The most well known of these various laws are the 10 commandments. They are as follows:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them… Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;…Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: Honour thy father and thy mother:…Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:3-17 King James Version).
As we know from the writings of the Old Testament, Israel could never fulfill God’s law. Thus, through the law, without forgiveness, all men were condemned. The Law was enacted not necessarily to test Israel but to show them that they had sin. Without some plan of redemption man was therefore doomed to condemnation due to his sinful nature. The law was man’s teacher that, in himself, he could never please God. The Law showed man he needed something greater than this Old Covenant to be able to be righteous before God. The impossibility of being able to do the law is apparent in the scriptures. Jesus said that even looking upon another with lust has already committed adultery? Who is never anxious, unbelieving or otherwise sinful in our actions and thoughts? Who is able to love God with ALL his heart and his neighbor as himself? (see Matthew Chapters 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount). Christ said our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, who were Hippocrates,, acting as if they were righteous when in fact they were not (Matthew 5:20). Trying to do the commandments and be righteous in ourselves is meaningless to God. God says our own righteousness is not impressive but rather repulsive to Him. Isaiah 64:6 says: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;”.
The Apostle Paul himself recognized that in himself he was utterly incapable of doing God’s will. As he writes in Romans 7:18-24: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (NKJV). So even if the eminent Apostle Paul could not control his own flesh, without help from some other means, neither can we.
So then the law which we cannot fulfill becomes our tutor leading us to Christ and the New Covenant where, through Christ, we are able to fulfill the law (Galatians 3:24). Christ said that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it. Through Him the law would be fulfilled to the last “jot or tittle” (Matthew 5:17-18). The Law would not be fulfilled through human effort; Israel proved that. It is fulfilled through Christ our eternal high priest. Since we couldn’t do it, it was either condemnation for sinful man or redemption by a perfect Son Jesus.
Under the New Covenant we are free from having to try to walk in the law, including the “10 commandments” in our human efforts. Does this mean the Law is irrelevant? No. The Law is promise of what we are to become under Christ’s New Covenant. In the Book of Galatians Paul chastises the Ephesian church for going back to trying to do the law in themselves rather than having faith in a Christ who had already fulfilled it for them.
Therefore through Christ our sins are forgiven. But that is only a means to an end. If we are forgiven, even if we stumble, our forgiveness allows us the opportunity to be one with God which has always been the ultimate goal.
Fulfilling the law yourself not only negates the need for Christ, it also gives man the glory, not God. Our righteousness comes by grace, a free underserved gift. Man says “Look what I’ve done. Aren’t I a good person? God says no, only my Son is righteousness. Scripture says:
“THERE is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned ASIDE; together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one” (Romans 3:10-13; Psalm 14:1-3, 53:1-30).
So righteousness comes by faith, not by doing the law (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6). The law, including the 10 commandments, were but a type and shadow, symbols of things to come (Hebrews 8:5), i.e. Christ and the New Covenant. The construction of the temple, the Passover lamb, the priestly sacrifices, the Jewish feasts all were symbolic of the fulfillment in Christ.
Paul was openly critical of the Galatians for turning back to thinking they had to follow the law to become righteousness (the Law includes the 10 commandments). He says:
“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” (Galatians 3:1-5).
Paul goes on: “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.”
Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE righteous man shall live by faith.”
However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE who practices them shall live by them” (Galatians 3:10-12; Deuteronomy 27:26; Habakkuk 2:4; Leviticus 18:5).
“Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe”
(Galatians 3:21-22).
So for our purposes, all our efforts to keep or do the 10 commandments are dead works and filthy rags to God. We will do them, but only when they become part of our nature. Remember the Old Covenant was our tutor to lead us to Christ; to let us know we needed Christ. When He came, He delivered an entirely new covenant.
The New Covenant is:
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people”