There is a kind of thinking in our world today that says, well, if we can just get the Ten Commandments back in our class rooms, it will all be fine. On one hand, I disagree with the premise if it is founded upon the idea of a ‘Christian Nationalism’ which was not the kind of Kingdom Jesus came to bring. However, the right use of the law in the New Testament proves its value in defining, for a culture that doesn’t know what sin is, a beginning of a definition!
One of the most debated aspects of this concerns how believers relate to the Old Testament law, particularly the Ten Commandments. For Judaism, obeying the Law was the covenant path to righteousness and a marker for the distinct people of God. In Christianity, Christ is our all in all, but teaches that believers honour God’s moral law through Christ in a fundamentally different way to the Jew. In traditional Jewish understanding, obedience to the Law is the means by which the covenant people maintain their relationship with God. The 613 commandments, including the Ten Commandments, provide the framework for righteous, distinct and covenantal living for the people of Israel in the Old Testament. Observance was both a duty and a privilege—the Law itself is good, holy, and life-giving in as much as it magnifies the holiness and way of God in the midst of the nations (Psalm 119). A faithful Jew sought to obey these commands as an expression of covenant loyalty. Thomas Schreiner explains: “The Mosaic law as a whole… functioned as the terms of the covenant between God and Israel. Obedience to the law was the means by which Israel remained in covenant relationship with God” (Schreiner, The Law and Its Fulfillment, 1993, p. 35).
Jesus declared in Matthew 5:17, “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.” This statement is foundational for understanding the Christian relationship to the Ten Commandments. So, in what way does Christ fulfil the law, and what does that mean?
1. Perfect Obedience: Jesus lived in complete obedience to God’s commands, becoming the only human to perfectly keep the law. His righteousness becomes the believer’s righteousness through faith (2 Corinthians 5:21).
2. Prophetic Fulfillment: Jesus fulfilled the law’s prophetic types and shadows. The ceremonial aspects pointed forward to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice.
3. Moral Deepening: In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus intensified the law’s demands, showing that true righteousness involves not just external compliance but heart transformation. D.A. Carson notes: “Jesus’ mission was not to abrogate the law but to fulfill it… He came to complete it, to bring it to its intended goal” (Carson, The Sermon on the Mount, 1978, p. 38). The goal is the righteousness of Jesus and the transformation that brings to the New Covenant believer, not only in the heart, but actually in external behaviour. Holiness is not only internal, but shapes the external.
The New Testament presents a radical shift in how God’s people relate to the law. Paul writes that believers are “not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14) and that Christ is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). This doesn’t mean moral anarchy, but rather that the Mosaic law no longer functions as the covenant terms for God’s people. Wayne Grudem explains: “To be ‘under law’ meant to be subject to the sanctions of the old covenant and to be obligated to obey the law in order to gain God’s favour. But Christians are not ‘under law’ in this sense” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1994, p. 610).
Jeremiah prophesied a new covenant where God would write His law on human hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers, producing obedience from within rather than demanding it from without. As John Stott observes: “The Christian norm is no longer external conformity to a written code, but rather internal transformation by the indwelling Spirit” (Stott, The Message of Galatians, 1968, p. 144). Paul repeatedly teaches that love fulfills the law (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14). Rather than approaching the Ten Commandments as a checklist, however, believers honour God’s moral character by loving God supremely and loving others as themselves—the Spirit producing this love through the gospel. Equally, the Holy Spirit is not going to be at odds with what Christ has said, either.
So how do Christians today relate to the Ten Commandments specifically? The moral principles within the Ten Commandments reflect God’s unchanging character. Murder, adultery, theft, and lying remain sinful because they violate God’s nature, not merely because they appear in Exodus 20. Nine of the ten commandments are explicitly reaffirmed in the New Testament (the Sabbath being the exception that underwent significant transformation in Christ as per Hebrews 4). Herman Ridderbos writes: “The abiding validity of the moral law does not rest on its promulgation at Sinai, but on its correspondence to God’s will for human life in all ages” (Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, 1975, p. 283). Both the Jew under the law and me in Christ refraining from adultery have an our obedience that shares a common root and much of a common expression…. ie, we’re not sleeping around! Jesus extends the challenge of the law in order to magnify sin in the unconverted heart, and so I am thrust upon him for mercy. But as to my Christian behaviour, murder (and, by extension, hatred), is still an ungodly, unholy behaviour that does not honour God or befit my identity as being in Christ. This is an intensification of the barest requirement of the Old Covenant, but I’m not keeping it to keep a covenant or earn salvation, but to honour a God who is the epitome of morality.
Christians read the commandments through the lens of Christ’s life and teaching. Jesus deepened “you shall not murder” to include anger (Matthew 5:21-22) and “you shall not commit adultery” to include lust (Matthew 5:27-28). The commandments reveal God’s holy standard while driving believers to depend on Christ’s righteousness and the Spirit’s power. Where Jewish observance involves careful definition and application of each command, Christian obedience flows from freedom. Believers are not trying to earn God’s favour (which is secured by Christ) but responding to grace already received. The difference, then, is one of motivation and means. Living a holy life is not arbitrary, it has foundations. I say rather than make up our own standards as to what that should be, let’s look at scripture and by no means overlook what God has said to those under the Old Covenant. As Sinclair Ferguson notes: “The Christian life is not lived by discovering what the law demands and then attempting to obey it by one’s own resources. Rather, it is lived in the strength and resources which the gospel supplies” (Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction, 1981, p. 152).
Practical Implications
This understanding has several implications for Christian living:
1. Assurance: Righteousness before God rests on Christ’s perfect obedience, not our imperfect efforts.
2. Motivation: Obedience springs from gratitude and love rather than fear or obligation.
3. Power: The Holy Spirit provides the ability to live righteously, transforming desires and enabling obedience.
4. Direction: The moral principles of the Ten Commandments remain relevant guides for godly living.
5. Freedom: Believers are free from the burden of earning God’s acceptance through law-keeping.
The difference between obeying the law as a Jew and honouring it as a Christian is the difference between working for acceptance and working from acceptance. Jewish observance seeks covenant faithfulness through obedience to Torah. Christian living responds to God’s grace in Christ, with the Spirit producing obedience to God’s moral character revealed in the commandments.
As J.I. Packer summarises: “The law sends us to the gospel for our justification; the gospel sends us back to the law to frame our way of life” (Packer, Concise Theology, 1993, p. 179).
Christians fulfil the law not by meticulous rule-keeping but by trusting in Christ’s righteousness and allowing the Holy Spirit to produce in them the love that naturally honours God’s moral character—a character partially revealed in the Ten Commandments but fully displayed in Jesus Christ. ‘To be like Jesus, this hope possess me!’
Ref:
Carson, D.A. (1978). The Sermon on the Mount: An Evangelical Exposition of Matthew 5-7. Baker Books.
Ferguson, Sinclair B. (1981). The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction. Banner of Truth.
Grudem, Wayne (1994). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Zondervan.
Packer, J.I. (1993). Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs. Tyndale House.
Ridderbos, Herman (1975). Paul: An Outline of His Theology. Eerdmans.
Schreiner, Thomas R. (1993). The Law and Its Fulfillment: A Pauline Theology of Law. Crossway.
Stott, John R.W. (1968). The Message of Galatians. InterVarsity Press.
Andrew S M Clark 