Are Christians still required to follow the Old Testament Law (Mosaic Law)?

The Question: The Old Testament contains hundreds of laws (the Mosaic Law) regarding diet, clothing, sacrifices, and conduct. Are Christians required to obey all of these laws?

Key Verses & Explanation:

• Matthew 5:17 (Jesus' Relationship to the Law): "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."

  • Explanation: Jesus did not discard the Law; He perfectly embodied it (fulfillment by obedience) and completed its intended purpose (fulfillment by substitutionary sacrifice). His life, death, and resurrection were the goal toward which the Old Testament rituals pointed.

• Hebrews 10:1 (The Law as a Shadow): "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."

   

  • Explanation: The sacrificial, ritual, and purity laws (the Ceremonial Law) were "shadows" of Christ. Once the reality (Christ) arrived, the shadow is no longer needed. For example, animal sacrifice (the shadow) is replaced by Christ's final sacrifice (the reality).

• Acts 15:28-29 (The Apostles' Decision on Gentiles): "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well."

   

  • Explanation: This summary decision by the early Church's Jerusalem Council confirms that Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians were not required to observe the entire Mosaic Law (like circumcision or dietary laws), validating that those laws were not binding for salvation or daily Christian life.

• Romans 13:8-10 (Fulfillment of the Moral Law): "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law... Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."

  • Explanation: The timeless principles of right and wrong (the Moral Law, reflected in the Ten Commandments) are still binding, but they are summarized and fulfilled through the principle of love for God and neighbor.

Answer & Conclusion: The Old Testament Law can be understood as having three parts: Moral (still binding on all people), Ceremonial (fulfilled and made obsolete by Christ's sacrifice), and Civil/Judicial (specific to the nation of Israel and no longer applicable to Christians). Christians are bound by the moral and ethical standard of the Law, perfectly embodied and summarized by the command to love.