The Ten Commandments and the New Covenant

In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt – on the very day – they came to the desert of Sinai (Exodus 19:1).

The first Passover celebration when the Israelites were delivered from their slavery in Egypt was on the fourteenth day of the first month [of the Hebrew calendar] (Exodus 12:2).

The Law was subsequently given in the third month, fifty days after the Sabbath day after Passover, which is the Day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23).

The Day of Pentecost, or Shavuoth in Hebrew, is the Feast of Weeks. It was a period of counting the seven weeks from Passover, i.e. forty-nine days to the day before the fiftieth day, i.e. the Day of Pentecost – which was the day of the celebration of the Giving of the Law.

Of course, specifically included in the giving of the Law, was the giving of the Ten Commandments.

What was so very unique about the giving of the Ten Commandments?

Firstly, in giving the Ten Commandments, God spoke in an audible voice from Mount Sinai so that all the Israelites heard – and there was thunder and lightning, and smoke and the Israelites trembled with fear and they asked that Moses be a mediator between them and the LORD rather than God speak directly and audibly to them again lest they should die (Exodus 20:18).

Secondly, after having spoken the Law to the people, the Ten Commandments were then inscribed on two tablets of stone by the finger of God (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 34:28).

The written Law of the covenant, on the two stone tablets, was to be placed in the Ark of the Covenant and was to eventually be kept beyond the veil in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle (see Hebrews 9:3).

No sooner after God had spoken the Law, and even before it was written upon the two stone tablets, the Israelites grew impatient and decided that Moses was too long in coming down from the mountain and they put Aaron under pressure to make them a golden calf which they worshipped.

In other words, in a very short period of time – before the Law was even written upon the stone tablets, the Israelites had already broken the first three commandments.

In his anger, aroused by Israel’s idolatry, Moses threw the first two tablets of stone to the ground breaking them at the foot of the mountain (Exodus 32).

However, God showed his mercy and called Moses to once again chisel out two more stone tablets like the first ones and he again wrote the Ten Commandments on them (Exodus 34).

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two new tablets of stone his face was radiant with the glory of God because he had spoken with the LORD. In other words, the old covenant Law came with a revelation of the radiant glory of God which was reflected on Moses’ face.

What are the Ten Commandments?

See Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-22

  1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
  4. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
  5. Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery.
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
  10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbour’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

These are the commandments the LORD proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to Moses.

Although the Ten Commandments were unique in that they were inscribed by the finger of God on two stone tablets and given to Moses, they needed to be taught and explained in further detail.

For example, it was clearly implied in the Ten Commandments that the Israelites were to know and worship the LORD their God only – in that they were to: have no other gods nor bow down to any idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

The  later construction of the Temple in Jerusalem as the designated place of worship where the presence of the LORD dwelt among his people, the duty of the priests and Levites, the various sacrifices required by the Law, the dietary laws of clean and unclean foods, – were all details stipulated in the Law of Moses with the various religious festivals such as Passover, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement etc. set forth to instruct the Israelites in the manner in which they were required to worship the LORD their God under the old covenant – and to keep themselves separate from the pagan nations who worshipped false gods and idols.

However, the old covenant commandments were all external regulations, consisting of shadows and types, but not having yet revealed the way by which sinners could be once and for all cleansed and set free from sin in order to enter the Most Holy Place to worship the LORD in spirit and in truth.

As the writer to the Hebrews explained:

When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.  The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing. This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.  They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings–external regulations applying until the time of the new order.  When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.  He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.  The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.  How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:6-14).

It is often taught that the various external regulations of the old covenant Law, such as matters of food and drink and various ceremonial washings etc. are no longer binding upon Christians under the new covenant.

However, (as many of you may have heard), those who teach this often also divide the old covenant Law, including of course, the Ten Commandments, into two categories – namely, “the moral Law” and “the ceremonial Law”.

It is also quite widely taught that Christians are no longer under the old covenant Law – but that they are still under “the moral law” – and that the Ten Commandments, (including, of course, the fourth commandment, which is to observe the Sabbath day), are still binding upon Christians – and not only upon Christians, but upon all of mankind.

In giving the Law at Mount Sinai, which constitutes the covenant between the LORD and the Israelites, Moses said:

Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you (Deuteronomy 4:1-2).

The Ten Commandments, also referred to as the “Decalogue”, was written on the two stone tablets and also referred to as “the Testimony”.

Of course that is why we refer to the old covenant made at Mount Sinai – as: the Old Testament.

Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets (Exodus 32:15-16).

The Law was referred to as the Testimony because it was a written Law, literally written in stone testifying not only against God’s chosen people, but against all of mankind that they are guilty sinners, enslaved to the sinful nature, needing to be restrained under the supervision of the Law – and therefore, also deserving of God’s wrath for transgressing the Law.

After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end,  he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD:  “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.  For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to testify against them.  For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall upon you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD and provoke him to anger by what your hands have made” (Deuteronomy 31:24-29).

The Law was placed in the Ark of the Covenant – also referred to as: the ark of the Testimony.

Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.  There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites (Exodus 25:21-22).

The Old Covenant written Law was a written testimony and witness against the people convicting, accusing and condemning them as sinners worthy of death – which ought to have also demonstrated their desperate and urgent need for a coming saviour and redeemer to set them free from sin and thus save them from condemnation.

Why was it so predictable, that Moses prophesied that the people would become utterly corrupt and turn from the way he had commanded them?

Through having been entrusted with the Law, had not the people of Israel been given the means of obeying God and attaining righteousness?

No – as the apostle Paul taught, people are sinful by nature and hostile towards God and the Law was given to that their sin may be recognized as utterly sinful as it manifests through the transgressing of the commandments.

Jesus said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:17-22).

As noted, the purpose of the Law was to serve as the testimony, i.e. as God’s testimony – against sinners – and so the fulfilment of the Law is to mete out the just punishment for sinners which is the sentence of death. Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law through his death, on our behalf, on the cross.

For the wages of sin is death,…(Romans 6:23).

And Jesus also said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 5:27-31).

Through a careful reading of Romans chapter 2, it is evident that the apostle Paul, who was himself once a strict Pharisee under the old covenant Law, described how the Jews tended to brag about their relationship with God as they relied on their legalistic self-righteousness which they had quite confidently attained through observing the Law. The Jews thought that in their having the Law and through their observance of it that they were made righteous and that they should be justified by God for their keeping of the Law whereas “gentile sinners” were worthy of condemnation.

Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; 18 if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; 19 if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth– 21 you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? (Romans 2:17-23).

However, as Paul also taught throughout his letter to the believers in Rome (and his other letters such as Galatians), the Law had not been given as the means for people to attain righteousness – but contained within the Law was the promise of the coming redeemer (the prophet like Moses – see Deuteronomy 18:18).

The Law, including the Ten Commandments which were written upon stone tablets, was given to people who are sinners by nature – to make them all the more aware that they are sinners.

Many Jews, who were indeed legalistically righteous, (see Paul’s comment in Philippians 3:6), may have regarded themselves as righteous and not like “gentile sinners” as their behaviour and sinful tendencies may have been restrained by their best human effort in observing the Law, but Jesus demonstrated the proper use of the Law, which was to also show that people are sinners on account of their sinful nature and not essentially upon any particular and actual transgression of the Law.

The very thoughts of people’s hearts were sinful even before they committed any particular sinful act.

Through Jesus teaching we may better appreciate that the Law was given as a testimony against sinners – and at best to restrain them from their sinful tendencies by public rebuke and punishment of the transgressors.

Jesus came as the Messiah (Anointed One) as King, Redeemer and Saviour, and like Moses whom God used to set the people free from their slavery in Egypt, Jesus came to set us free from sin by changing us from within – by removing our sinful heart of stone and by creating in us a new heart through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus the Messiah was destined to circumcise peoples’ sinful hearts and set them free from their slavery to sin in this fallen world – and he was destined to write the new covenant Law upon the hearts of those who believe in him – which is to fill them with the love of God (Romans 5:5).

This is precisely why Jesus taught that even though a person may have been restrained by the Law under the old covenant – so as to hopefully refrain from committing acts of murder or adultery, their slightest hatred and lust in their sinful hearts, made them to be murderers and adulterers even without actually committing those offences. People are sinners by the very impure thoughts and attitudes of their hearts.

The Law which said: You shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery – were given for sinners to restrain them from their sinful desires and to testify against them that they were indeed sinners by nature and therefore completely deserving of the sentence of death.

The Law, including the Ten Commandments, was actually, and still is to this day, powerless to change the sinful nature of peoples’ hearts.

If the Law is applied as the external regulation to govern societies and to restrain people’s sinful tendencies and in order to engender the fear of God and of the appropriate punishment and negative consequences for offenders, then the Law is used appropriately and legally.

When a man gathered sticks on the Sabbath, Moses told the people to arrest him and sentence him to death by stoning.

The Law, when used properly (NIV) – or lawfully (ESV) is to apprehend sinners and hold them as prisoners awaiting the sentence of death (see 1 Timothy 1:8 – and compare the NIV translation with that of the ESV and KJV).

This is why Jesus said that he came to save sinners and not to condemn – because the world was already under condemnation for transgressing God’s Law (see John 3:17-18). It is only through faith in Jesus that condemned sinners are justified and set free because Jesus paid the price of our sin.

Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed (Galatians 3:23).

As the apostle Paul also taught, the Law was given not for the righteous – (who are made righteous through faith in Jesus and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit) but for Lawbreakers to convict them of their sin and of the fact that they are held captive by their sinful desires and therefore effectively dead in their sins and transgressions awaiting condemnation unless saved by God’s grace.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:34-40).

It is important to note that “these two commandments” (quoted below) which Jesus referred to, upon which “all the Law and the Prophets hang”, are actually not a part of the Ten Commandments.

DT 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

LEV 19:18 ” `Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD (Leviticus 19:18).

Paul taught in Romans 8 that the sinful mind is hostile towards God. Jesus taught that if people hated him then they also proved that they hated God, for he is God who has come in the form and likeness of men.

In other words, sinners cannot obey God’s commands because their hearts are sinful and they are by nature hostile towards God.

The Law cannot change the sinful nature of people’s hearts – and it is only through believing the gospel of Christ that people may receive the promised Holy Spirit and be born again of the Spirit and effectively changed in their hearts – and once changed they no longer need the Law to either testify against them that they were sinners, or to restrain them any longer. Through the love of God, which is the new covenant law written upon their hearts, they obey Jesus’ teaching and have died to the old covenant Law from which they have also been set free.

Jesus said: If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17 the Spirit of truth” (John 14:15-16).

Martin Luther accused his friend and fellow-Christian, Johannes Agricola, of being an “antinomian” because Agricola apparently taught that Christians are no longer bound by the Ten Commandments.

However, it certainly is not antinomianism to suggest that Christians are no longer under the old covenant Law, including the Ten Commandments, because their sinful hearts have been changed, they have become a new creation set free from the old order and they have a far better Law effectively written upon their hearts by the Holy Spirit living within them through which they obey Jesus’ teaching – and Jesus yoke is easy, not like the yoke of the old covenant which was against sinners and absolutely impossible for them to bear.

By faith David anticipated the coming of Jesus and the making of the new covenant through which sinners would be transformed and set free from their slavery to sin:

Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:0-10).

The old covenant external Law no longer applies to a person whose heart has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit and who is governed by the love of God written on their hearts – a person moved by the love of God no longer needs to be restrained by an external Law which says, for example: “Do not murder”.

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly (lawfully). We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers–and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me (1 Timothy 1:8-11).

When it is clear that people are not being led by the Spirit, then there is often the tendency to believe that the Law must be laid down and external rules and regulations enforced. However, the remedy for sin and lawlessness is not legalism imposed by external rules and regulations, but careful instruction according to the New Testament of submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit (see for example Romans 12:1-2 and Galatians 5:13-18).

However, if the external Law, including the Ten Commandments, is used and applied in an effort to govern the Church of Jesus Christ, i.e. Christians, then it becomes an indication that they have perhaps gone astray and lost sight of the reality and power of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.

It would be like trying to walk on water, defying the natural earthly laws, but while having taken one’s eyes off Jesus Christ. When people try to attain righteousness by observing the Law, their focus will be on the external rules and regulations – (such as were found in the old covenant Law of Moses) – and not upon Jesus Christ who is the goal of the Law.

Through legalism, by trying to observe external rules and regulations, people will find that the yoke of the Law is something which neither they, nor the Jews under the old covenant and their forefathers, were able to bear (see Acts 15:10) – for the purpose of the Law was to serve as a testimony against helpless sinners that they were condemned and in need of salvation.

Legalism does not –and can never – work in the Church – it is only able to, at best, restrain sinners and set forth the standard and the measure of rebuke, punishment and condemnation for offenders, but legalism does not have the power to change people’s sinful hearts or to set sinners free from their bondage to the sinful nature. The Law provokes the guilty conscience of sinners but cannot cleanse worshippers of their guilty consciences (see Hebrews 10:22).

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:19-26).

If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbour as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment! (James 2:8-13).

As we have noticed in this teaching so far, the Law of Moses was a law which testified against sinners and which held guilty offenders as prisoners (Galatians 3:23 quoted above).

Quite clearly, therefore, we may appreciate that the Old Covenant Law of Moses (including the Ten Commandments) is not the law that gives freedom (as referred to in James 2:12).

The Law of Christ – the new covenant Law of God which is written on peoples’ hearts is not one and the same as the old covenant law with its external rules and regulations.

(By understanding this distinction between the external law of Moses which was written on stone tablets and the new covenant law which is written in the tablets of human hearts, we may better appreciate what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 – quoted below):

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.   

Although the Puritans may indeed have had a noble desire to establish a god-fearing and law-abiding community – and although they indeed may have realized that the Law is good and spiritual and that it was given through Moses by the LORD, it is however, not the means for governing Christians – because Christians must be radically transformed, their hearts of stone must be replaced with hearts of flesh, which are pliable in the hands of the Lord and humbly governed and led by the Holy Spirit.

Many well respected Christian teachers have struggled in their interpretation and understanding of Paul’s words in Romans chapter 7 – let’s consider what Paul says particularly in verses 21 to 25:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

When Paul described himself as: wanting to do good, but finding that evil was right there with him – was he describing himself as a Jew under the old covenant Law – or was he describing himself as a weak Christian and a wretched man still enslaved by the sinful nature although under the new covenant of God’s grace?

Are Christians still salves to sin? Are Christians still helpless sinners who are saved, or being saved, through faith and by God’s grace?

Christians, if they are led by the Spirit and living by faith, keeping their spiritual eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ, are righteous people made righteous through such faith.

However, they still live within this old body which was once enslaved to sin – and they still live in this world but must take care so as not to conform to its pattern.

Although Christians are set free from sin through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit – and although they are declared righteous through their faith in Christ, they still need to be led by the Spirit each new day – so as not to gratify the desires of the sinful nature – and they still need to daily take up their crosses and put to death the earthly sinful nature.

In others words Christians are being saved by faith as they wait for the appearing of the Lord to finally redeem them from this body of sin – but they are set free from sin by the power of the |Holy Spirit.

However, in our freedom we must still take care so as to not sink beneath the cares and temptations of this corrupt world.

The old covenant law applied to the earthly, sinful nature, but we have died and are a new creation, citizens of the heavenly city which is above.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:16-26).

So, now let’s return to the question I posed above:

In Romans chapter 7, did the apostle Paul described himself as a Christian wanting to do good, but finding that evil was right there with him – and did he also describe himself as a wretched man still enslaved by the sinful nature although he had supposedly been set free from sin through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant of God’s grace?

I firmly believe that the scenario Paul described is when a Christian, (even Paul himself as a believer whose example he exhorted other believers to follower), carelessly no longer keeps in step with the Spirit and instead once again tries to live according to the old covenant Law, that all over again they will discover that although the Law is good and spiritual, it can never take the place of the Holy Spirit – it can never transform sinners, it can never become the means of attaining righteousness. When people may try to live Godly lives but motivated by guilt and by external rules and regulations, even such as the old covenant Law, they will once again stumble and fall and be reminded of the old sinful nature to which they were once slaves.

Once a person takes their eyes off Jesus and is no longer led by the Spirit – and if they are exhorted to live by external religious rules and regulations, no matter how perfect and spiritual and wise those external rules may be, they will inevitably stumble – and they will find, according to the testimony of the written Law that was against Israel – that they are wretched and hopeless sinners – all over again – and they will also hopefully learn that the only way to live godly lives is by faith by keeping in step with the Holy Spirit and through putting to death the sinful nature by the cross of Christ.

Sinners cannot be reformed or changed – or ever justified – by the Law, including the Ten Commandments – and therefore they must accept its death sentence and take up their crosses to follow Jesus Christ – who, although perfect and sinless in the flesh – was nailed to the cross on our behalf.

The apostle John wrote: …if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:5-6).

Some people have cleverly suggested that Jesus lived in obedience to the Law and that if we are to imitate his life, then we too ought to observe the Law. However, if righteousness could be attained in such manner then Jesus would not have had to die. To follow Christ is not to try and keep the law and be justified in this fallen body of sin, but to follow Christ all the way to the cross – which means taking up our cross and putting to death the sinful nature.

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5 to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7).

Jesus was indeed born of a woman – and born under the law, he indeed lived an exemplary life, but he died for us and told us to also take up our crosses and to die to the old sinful nature that was held prisoner under the law  – so that only through death and being baptized into his death, we may be set free from the old and raised to new life by the Spirit who also raised Jesus from the dead.

If righteousness could be attained by enforcing and observing the Law, then we could all follow Jesus’ earthly example before he went to the cross – and he would not have had to die.

If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:17-21).

Paul asked the Galatians who, having already believed the gospel and received the promised Holy Spirit, but who were being enticed to accept the yoke of the Law and to conform to the external old covenant Law:

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing–if it really was for nothing?  Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? (Galatians 3:2-5).

Paul was himself once a strict Pharisee and was, therefore, well aware of the kind of religious discipline of studying the Law – of interpreting it – and of trying one’s best to living according to its very strict rules and regulations.

However, Paul wrote: If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.  For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

Even after having begun our new life of faith through the leading of the Holy Spirit, every time we revert back to trying to live by external rules and regulations, we will surely stumble.

It is not by observing rules and regulations, even the ten Commandments, that we may be justified and made righteous, it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit within us – and by faith in the new life to which we have been raised, that we will be set free from sin.

We may only live by faith by submitting to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who works in us – we cannot live by faith by trying to observe external rules and regulations even if we may regard them as more tangible – they were only the support that was put in place until genuine faith was made known.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13).

People have so often – even unwittingly, confused and tried to merge the distinctions between the new and the old covenants.

The seemingly plausible argument which apparently recognizes in the old covenant Law the two categories of there supposedly being an external written “moral law” and a external written “ceremonial law”, fails to take into consideration, however, that both the moral and ceremonial Law are yet one and the same external written Law which always testifies against sinners but is powerless to transform them or set them free from their slavery to sin.

No God-fearing Christian who is genuinely led by the Holy Spirit would ever try to suggest that because they are no longer under the external written Law that they are, therefore, free to do things which gratify the obvious desires of the sinful nature and which were prohibited by the Law.

However, no God-fearing Christian, who is genuinely motivated by the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit – and whose mind is renewed with the truth of the word of God, needs to be commanded not to murder or to lie.

The nature and effect of the new covenant law written upon the hearts of Christians by the Holy Spirit, and that of the external old covenant commands, including the Ten Commandments, which were written upon stone tablets, – – is not the same, even though when people live by them they may both give rather similar outward impressions of people being god-fearing and even righteous.

However, the one produces a legalistic self-righteousness with a tendency towards judging and condemning other sinners, having an outward form of godliness but denying the powerful, transforming work of the Holy Spirit, drawing near to God by appearances, worshipping through ritual and observance of rules, yet while the heart really remains corrupt, sinful and far from God.

Whereas the other, under the new covenant law written on peoples’ hearts by the Spirit, produces genuine, ever-lasting righteousness which tends to show grace and mercy towards sinners appealing to them to believe the good news of Jesus Christ and to receive and submit to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God.

Under the old covenant Paul referred to himself as having been faultless as far as legalistic righteousness was concerned – but even with perfect legalistic righteousness, people are sinful by nature and need to be set free by Jesus Christ through death – so as to be raised to new life which alone is eternal and by which they may be set free to worship him in Spirit and in truth.

Pharaoh tried to keep the Israelites under the yoke of slavery – and to distract them from the word being preached through Moses, he put them under even more pressure and hardship.

Jesus came to set us free from sin and he accused the teachers of the Law of not using the Law properly – but instead they tried to heap greaten burden upon the people, keeping them in bondage to the Law – but also to sin.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them `Rabbi’” (Matthew 23:1-7).

The teachers of the law try to make a good outward impression through their strict observance of many religious rules and regulations – but they deny the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to set people free from sin and from the old covenant external law (see 2 Timothy 3:5).

Those (teachers of the external old covenant Law) who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God (Galatians 6:12-16).

Paul refers to the old covenant law and specifically to the Ten Commandments – as that which demonstrated that people are sinners by nature – but Paul made it clear that the Law could not change the sinful nature of the heart, but only made sinners more conscious of their bondage to sin:

I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.  Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (Romans 7:7-13).

It is only through death that we are set free and raised to new life.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law (Romans 13:8-10).

By loving others as Christ loved us – is to supersede the requirements of the old covenant.

If we are led by the Spirit, with the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, so that we are motivated by the love of God, then we have fulfilled the purpose of the Law and are, therefore, no longer under its supervision.

Only if a person could rise above the natural laws of gravity and the principles of the liquidity of water could they ever be able to walk on the water’s surface without sinking like Peter did when his gaze was fixed upon Jesus. This illustrates an example for us who live by faith and are led by the Spirit – we must also keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not look at the way of the world or the many external religious rules and regulations.

Christians have died to sin and also to the Law. We are raised as a new creation with God’s perfect Law written upon our hearts – which supersedes the old covenant law with its external rules and regulations.

The love of God manifest in Jesus Christ – is now shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us – this is the Law of the new covenant given fifty days after Jesus, our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us – we have been set free from our slavery to the sinful nature.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant–not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:1-18).

The veil – is the flesh. When Jesus was crucified the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. The old covenant Law applied to the earthly flesh and was only a shadow of the heavenly reality.

The worshippers under the old covenant were not permitted to go beyond the veil (curtain) in the Temple, they could not enter God’s holy presence until the blood of Jesus would set them free and cleanse them from sin. But those who still try to cling to the old covenant rules and regulations, have a veil that prevents them from worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth.

If we have the Spirit of Christ living in us – so that everything we do is motivated by the love of God as we are led by the Spirit, then we are no longer under the supervision of the Law. Those who are led by the Spirit no longer need be commanded, “Do not murder, do not lie, do not commit adultery etc.” – for it is those who controlled by the sinful nature who need to be thus commanded.

Furthermore, although the old covenant Law commanded the Israelites to love the LORD their God with all of their hearts and minds, Paul taught that the person controlled by the sinful nature is hostile towards God and cannot please God – they will hate him, because he condemns sin and cannot dwell among sinners who refuse to be reconciled to him.

The only way for all sinners to be reconciled to God is through faith in Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice. If people hate Jesus without cause then they are really only demonstrating their underlying hatred and hostility towards God.

In Romans chapter 7 – Paul did not describe himself as a wretched sinner enslaved to a miserable life of sin even as a Christian.

Paul described himself as one who, if having begun with the Spirit, tried to once again live according to the old covenant Law, would find that the old earthly nature would come alive again – and that the Law would again be powerless to transform him and set him free…

He would find himself all over again doing the very things contrary to the Law. But Paul then went on to describe the victorious life of a Christian who is set free from the old legal system through the new covenant law written upon the heart through the power and transforming work of the Holy Spirit:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you (Romans 8:1-11).

What should now become clear through this teaching – is that the old covenant, including the Ten Commandments written upon tablets of stone and placed in the Ark of the Covenant and kept in the Most Holy Place – was a shadow and type of the new and better tabernacle of the new covenant which is built with living stones with God’s new covenant law now written upon the tablets of human hearts.

God has written his new covenant law upon our hearts – which is the love shed abroad in our hearts in the light of the atoning sacrifice and death of Jesus and his resurrection power to new life.

The old covenant Law written upon stone tablets was kept in the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place of the Temple.

But the Law written upon our hearts – is the place within the inner man where the Spirit now dwells in the heart of the believer.

As according to the types and shadows under the old covenant where a veil separated the way into the Most Holy Place, we are now not to cast our pearls before swine nor are we to entertain any thoughts which are contrary to the word of God or take anything into the Most Holy Place that would defile or desecrate the temple.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

We are to renew our hearts with the living Word of God as we worship the Lord in spirit and in truth with transformed hearts circumcised by Jesus through the cutting off of the earthly sinful nature.

As Christians – we are not lawless because we are no longer under the old covenant law, we do not wish to denigrate the old covenant Law or its intended purpose,  – but neither do we wish to denigrate the real and powerful work of the Holy Spirit who transforms the heart of the believer, a a creative work of God which the old covenant Law could never do.

The old covenant Law was a testimony against sinners, but those who have died to sin and who have been transformed and are led by the Holy Spirit are no longer under the old covenant Law or its condemnation.

There is no Law against those who are moved by the love of God shed abroad in their hearts.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:16-18; 22-25).

The offender who gathered sticks on the Sabbath was to be sentence to death to set an example so that sinners would fear God and also fear punishment which was to be inflicted upon offenders.

But we have died to the old and Jesus has also removed our fear of death (see Hebrews 2:15).

Those who argue that Christians are still bound by the Ten Commandments and the “moral law”, should be consistent in their argument – and for a Law to be effective there must also be the appropriate sentence for offenders otherwise it makes a mockery of the Law.

Should the Sabbath be strictly observed in such a manner as when the offender who gathered sticks was sentenced to death?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:56-57).

As has been argued from the Scriptures (in this exposition of the Law), the Law, including the Ten Commandments, was a written testimony against sinners – as Paul said, the Law was given for lawbreakers, bearing this in mind, therefore, we may better understand Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Colossians and Ephesians concerning the written Law that was against us – and we may appreciate how, through us being counted as having died with Christ, we have also been set free from the condemnation of the Law.

We are set free from sin and the old covenant Law – not by removing its sentence of death, not by dividing the Law into two parts – a “moral law” and a “ceremonial law”, not by confusing the old and the new covenants – but by accepting its sentence of death and that by God’s grace we are counted as having died, so that we may also be raised to a new life free from the written code which once condemned us:

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, HAVING CANCELLED THE WRITTEN CODE (i.e. the old covenant Law which was the testimony against Israel and the world) – with its regulations, THAT WAS AGAINST US and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.  These are [were, since the destruction of the temple] a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ (Colossians 2:9-17).

The written code that was against us – included that of the Ten Commandments – notice that that is precisely why Paul says that we should not let anyone judge us by a Sabbath day – observing the Sabbath day was, after all, the fourth commandment.

By having died to the old and through being raised to new life by the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, we have now entered our rest in Christ – Jesus, himself, is our Sabbath rest.

Jesus said: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).