The Law of God in the Old and the New Testament

Some people say that God's Law, the Ten Commandments, are no longer valid in the new covenant, but that's not true.

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: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
- Hebrews 8:10 (KJV)

Both the Old and the New Testament are based on God's eternal Law.

The New Testament perfectly reflects the Ten Commandments.

Old TestamentNew Testament *
1

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
- Exodus 20:3 (KJV)

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
- Matthew 4:10 (KJV)

2

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
- Exodus 20:4-6 (KJV)

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's devices.
- 1 John 5:21; Acts 17:29 (KJV)

3

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
- Exodus 20:7 (KJV)

That the name of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.
- 1 Timothy 6:1 (KJV)

4

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 (KJV)

Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. For He spake in the certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth.
- Matthew 24:20; Mark 2:27-28; Hebrews 4:4, 9, 10; Colossians 1:16 (KJV)

5

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
- Exodus 20:12 (KJV)

Honor thy father and thy mother.
- Matthew 19:19 (KJV)

6

Thou shalt not kill.
- Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

Thou shalt not kill.
- Romans 13:9 (KJV)

7

Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Exodus 20:14 (KJV)

Thou shalt not commit adultery.
- Matthew 19:18 (KJV)

8

Thou shalt not steal.
- Exodus 20:15 (KJV)

Thou shalt not steal.
- Romans 13:9 (KJV)

9

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
- Exodus 20:16 (KJV)

Thou shalt not bear false witness.
- Romans 13:9 (KJV)

10

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
- Exodus 20:17 (KJV)

Thou shalt not covet.
- Romans 7:7 (KJV)


* Thanks to Ellen White for paraphrasing New Testament verses into a coherent version of God's Law.