Are the 10 Commandments Still Binding?
Supporting Their Public Display While Embracing the Higher Law of Grace Under the New Covenant
Preface: The Ten Commandments in American Public Schools
The posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms has once again become a flashpoint in the culture war. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that a Kentucky law requiring their display in every classroom violated the Establishment Clause. For more than four decades that precedent stood, effectively banning the practice nationwide. In 2024 Louisiana became the first state in the modern era to pass a law mandating the display, followed by Texas in 2025 with Senate Bill 10.
On April 21, 2026, the full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a sharply divided 9-8 decision (Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD), upheld the Texas law, declaring that Stone v. Graham is no longer good law in light of the Supreme Court’s recent shifts away from the old Lemon Test. The case is now almost certain to reach the Supreme Court, setting the stage for a potential landmark ruling.
I strongly support these efforts. Posting the Ten Commandments in schools is a significant and welcome step toward restoring America’s awareness of its deep Judeo-Christian heritage. For generations these commandments formed the moral foundation of Western law and American civic life. Their public display reminds students, teachers, and parents that our nation was built on the premise that law and morality are rooted in the God of the Bible — a Bible that is, literally, a physical embodiment of Judeo + Christian theology.
At the same time, I must be clear as a Christian theologian: while the Ten Commandments remain a profound moral and historical treasure, their authority as binding biblical law under the Mosaic Covenant has been superseded by Christ. Jesus elevated their specific commands to a higher spiritual level, internalizing and fulfilling them in the two greatest commandments and the New Covenant. The current legal and cultural battle is therefore about heritage and public acknowledgment, not about re-imposing the Old Covenant legal system on a pluralistic society. With that important distinction in mind, let us examine what the Bible actually teaches about the continuing force of the Ten Commandments.
The Three Covenants and Their Distinct Roles
Scripture presents three primary covenants that govern God’s relationship with humanity. The Abrahamic Covenant, given in Genesis 12:1–3 and 17:1–8, is unconditional and irrevocable. God promised Abraham land, descendants, and blessing to “all nations” through his seed. This covenant was not based on human performance but on God’s sovereign grace. As Paul affirms in Galatians 3:16–17, it remains in force and was never annulled by later covenants.
The Mosaic Covenant, given at Sinai (Exodus 19–24), was temporary and conditional. It included the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17) and the entire system of law, priesthood, sacrifices, and feasts. Its purpose was to govern the nation of Israel until the promised Seed (Christ) would come (Galatians 3:19, 24). It was never intended to save anyone but to reveal sin and point to the need for a Savior.
The New Covenant, prophesied in Jeremiah 31:31–34 and Ezekiel 36:26–27, was inaugurated by Yahshua at the Last Supper (Luke 22:20) and sealed by His blood on the cross. For those who accept Christ—both Jew and Gentile—this New Covenant supersedes the Mosaic Covenant entirely while expanding the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. It does not, however, cancel the Abrahamic promises for ethnic Jews who continue to claim their inheritance under it. This distinction is crucial.
Rejection of Supersessionism and the Two House Reality
I do not accept supersessionism—the idea that the Church has replaced or supplanted Israel. That doctrine wrongly teaches that God has abandoned His promises to the Jewish people. Instead, I embrace the biblical Two House theology.
The two houses were established in Genesis when Jacob married two wives, and their special status among the 12 tribes from that point forward is interwoven through Bible history and prophecy. The two houses only became two kingdoms after Solomon’s sins destroyed the harmony of the two houses which David had established during his rule.
God shifted authority from the House of Israel to Judah after Shiloh’s failure (Jeremiah 7:12–14), but at Yahshua’s first advent He reversed that shift because Judah had been corrupted under Herod and Rome. Yahshua, as Shiloh (Genesis 49:10–11), restored the House of Israel’s decentralized, faith-based worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24), opening the Abrahamic Covenant to Gentiles.
Romans 3:2 stands as a major proof-text for the continuation of the House of Judah’s direct connection and relationship with God throughout the Age of the Gentiles. The Jews, Paul declares, “were entrusted with the oracles of God.” This entrustment was not revoked when the New Covenant was inaugurated, nor does it support the doctrine of supersessionism. Instead, it confirms the Two House reality: while the New Covenant supersedes the temporary Mosaic Covenant for all who accept Christ, the House of Judah continues to function as the God-ordained custodians of the full Tanach — the complete body of divine revelation.
Their intense focus on Talmudic commentary and their reverent refusal to utter the divine Name are not evidence of spiritual deadness, but of their assigned role as preservers of the oracles until the Second Advent. At that time, when Judah and Israel are fully reunited under Messiah, the oracles they have guarded will become the legal and cultural foundation for the nations during the Millennial Kingdom (Isaiah 2:2–3; Zechariah 8:23; Ezekiel 37:15–28).
The 10 Commandments: Fulfilled and Superseded by Love
Jesus expressly declared that the entire Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments. When asked which was the greatest, He replied:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36–40)
The first four of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1–11) are encompassed in “love the Lord your God”: no other gods, no idols, no misuse of God’s name, and keeping the Sabbath holy. The last six (Exodus 20:12–17) are summed up in “love your neighbor as yourself”: honor parents, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no false witness, no coveting.
This is not a softening of the Law but its fulfillment and elevation. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made this explicit. On murder He taught: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’ … But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:21–22). On adultery He said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27–28).
Jesus did not abolish the moral standard; He internalized it. The 10 Commandments are no longer external rules enforced by the Mosaic system but are written on the heart under the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10).
The Feasts of Leviticus 23 and the Indwelling Holy Spirit
The feasts of Leviticus 23—including the weekly Sabbath—were given so that God’s people would “set aside time to meet with God.” The Hebrew word translated “appointed feasts” is moed (מועד, plural moedim), which literally means “appointed time” or “appointed meeting.” It comes from the root ya’ad, meaning “to appoint” or “to meet together.” These were divine appointments—set times when God Himself scheduled an encounter with His people.
In fact, the moedim functioned as prophetic rehearsals for the first and second advents of the Messiah. The spring feasts were fulfilled at Yahshua’s first coming (Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Shavuot/Pentecost), while the fall feasts remain as rehearsals pointing to His second advent (Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles). Leviticus 23:1–3 states: “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts [moedim] of the LORD … Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation.’” Each moed and the weekly Sabbath created sacred space and time for communion with the Lord.
After Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension, He kept His promise to send the Holy Spirit to dwell permanently within every believer. In John 14:16–17 He said: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.” He reiterated in John 16:7: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”
This fulfillment of ancient prophecies—Ezekiel 36:26–27 (“I will put my Spirit within you”) and Joel 2:28–29 (“I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh”)—means that for the Christian, meeting with God is no longer limited to appointed times and places. The Holy Spirit is ever-present, turning every moment into potential communion (1 Corinthians 6:19: “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit”).
This reality is implicit in Paul’s teachings. In Colossians 2:16–17 he writes: “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Romans 14:5–6 adds: “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” The feasts and Sabbath are no longer binding commands but beautiful reminders of the spirit of the Law. By remembering the letter of the Law, we are drawn into deeper appreciation of its fulfillment in Christ.
Conclusion: Grace, Not Legalism
The 10 Commandments are not still binding in the sense of the Mosaic Covenant’s external legal code. For those in Christ, they are fulfilled in the two greatest commandments and internalized by the Holy Spirit. The feasts and Sabbath have likewise been transformed from ritual obligations into voluntary memorials that point us to the living reality of God’s indwelling presence.
This understanding honors the irrevocable Abrahamic Covenant for the Jewish people, rejects supersessionism, and embraces the Two House reality in which both Judah and Israel find their ultimate unity under the New Covenant at the Second Advent. As I have taught for years, true Hebraic Christianity walks in the freedom of the New Covenant while respecting the enduring promises of the Abrahamic Covenant and the moral beauty of the Law now written on the heart.
Sources:
Primary: Genesis 12:1–3; 17:1–8; Exodus 20:1–17; Leviticus 23:1–3; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Joel 2:28–29; Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28; 22:36–40; Luke 22:20; John 14:16–17; 16:7; Romans 3:1–4; 11:17–24, 26; 14:5–6; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Galatians 3:16–17, 19, 24; Colossians 2:16–17; Hebrews 8:10.
Secondary: Scott Lively writings on scottlively.net, WND.com, and Substack; From Second Temple to Messiah: The Hebraic Roots of Authentic Faith; Sadducees, Pharisees, Democrats, and Republicans: A Biblical Analogy for Today’s Political Divide; Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980); Fifth Circuit ruling in Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD (April 21, 2026).