Can Christians eat bacon? Can we order shrimp without a guilty conscience? Why do we worship on Sunday instead of Saturday? Are we still supposed to obey the Ten Commandments—or did Jesus “do away with the Law”?
Those questions aren’t new. The New Testament itself is filled with them, because Jesus did something decisive: He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, declared all foods clean, and tore down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. In other words, real changes have come with the New Covenant—changes so significant that the apostles often assume their readers already understand them.
So how do we make sense of both the continuity and the change? How do we obey all of God’s Word without slipping into legalism on the one hand or lawlessness on the other?
Few passages of Scripture bring greater clarity to the relationship between the Law, the gospel, and the Christian life than Jesus’ words near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Before Jesus ever begins to unpack specific commandments, He first tells us who His people are and what their lives look like. They are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They are salt and light in a dark and decaying world. Their lives are marked by joy, faithfulness, love, and good works that glorify God.
Yet none of these things are self-defined. Love, righteousness, and good works do not come from within us as autonomous creatures. They are shaped and defined by God’s Word. That is why Jesus turns, in Matthew 5:17–20, to address the Law. Far from being an interruption in His sermon, this teaching lies at the very heart of what it means to live as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
Not Abolished, but Fulfilled
Jesus begins by guarding against a dangerous misunderstanding: “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.” With these words, Jesus makes clear that His ministry is not a rejection of the Old Testament. He is not overthrowing God’s revealed will. He is not setting aside Scripture. Rather, He has come to bring it to its intended goal.
When Jesus speaks of “the Law and the Prophets,” He is referring to the whole of the Old Testament—its histories and psalms, its promises and prophecies, its commandments and ceremonies, its types and shadows. None of it is discarded in Christ. Genesis through Malachi stands, not as a relic of a bygone era, but as a story that reaches its climax in Him.
Jesus reinforces this point by saying that not even the smallest letter of the Law will pass away until “all is accomplished.” God’s Word remains in force until everything it was given to do has come into being and reached its proper end. Fulfillment, then, does not mean destruction. It means completion. It means that what was given in seed form has come into flower.
The Passing of the Old Heavens and Earth
To grasp what Jesus is saying, we must remember that Scripture often speaks of covenants in cosmic terms. The “heavens and earth” of the Old Covenant were not merely the physical sky and soil, but the entire covenantal order—its priesthood, temple, sacrifices, calendar, and law-administration. That world, marked by sin, death, and exile, was already growing old and passing away.
When Jesus says in Matthew 5:18 that the Law will remain until heaven and earth pass away, He is not postponing fulfillment indefinitely. He is announcing that fulfillment will occur when the Old Covenant world itself comes to an end. And that is precisely what happens in His death and resurrection. This does not deny the future renewal of the physical creation, but it does insist that covenantal judgment and renewal stand at the heart of what Jesus is announcing here; and that announcement was centered on His death and resurrection.
At the cross, the old heavens and earth tremble. Darkness covers the land. The veil of the temple is torn from top to bottom. The old world is judged. And though it all wouldn’t come fully crashing down until 70 AD, and in some sense still will not fully be done away with until Christ returns, the old order of death was put to death in Christ. And when Jesus rises from the grave, He does not merely return to the old world—He ushers heaven and earth into a New Creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This is why the New Testament can speak both of the old order as already passing away and of the new order as already present, even as we await its final consummation (think of Romans 8).
Fulfillment through Death and Resurrection
When Jesus spoke these words in the Sermon on the Mount, He had not yet gone to the cross, but His mission was already unfolding. He had taken on flesh. He had entered the Old Covenant world. He was living the obedient life Adam failed to live and Israel failed to live.
From our vantage point, we know what was still to come: His sacrificial death, His victorious resurrection, and His ascension to the right hand of the Father.
In these events, Jesus did not merely keep the Law; He carried the Old Covenant through death and into resurrection. The Law had governed God’s people in a preparatory form—external, guarded, and often bound up with judgment and death. In Christ, that form reaches its end, not because it was evil, but because it had accomplished its task.
Through His death, Jesus bore the curse of the Law for His people. Through His resurrection, God declared that the sacrifice was accepted and that a new era—the age of the Spirit, life, and glory—had begun.
This is why Jesus can say from the cross, “It is finished,” even though history continues. The decisive work has been accomplished. Redemption has been secured. What remains is the application and outworking of that victory until the day Christ returns and all things are fully glorified.
The Law Transformed, Not Removed
This helps us understand why Jesus goes on to insist that obedience still matters. In Matthew 5:19 Jesus says whoever relaxes even the least of God’s commandments, or teaches others to do so, is called least in the Kingdom. Jesus does not speak this way because the Law remains frozen in its old form, but because it has been transformed in Christ, and He expects us to keep it.
The Moral Law continues as the expression of God’s righteous character. The Ceremonial Law has passed from shadow to substance—its sacrifices fulfilled in Christ, its cleanness laws transfigured, and its holiness now spreading outward to all nations. The Judicial Law no longer binds us as Israel’s national code, yet it continues to instruct us in wisdom, justice, and equity, a guide for the nations.
Nothing is discarded. Everything is fulfilled. Everything is raised.
In Christ, the Law no longer stands over God’s people as a covenant of death. It stands with us as wisdom for life—written on our hearts by the Spirit, training us as sons rather than restraining us as slaves.
How All of Scripture Applies to God’s People
Now zoom out a bit. Jesus lumps the Law and Prophets together here because He’s referring to the whole Old Testament, but we are to see God’s Word in a similar way. Though the Law is typically related to commands and the Prophets to promises, the Law also has promises and the Prophets often give commands. Today it’s common for Christians to pit the Law and the gospel against each other, claiming that the Law tells us what to do and the gospel tells us what Christ has done, but it’s not as simple as all of that.
We are called to obey the gospel, and we are called to love the Law (Romans 10:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 1 Peter 4:17, Psalm 119)… And both of these are possible in Christ. We can’t simply think about what Christ has done or what we are to do, we must think about both. We can and we must obey all of God’s Word in Christ.
Christians often stumble here, not because they reject God’s Word, but because they are unsure how to read it faithfully in the light of Christ.
Some argue that Old Covenant commands are only binding on Christians if they are explicitly repeated in the New Testament. On this view, silence implies expiration. Others argue the opposite—that unless the New Testament clearly abrogates a command, we should assume it carries forward into the life of the Church. In other words, we should assume continuity across the covenants unless God’s Word specifically says otherwise.
While there is much to commend in the latter approach, it is even better to say this: all of Scripture always applies to all of God’s people. The whole of Scripture, in one way or another, is about Jesus. So when we say things like all of Christ for all of life, we are actually saying all of God’s Word for all of life. Which is right and good.
The question is never whether God’s Word applies, but how it applies in Christ. And because Jesus is Lord of all, God’s Word (all of it) should govern all of life for all people. Scripture is not merely for the church, but for all. Because as Abraham Kuyper said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
Every command, statute, and ordinance in Scripture reveals something true about God, His holiness, His justice, His mercy, and His purposes for His people, and all people. None of it becomes irrelevant. None of it is merely “for another time.” But neither are we free to apply God’s Word woodenly, as though Christ had not come, died, risen, and reigns.
We must read and obey the whole counsel of God in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.
In Christ, because He is the fulfillment and substance of all God’s promises. Through Christ, because only His Spirit enables true obedience. For Christ, because all faithfulness aims at His glory and Kingdom.
This means we do not ask, “Is this command still binding?” but rather, “What does faithfulness to this Word look like now that Christ has fulfilled it?” We allow the New Covenant to transfigure the Old, not erase it. Shadows give way to substance. Childhood instruction matures into adult wisdom. The form changes, but the meaning deepens.
Seen this way, Scripture is not divided into “then” and “now,” but united in Christ. The same God speaks throughout. The same righteousness is revealed. And the same call to faithful obedience remains—now empowered by resurrection life.
The Sabbath: From Old Creation to New
This covenantal transformation is especially clear in the Sabbath.
The Old Covenant Sabbath belonged to the old creation order—a world still awaiting rest. It marked the completion of the first creation week, yet it always pointed forward to something greater. Israel’s Sabbath was a sign of what was promised, not yet fully possessed.
Christ takes that Old Covenant Sabbath into the grave with Him. He finishes the old work. He bears the curse. He rests in death. And then He rises—not on the seventh day, but on the first day of the week, the day of New Creation. By rising on the first day, Christ establishes a renewed Sabbath, not a denial of rest, but its fulfillment. The day of rest is no longer anchored to the completion of the old creation, but to the inauguration of the new.
The Lord’s Day is the Sabbath transformed—resurrectional, eucharistic, joyful. It is the weekly proclamation that the new heavens and new earth have begun in Christ, and that we now live not toward rest, but from it.
A Righteousness that Exceeds
This is why Jesus can say in Matthew 5:20 that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Their righteousness belonged to an old, fading world. It was external, self-focused, and bound up with an administration of the covenant that was passing away. They sought conformity without resurrection. Law without life. The letter without the Spirit.
The righteousness Jesus gives is deeper and truer. It flows from union with Him. United to Christ by faith, we share in His death and resurrection. His perfect obedience is counted as ours, and His risen life now animates our obedience.
This is not less faithfulness, but more. Not lawlessness, but joyful submission. Not external conformity, but resurrected obedience.
Living as New Covenant People
For New Covenant believers, the Law is no longer something we fear. It is something we love. It shows us what faithfulness looks like in a resurrected world. We obey not to earn life, but because we already live in Christ.
And as we gather week by week on the Lord’s Day—hearing God’s Word, confessing our sins, and feasting at His Table—we are rehearsing the life of the New Creation. We are being trained to live as those for whom the old heavens and earth have passed away and the new has already begun.
This is the freedom of the gospel. Christ has fulfilled the Law for us, borne its curse, and raised it into glory. And now, by His Spirit, He is doing the same with us—until the day when faith becomes sight and heaven and earth are fully renewed.
Walking as Salt and Light in the New Creation
If Christ has brought the old heavens and earth to their appointed end and raised us into a new order of life, then the Christian life is not an attempt to resuscitate the old world. It is the calling to live now according to the life of the world to come.
This means our obedience is neither legalistic nor selective. We do not choose which commands feel “New Testament enough” to obey. Nor do we treat God’s Law as a museum artifact—interesting, but impractical. Instead, we receive all of God’s Word as wisdom for life, interpreted through Christ, empowered by the Spirit, and aimed at love.
Obedience That Flows from Union with Christ
First, we must remember where obedience begins. Christian faithfulness does not start with effort, resolve, or self-discipline. It begins with union with Christ.
Because we have died with Him, sin no longer reigns over us. Because we have been raised with Him, new obedience is now possible. Because we live in Him, obedience becomes an act of gratitude rather than fear.
Every command of God comes to us now not as a threat, but as a fatherly instruction. We obey not to become God’s children, but because we are His children. We do not ask, “How little can I do and still be faithful?” but, “How can I honor my Father in every area of life?”
Learning to See God’s Law as Wisdom for Life
Living as salt and light requires that we learn to read God’s Law rightly.
The Moral Law trains us in love for God and neighbor—in our speech, our sexuality, our work, our use of money, and our care for others. The Ceremonial Law teaches us holiness fulfilled in Christ, shaping our worship, our sacramental life, and our understanding of cleanness, forgiveness, and communion. The Judicial Law instructs us in justice, equity, and social responsibility, helping us think clearly about authority, restitution, mercy, and the ordering of life together.
Rather than shrinking God’s Word, we allow it to reshape our imaginations, our priorities, and our habits. We ask not only, “Is this allowed?” but, “Is this faithful? Is this wise? Does this reflect the reign of Christ?”
Faithfulness in Ordinary Callings
Salt and light are not dramatic substances. They work quietly, patiently, and pervasively. In the same way, resurrection obedience is most often lived out in ordinary callings.
In the home, Christians honor God’s Law by practicing covenant faithfulness—husbands loving sacrificially, wives respecting joyfully, parents discipling patiently, and children learning obedience with gladness.
In our work, we reflect God’s righteousness by practicing honesty, diligence, and excellence, refusing both laziness and exploitation, and seeking the good of those we serve.
In the church, we submit to God’s order with humility—worshiping according to His Word, receiving discipline as a gift, forgiving freely, and bearing one another’s burdens in love.
In society, we live as those who belong to Christ’s Kingdom—respecting lawful authority, seeking justice for the vulnerable, speaking truth with courage, and refusing both withdrawal and compromise.
This is how God’s Law becomes visible—not as a weapon, but as a witness.
Lord’s Day Living and Weekly Recalibration
The Lord’s Day anchors this way of life. Each week, God calls us out of the noise of the old world to remind us who we are and where history is headed.
We gather to hear God’s Law proclaimed—not to be crushed, but to be corrected. We confess our sins—not to despair, but to be cleansed. We feast at Christ’s Table—not to escape the world, but to be sent back into it renewed.
From this weekly Sabbath rest flows six days of joyful labor, obedience, and service. The rhythm of worship and work trains us to live as citizens of the New Creation while still dwelling in a world that is passing away.
Obedience for the Glory of Christ
Finally, we must remember the goal of all Christian obedience. We obey for Christ.
Our obedience proclaims that Jesus is Lord. Our faithfulness testifies that His Kingdom is real. Our good works shine as light so that others may glorify our Father in heaven.
This is not perfectionism, nor is it passivity. It is faith working through love, obedience animated by resurrection life, and hope anchored in the certainty that Christ is making all things new.
The old world has been judged. The new world has begun. And God’s people are called to live now as what they already are in Christ. May God grant us grace to believe this, live it, and hand it down faithfully until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and all things—heaven and earth included—are fully and finally made new.
In Christ’s service and yours,
Nick Esch