LAW COVENANT
All bible quotes are from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.

What is the Law Covenant? According to the bible, the Law Covenant (a.k.a. Law of Moses, Mosaic Law ) was a strict set of laws that God gave to Moses. Moses was to give these laws to the Israelites after their deliverance from Egypt ( Exodus 19:3-8, Exodus 24:1-8, 12 and Deuteronomy 5:1-2). The Law Covenant was an extensive piece of writing, spanning several chapters of the bible (Exodus chapters 19- 24:8, Deuteronomy chapters 5-29). According to scripture, the Israelites agreed to live by these God-given laws as shown in excerpts taken from Exodus :

(Exodus 24:1-8) ... Now He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.” So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has said we will do.”...Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.”And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.”(24:12)Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”(Exodus 34:27-28) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

What was the purpose of this Law Covenant? According to scripture, the Law was for making our trespasses/sins known to us until the seed arrived (Galatians 3:19). Christ is The Seed (Galatians 3:16).

So, are we, as true worshippers of Yahweh, still obligated to follow the Mosaic Law Covenant? Many people believe that we are, citing Christ's words at Matthew 5:17-20 which states:

"Do not think I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of the heavens."

Many believe this verse is saying the law is as permanent as heaven and earth and thus all are obligated to live under the law. Let's take a better look at it:

1. "Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Many take this to mean that since Christ didn't destroy the law, then it is still in effect. However, this is flawed reasoning. To illustrate: You make a promise to deliver a package to a certain address by noon the next day. By noon the next day you've successfully delivered the package, fulfilling your promise. This means you are no longer under the obligation because the fulfillment of the promise finished the obligation. Does this mean your promise is destroyed? No. For destruction is a ruining or a breaking of something, and you did not break your promise, instead you fulfilled it. Likewise, Christ did not destroy the Law, he fulfilled it, thus ending the obligation to that Law.

2. "For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." This is a vow by heaven and earth that the Law will stand until it is fulfilled. As we've seen, Christ did fulfill the Law when he died.

3. "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Since Christ hadn't yet fulfilled the law by surrendered himself, the Law was still in effect at the time he spoke these words. Therefore, at the time of his saying this, it was still a sin to go against the Law Covenant. If you notice, after Christ fulfilled the Law, there was no more mention of compulsory Law Covenant adherence in scripture.

Since Christ fulfilled the Law, what exactly was the Law's fulfillment? According to scripture, Love is the Law's fulfillment (Romans 13:8-10). Love, plain and simple. According to scripture, the greatest love is that of surrendering one's life on behalf of others (John 15:11-13). Christ lived up to this greatest love by surrendering himself for all of us (John 3:16). Our release from the Law through Christ's death is confirmed in scriptures such as Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 2:15-16, and Romans 7:4-6. Remember, the Law was to be in effect until "the seed arrives", and Christ was this seed to arrive (Galatians 3:16).

The Law Covenant/ Law of Moses was the old covenant (2 Corinthians 3:14). The bible tells us that Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant through his death, which releases us from that Old Covenant (Hebrews 9:15-22). This replacement of the old covenant was foretold at Jeremiah 31:31-33 and confirmed at Hebrews 8:7-13.

Thus, Christ ended the obligation of the Law for us (Romans 10:4, Galatians 3:24-25), and brought us into a New Covenant inaugurated through his death.