Do followers of Christ have a moral obligation to keep the Ten Commandments? Even though this seems like an easy question, I’ve struggled with the answer.

Why Is This A Hard Question?

The question of our relationship to the law of Moses is thorny for a number of reasons. People who believe in the Bible have disagreed about whether all of the Ten Commandments are eternal moral principles. The issue comes up because the ten laws are part of a covenant God made with the nation of Israel. By contrast, those who believe in Christ have entered into a New Covenant of grace.

New Testament letters to the Hebrews and to the Galatians warn followers of Christ not to put themselves back under the law. The apostle Paul reasoned that we are neither forgiven nor made mature by trying to keep the laws of Moses. Yet the New Testament writers never stop promoting the moral principles that are at the heart of the Ten Commandments.

The question of the Ten Commandments is also complicated by whether we honor Saturday, Sunday, or some other day as our day of rest and worship. Some wrongly assume that Sunday has become our Sabbath. Yet Sunday did not become a day of rest until the fourth century when the emperor Constantine declared it so.

Another complicating factor is that Jesus said He didn’t come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. Instead of denying the law, He raised it to new heights by teaching His followers to honor the spirit of the law by loving one another, their neighbors, and even their enemies.

According to Jesus, the law was more far reaching than other religious leaders thought it was. In His Sermon on the Mount He showed that the Ten Commandments are rooted in issues of the heart. He taught that we violate God’s law against killing when we hate—and when we harbor lustful thoughts, we commit adultery in our hearts. Later, Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote that when we covet, we commit idolatry (Col. 3:5).

Should We Go Kosher?

For these reasons and more, a growing number of believers are asking us to rethink our relationship to the law given by God at Sinai. They are saying that if we follow Christ as He wants us to follow Him, we will keep the seventh-day rest. We will eat Kosher. We will live a Torah-observant life—not to earn forgiveness but to receive wisdom.

I would not want to discourage anyone from eating Kosher, from keeping a seventh-day rest, or from observing as much as possible the Jewish calendar of feasts and holidays. There is insight to be found in the laws and calendar God gave to Israel. That is, as long as no one thinks we have a moral obligation to keep forms of the law that were designed by God to be shadows of the Messiah (Col. 2:17). There is wisdom in the law as long as we do not think that worshiping God in Old Covenant law is better than worshiping Him in New Testament grace.

The Covenant Of Moses Had A Limited Purpose

Most of the Covenant of Moses regulated temple worship, ritual sacrifice, the duties of priests, or a kind of civil or criminal law that could be practiced in Israel only until the destruction of the Temple.

Of the 613 laws God gave to Moses, some protected historic land boundaries. Others prohibited the sale of property to those outside of the family. One law required a brother to marry the widow of his deceased brother. Other laws called for adult male attendance at national holidays three times a year in Jerusalem.

The most important reason for the New Covenant, however, is not that the law of Moses had a limited purpose. The most important reason for the New Covenant is that Israel consistently broke, and was broken by, the terms of the earlier covenant. As any nation of imperfect people would have done, Israel broke covenant with her God and fell under the curse and condemnation of the commandments.

The New Covenant Is A Better Solution

The New Covenant is international in scope (Eph. 3:4-6). It is a better covenant for people living both inside and outside the national boundaries of Israel. The New Covenant offers a better assurance of being accepted by God, a better sacrifice (Heb. 7:19,22; 8:6; 9:12-14), and a more complete understanding of law (Gal. 5:13-14). The New Covenant writes the laws of God on our heart (Heb. 10:16).

So what parts of the laws of Moses apply to us? For our health and protection we need to honor those timeless principles of Moses that also appear in the pages of the New Covenant. In New Testament terms they are a part of what is called “The Perfect Law of Liberty” (Jas. 1:25; 2:12). Faithful members of the New Covenant honor these moral principles in their heart. They honor them while depending on the work of Christ and His Spirit to do for them what they could never do for themselves.

There Is Irony Here

Our New Covenant experience is a foretaste of what will happen to Israel in the last days. The prophet Jeremiah predicted a day when the Lord God would make a New Covenant with the nation of Israel. In that day He promised to give a remnant of Israel His Spirit, to write His laws on their hearts, and to forgive their sins (Jer. 31:31-34).

The Old Covenant of Moses enabled Israel to be a distinct people and a witness to all the nations of the world. Now, for a season, the tables have been turned. Internationals who believe in Christ have become messengers to the chosen nation of Israel.

From heaven’s point of view, good laws are of little benefit if they are on the books without being in our hearts. Good laws condemn us if we have no way of being forgiven when we fail to keep them.

So do we have a moral responsibility to keep the Ten Commandments? Yes, if we mean the moral principles that are at the heart of the law. Yes, if we acknowledge our New Covenant dependence on Christ’s payment for the laws we’ve broken. Yes, if in our own effort we are relying on the Spirit and the grace of Christ. —Mart De Haan