Headlines like the one above really irritate some people. “How dare they pick and choose?!” But be honest. We all pick and choose. Who among us obey all 613 commands of the Mosaic law? That’s right. Some people believe that the Law is just the Ten Commandments. Actually, the Law of Moses contains 613 commandments covering everything from blood sacrifices to men’s haircuts to sewage disposal to charging interest on loans.
The New Testament seems to take a few steps further than the Supreme Court:
Romans 6:14: For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 7:4: So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
Galatians 2:19: For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Romans 7:6: But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Galatians 3:24-45: So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian
Colossians 2:14: ...having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Hebrews 8:13: By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.
Hebrews 10:9: He sets aside the first to establish the second.
Romans 10:4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Ephesians 2:14-15: For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances…
Not under law; died to the law; dying to what once bound us; released from the law; no longer under a guardian; nailed to the cross; obsolete; set aside; Christ is the end of the law; abolishing the law. Strong words. Clear communication.
I can hear the objections: “But wait! What about Matthew 5:17-19? Take that! See, the law is still in effect. We’re still supposed to follow it.” 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 fulfill them. For truly I tell you, 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…”
Well, this is confusing. Paul says Jesus abolished the law (Ephesians 2:15) and Jesus says he has not come to abolish the law! What’s up?
Back it up. Jesus did say the law would disappear when two things happened: 1. heaven and earth will disappear, and, 2. everything is accomplished. When those two things happen, the law is out of here! It’s gone. So long. See ya later. Gone like Roger Daltrey’s shirt.
#2 – Everything is accomplished – At a key moment Jesus announced that everything was finished – at that moment. “It is finished.” John 19:30
#1 – Heaven and earth will disappear – Well, that obviously means a literal heaven and earth disappearing. Doesn’t it? Maybe not.
If “heaven and earth” refers to a literal, physical heaven and earth, then, yep, the Law of Moses has not passed – it’s still alive and kicking. But I believe that “heaven and earth” is a metaphor for political or national systems. Take a look at these references:
Isaiah 1:1-2; Isaiah 24:3-6; Isaiah 34:3-5; Hebrews 12:26-28; Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:32-33
In the last two references Jesus wasn’t speaking of a physical heaven and earth but of a system – a way of doing things – the Mosaic Covenant with its laws, sacrifices, priesthood, tabernacle (Hebrews 9:8-11). Jesus was speaking of the fall of Jerusalem that would happen about 40 years later in A.D. 70 when God removed the things that could be shaken and in their place gave His people a Kingdom which can never be moved (Hebrews 12:18-28).
Luke 21:32-33 contains the same elements as Matthew 5:17-19 – the disappearance of heaven and earth and everything accomplished.
Jesus and Paul are not in conflict with one another. Heaven and earth – the system under the Mosaic covenant disappeared bringing on the abolishment of the law!!!!
So, I guess we can just let ourselves go wild?! God, as always, has this covered;
So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law…For you have been called to live in freedom … but don’t use your freedom to satisfy your flesh. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love…So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. Then you won’t be doing what your flesh craves (Galatians 5:1-16).
The law or the Holy Spirit? What is our choice?
Phillip Wright 
The Law remains as a guide as to how we can live well in our new relationship with God – on this side of the cross.
How can something “remain” and be “abolished” at the same time? On what or on whom did Paul depend as a guide?
It’s funny that any Christ follower would fight against this idea, but I know it’s taken me a long time to even get a rudimentary understanding of it. It’s the very basis of our freedom in Christ, the foundation of His love and grace. The Law which oppressed our souls (because we could never live up to it) was abolished when Christ died and rose again – His victory over sin is what covers us, not our following of the Law. That’s why moralism and good behavior are shallow graves. They lead nowhere because apart from Christ we can do nothing, and we absolutely cannot have victory over sin. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for righteousness Himself, Jesus Christ. The Law as a standard of goodness has been accomplished in us when we give ourselves to Him. What joyous news!
Follow the law? Don’t follow the law? Sin? Don’t sin? Are you suggesting that we no longer sin, or that we are no longer accountable for our sins.
If we are no longer accountable shouldn’t we do our best not to sin (break the law)? I don’t want to crucify Christ again.
Can someone please tell me what sin is. I am getting the impression that sin no longer exists and we are free to do what ever we want so long as it doesn’t hurt or offend someone.
Wait- – – – -If the law (sin) no longer exists how would it be wrong to hurt or offend someone??
Mmmmmm??? So many questions.
Do Romans 5:20-6:7 and Galatians 5:13-16 answer your question?
Of course sin exists. There is too much of it in our own hearts (let alone the whole world) that anyone can beat it by following the Law. When we abide in Christ we still sin and fall short of His glory, yet we don’t have to strive in our own power (sin we have little or none) and can instead allow Jesus to transform us, to sanctify and justify.