Why Are Some Old Testament Laws Followed Today While Others Are Ignored?
1) Direct Answer
Because Jesus fulfilled the Law and brought in the New Covenant. The parts of the Old Testament that were shadows and rituals for Israel’s worship ended at the Cross, but the moral righteousness of God remains and is written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. So we don’t “pick and choose”—we follow what the Bible itself carries forward in the New Testament and what it says has been fulfilled.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- “Think not that I am come to destroy the law… I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).
- “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us… nailing it to his cross… Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday… or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:14-17).
- “The law having a shadow of good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1).
- “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Galatians 3:24).
- The New Testament repeats God’s moral commands: “Thou shalt not commit adultery… kill… steal… bear false witness… covet… and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying… Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Romans 13:9).
- Concerning food laws: Jesus declared what enters the man does not defile him (Mark 7:18-19), and “every creature of God is good… sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
- Concerning sabbath days and feast days, the Scripture calls them “a shadow,” and says not to be judged in them (Colossians 2:16-17). Our true rest is entering into Christ (Hebrews 4:9-10; Matthew 11:28-29).
- Concerning circumcision: “He is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart” (Romans 2:29; see also Colossians 2:11).
- The apostles, by the Holy Ghost, laid only necessary things on Gentile believers (Acts 15:28-29), showing that the Mosaic ritual was not binding on the church.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
Now notice how the Bible itself makes the line clear:
- Temple/ceremonial laws (sacrifices, priesthood, feast days, dietary and purity rituals) were shadows pointing to Christ. When the Lamb of God came and shed His blood, the sacrifices and priestly system reached their fulfillment (Hebrews 10:1-14). To keep the shadow after the substance has arrived would deny the very fulfillment.
- Civil/national laws (land rules, penalties, kingship statutes) governed Israel as a nation. The church is not a political nation; our Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). We submit to civil authorities where we live (Romans 13:1-7), but the church does not enforce Israel’s state penalties.
- Moral law (God’s holy character—no idolatry, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, truthfulness, purity, love) never expires. The New Testament reaffirms and even lifts it higher—anger judged as murder in the heart, lust as adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:21-30). Under grace, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk in the Spirit (Romans 8:4). God writes His law on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10).
You see, it’s not three Gods and it’s not two Bibles. It’s one God unfolding His covenant. The shadow gives way to the substance, but the holy nature of God remains the same. That’s why we still reject sin but we don’t keep animal sacrifices, temple rituals, or feast-day obligations. Christ fulfilled them.
4) Reinforcing Statement
So the reason some Old Testament laws are kept and others are not is simple: the Bible says the shadows ended in Christ, and the New Testament repeats and deepens the moral commands. We’re not under the letter that kills, but under the Spirit who writes the law within and leads us to live holy.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The World is falling apart
63-0412M §104
I said, "What happened, sir?" I said, "You standing here, we're two men never met before in life. You're [he said he was seventy-something years old, just doing that on the side] ..." I said, "I'm a minister." And I said, "You represent the civil laws of the land. I represent the moral laws of the land." And I said, "Now, if somebody broke your civil laws, what happened? You put him in jail, didn't you? You sent them right to jail if they broke the civil laws." He said, "That's right." I said, "They break these law...
The faith once delivered to the saints
55-0501E §22
Now, we couldn't go to the Old Testament, because they wasn't called saints in the Old Testament. They were saints in the New Testament. Therefore, we'd have to begin from the New Testament. Well, then the New Testament was based upon Christianity, which come from Christ. And Christ was the first Administrator of the faith that we should contend for, because it was the faith that He introduced to the world. Christ born, virgin-born Son of God... John was between the law and the dispensation of grace. Luke 16:16 sai...
Elijah
53-1018 §66
Friends, this is an old fashioned time, like your fathers and mothers had back in the Wesley church and the old fashioned missionary Baptist churches. You just got away from this old time thing. Come to the altar and confess your faults. Come to the altar and tell God about it. If you want just a little closer walk with God, why don't you come up here tonight and stand for prayer. It wouldn't do you a bit of harm. There might be a missionary sitting in here somewhere, tonight, that God wants to send to the field. T...
Israel and the Church: Israel at the Red Sea, part 2
53-0327 §43
The father was the priest of the house, in the old sanctuary, the old time. The father always was the priest and he had to watch over his household. What a change today! The kids watch over the dad, in the modern world. But the father was to watch over his house. He killed the lamb, he took the hyssop and put it on the doors, on the lintel, and that was their protection. All right, they stayed in. I can see the rest of them going, frolicking and carrying-on, saying, "Look at that bunch of fanatics! Oh, with an old...
Life Story
59-0419A §19
And we had an old apple tree out in the front yard, and then there was three or four small ones along towards the back. And right in the middle tree there was an old looking glass, had been broke, mirror, large one. And had been tacked on the side of the tree with some nails bent in. Kind of like what some of you carpenters listening in would call "coat hangers." It had been bent in to hold the glass in its place. And there was an old tin comb. How many ever seen an old tin ... the old-fashioned tin comb? I can jus...