The Covenant That Cannot Be Split: Rethinking the Ten Commandments After Christ

by Pastor Ely Sembrano

Introduction: When an Unbreakable Covenant Meets an Unshakeable Savior

For centuries, Christians have repeated a familiar assumption: the Ten Commandments remain in force, even if the rest of the Law of Moses has passed away. But what if this assumption, so widely accepted, so rarely questioned, creates a theological impossibility? What if the very idea of separating the Ten Commandments from the covenant they belong to is not only unbiblical but actually undermines the finished work of Christ?

Imagine standing at Sinai, watching God carve His covenant into stone. Now imagine declaring that this covenant, the one Scripture calls the covenant itself, has ended… while insisting its core remains in effect. No ancient Israelite would recognize such a claim. Neither would Paul. Neither would the writer of Hebrews.

What follows is not a dismissal of God’s moral will, nor an argument for antinomian freedom. It is a call to take Scripture at its word: the Law of Moses was a single covenant, the Ten Commandments were its covenant document, and Christ fulfilled the entire covenant—not just pieces of it.

To treat the Ten Commandments as eternally binding covenant law after Christ is to create contradictions that Scripture never asks us to carry. And it risks placing the stone tablets in a position Scripture reserves for Christ Himself.

1. Foundation: A Law Cannot Be Partly Abolished and Partly Binding

Scripture presents the Law of Moses as a single, inseparable covenant, not a piecemeal collection of “moral,” “ceremonial,” and “civil” components that can be kept or discarded at will. The Bible never invites us to slice the covenant into categories. It speaks of one covenant given at Sinai.

Israel entered into one unified covenant, which included:

·        The Ten Commandments engraved on stone

·        All ceremonial regulations

·        All civil and judicial statutes

And Scripture explicitly declares the stone tablets to be “the words of the covenant” (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13).

Therefore:

If the Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled, then everything that belongs to that covenant has been fulfilled, including its covenant document. Once a covenant is rendered obsolete, its core cannot remain in force.

A covenant cannot die while its foundation lives.

2. The Ten Commandments Were the Covenant Document Itself

The Bible does not portray the Ten Commandments as a morally superior appendix to the Mosaic covenant. They are the covenant. They form its legal backbone and covenant identity.

·        The Ten Commandments were placed inside the Ark—the covenant document in the most literal sense.

·        Ceremonial and civil laws were placed beside the Ark as expansions and applications.

Scripture calls the tablets:

·        “the covenant itself” (Deut. 4:13)

·        “the tablets of the covenant” (1 Kings 8:9)

To say the covenant has ended, yet its document remains binding, is a contradiction of the highest order, like claiming:

“The Constitution has been canceled, but its Articles remain law.”

This collapses both logically and biblically.

3. The Ten Commandments Are Not Exempt From Being Shadows

The New Testament makes no exception for the Ten Commandments when it speaks of the fading, temporary nature of the old covenant. It teaches that the entire Mosaic covenant, including the tablets of stone:

·        was a ministry of death (2 Cor. 3:6–7)

·        was a ministry of condemnation (v. 9)

·        is the old covenant that is fading away (vv. 11, 14)

Paul explicitly refers to the writing on tablets of stone—the Ten Commandments—as part of what is fading.

This means:

·        The Ten Commandments belong wholly to the Old Covenant

·        The old covenant has ended in Christ

·        The Ten Commandments cannot remain as covenant law for Christians

Regardless of how we categorize laws (moral, civil, ceremonial), Scripture treats the covenant as a single unit, with the tablets as its epicenter—and that unit has passed away.

4. If the Ten Commandments Remain Binding as Covenant Law, Then Jesus Is Not the Final Revelation

Here is the crucial point:

If the Ten Commandments remain the supreme standard of moral authority after their covenant has ended, then they:

·        outrank the New Covenant

·        survive the work of Christ

·        continue binding authority even when the rest of the covenant does not

This creates an impossible implication:

·        Jesus fulfilled the ceremonies

·        Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial shadows

·        Jesus fulfilled the civil regulations

·        but supposedly not the covenant document itself

In that scenario, the Ten Commandments become:

·        more enduring than Christ’s fulfillment

·        more authoritative than His covenant

·        a higher standard than His teachings

·        a moral authority independent of His work

This directly contradicts the New Testament proclamation that:

·        Jesus is the full fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets

·        Jesus inaugurated a new covenant

·        Jesus gives a new law written on hearts

·        Jesus is God’s final revelation (Heb. 1:1–2)

If the Ten Commandments remain binding as covenant law, then Christ has not fulfilled the Law, because the very core of that Law would still stand.

5. The Danger of Keeping the Ten Commandments as the Christian Covenant Law

If Christians treat the Ten Commandments as their ruling covenant code after Christ has fulfilled the covenant, several dangers arise.

Problem 1: It Elevates Moses Above Jesus

If believers remain under the code carved on stone, then the teachings of Jesus become supplemental rather than supreme.

Problem 2: It Minimizes Jesus’ Fulfillment

If the heart of the covenant remains in force, then Jesus fulfilled only its externals—not its essence.

Problem 3: It Reverses the Direction of the Bible’s Story

Scripture’s trajectory moves from:

·        law engraved on stone

·        to prophetic anticipation

·        to Christ’s fulfillment

·        to the Spirit writing God’s will on hearts

Returning to the stone tablets is to drag revelation backward.

Problem 4: It Creates Competing Authorities

You end up with two masters:

·        the tablets of Sinai

·        the law of Christ

The New Testament recognizes only one:

Christ is the final Word.

6. What Remains Is Not the Old Covenant Code but the Eternal Moral Will of God—Revealed Fully in Christ

God’s moral nature is eternal.

 But the Ten Commandments are not its full or final expression.

Jesus reveals:

·        a deeper moral reality

·        the true intention of God’s righteousness

·        a law of love that surpasses and fulfills the old

Jesus does not simply restate Moses; He intensifies and transforms:

·        Not only “do not commit adultery,” but “do not lust.”

·        Not merely “love your neighbor,” but “love your enemies.”

·        Not simply “remember the Sabbath,” but “come to Me and find rest.”

And above all:

“Love as I have loved you.”

Thus:

·        We do not obey because Moses commands

·        We obey because Christ commands and the Spirit empowers

Christ Himself becomes the standard.

7. Final Summary: Why the Ten Commandments Cannot Remain the Christian Covenant Law

Because:

·        They were the covenant document of the Mosaic Law.

·        The Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled and ended.

·        The tablets cannot outlive the covenant they define.

·        Keeping them elevates Moses above Jesus.

·        It implies the covenant’s center was not fulfilled by Christ.

·        Jesus gives a fuller, higher, final revelation.

·        The believer’s rule of life is the law of Christ, written by the Spirit.

Therefore:

If the ceremonies, civil laws, and sacrificial shadows have been fulfilled in Christ, then the Ten Commandments, the core of the same covenant, have also been fulfilled.

Otherwise, the Ten Commandments become more enduring, more authoritative, and more central than Jesus Himself, an unbiblical and Christ-diminishing conclusion.

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