One of the biggest misunderstandings among Christians is that we need to keep the 10 Commandments. The reasoning goes something like this, “This is how we know when we sin”; “This is how we obey God”; “This is how we can stop sinning.” Yet, the gospel of grace in the New Testament says we have something much better than the 10 Commandments. Let’s take a look.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, 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. Jesus fulfilled all the 10 Commandments and all the 613 commandments. This culminated in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Jesus fullfilled the Law for us giving us credit!
Do you know the ministry of the Law in a person’s life? 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, 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, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious. If the ministry that brought condemnation was 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 transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! The ministry of the Law is death and condemnation. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to give us God’s righteousness in our identity in Christ! The glory of the Law had a time limit! Yet, the glory of the Holy Spirit in our lives is eternal! We see that the Holy Spirit in us is better than the 10 Commandments.
Then what is our relationship to the 10 Commandments and Jesus Christ? Romans 7:4, tells us 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. We were all sinners under the Law of God but not any longer. We died with Christ on the cross to the authority of the Law! We were raised with Christ as new creations under grace. We now live in a love relationship with Jesus, not a Law relationship. Through this union with Christ, we bear fruit that pleases God. This is better than the 10 Commandments.
There’s more! In Romans 7:6, to make sure we don’t need the 10 Commandments it reads, 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. Through our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, we have been released from any expectation from God that we are to keep the 10 Commandments. The new way of living is to live from Christ in us. This is the new way of the Spirit. This is also better than the 10 Commandments.
What about overcoming sin? Don’t we need the Law? Romans 6:14 says, For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Only grace overcomes sin. Grace means the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ and our union with Him in all of it.
Let’s not miss the central reality here. Living from our union with God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit is better than trying to keep the 10 Commandments. Through this union, we are in a love relationship with Him! He wants us to grow in our dependence on Him, believing He loves us from within and is living His life through every area of our life. This includes our work, parenting, grandparenting, exercise, driving and everything else! We also get to live like who we are in Christ as holy, righteous, loving sons and daughters of God – without mixing grace with the law.
Grace is better than the Law! The New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant! Jesus is better than Moses! So, I think I’ll stick with Jesus because I tried Law living and it doesn’t work. In fact, it almost killed me! Let’s all stick with Jesus and let’s all let go of Moses!
