1. The Ten Commandments were written by God and were put into the ark
Exodus 25:16, "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee."
The Ten Commandments have already existed long before the earth was created and before they were written on the tablets. That's why Cain was judged for killing Abel even before the Ten Commandments were written on the stones. As they are laws from God since the very beginning before the foundation or creation, they are forever. Unlike the law of Moses which can pass away, the Ten Commandments are permanent in the hearts of the believers.
2. The law of Moses was written by Moses and was put in the side of the ark
Deu 31:24-26 KJV And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, (25) That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, (26) Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.
Joh 1:17 KJV For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Joh 7:19-22 KJV Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? .. (21) Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. (22) Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man ..
Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses to make God's laws permanent in our hearts
Joh 7:16-18 KJV Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. (17) If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. (18) He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
If any man will do His will, he shall know that the doctrine of Christ is of God. He shall do His will and do His commandments too. Yes, the law of Moses or the Old Covenant was fulfilled and replaced by grace or Jesus Christ; but the Ten Commandments or God's laws will become more established in the hearts and minds of His people through Christ:
Heb 8:4-10 KJV For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: (5) Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. (6) But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. (7) For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. (8) For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: (9) Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. (10) For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
The law which is written by Moses is given by Moses (by man)
Joh 1:17 KJV For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
We can elaborate the Bible verse and say that the law of Moses was given by Moses, but the grace of God was given by Jesus Christ. If the tone of writing by John was to compare and contrast that one came from man (through Moses) and the other came from God (through Jesus Christ), we would think that the law of Moses is from man; not from God. In another words, the law of Moses was written by Moses. It also means that there is another law which was written or given by God, the Ten Commandments. Hence, we need to differentiate between the law which was written by Moses or man and the law which was given by God:
Isa 33:22 KJV For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
Jas 4:12 KJV There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
The law which is written or given by Moses
Joh 1:17 KJV For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
We can elaborate the Bible verse and say that the law of Moses was given by Moses, but the grace and truth of God was given by Jesus Christ. If the tone of writing by John was to compare and contrast that one came from man (through Moses) and the other came from God (through Jesus Christ), we would think that the law of Moses is from man; not from God, even though the law of Moses is good. In another words, the law of Moses was written by Moses. It also means that there is another law which was written or given by God, the ultimate Lawgiver or the Giver of the truth. Hence, we need to differentiate between the law which was written by Moses and the law which was given by God:
Isa 33:22 KJV For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
Jas 4:12 KJV There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
Psa 119:141-142 KJV I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts. (142) Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
Mal 2:6 KJV The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
We do not obey the law of Moses; we obey the law of God
The law of Moses showed the judgement, oath, and curses to the transgressors of God's laws, but it is the law or commandment of God which will ultimately show the way or voice of God that men must obey. Hence, the law of Moses might show men God's commandments or the Ten Commandments; but it is not the Ten Commandments. The law of Moses was only a shadow under the Ten Commandments:
Dan 9:10-13 KJV Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. (11) Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. (12) And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. (13) As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
The law of Moses was considered as the covenant or oath for the Jews who were under the shadow of death while waiting for their Messiah (or the Truth) to come:
Luk 1:71-79 KJV .. (72) To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; (73) The oath which he sware to our father Abraham .. (76) And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; (77) To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, .. (79) To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Heb 8:4-5 KJV For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: (5) Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Heb 10:1-2 KJV For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. (2) For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
We were not under the law of Moses; we were under law of sin and death
When Jesus came (or grace and truth came), the shadow was gone. The law of Jesus Christ has now replaced the law of Moses. If you were the Jews, you must be dead to the law of Moses in order to be alive under the law of Christ. However, if you are a Gentile, you do not need to be dead to the law of Moses. You will just go right to the law of Christ from your lawlessness. Unlike the Jews, we are not delivered from the law (of Moses); we are delivered from lawlessness. We are not delivered from the oldness of the letter or the 'pain' of circumcision; we are delivered from ignorance and godlessness. If we are the Gentiles, we do not pretend to be the Jews and deceive ourselves that we are the 'Jews' who wants to be justified by the law of Moses, by the law of circumcision, or by the works of the law:
Gal 3:24-26 KJV Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (25) But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (26) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 2:15-16 KJV We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, (16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Rom 7:4-24 KJV Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (5) For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. (6) But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (7) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (8) But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. (9) For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died .. (23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
We are not under the law of Moses; we are under the law of Christ
However, does it mean that the law of Christ will replace all the Ten Commandments or God's commandments? Absolutely not. Please read on what Paul would say in the next chapter:
Rom 8:1-8 KJV There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (5) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Paul said that there is no more law of Moses; but there is now the law of Christ or the law of the Spirit. Why is it now the law of the Spirit? It is because the law of God is no longer governed or administered through a man or through Moses; but through the Spirit. If we do not walk under the law of Moses, do we walk under lawlessness or under no more law? Absolutely not. We must still walk under the law of Christ and under the law of God too. If the law of Moses cannot disannul the promise or covenant of Abraham which was given long before the Israelites received it through Moses (430 years later), the law of Christ cannot disannul God's commandments which were established long before they were written on the two tablets of stones (thousands of years later) too:
Gal 3:14-17 KJV That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (15) Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. (16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (17) And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
1Co 9:21 KJV To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
1. Jesus is in our hearts now: We know that the Word was God, the Word became the flesh (Jesus Christ), and dwelt among us (Joh 1:1-18). Hence, Jesus was God who became man. Is He still God today, after He died (or even before He died)? Absolutely yes. But where is He now? He is in our hearts now.
2. The law of God is our hearts now: Similarly, the law of God was established before the creation of the foundation of the earth. Hence, the Ten Commandment was the law of God which was written on the stones. Is it still the law of God today, after the tablets of the stones were gone? Absolutely yes. But where is it now?
Heb 8:10 KJV For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 10:16-17 KJV This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; (17) And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
3. He is the Light in our hearts now: Guess what if we have His laws? If we are God's people who have His laws in our hearts, we are forgiven too. Yes, Jesus is grace, but more importantly, He is the law. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the law because He is the Word or the law who came as the light of the world:
Pro 6:23 KJV For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Joh 14:6 KJV Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 1:4-12 KJV In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (6) There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. (7) The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. (8) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. (9) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (10) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. (11) He came unto his own, and his own received him not. (12) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Mat 25:1-13 KJV Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom .. (12) But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. (13) Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
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