Does the New Covenant do away with the Ten Commandments of God?
There are theologians and pastors from different churches who say the Ten Commandments of God belong to the Old Covenant with Israel in the Old Testament Bible. Every agreement with Israel and God was done away with at the cross. It was finished when Jesus Christ was crucified.
Therefore, we Christians today do not need to obey the Ten Commandments of God in the New Covenant, that is during the time of the New Testament Bible and after. This is a very clever reasoning, and many use this argument to support their belief that we should not keep the Ten Commandments of God.
Let us study the Old and the New Covenant from the Bible and see if the Ten Commandments of God were done away with at the cross.
The Old Covenant in the Old Testament Bible made by Israel and God
- The Old Covenant was made between God and Abraham, Israel and foreigners.
Genesis 17:1.2. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make a covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
Exodus 19:3.5. God talking to the house of Jacob and Israel through Moses. “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine.”
Exodus 24:8. And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.”
Isaiah 56:6. “Also the sons of the foreigner who joins themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants- everyone who keeps from defiling the sabbath, and holds fast my covenant.”
If foreigners were included in the covenant, then it was not only made to the Israelites. This text alone cancels the argument that the covenant was only made for the Israelites.
- All men should be circumcised in the Old Covenant.
Genesis 17:11. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
- All people should keep the Ten Commandments in the Old Covenant.
Genesis 26:5. Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Exodus 20:1-17. Israel had to keep the Ten Commandments of God at Sinai.
Isaiah 56:2-7. Foreigners who joined themselves to the Lord in Israel had to keep the Ten Commandments of God.
- There was a sanctuary in the Old Covenant.
Exodus 25:8.9. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
- There were priests in the sanctuary.
Exodus 28:1. Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to me as priest, Aaron and Aaron´s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
- One should offer a lamb for a sin offering in the Old Covenant.
Leviticus 4:32-34. If he brings a lamb as a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar.
- There were blessings in the Old Covenant.
Genesis 12:3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28:2. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
- There were curses in the Old Covenant.
Genesis 12:3. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28:15. But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.
- Abraham received the promise to inherit the land of Cana´ an.
Genesis 15:18. On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river: The River Euphrates -.
- The Old Covenant was an eternal covenant.
Genesis 17:7. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
- The Old Covenant was broken by the Israelites.
Jeremiah 11:8. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed their dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do , but which they have not done.
Hebrews 8:13. In that he says, “A new covenant,” he has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.”
Hebrews 8:8-10. Because finding fault with them, he says: “Behold, the days are coming , says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in my covenant, and I discarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put mu laws in their mind and write them mon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
The Covenant in the New Testament Bible made by God and Spiritual Israel: Christians.
- This new covenant was made by God and spiritual Israel e.g. Christians.
Matthew 21:33-43. He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. This parable is talking the Israelites as a nation rejecting Christ as their savior, and God is giving the kingdom to the Gentiles.
Romans 2:28.29. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Galatians 3:27-29. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither salve nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ´s, then you are Abraham´s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
- Circumcision should be of the heart and not of the flesh.
Romans 2:28.29. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
- The law is written in the Christians heart.
Hebrews 10:16. “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,” says the Lord: “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.”
- The sanctuary was transferred from the earth to heaven.
- Jesus is the Lamb of God.
John 1:29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
- Jesus Christ is our High Priest.
Hebrews 8:1.2. Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
Hebrews 4:14. Seeing then we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
- Blessings of eternal life in the New Covenant.
John 3:16. For God loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
- The curse of condemnation to those who refuse the New Covenant.
John 3:18. He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
- Christians shall inherit a new heaven and a new earth.
Revelation 21:1-3. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And then I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God.”
- The New Covenant is an everlasting covenant.
Hebrews 13:20. Now may the God of peace, who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
- When did the New Covenant begin?
Hebrews 9:15. And for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Christ´s death on the cross).
Was the Ten Commandments of God done away with in the New Covenant? The Bible says No!
The women kept the sabbath after the crucifixion and death of Christ.
Luke 23:55.56. And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.
Paul kept the Ten Commandments to reveal that he was a sinner.
Romans 7:7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
Romans 3:20. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:31. Do we make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
Paul says that we fulfill the law when we love our neighbor as ourselves.
Romans 13:8-10. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he 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 bear false witness, You shall not covet, and if there is another commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.
Does Paul say that it matters to keep God´s law?
1 Cor 7:19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters.
Ephesians 6:2. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise.
James says that we must keep the royal law which is the Ten Commandments.
James 2:8-11. If you really fulfill the royal law according the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
God says that he has written his laws in our hearts
Hebrews 10:16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the lord: I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.
What does it mean to break God´s law?
1 John 3:4. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
1 John 2:4. He who says, “I know him,” and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
What is true love for God?
1 John 5:3. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
Satan will only make war with those who keep the Ten Commandments of God
Revelation 12:17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Who are the saints in the last days before Christ comes?
Revelation 14:12. Here are the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.