your argument overlooks an important distinction that Scripture itself makes between
God's Covenant, which is the Ten Commandments written by God's own finger, and
the Law of Moses, which consists of the
additional statutes, judgments, ceremonial laws, sacrifices, and priestly regulations written by Moses.
God Himself plainly identifies the Ten Commandments as
His covenant.
“So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.” (Deuteronomy 4:13, NKJV)
Again, Scripture says: So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.” (Exodus 34:28, NKJV)
These verses leave no room for doubt. God Himself calls the Ten Commandments
His covenant. Therefore, when Jeremiah prophesied of the New Covenant, he was not introducing a different moral law or replacing God's commandments with a vague principle of love. He was describing the same covenant being written where it truly belongs, in the hearts of God's people.
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jeremiah 31:33, NKJV)
Scripture also makes a clear distinction between what God wrote and what Moses wrote.
The Ten Commandments, written by God Himself, were placed
inside the Ark of the Covenant.
“Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are, just as the LORD commanded me.” (Deuteronomy 10:5, NKJV)
By contrast, the Book of the Law written by Moses was placed
beside the Ark, not inside it.
“So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying: ‘Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there as a witness against you.’” (Deuteronomy 31:24-26, NKJV)
This distinction is significant. The covenant written by God was placed inside the Ark as the enduring testimony of His covenant. The book written by Moses was placed beside the Ark as a witness against Israel because it contained the additional regulations that addressed their continued disobedience.
@Soyeong
The New Testament also explains why these additional laws existed.
“What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made...” (Galatians 3:19, NKJV)
@Soyeong
The ceremonial laws, sacrificial system, Levitical priesthood, purification rituals, feast regulations, and other ordinances were added because of transgressions and pointed forward to the coming of Christ.
Once Christ fulfilled their purpose, those shadows were no longer necessary. However, the Ten Commandments were never described as something merely added because of transgressions. They were already established as God's covenant before these additional laws were given.
The prophets also declared that the coming Messiah would not be sent only to Israel but would become the Light for the Gentiles as well.
“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:6, NKJV)
“Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Isaiah 49:6, NKJV)
Jesus fulfilled these prophecies when He declared:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12, NKJV)
After His resurrection, Jesus commissioned His disciples to take His teachings to all nations, not merely to Israel.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations... teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you...” (Matthew 28:19-20, NKJV)
What, then, did Jesus command concerning God's commandments?
When asked what was required to enter eternal life, Jesus gave a direct and unmistakable answer:
“But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17, NKJV) These Ten Commandments are the Covenant
Jesus immediately quoted from the Ten Commandments, showing exactly which commandments He meant.
He also said:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15, NKJV)
And He pointed to His own example:
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:10, NKJV)
Jesus never taught that God's commandments had been abolished. Instead, He magnified them by teaching that true obedience begins in the heart, exactly as Jeremiah foretold. Anger becomes murder in the heart, lust becomes adultery in the heart, and love for God is demonstrated through willing obedience.
Therefore, the New Covenant is not the replacement of God's covenant with a new moral standard, nor is it merely a simplified ethic centered on love alone. The Bible consistently teaches that God's covenant is the Ten Commandments, written by His own finger, placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, and promised in Jeremiah to be written on the hearts of His people. The Law of Moses contained additional ordinances that were written by Moses, placed beside the Ark, and added because of transgressions until the Messiah came. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial system, but He never abolished the covenant that God Himself declared to be the Ten Commandments. As the promised Light to both Jews and Gentiles, Jesus instructed all nations to keep everything He commanded, and when asked how to enter into life, His answer was simple and clear:
“If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” In this way, the teaching of Jesus perfectly agrees with the promise of Jeremiah that God would write His law upon the hearts of His people so that they would obey Him from within.
