How do Christians understand Israel’s laws?

Leviticus can place instructions about sacrifice, food, wages, and relationships close together. Christians continue to read all of it as Scripture, yet do not all observe these instructions in the same way. The question is how Israel's covenant teaching relates to life after Jesus. A covenant is a binding relationship involving commitments.

Begin with common ground and real differences

Major Christian traditions continue to teach responsibility before God, generosity, justice, and worship. They differ over which laws remain directly binding and how Jesus fulfills them. Matthew 5:17–20 speaks of fulfillment rather than abolition; Acts 15 considers obligations for non-Jewish believers. Neither should be isolated from the wider discussion.

Jewish practice has its own continuing traditions of interpretation. The Christian approaches below explain Christian disagreements; they should not imply that Judaism is a religion of mechanical rule-keeping or that Christian faith invented care for one's neighbor.

Continuing moral law, with changed covenant arrangements

A common Reformed approach distinguishes moral laws about lasting right conduct, ceremonial laws governing Israel's worship, and judicial laws governing its ancient society. The Westminster Confession describes ceremonial laws as fulfilled and ended, while the moral law continues. Ancient civil arrangements do not directly govern modern nations, though their underlying justice matters.

Its case appeals to the Ten Commandments, Jesus' teaching, and the New Testament's use of commandments in moral instruction. The same confession understands a weekly day of rest and worship as continuing, with Sunday, the Lord's Day, replacing the seventh day in Christian observance.

Critics ask whether Scripture itself consistently divides laws into these three categories and where it commands a change of Sabbath day. Advocates answer that the distinction reflects the differing purposes of the laws and the New Testament's treatment of them; Jesus' resurrection and early first-day gatherings support Sunday observance.

Read Westminster's full argument and biblical references in chapters XIX and XXI. Other traditions observe Sunday with different theological explanations.

Fulfillment in Christ, without a required weekly Sabbath

Some Protestant interpreters understand the Mosaic covenant, the covenant associated with Moses, as a whole fulfilled in Christ. They question dividing its commandments into separate groups of laws that continue and laws that have ended. Christians receive moral instruction through Jesus and the apostles, while the whole Old Testament continues to teach them. This does not mean conduct no longer matters.

Thomas Schreiner argues that Colossians 2:16–17 treats Sabbath observance as a shadow fulfilled in Christ and that Romans 14:5 permits differing judgments about days. In this reading, Hebrews 4 directs readers toward the rest God gives through Christ. Sunday worship may be a valuable Christian practice without being a transferred Sabbath command.

Critics argue that a creation pattern and a command within the Ten Commandments should not become optional, and question which days Paul means. Advocates reply that the surrounding lists concern Israel's calendar and that fulfillment changes believers' obligations without removing the value of rest.

Read Schreiner's complete argument about Christian Sabbath obligations.

Seventh-day observance: the creation Sabbath continues

Seventh-day Adventists and some other Christians maintain Saturday Sabbath observance. Adventist teaching connects Genesis 2, Exodus 20, and Jesus' own practice: the seventh day is a continuing gift of rest, worship, and service. It argues that the Bible does not command replacing that day with Sunday. Observance is understood as a response to God's grace, rather than a way to purchase salvation.

Critics appeal to Paul's warnings about judging believers over days and to the new covenant's changed requirements. Seventh-day advocates distinguish the creation Sabbath from ceremonial calendar requirements and maintain that Jesus' affirmation of Sabbath gives it continuing significance. These disagreements involve how several texts fit together, rather than whether rest is beneficial.

Read the Adventist Church's official explanation and biblical case for the seventh-day Sabbath.

Catholic Sunday observance: resurrection, worship, and rest

Catholic teaching distinguishes Sunday from the seventh-day Sabbath while understanding it as the Christian fulfillment of Sabbath’s spiritual purpose. The reason is Christ’s resurrection and the church’s received practice of gathering for the Eucharist, also called Mass. The obligation is grounded in Scripture read with apostolic tradition and the church’s teaching authority. It is not presented simply as a New Testament verse changing a calendar date.

The Catechism, paragraphs 2174–2188, connects Sunday worship with rest, family life, and care for others. It recognizes serious reasons that excuse attendance or require work. Seventh-day critics question the authority for moving observance; some other Protestants question making Sunday attendance obligatory. The Catholic response appeals to the church’s authority to express the continuing duty of worship in the light of resurrection and apostolic practice.

Orthodox Sunday worship: the day of resurrection

Orthodox Christians gather for the Divine Liturgy, their central service of Eucharistic worship, especially on Sunday. The Orthodox Church in America’s explanation of the Liturgy describes Sunday as both the first day and the “eighth day,” an image of creation’s renewal in God’s kingdom. The emphasis is participation in Christ’s resurrection through the church’s worship, rather than simply transferring every ancient Sabbath restriction to another date.

This account relies on Scripture within the worship and tradition received by the church. A critic who accepts only an explicit scriptural command for a change of day will find that basis insufficient. The Orthodox response is that Scripture belongs within that apostolic life, rather than standing apart from it. Catholic and Orthodox accounts therefore overlap in their resurrection emphasis, while their understandings of church authority have important differences. Meet the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church.

Reading a particular law responsibly

Ask whom an instruction addresses, what institution it assumes, and how the New Testament uses it. Different approaches can yield shared conclusions about fair wages while disagreeing over food or calendar observance. Sabbath is one clear example; this comparison does not settle every disputed question about sexual ethics, divorce, or civil punishment.

Read Leviticus and Deuteronomy with attention to their actual communities. Christians should explain how they move from an ancient instruction to a present responsibility, including why they believe a law still applies or has been fulfilled.

Questions for reading

• What purpose does this instruction serve in Israel's covenant?
• How does each approach understand fulfillment rather than simple repetition?
• Where do Christians agree about a responsibility while differing about its practice?