The Ten Commandments are just as much God's Law today as they were when He gave them to Moses. Jesus did not do away with the Ten Commandments. Jesus did away with the burnt offerings, blood offerings, the sacrifices and the need for priests and tabernacles. He cancled the written code with it's regulations. He didn't cancel God's law. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. We are justified through faith in Jesus Christ, not in keeping the Law. But we must have the Law in order to recognize sin. We have the Spirit and the sinful nature that are in conflict with each other. The sinful nature desires that which is contrary to the Spirit. We often do that which we don't want to do or act the way we don't want to act, but if we are led by the Spirit we are not under the Law. We find forgiveness through Jesus. If we give in to the sinful nature and intentionally separate ourselves from the Spirit, then we are condemned by the Law which produces sin, for without the Law there would be no sin. If we are led by the Spirit and live by the Spirit, but we unintentionally or unwillfully sin, we are justified by our faith in Jesus.
There must be law if there is to be sin. Jesus said the greatest and first commandment is, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," and the second is, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." These two commandments sum up all the others, just as Jesus said, but God gave the specific commands that tell us how to carry out the greatest commandments. After Moses spoke the Ten Commandments to the Isralites, he then told them, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." This statement in no way nullified the Ten Commandments he had just given them. It was a way of saying obey God's commands. John said, in 1 John 5:3, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous."
Jesus said He didn't come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill them. In Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus said, " Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto to you, Til heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, til all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Jesus makes it very clear that we are to obey and teach the commands of the Law until heaven and earth pass away and everything is fulfilled. Some will argue that everything was fulfilled when Jesus ascended to heaven. That's not true, but even if it was, we can't exclude the statement, "Til heaven and earth pass." Heaven and earth haven't passed away yet. We find in Matthew 24, when heaven and earth will pass away and Jesus will be coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory; and everything will be accomplished. While speaking about the end of the age Jesus said, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matt. 24:14.) "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." (Matt. 24:30.) "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:34.) At the end of time Jesus comes back and heaven and earth pass away. Everything will be fulfilled. Jesus said that's how long the Law would be in effect-- until the end of time.
As further support that the Ten Commandments are eternal law, we have Romans 7:7-12, "What shall we say then? is the Law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." We are justified by faith but we must have the law to become concious of sin. Romans 3:20, says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Verse 28," Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." (31)"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Could anything be much clearer? Faith does not nullify the law; by faith we establish the law. If the law (The Ten Commandments) was not still meant for us, why would we be establishing it?
It is recorded again in Luke 16:17, Jesus said, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one title of the law to fail." This proves that Jesus meant the law or Ten Commandments is eternal law. "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven." (Psalms 119:89.) "The grass withereth, the flowers fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever." (Isaiah 40:8.) If the commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," was all we needed to be told, God would have commanded only that. But we needed specifics telling us what loving God meant and what He required of us. Loving God means keeping His commandments. We now have a new covenant, and we are not bound to the old covenant. All of the written laws and ordinances found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, no longer apply to us. For example, circumcision, then being required, is no longer required. But the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses for God's people to obey at that time, are still to be obeyed by God's people now.
To say, we are not obligated to the laws in the Ten Commandments, because we now have Jesus, is ridicules; because Jesus taught the same thing. He even went further, by elaborating on their meaning. Jesus did not take away the Ten Commandments. Some people say that he nailed them to the cross, taking them away. The Bible doesn't say that. Here is how it reads: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;" Clossians 3:14.) It does not state that the Ten Commandments were blotted out and nailed to the cross. How can we be Christians and not obey the Ten Commandments?
The following is from Matt. 19:16-22, "And, behold one came and said unto him, good master, what good thing must I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is God, but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, Thou shall do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and mother; and thou shalt love thou neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, all these things I have kept from my youth up; what lack I yet? Jesus saith unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come follow me." Jesus didn't have to name all of the Ten Commandments, but made it known what commandments He meant, when He said, keep the commandments. He didn't have to name them all. He did say the man had to keep the commandments if he was to inherit eternal life.
In Romans 13:8-10, Paul lays out how a Christian must live. He quotes part of the Ten Commandments and said, "If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this statement, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Paul named some of the Ten Commandments to be obeyed as part of Christian conduct. He didn't have to name them all. He named enough to make his point, just as Jesus did in Matthew: Christians must obey these commands. We as Christians, can not violate the commands given in the Ten Commandments, and be acceptable to God. One can not be saved by just keeping the Ten Commandments, but one can not remain saved while willfully disobeying them. If we are not required to obey the Ten Commandments, what do we need forgiveness for? To tell Christians they are not subject to the Ten Commandments, is like saying they can murder, steal, lie, covet, commit adultery, take God's name in vain, make graven images to worship, dishonor their father and mother, have other God's; and think nothing of the Sabbeth Day (seventh day)-- not remembering it at all. We find in Genesis 2:2-3: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made: and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because he had rested from all his work which God created and made." In the beginning at the end of creation God made the seventh day holy. "For in 6 days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:11.) The law of ordinances had many sabbaths for different things, but God, in the beginning, made the seventh day a holy day and it was called the sabbath. This was before Moses or the Ten Commandments--this was for mankind.
The key word that causes confusion is "law". When we connect other words to the word law, we have a different meaning. The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on tables of stone. Moses stayed on the mount 40 days and 40 nights. He wrote down a vast amount of commandments that were laws of ordinances that God told him to read to the Isralites. These were rules other than the Ten Commandments and went into great detail. The tables of stone with the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God should not be confused with the ordinances that Moses wrote down. The laws of ordinances required many physical acts which would fall under the catagory of works, circumcision being one of them. They commanded what not to eat, what not to touch, to observe certain days called sabbaths, and there were commandments with procedures to follow when worshiping God. There were many, many commandments listed in the ordinances for the people to obey.
Considering these facts, we can clarify what law was being refered to in the book of Galations. Many believe these scriptures are refering to the Ten Commandments. Galations 3:16, states works of the law not obedience to commands. Galations 2:16, states, not by works of the law. Galations 2:21, reads, "came by law," but works of the law is stated before and after this scripture, therefore, it stands to reason that it means, came by works of the law. We find in Galations 3:10, "Written in the book of law." Book of law does not mean the stone tables with the Ten Commandments written by the finger of God. In Exodus 24:34, we find the statement, "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." This surely does not mean the Ten Commandments, because God wrote them on the tables of stone. "And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." (Exodus 32:16.) "And the Lord said unto Moses, come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." (Exodus 24:12.) There is a distinct difference between the Law of the Ten Comandments, and the law of commandments in the ordinances. Jesus did not abolish the Ten Commandments; He abolished the commandments in the law of ordinances.
The following scriptures are from James 2:8-12. "But if ye fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; But if ye have respect of persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill, Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." Here we have James writing to Christians--the New Testament Church-- and he is warning about offending the law. If we fulfill the royal law, "Love thy neighbor as thyself," we have done well, but then he quotes from the Ten Commandments, and says if we break one of these, we have become a transgressor of the law. By this writing we can surely realize, that we are obligated to obey these commandments of God. Call them what you may, they are still from the list of Ten Commandments God gave to Moses, written by the finger of God on tables of stone. Several places in the New Testament these quotations of the Ten Commandments appear, and are referred to as law for Christians. The law of liberty referred to in verse 12, surely must mean the law without all the commands in the law of ordinances, that the Isralites had to obey, that they might be acceptable to God. They were bound by these ordinances as if in slavery. But the Ten Commandments are not the laws of bondage, but the laws of liberty through Jesus Christ, our only mediator between us and God. We as Christians are partisipants in a new covenant. If we obey the teachings of Jesus, we will not violate the laws contained in the Ten Commandments. If we do sin, then we have Jesus as our High Priest, who made the one time sacrifice so that we may find forgiveness of our sins through His blood. There is room for debate on the command to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, but I have a problem with tossing aside a day that God sanctified as a day to keep holy--the day He rested from all His work of creation. When God sanctified the seventh day Moses and the Isralites were not around. This applied to Adam, Noah, and Abraham. I take the sanctification of the seventh to be for all mankind-- forever. The Bible tells us God's law is eternal. When, how and why was the seventh day made unholy?