Legalism is keeping the law in order to get right with God or earn God’s favour. However, the Bible consistently teaches that we cannot get right with God (be justified) or earn God’s favour by keeping the law, so legalism is futile. As Paul says in Galatians 2:15-16 “15 ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Instead of this, God saves people and makes them right with Him only because of His grace. Titus 3:3-8: “4 But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

Now, as recipients of His grace, who have been made right with Him, God’s people want to be obedient to His commands because they love Him. Jesus says “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” (John 14:23) His disciples simply have it in their heart to want to do what pleases him, which includes being obedient to the commandments of the Old Testament. Ezekiel prophesied about this: Ezekiel 36:26-27: “26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”

So, now that we have been saved by Jesus, He gives us a new heart, by His Holy Spirit, that loves to please Him and keep His commands. This isn’t legalism, because it isn’t motivated by trying to earn God’s favour. It’s the way in which we show our love for our new Saviour and Lord – we desire to be obedient to him because our heart has changed. Paul speaks about this in Romans 6:13-18: “13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”

So, we can see that obedience isn’t the same as legalism. Being obedient to God because He has saved you and you want to please Him is normal for God’s people. This includes being obedient to the Ten Commandments. All of the Ten are mentioned in the New Testament, and far from getting rid of them, Jesus teaches on them and how we are to keep them in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’ in Matthew 5-6. The verses below are some of the other New Testament references which speak specifically about obeying them.

Romans 13:8-10 “8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 10 Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.”

Ephesians 6:1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 ‘Honour your father and mother’– which is the first commandment with a promise – 3 ‘so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”