Evangelism and the Law

[John Bauer]

At another discussion forum, a person asked the following question: “Jesus spoke of not one jot falling from the law until ‘all is accomplished.’ How does that relate to Christ’s final words, ‘It is finished’?”

And I answered, “‘All is accomplished’ is comprehensive, spanning the whole mission of Christ, including his life, death, resurrection, exaltation, and the consummation of the kingdom. ‘It is finished’ is the pivotal moment within that mission: the completion of the atoning work that secures everything else.”

To this, he replied,

Expand on this. What does this mean for our use of the law and the Ten Commandments in our evangelism? Especially if, after being saved, we no longer have to observe the law in the way the Jews had to.

From A (“it is finished”) to B (“until all is accomplished”)

In Matthew 5:18, when Jesus says that not the smallest letter or even stroke of a letter will pass from the law “until all is accomplished,” he is speaking about the abiding authority and teleological fulfillment of the Mosaic economy within redemptive history. The law remains in force until its goal (telos) is reached in him.

In John 19:30, “It is finished” refers specifically to the completion of his atoning work—his obedience unto death, the climactic act that satisfies divine justice and secures the covenant promises. So, the cross does not cancel the law, it is the climactic fulfillment of the law in its covenantal and typological dimensions. Christ fulfills the law’s precepts (active obedience), its penalties (passive obedience), and its types and shadows (sacrificial system, priesthood, temple).

Thus, “all is accomplished” reaches its decisive turning point at “it is finished,” but it extends beyond the cross to resurrection, exaltation, and the eschatological consummation. The cross secures; the resurrection vindicates; the ascension enthrones; the parousia consummates.

Evangelism and the Ten Commandments

The Mosaic law as a covenantal administration is therefore fulfilled and no longer binding upon believers as a covenant of works. We are not under law but under grace. The believer does not relate to God through Moses but through union with the risen Christ.

However, that doesn’t mean the moral law has evaporated. The ceremonial law is fulfilled and abrogated. The judicial law has expired as Israel’s national code. But the moral law, reflecting God’s character, is abiding in substance. The Ten Commandments, as a summary of the moral law, continues to reveal God’s righteousness.

But its covenantal function has shifted. It no longer condemns those in Christ (Rom 8:1). It now functions normatively, not covenantally. And this distinction is critical for evangelism. If Christ has fulfilled the law’s condemning power for his people, then we don’t preach the law as something we must keep—Christ kept it. Nor do we preach the law as a perpetual threat hanging over the justified—we preach Christ crucified and risen.

Yet the law still serves a pedagogical use. For unbelievers, it exposes sin and shuts the mouth; it reveals not merely behavioral failure but covenantal rebellion. In light of my original point, evangelism shouldn’t devolve into a mechanical recitation of the Ten Commandments, as if awareness of infractions automatically generates repentance. That would treat the law as a technique. Rather, the law functions diagnostically. It reveals idolatry. It exposes autonomy. It strips self-righteousness. The gospel is not “you broke the rules.” The gospel is, “God has acted in Christ to reconcile rebels to himself—and you’re a rebel.”

Jesus does not abolish the moral substance of the law. That persists for as long as God is God. Rather, Jesus embodies and fulfills the law. Our evangelism should then reflect that structure. The law reveals God’s holiness and man’s rebellion. Christ fulfills the law and bears its curse. The Spirit unites sinners to Christ, granting repentance and faith.

Conclusion

The shift after “it is finished” is not that the law becomes irrelevant, but that it’s no longer the covenantal administrator of the relationship between God and his people. Christ is—and always has been, a point to which the Mosaic covenant always pointed.

To answer your question, then: We use the law insofar as it exposes sin and drives to Christ. We do not use it as a covenantal framework to place people back under Sinai, nor do we reduce the gospel to an escape from penalty. The law prepares; it is Christ who saves. The law diagnoses; it is Christ who heals. The law commands; it is Christ who accomplishes.

 

[Soyeong]

In Matthew 5:18, when Jesus says that not the smallest letter or even stroke of a letter will pass from the law “until all is accomplished,” he is speaking about the abiding authority and teleological fulfillment of the Mosaic economy within redemptive history. The law remains in force until its goal (telos) is reached in him.

The Hebrew word “yada” refers to intimate relationships/knowledge gained by experience, such as with Genesis 4:1 where Adam knew (yada) Eve, she conceived, and gave birth to Cain. God’s way is the way to know (yada) Him and Jesus by experiencing being in His likeness through embodying His character traits, which is the narrow way to eternal life (John 17:3). For example, in Genesis 18:19, God knew (yada) Abraham that he would teach his children and those of His household to walk in His way by being doers of righteousness and justice that the Lord might bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know (yada) Him, and in Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so the goal of the Law of Moses is to graciously teach us how to have an intimate relationship with God and Jesus by walking in His way, which is His gift of eternal life.

In John 19:30, “It is finished” refers specifically to the completion of his atoning work—his obedience unto death, the climactic act that satisfies divine justice and secures the covenant promises. So, the cross does not cancel the law, it is the climactic fulfillment of the law in its covenantal and typological dimensions. Christ fulfills the law’s precepts (active obedience), its penalties (passive obedience), and its types and shadows (sacrificial system, priesthood, temple).

If someone retroactively inserts the cross back into Matthew 5:17-19 in spite of that chapter making no allusion to the cross, then they are interpreting it as if Christ had no intention for his audience to understand what he meant when he said that he came to fulfill the law. However, Christ did not invent the concept of fulfilling the law, so we should seek to understand what it meant in the context of Judaism before Christ said that he came to fulfill it, which would be in the way that his audience would have understood him. Christ said that he came to fulfill the law in contrast with saying that he came not to abolish it and he warned against relaxing the last part of it, so you should not interpret fulfilling the law as meaning essentially the same thing as relaxing it or as relaxing even the least part of it. Rather, "to fulfill the law" means "to cause God's will (as made known by the law) to be obeyed as it should be" (NAS Greek Lexicon: pleroo), so after Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law he then proceeded to fulfill it throughout the rest of the chapter by correcting what the people had heard being said and by teaching how to correctly obey it as it was originally intended. According to Galatians 5:14, loving out neighbor fulfills the entire law, so again in refers to correctly obeying it, moreover, it refers to something that countless people have done and should continue to do in perpetuity, not to something unique that only Jesus did through the cross. In Galatians 6:2, bearing one another's burdens fulfills the Law of Christ, yet you do not consistently interpret that as causing the Law of Christ to be no longer binding.

The Mosaic law as a covenantal administration is therefore fulfilled and no longer binding upon believers as a covenant of works. We are not under law but under grace. The believer does not relate to God through Moses but through union with the risen Christ.

In Psalm 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey the Law of Moses, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith, which means that the Mosaic Covenant is a covenant of grace and law. In Jeremiah 31, the New Covenant involves God putting the Mosaic Law in our minds and writing it on our hearts, so it is also a covenant of grace and law along with all of God's other covenants. This is why Romans 6:15 says that those who are under grace are not permitted to transgress the Mosaic Law. In Romans 6:14, Paul descried the law that we are not under as being a law where sin had dominion of us, which does not described the Mosaic Law, but rather that is the role of the law of sin. It is contradictory to think that the believer relates to God through God's Word made flesh instead of through following his example of embodying God's Word.

However, that doesn’t mean the moral law has evaporated. The ceremonial law is fulfilled and abrogated. The judicial law has expired as Israel’s national code. But the moral law, reflecting God’s character, is abiding in substance. The Ten Commandments, as a summary of the moral law, continues to reveal God’s righteousness.

The Bible never lists which laws are part of the moral, ceremonial, or judicial law and never even refers to those as being categories of law. If a group of people were to create lists of which laws they through were part of the moral, ceremonial, and judicial law, then they would end up with a wide variety of lists and none of those people should interpret the authors of the Bible as if they had in mind a set of laws that they just created, especially when there is no way to establish that they considered those to be categories of law.

God's character traits are eternal, so any instructions that God has given for how to know Him through embodying His character traits are eternally valid regardless of which covenant someone is under. For example, God's righteousness is eternal (Psalms 119:142), therefore all of His righteous laws are eternal (Psalms 119:142). Morality is based on God's character traits, all of God's laws are inherently moral laws. For example, holiness and justice are character traits of God character traits, so holiness and justice are moral issues, and in 1 Peter 1:16, we are told to be holy as God is holy, which is a quote from Leviticus where God was giving instructions for how to do that, so something being a ceremonial or judicial law does not mean that it is not also a moral law.

But its covenantal function has shifted. It no longer condemns those in Christ (Rom 8:1). It now functions normatively, not covenantally. And this distinction is critical for evangelism. If Christ has fulfilled the law’s condemning power for his people, then we don’t preach the law as something we must keep—Christ kept it. Nor do we preach the law as a perpetual threat hanging over the justified—we preach Christ crucified and risen.

In 1 John 2:6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked, so verses like Romans 8:1 that refer to those who are in Christ are only referring to those who are following his example of walking in obedience to the Law of Moses. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possessions who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what he accomplished through the cross is by becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to the Law of Moses (Acts 21:20).

Yet the law still serves a pedagogical use. For unbelievers, it exposes sin and shuts the mouth; it reveals not merely behavioral failure but covenantal rebellion. In light of my original point, evangelism shouldn’t devolve into a mechanical recitation of the Ten Commandments, as if awareness of infractions automatically generates repentance. That would treat the law as a technique. Rather, the law functions diagnostically. It reveals idolatry. It exposes autonomy. It strips self-righteousness. The gospel is not “you broke the rules.” The gospel is, “God has acted in Christ to reconcile rebels to himself—and you’re a rebel.”

Do you think that we are permitted to do what the Law of Moses reveals to be sin? If so, then what is the point of it exposing sin and how could it anyone's mouth?

 

[JesusFan]

Thought that he was referring to the Mosaic law was in force and binding while under the Old Covenant, but that when the new one is ushered in by his death and resurrection

 

[Soyeong]

Thought that he was referring to the Mosaic law was in force and binding while under the Old Covenant, but that when the new one is ushered in by his death and resurrection

In Matthew 4:15-23, Jesus began his ministry with the Gospel message to repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand, which was a light to the Gentiles and the Mosaic Law was how his audience knew what sin is (Romans 3:20), so repenting from our disobedience to it is a central part of the Gospel message. Jesus also set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to the Mosaic Law and we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way that he walked (1 John 2:6). In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what Jesus spent his ministry teaching by word and by example and in what he accomplished through the cross is by repenting and becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to the Mosaic Law (Acts 21:20). The reason why Jesus established the New Covenant was not in order to nullify anything that he spent his ministry teaching, it was not in order to nullify what he accomplished through the cross, and it was not so that we could continue to have the same lawlessness that caused the New Covenant to be needed in the first place, but rather the New Covenant still involves following the Mosaic Law (Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:26-27).