What Do We Do with the Old Testament Law?

The Schoolmaster, the Sacrifice, and the Savior

Not long ago, I came across a Facebook post where people were debating the Old Testament law. One person quoted from Leviticus 18:22. Another responded with that well-known satirical “Open Letter” poking fun at laws about shellfish, fabrics, and stoning Sabbath-breakers. It was funny, but the question beneath it was serious.

What do we do with the Old Testament law today?

We live in 2025. Nobody is selling their daughter into slavery or burning bulls on an altar. Yet the Bible still calls the Law holy and good. So what was its purpose, and what place does it have in our lives now?

The Purpose of the Law

The Law was never a ladder we climb to reach God. It was a mirror showing us how far we had fallen.

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” Galatians 3:24.

The Law revealed sin but could not remove it.

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20

It is like a flashlight in a dark room. It shows the mess, but cannot clean it. Its whole purpose was to lead us to Jesus.

And here is something very important. Even in the Old Testament, God never expected His people to keep the Law perfectly. That is why He gave them the altar and the sacrificial system. That is why He instructed Moses to place the tables of the covenant inside the ark, and above the ark, He placed the mercy seat. God said,

“And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat” Exodus 25:22.

Notice, He did not speak from the Law beneath the lid, but from the mercy seat that covered it.

From the very beginning, God revealed that a substitute must stand in the sinner’s place. When Adam and Eve sinned, God Himself clothed them with animal skins, showing that a sacrifice had been made to cover their shame Genesis 3:21. Later, every lamb, goat, and bull offered on Israel’s altar pointed forward to the one true Substitute who would come, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Who the Law Was For

Paul also explains who the Law was written for.

“But we know that the Law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine”
1 Timothy 1:8–10.

That could not be clearer. The Law was not made for the believer who has been made righteous in Christ. It was written for the sinner, for the rebel, the liar, the murderer, to expose sin and show the need of salvation.

Once we come to Christ, the Law has finished its work.

Jesus and the Law

When Jesus came, He did not discard the Law. He fulfilled it.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” Matthew 5:17.

And when asked to sum it all up, He said:

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets” Matthew 22:37–40.

Every command was pointing to love. God’s love for us. Our love for Him. And His love flowing through us to others. But here is the difference. The Law could demand love, but it could never produce it. Only the Spirit of God in us can do that.

What About the Hard Verses?

This is where people get confused. Some Old Testament laws dealt with sacrifices, feasts, or food restrictions. Others governed Israel as a nation. Others reflected God’s holy character.

The Bible makes it clear.

The ceremonial laws, such as sacrifices, feasts, and dietary rules, were all fulfilled in Christ.

The civil laws that governed Israel as a nation are not binding today.

The moral laws, such as the Ten Commandments, continue to reflect God’s holiness, and the New Testament reiterates them.

We are not under the old covenant anymore.

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” Hebrews 8:13.

The Law of Christ

So what guides us now? The Bible refers to it as “the law of Christ” Galatians 6:2 and “the royal law” James 2:8. It is summed up in a single word. Love.

But not love as a duty we try to perform. This is God’s own love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

• Rules can tell you not to steal. Love makes you generous.

• Rules can tell you not to kill. Love makes you forgive.

• Rules can tell you not to commit adultery. Love makes you honor your spouse with faithfulness.

We do not live for love. We live from love. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We show grace because grace has been poured into us.

Grace is not a license to sin. It is the liberty to obey. It frees us from fear and makes holiness the most natural thing in the world.

Bringing It Home

So what do we do with the Old Testament Law in 2025?

We honor it for what it was. We let it remind us of God’s holiness. We let it show sinners their need for Christ. However, we no longer live under it.

We live under grace. We live under love.

And here is the beauty. Even in the Old Testament, God pointed His people to mercy, to the altar, to the Substitute. And now, in Christ, we see the fulfillment of it all. Once you know you are loved by God, loving Him and loving others is not a burden. It becomes the overflow of a new heart filled with His Spirit.

That is the true fulfillment of the Law.