Are Christians still under the Mosaic law?
Question 7080
This question has caused considerable debate throughout church history so how we answer it affects everything; from how we read the Old Testament to how we live our daily lives. The short answer is no, Christians are not under the Mosaic law. But we need to understand what that means and what it doesn’t mean.
The Clear Biblical Statements
Scripture is very direct: Romans 6:14 declares: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Paul could hardly be clearer. Believers are not under law. This doesn’t mean we’re lawless, as we’ll see, but it does mean the Mosaic covenant is not the administration under which we operate.
Romans 7:4 says: “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” Paul pictures marriage. Just as death ends a marriage and frees someone to marry another, so our death with Jesus (reckoned to us by faith) has ended our relationship to the law and freed us to belong to Jesus.
Then Galatians 3:23-25 says: “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” The guardian’s role has ended; Jesus has come.
One wonders if you can get something more conclusive than is found in Galatians 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The contrast is between two ways of living; one directed by external law, the other by the internal leading of the Holy Spirit. Believers live by the Spirit, not by the Mosaic code.
Understanding the Mosaic Law
The Mosaic law was a covenant, a formal agreement between God and Israel, made at Mount Sinai. Exodus 19:5-6 introduces it: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples… and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This covenant was made with Israel, not with the nations. It was never given to Gentiles (non-Jews) or Christians.
The Mosaic law contained 613 commandments covering every aspect of Israelite life. Traditionally, these have been categorised as moral, civil, and ceremonial laws, though the Old Testament itself makes no such division. The whole law functioned as a unity. James 2:10 makes this point: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” You couldn’t pick and choose which parts to keep. It was all or nothing. [And, of course, no-one could keep it all; that’s the point].
This is why the claim that “the ceremonial law is abolished but the moral law remains” creates problems. Where in Scripture is such a division made? The Ten Commandments include the Sabbath command, which is specifically tied to the Mosaic covenant (Exodus 31:13-17). If we’re still under the moral law, why don’t we observe the seventh-day Sabbath? The reality is that the entire Mosaic system has been set aside as the operating covenant for God’s people.
There is a clean break because the death of Jesus made it so. He fulfilled the law.
The Jerusalem Council’s Decision
The early church wrestled with this question directly at the Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15. The issue was whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Peter’s testimony is telling: In Acts 15:10-11 he says: “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Notice what Peter calls the law; a yoke that no one could bear. The council’s decision, given in verses 28-29, required only that Gentile believers abstain from things polluted by idols, sexual immorality, things strangled, and blood. They were explicitly not placed under the Mosaic law (moral, civil or ceremonial). James summarises this in verse 19: “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.” If Gentile Christians were obligated to keep the Mosaic law, this was the moment to say so. They didn’t.
The End of the Mosaic Covenant
The book of Hebrews develops the theological basis for the end of the Mosaic system. Hebrews 7:12 states: “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.” Jesus, being from the tribe of Judah rather than Levi, could not be a priest under Mosaic law. His priesthood is according to the order of Melchizedek, which predates and supersedes the Levitical system.
Hebrews 8:13 is even more direct: “In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” The Greek word for “obsolete” is πεπαλαίωκεν (pepalaiōken), meaning “made old” or “antiquated.” The new covenant in Jesus’ blood has made the old covenant obsolete.
Hebrews 10:1 explains why: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.” The law was a shadow. You don’t cling to shadows when you have the real thing.
What About the Moral Law?
Some object: “Surely we’re still bound by the moral commands of the law; don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery.” Yes, these things are still wrong, but not because we’re under the Mosaic covenant. They’re wrong because they violate God’s eternal character, and nine of the Ten Commandments are restated in the New Testament epistles as applicable to the church. The Sabbath command, notably, is not, and when Paul lists which parts of the law are shadows that have passed (Colossians 2:16-17), Sabbath days are included.
What guides the believer today is what Paul calls “the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 9:21). This is not a new legal code but the principle of love empowered by the Spirit. Romans 13:8-10 explains: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
The standard hasn’t lowered—it’s actually been raised. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount didn’t reduce the law’s demands; He intensified them. Murder becomes anger; adultery becomes lust. But the power to live this way comes not from external rules but from the indwelling Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit of the Spirit and then adds: “against such things there is no law.” When the Spirit produces His fruit in us, no law is needed to regulate it.
The Value of the Old Testament Law
None of this means the Old Testament law is worthless to Christians. Paul says in Romans 15:4: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” And 2 Timothy 3:16-17 affirms that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
The Mosaic law teaches us about God’s holiness, His requirements, His hatred of sin, and the seriousness of transgression. It shows us types and shadows that find their fulfilment in Jesus. It provides wisdom for living, even if we’re not under it as a covenant. The distinction is between being under the law as a ruling covenant and learning from the law as Scripture.
We have to be careful to keep that distinction. Galatians was written by Paul because of the temptation to return to a rules-based system that cannot save.
Practical Implications
What does this mean practically? We cannot gain favour with God by keeping rules. Our standing before God is based entirely on Jesus’ finished work received by faith. We are not bound by the ceremonial elements of the Mosaic law; dietary restrictions, festival observances, Sabbath regulations. Colossians 2:16-17 is explicit: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
And our motivation for holy living has changed. We don’t obey to be accepted; we obey because we are accepted. We don’t work for salvation; we work from salvation. The fear of curse has been replaced by the love of the Father. As Romans 8:15 says: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!'”
And we have better resources for godly living than Israel ever had. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. We have the complete revelation of Scripture. We have the example of Jesus. We have the fellowship of the church. The Mosaic law could only command from outside; the Spirit transforms us completely from within; we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Conclusion
Galatians 3:13 states: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'” Jesus took the law’s curse so we would never have to bear it. He fulfilled the law’s demands so we would never have to earn our standing before God.
If you’re trying to make yourself acceptable to God through religious performance; keeping rules, observing rituals, being a good person, you’re missing the whole point. The law was never designed to save; it was designed to show you your need for a Saviour. That Saviour has come. His name is Jesus. Trust Him, and you will pass from the condemnation of law to the freedom of grace (Romans 8:1).
“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14
Bibliography
- Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Galatians. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Eerdmans, 1982.
- Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. Vol. 4. Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.
- Constable, Thomas L. Notes on Galatians. Sonic Light, 2024.
- Feinberg, John S., ed. Continuity and Discontinuity. Crossway, 1988.
- Fruchtenbaum, Arnold G. Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology. Ariel Ministries, 1992.
- Hoehner, Harold W. “The Purpose of the Law.” Bibliotheca Sacra 150 (1993): 267-282.
- Lightner, Robert P. Sin, the Savior, and Salvation. Thomas Nelson, 1991.
- Ryrie, Charles C. The Grace of God. Moody Press, 1963.
- Walvoord, John F. and Roy B. Zuck, eds. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament. Victor Books, 1983.
- Witmer, John A. “Romans.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Victor Books, 1983.
One Comment