Are Christians under the Law of Moses?

No. Christians are not under the Law of Moses. The Law was a good gift that God gave to Israel for a season. It led people to Jesus. Now that He has come, believers live by a new covenant, led by the Spirit from the inside.

That does not mean Christians are lawless. It means they live by a better law.

The Law was a covenant with Israel

God made a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai. Moses said it plainly: “The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb” (Deuteronomy 5:2). “Us” was Israel. The Law was good. Paul called it “holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12). But a good thing can be for a certain time, the way a crib is good for a baby.

Even in the Old Testament God promised a change: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33).

The guardian goes home

In Paul’s day, rich families had a servant who walked a boy to school and corrected him when he acted up. When the boy grew up, the servant went home. Nobody was mad at him. His job was done.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Galatians 3:24-25

The word is παιδαγωγός paidagōgos, a child guide. The Law walked God’s people to Jesus. Then its job was done.

The finish line

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 10:4

“End” is τέλος telos, the goal and the finish line. A runner who breaks the tape has not failed. He got where he was going. The Law was always running toward Jesus.

Paul also wrote, “Now we are released from the law” (Romans 7:6). And when some said non-Jewish believers must keep the Law of Moses to be saved, the apostles met in Jerusalem and said no (Acts 15).

Then what about the Ten Commandments?

People often ask this. Paul answers with a picture. A grown child does right for a new reason. We serve “in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6). Paul said he was “under the law of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:21). And that law is love: “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10).

The Law said do not steal. Love gives. The Law said do not murder. Love forgives. A believer filled with the Spirit lives higher than the Law, not lower.

Isn’t this dangerous?

Paul answered that with a strong no (Romans 6:1-2). Freedom is not a license to sin. The real danger runs the other way: “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Rules plus Jesus is not more. It is less.

So read the Old Testament. Learn from it. Love the God who gave it. But read it as a story that leads to Jesus, not as a contract you must sign.