CHRISTIANS ARE NOT UNDER THE TORAH (They Never Were, They Never Will Be)
One of the clearest teachings of the New Testament is that believers in Jesus Christ are not under the Torah of Moses. This is not a minor theme. It is foundational. It is repeated. It is insistent. It is woven into the very fabric of the Gospel. To place Christians under the Mosaic covenant is to misunderstand the mission of Christ, the nature of salvation, and the distinction between the old covenant and the new. Scripture speaks with a voice that is neither timid nor uncertain — Christians are not under the Law. They never have been. They never will be.
First, the Torah was never designed as the pathway of salvation. It exposed sin; it did not remove it. Paul declares that the Law was given “so that sin might be revealed” and that it served as “a tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:19, 24). A tutor is temporary — not permanent. Its purpose ends when the student comes to the Master. Paul adds that “the Law works wrath” because no sinner could ever fulfill its demands (Romans 4:15). The Torah was a mirror that showed dirt, never the water that washed it away.
Second, the Bible specifically states that Christians are not under the Law. Paul makes the assertion with unmistakable force: “You are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). He says again that believers “have died to the Law through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4). Dead people are not subject to previous contracts. The covenant of Moses no longer claims authority over those who have been joined to the resurrected Lord. And again — “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). If Christ is the end of it, then the believer does not live under it in any sense.
Third, the Torah was a covenant made with a specific people — Israel — not with the nations at large. Moses declares, “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us, all of us who are here alive today” (Deuteronomy 5:3). The nations were never placed under the Mosaic commands, and the apostles decisively refused to impose the Torah on Gentile Christians. The Jerusalem council heard arguments, examined Scripture, listened to the Spirit, and declared that Gentiles were not to be burdened with the Law of Moses (Acts 15:10 and Acts 15:19–20). Peter’s reasoning was devastating — “Why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Acts 15:10). If Israel itself could not bear it, what madness to bind it on the church.
Fourth, the Torah ended as a covenantal authority at the cross. Christ fulfilled every shadow, symbol, and sacrifice. The veil tore. The priesthood changed. The sacrifices ceased. The writer of Hebrews states that “the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the Law” (Hebrews 7:12). He adds that the former commandment “is annulled because of its weakness and unprofitableness” (Hebrews 7:18). The Law was holy — but it was temporary. Christ brought a superior covenant founded on better promises (Hebrews 8:6). A covenant cannot continue once the fulfillment of its symbols has arrived.
Fifth, the believer serves God in an entirely new realm — the realm of the Spirit, not the realm of the Torah. Paul writes that Christians “have been delivered from the Law” so that we may “serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6). The Law’s function was tied to the old age of types and shadows. The Spirit’s work belongs to the new creation. The commandments written on stone have yielded to the commandments written on the heart (Hebrews 8:10).
Finally, to claim that Christians must submit to the Torah is to undermine the finished work of Christ. Paul confronts those who attempted to reimpose Mosaic requirements and says that those who seek righteousness through the Law “have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4). He even asks, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith?” (Galatians 3:2). The answer is obvious — faith not works. Grace not Law. Christ not the Torah.
Christians are not under the Torah — because the Torah was never given as the covenant of the church. Christians never were under the Torah — because the apostles refused to place Gentiles beneath it. Christians never will be under the Torah — because the new covenant is eternal, perfect, and complete. The Law pointed to Christ, Christ fulfilled the Law, and all who belong to Christ live under the freedom, beauty, and power of His everlasting grace.
BDD
