the power of biblical religion when we ignore or reason around what the Bible clearly teaches! This is why Paul advised the church in Thessalonica to “prove all things and hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and why Luke records the example of the Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily to find out” if what they were hearing from the disciples of Jesus was really true (Acts 17:10–12). The real test of doctrinal truth is agreement with all the scriptures on a subject—not just a few taken out of context! To understand whether Jesus abolished the laws of God pertaining to the Sabbath, Holy Days and similar subjects, we need to step back and look not just at a few verses out of context, but at the big picture as revealed in both the Old and New Testaments.
Law Before Sinai?
Today, many wrongly assume that the laws recorded by Moses were merely part of the Old Covenant (between God and ancient Israel) that was terminated at Christ’s death, and that they therefore no longer apply to Christians who live under a new covenant. However, the Bible reveals something quite different! The New Testament explains that “through one man [Adam] sin entered the world” (Romans 5:12). Sin is the transgression of the laws of God (1 John 3:4). There can be no sin where there are no laws of God (Romans 4:15). Adam and Eve sinned by violating the laws of God. They dishonored their parent (God) and put another god before Him when they listened to Satan. They also lusted after and stole what God said was forbidden, and then lied to cover their guilt, instead of admitting that they had made a mistake. Cain was warned before he murdered his brother that giving into anger would lead to sin (breaking a law of God—Genesis 4:6–8). Scripture clearly indicates that the laws of God were in force from the beginning of creation—thousands of years before Moses recorded the Ten Commandments.
Noah is called a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5), and the Bible defines righteousness as “all Thy commandments are righteousness” (Psalm 119:172)—so the only logical conclusion is that Noah preached obedience to the commandments of God! Some, wishing to deny the need to obey God’s laws, have proposed that Moses was preaching different commandments than those mentioned in the Bible. Yet in Genesis, we learn that Abraham and Jacob tithed (Genesis 14:18–20; 28:22) even though the tithing system is not fully explained until later in the writings of Moses (see Deuteronomy 14:22–28). Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for sins including sexual perversion (Genesis 19:1–13), yet homosexuality is not termed a sin until Leviticus 18:22 (see also Romans 1:24–27). Adultery is recognized as a “great sin” (Genesis 20:1–12) before it is listed as one of the Ten Commandments. The Bible reveals that Abraham was blessed “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge [instructions], My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:5), yet those commandments, statutes and laws are not listed until Moses recorded them (see Exodus 20–23) as part of the covenant between God and the nation of Israel.
When God revealed knowledge of the Sabbath at Creation, He sanctified (set apart and made holy) the seventh day, and rested to show how to keep the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1–3). Many sincere Christians have been told that we can worship on whatever day we desire, or that church tradition has established Sunday as the day on which we are to worship God. Yet the Bible nowhere condones such practices! The Israelites were given instructions for observing the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread—and the Sabbath—before the Old Covenant was agreed to (see Exodus 12; 16:23–26). When the Israelites failed to follow the instructions for keeping the Sabbath, God asked: “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?” (v. 28), which clearly indicates that the laws of God—including the Sabbath and Holy Days—were in force before the Old Covenant. The termination of the Old Covenant did not remove the necessity to obey the laws of God that were in force before the covenant was made!
The Old Covenant
One subtle argument wrongly suggests that since the Old Covenant and the writings of Moses contain hundreds of laws, and that anyone who believes in keeping the Sabbath, the Holy Days, tithing and the dietary laws must then also keep everything that was part of the Old Covenant; they say that anything less amounts to making an arbitrary selection of which laws to keep. Such an argument illustrates the ignorance about the Old Covenant, and blindness about the real meaning of Scripture, that has permeated professing Christian churches over the centuries.
The Old Covenant was a formal agreement between God and the ancient nation of Israel. It consisted of promises of physical blessings, and of being a special people, if the Israelites obeyed God’s laws and provided an example to the world (see Exodus 19:5–6; Deuteronomy 4:1–10). It included no spiritual promises of eternal life, or of receiving the Holy Spirit, and it included warnings of punishment for disobedience. This agreement consisted of obedience to three types of laws: the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), the statutes, judgments and ordinances (Exodus 21–23) and the ceremonial laws (see Exodus 25–40). This fundamental distinction is essential to understanding what practices were no longer required upon the establishment of the New Covenant.
The Ten Commandments form the fundamental core of the laws of God. The first four (including the Sabbath commandment) explain how to love God (Deuteronomy 6:5), and the last six explain how God wants us to show love for our neighbors (Leviticus 19:18). These laws have been in force since creation, and will continue through all eternity because the nature of God does not change (Malachi 3:6). The statutes and judgments show how to apply the Ten Commandments (God’s laws of love) in specific situations. Many of these same principles can be found in the civil laws of nations around the world today (see Exodus 21). The biblical laws were given for the benefit of humankind, and you can even wind up in jail today if you violate some of them! These laws are a blessing—even in civil society—not a “curse.”
The ceremonial laws are a different matter altogether. The Bible reveals that the laws concerning sacrifices and offerings were not originally part of the Old Covenant (Jeremiah 7:21–23). These laws were added later “because of transgressions” (Galatians 3:19). Paul could not be speaking here of the Ten Commandments, which formed the core of the Old Covenant and were in force from creation. Even the Mosaic writings indicate that the ritual sacrifices and offerings did not begin until the Tabernacle was dedicated—a year after the Old Covenant was made at Sinai (Exodus 40:17, 29). The Bible plainly shows that the ceremonial laws were additions to the Old Covenant and, as we will see, were of a temporary nature. These alone, were terminated at the death of Jesus.
A Matter of Context
Critics have asked: If laws were given “forever”—including the ritual laws—how can some such laws be just temporary? The answer lies in understanding what the term “forever” means in its proper biblical context. The Bible commands that the Sabbath and the Holy Days are to be observed forever (Exodus 31:17; Leviticus 23:41). When we see that Christ, the Apostles and the early Church kept these days, and that these practices will be observed in the kingdom of God (Isaiah 66:22–23; Zechariah 14:16–19), it should be obvious that “forever” in this context means “for all eternity.” When we read that the Aaronic priesthood was to be perpetual (Exodus 29:9), that priests were to wear special garments forever (Exodus 28:42–43) and to tend a lamp in the Tabernacle, or temple, forever (Exodus 27:21), the word “forever” is used in a different context. The Tabernacle and the temple no longer exist, so there is no lamp to tend! The Bible reveals that the priesthood has been changed (Hebrews 7:12), so instructions about wearing special garments no longer apply. Laws that allow a servant to decide to serve a master forever can only apply as long as the servant or master remains alive—which is obviously not for eternity! These simple observations illustrate what was permanent and what was temporary about the Old Covenant. The fundamental aspects of the spiritual laws of God never change. The ceremonial rituals were no longer required of Christians.
Jesus, the Apostles and the Law
But many will ask: if we “love the Lord and believe in Jesus,” must we still obey the laws of God? Regrettably, many sincere believers have been told that Christianity is about love, not “rules and regulations” which critics term legalism! While this argument may seem reasonable to some, the Bible tells a different story! Jesus said: “Do not think that I came to destroy [annul] the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill [complete]” (Matthew 5:17). Scripture explains that Christ came to “magnify [amplify, expand] the law and make it honorable” (Isaiah 42:21). Jesus taught that we must obey not just the letter of the law, but also the spirit (or intent) of the law (Matthew 5:21–30). When Jesus was asked how we enter the kingdom of God, and He replied that we must keep the commandments, He was referring, in context, to obeying the Ten Commandments (Matthew 19:16–20). He equated “loving the Lord” with obeying the commandments (John 14:15)—yet His plain statements are ignored by many today. Jesus did not abolish the Sabbath or the Holy Days, but kept them and instructed His disciples to do the same (Luke 4:16; John 7:8–19). Jesus taught that we “ought” to tithe (Matthew 23:23). It should be obvious that the common idea—held by many professing Christians—that Jesus abolished the law is an erroneous assumption that is not supported by the Bible.
Many wrongly assume that the Apostles and the early Church came to realize that the “Mosaic Laws” covering the Sabbath, Holy Days, the dietary laws and tithing were no longer required of New Testament Christians. However, this is not what we find in the book of Acts. The Bible reveals not only that Paul kept the Sabbath (some 20 years after the Crucifixion; see Acts 17:1–2), but that he also continued to observe the Holy Days (Acts 18:21), and even admonished other Christians to do the same (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). This is consistent with what historians record about the early Church. Edward Gibbon wrote that the early Jerusalem Church, for nearly a century after the death of Jesus Christ, “united the law of Moses [including tithing] with the doctrine of Christ” until pressure from Gentile converts led to the rejection of these biblical and Apostolic practices (see The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 15).
While the writings of Paul are sometimes offered as evidence that keeping the law is not required of New Testament Christians, it is worth noticing what Paul himself had to say about obedience to the Law. The biblical Paul says that not hearers but “doers of the law will be justified” (Romans 2:13), that the law is for our instruction (Romans 2:18) and that the law defines what sin actually is (Romans 3:20). He explains that faith does not abolish, but establishes, the law (Romans 3:31), and that “the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). Paul echoes the teachings of Jesus when he states that “love is the fulfilling of the law”—referring to obeying the Ten Commandments (Romans 13:8–10). For Paul, keeping the commandments was the way to become a Christian—it was not legalism!
But what does Paul mean when he appears to say just the opposite? In Colossians 2:14–15, the “handwriting of ordinances” (bond of indebtedness) that was “nailed to the cross” does not refer to the laws of God, but to our sins. When we sin, we incur a debt—a death penalty (Romans 6:23). This death penalty is the curse from which Christ’s death redeemed us (Galatians 3:13). The law of God cannot be a curse, for Paul himself said it was holy, just and good! When Paul writes that we are “not under the law, but under grace,” he means that when we have repented and begun to obey the laws of God we are no longer under the penalty of the law (death) since we have received unmerited pardon, and thus we are not to sin (not to break the laws of God, cf. Romans 6:15). When Paul states that “man is not justified by the works of the law,” he is using a term that specifically refers to ritualistic practices—not to the Ten Commandments (see Galatians 2:16; 3:2, 10 and Biblical Archaeology Review, Nov-Dec. 1994). When Paul states that “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ… but after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Galatians 3:24–25), he is referring to the temporary nature of the entire system of statutes, ceremonial laws, rituals and sacrifices that pointed to the need for a Savior. This is what the book of Galatians is discussing. He is not saying that the fundamental laws of God—the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, tithing and the dietary laws—have been abolished. This is confirmed by his statements in Hebrews 9:9–10. The writings of Paul, when viewed in their total context, do not support the idea that obedience to the laws of God is no longer required of Christians. For many professing Christians, it boils down to a matter of “which Paul” they are going to believe—the Paul of Scripture, or the Paul created by critics of the law!
The New Covenant and the Law
Most professing Christians today hold conflicting beliefs—that they are under a new covenant, and that they are no longer required to keep the laws of God—spelled out in detail in the writings of Moses—because these laws are now written in their minds and hearts (Hebrews 8:1–13; 10:16; Jeremiah 31:31–33). Yet the same God who inspired these verses also explained that, under the New Covenant, He would give His rebellious people a new spirit “that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 11:19–20; 36:24–27). All who have the laws of God written in their minds and hearts will want to keep the laws of God, not to reason around them and look for excuses not to obey them. While most professing Christians hope to be in the kingdom of God, many seem to be unaware that “the law” will go forth out of Zion [Jerusalem] when Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom on this earth (Isaiah 2:2–4). The saints, as teachers in the kingdom, will teach the world to observe the Sabbath (Isaiah 66:22–23), the Holy Days (Zechariah 14:16–19) and the dietary laws (Isaiah 66:15–17). The New Covenant will be based on the laws of God—just as the Old Covenant was. But with the New Covenant come spiritual promises: of forgiveness of sin after sincere repentance, of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life. That is why the New Covenant is called a “better” covenant (Hebrews 12:24). There is more to the New Covenant than just loving the Lord and loving your neighbor—it also involves learning to observe rules and regulations (the laws of God) that keep us pointed in the right direction.
Those who wrongly teach that Christians no longer need to obey the laws of God fail to realize that their reasonings are a product of the carnal human mind—a mind that does not have access to, or is not using, the Holy Spirit. Paul explains that such a mind “is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7). An unconverted mind tries to reason around—or simply ignores—the laws of God, in spite of the fact that a person may profess to believe in God and love the Lord. Satan is able to influence and deceive anyone in this frame of mind (2 Corinthians 4:3–4). The Bible reveals that this is the basic reason why so many assume that Jesus abolished the law—a concept that is unsupported by the Scriptures and alien to the whole plan of God. The laws of God outline a way of life that God has emphasized from creation, which Christians are called to learn to live now, so that they will be able to teach it to the world in the coming kingdom of God. We should be thankful for the truth that God has made plain in His Word, and that we have not been duped by the many false arguments, because Jesus warned that many would be deceived about this fundamental issue (Matthew 24:4–5, 11, 24). Let us continue to pray, and study, so that we may not lose sight of the truth!
Dietary Laws—Abolished?
For centuries, many professing Christians have been led to believe that observing the biblical laws of clean and unclean foods is no longer essential for salvation. It is claimed that these “laws” were a part of the Old Covenant that was terminated with the death of Jesus Christ. This belief, however, is not supported by the Bible. The first reference to clean and unclean foods is found in the book of Genesis. The instruction given to Noah, to take seven pairs of clean animals and two pairs of unclean animals on the ark (Genesis 7:1–3), indicates that Noah knew about the dietary laws long before they were fully explained in the writings of Moses (see Leviticus 11). The extra pairs of clean animals would obviously have been used for food, and not just preserved to reproduce after the flood. From the Bible we also learn that the blood of animals was forbidden as a food (Deuteronomy 12:23–25). These laws were given “that it may go well with you and your children forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 12:28). God would not do away with an instruction that He refers to in this way.
Some teach that Jesus Christ did away with the dietary laws, yet the verses commonly used to make this false assertion actually concern ceremonial washings (see Matthew 15:1–20; Mark 7:1–23). When we read the accounts, we see that Jesus does not even mention clean or unclean foods. He refers instead to the Pharisees’ question about eating without following a traditional ritual of hand washing (Mark 7:3–8). The words “thus He declared all foods clean” found in some translations of Mark 7:19 were added by translators trying to make this verse say something that neither the context nor the original Greek text supports. When Peter, in a vision, was instructed to eat unclean animals that appeared on a great sheet, he was puzzled because he recognized that this was contrary to the laws of God (Act 10:9–17). However, Peter did not conclude that the dietary laws were abolished; he realized: “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28)—indicating that Cornelius (a Gentile) could also become a Christian. Decisions by the council in Jerusalem affirm the need to follow biblical dietary laws (Acts 15:28–29; see also Leviticus 3:17; 7:23–26). These laws were designed to prevent infectious disease and promote health (Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 12:28). If our bodies are “the temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17) and we are instructed to “glorify God in our bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) we will not deliberately ingest food that God forbids and that modern science has linked with the spread of disease.
The prophet Isaiah reveals more on this subject. When Jesus Christ returns to judge the world, “those… eating swine’s flesh and the abomination [broth of abominable things] and the mouse shall be consumed together” (Isaiah 66:15–17; see also Isaiah 65:4). These verses indicate God’s displeasure with those who eat “unclean” foods that He instructed should not be eaten. One of the reasons that sickness will disappear in the coming kingdom of God (Isaiah 35:5–6; Jeremiah 30:17) is that the laws of God will be taught and explained to human beings all over the earth (Isaiah 2:2–3; 11:9; 30:20–21). The Bible does not support the idea that the dietary laws have been abolished; rather, it explains how these important laws fit into the plan of God.