Why Don't Christians Follow Every Old Testament Law?

Christians believe the Old Testament Law was fulfilled in Jesus, not discarded as a mistake.

What the Law was doing

God gave Israel the Law after rescuing them from Egypt. It shaped them as his covenant people:

• Moral commands revealed God’s holy character and exposed sin.
• Sacrifice, priesthood, and purity laws taught that sin requires atonement and pointed ahead to Christ.
• Israel’s civil and national laws ordered life in the promised land and set Israel apart from surrounding nations.

The Law was good, but it could not make sinners righteous by its own power. As Galatians 3:24 says, it was a “guardian” leading to Christ.

Jesus fulfills it

Jesus said, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

He fulfills the Law because:

• He alone obeyed God perfectly.
• His death is the once-for-all sacrifice to which the temple sacrifices pointed (Hebrews 10:11–14).
• He establishes the new covenant promised by the prophets (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Luke 22:20).
• Through faith in him, people are justified by grace, not by performing the works of the Mosaic Law (Galatians 2:16).

So Christians do not keep Israel’s food laws, circumcision requirement, temple sacrifices, or national penalties. The Jerusalem council explicitly decided that Gentile Christians were not to be placed under the full Mosaic Law (Acts 15:5–29).

What still binds Christians?

The New Testament does not make morality optional. Christians are called to love God and neighbor—the commands Jesus names as the Law’s fulfillment (Matthew 22:37–40)—and to obey Christ by the Holy Spirit.

The difference is covenantal: Christians obey not to earn acceptance with God, but because in Christ they have received it.