What the New Testament Actually Says About the Law

The New Testament speaks about God's law with respect, not embarrassment. Paul calls it "holy, righteous and good" (Romans 7:12). Yeshua (Jesus) says plainly that He did not come to abolish it (Matthew 5:17). And the book of Acts shows the apostles keeping Shabbat and the biblical feasts long after the resurrection. What the New Testament warns against is not the law. It warns against using the law the wrong way (1 Timothy 1:8).

Bible teacher Yves Perriard likes to open this subject with a simple question. When you hear the word "law," what comes to mind? Something good? Something bad? Or something you could not quite define if someone asked you? Most of us, if we are honest, would pick the third answer. That is a good place to start.

First, what "the law" means

The New Testament was written in Greek, and its word for law is nomos. Behind it stands the Hebrew word Torah, which is broader than a legal code. Torah means teaching, instruction or direction. A father gives torah to his son (Proverbs 1:8 uses the same word).

Most of the time, "the law" in the New Testament means the five books of Moses. Sometimes it stretches wider and covers the whole Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. In John 10:34 Yeshua quotes Psalm 82:6 and calls it "your Law." In 1 Corinthians 14:21 Paul writes "In the Law it is written" and then quotes Isaiah 28:11. So when Paul talks about the law, he usually means the commandments and decrees given through Moses. He can also mean the Scriptures of Israel as a whole, with their feasts, customs and way of life.

The books of the law

The five books of the law are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together they are called the Torah, or the Pentateuch.

The phrase "the Book of the Law" shows up inside the Bible itself. Moses tells the Levites to place it beside the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 31:26). Joshua is told to keep it on his lips and meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8). Centuries later, during King Josiah's repairs, the high priest Hilkiah finds it in the Temple, and a national return to God follows (2 Kings 22:8). Paul uses the same phrase in Galatians 3:10 when he quotes Deuteronomy 27:26.

How many laws are there?

Jewish tradition counts 613 commandments in the Torah. The number comes from Rabbi Simlai, a third-century sage quoted in the Babylonian Talmud (Makkot 23b). The commandments cover worship, Shabbat, the feasts, justice in court, care for the poor, family life and much more.

The New Testament does not add a new numbered list on top of these. When it gives commands, it keeps reaching back into the Torah. Romans 13:9 lists several of the Ten Commandments and then sums them up with Leviticus 19:18, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

How the Tanakh speaks about the law

The Hebrew Scriptures never treat the Torah as a burden Israel had to put up with. They treat it as a gift. Moses asks, "And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?" (Deuteronomy 4:8). David sings, "The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul" (Psalm 19:7).

The New Testament writers grew up praying these words. That background matters when we read what they said next.

What Rabbi Yeshua said about the law

In the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua addresses the question before anyone can ask it:

"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." (Matthew 5:17)

He keeps going. Not the smallest letter or least stroke of a pen will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (Matthew 5:18). Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19).

Later, someone asks Him which commandment is the greatest. He answers with two verses from the Torah: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind (Deuteronomy 6:5), and love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18). "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments," He says (Matthew 22:37-40). He did not swap the Torah for something new. He showed what holds it together.

Paul's vocabulary: good, holy, spiritual

Paul wrote more about the law than any other New Testament author, and his letters are where most of the confusion starts. He argued hard that Gentiles did not need to become Jewish to belong to God's people. Readers sometimes take that as an argument against the law itself. But look at the words Paul actually uses for it:

• Holy, righteous and good: "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good" (Romans 7:12).
• Spiritual: "We know that the law is spiritual" (Romans 7:14).
• A delight: "For in my inner being I delight in God's law" (Romans 7:22).
• Knowledge and truth: Paul speaks of having "in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth" (Romans 2:20).
• Good, when used properly: "We know that the law is good if one uses it properly" (1 Timothy 1:8).
• Fulfilled in love: "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:14).

This is not the language of a man trying to get rid of something.

"All Scripture" in 2 Timothy

Perriard points to a verse most Christians know by heart. "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We naturally hear "the whole Bible." But when Paul wrote this, the New Testament had not yet been gathered. The verse just before it settles the matter. Timothy had known "the Holy Scriptures" from infancy (2 Timothy 3:15), and the only Scriptures a child could have learned then were the Tanakh. Paul is saying that the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings equip a believer for every good work.

Romans 10:4: end, or goal?

Some translations render Romans 10:4 as "Christ is the end of the law." Read quickly, that sounds like a termination notice. The Greek word is telos, which commonly means goal, aim or completion. The NIV translates it this way: "Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."

That reading fits what Paul says earlier in the same letter. "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law" (Romans 3:31). Messiah is where the Torah was heading all along. For a closer look at these chapters, see Questions about the Torah and the book of Romans. For what Paul was really opposing, read Legalism Uncovered: What Paul Really Said.

What Paul did, not just what he wrote

Perriard's next point is simple. Given everything positive Paul wrote, we should not be surprised that he lived the law himself. Luke records it again and again:

• Shabbat: Paul went into the synagogue on the Sabbath "as was his custom" (Acts 17:2).
• Passover: Writing to a largely Gentile congregation in Corinth, he says, "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
• Unleavened Bread: He sailed from Philippi only "after the Festival of Unleavened Bread" (Acts 20:6).
• Shavuot: He hurried to reach Jerusalem "by the day of Pentecost" (Acts 20:16). Shavuot is one of the three pilgrimage feasts the Torah commands (Deuteronomy 16:16).
• Marking time by the feasts: Writing from Ephesus, he plans to stay there "until Pentecost" (1 Corinthians 16:8).
• Yom Kippur: Luke notes that sailing had become dangerous "because by now it was after the Day of Atonement" (Acts 27:9). The Greek simply says "the Fast," the common name for Yom Kippur.
• Circumcision of Timothy: Timothy had a Jewish mother. Paul circumcised him "because of the Jews who lived in that area" (Acts 16:3).
• Vows: At Cenchreae he cut his hair "because of a vow he had taken" (Acts 18:18). Many readers understand this as the Nazirite vow of Numbers 6, which ended with shaving the head.
• Temple purification: In Jerusalem he purified himself along with four men who had made a vow. He paid their expenses and went to the Temple to give notice of the date their purification would end (Acts 21:23-26). The process ran seven days (Acts 21:27).

That last episode was deliberate. Rumors had reached Jerusalem that Paul taught Jews living among Gentiles to turn away from Moses and stop circumcising their children (Acts 21:21). James and the elders asked him to take part in the vow publicly "so that everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law" (Acts 21:24). Paul agreed.

"I have done nothing against the law"

Perriard also notes how often Paul defended himself on exactly this point. Before the Sanhedrin he said, "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day" (Acts 23:1). In the same hearing he said, "I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees" (Acts 23:6). Notice the present tense. Before Felix he said, "I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets" (Acts 24:14). Before Festus he said, "I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple" (Acts 25:8).

In Rome, he gathered the local Jewish leaders and opened with this: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans" (Acts 28:17).

He said these things to audiences that were looking for any reason to accuse him. A man who had dropped Shabbat and the feasts could not have said them and survived the cross-examination. For more on how Paul worked within Jewish life, see Paul and the Synagogue.

Thousands of believers, zealous for the law

Paul was not an exception. When he arrived in Jerusalem, the elders told him:

"You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law." (Acts 21:20)

The first disciples did not see faith in Yeshua as leaving Israel's covenant. They saw Him as Israel's promised Messiah. Peter and John still went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1). Peter, years after the resurrection, could still say he had never eaten anything impure or unclean (Acts 10:14). That rhythm of life shaped the earliest communities of believers. You can read more in The Early Believers in Yeshua & the Second Temple.

What this means for a Christian reader

The apostles also settled a second question, and it matters just as much. At the council in Jerusalem they agreed that Gentiles who turn to God do not have to become Jewish. They asked them to keep only a few essentials (Acts 15:19-20, 28-29). Paul spent much of his ministry defending that decision.

So the point is not that every Christian must take on the full Torah as Israel does. The point is that the law is not the villain of the Bible. Paul even warned Gentile believers not to grow arrogant toward the natural branches of the olive tree, because "you do not support the root, but the root supports you" (Romans 11:18). Over the centuries that warning was not always heeded. Today many Christians are discovering, often for the first time, that they can read the law with gratitude instead of suspicion.

That change opens the Old Testament. The commandments start to sound like a Father teaching His children. The grace that was there from Sinai onward becomes easier to see. And Yeshua's own life, lived inside the Torah, comes into sharper focus.

A place to start this week

Read Psalm 119 slowly. It is the longest chapter in the Bible: 176 verses in 22 stanzas, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Nearly every verse speaks of God's law, decrees, commands or word. Stop at verse 97, "Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long," and ask yourself honestly whether you could pray it. If not yet, ask God to give you the love for His instruction that Yeshua, Paul and the first disciples carried with them.

Questions people ask

What does the New Testament say about the law?

It speaks of the law positively. Paul calls it holy, righteous, good and spiritual (Romans 7:12, 14), and says faith upholds the law rather than nullifying it (Romans 3:31). Yeshua said He came not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17).

How many laws are in the New Testament?

The New Testament does not create a new numbered list of laws. Jewish tradition counts 613 commandments in the Torah, a number recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (Makkot 23b). The New Testament keeps pointing back to them and sums them up in loving God and loving your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40; Romans 13:9).

What are the books of the law in the Bible?

The books of the law are the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Together they are called the Torah. In the New Testament, "the Law" can sometimes refer to the whole Hebrew Bible as well (John 10:34; 1 Corinthians 14:21).

What is the Book of the Law in the Bible?

The Book of the Law is the written Torah given through Moses. It was placed beside the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 31:26), Joshua was told to meditate on it day and night (Joshua 1:8), and it was rediscovered in the Temple in King Josiah's day (2 Kings 22:8).

Did Paul keep the law after believing in Yeshua?

Yes. Acts shows him keeping Shabbat in the synagogue (Acts 17:2), timing his travels around Passover and Shavuot (Acts 20:6, 16), and joining a Temple purification to show he lived "in obedience to the law" (Acts 21:24). In Rome he said he had done nothing against the customs of his ancestors (Acts 28:17).