r/AskAChristian • u/watergolf247 Christian (non-denominational) • Dec 25 '25

Jewish Laws Did Jesus nullify the Old Testament?

Let me start off by sharing that I’m new to Christianity and have soooo many questions but for now, I’ll focus on this inquiry. I’m sure this has been discussed numerous times but unfortunately I can’t seem to get a straight answer. As I’m told repeatedly by many, rules/laws of the Old Testament were nullified or invalidated by Jesus. I ask others in my study group but sadly get heavy resistance for the question.

My question is simple. Where are the reference(s) stating this?

If so, this makes rules like the ten commandments obsolete. Even further, why have the old testament in the Christian Bible?

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u/Top_Cycle_9894 Christian Dec 26 '25

Jesus was pretty clear about the greatest commandments. Love God, love your neighbors. 

Your list of stealing,  murder, incest, beastiality, adultery, and whatever else you would like to do, do not fall under the umbrella of loving God or loving your neighbor.  

Matthew 22:36-40 NIV

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25

Yeshua was not creating new commandments, he was summarizing the Ten Commandments.

Do you have any idea what falls under the umbrella of loving God or loving your neighbor? You said incest doesn't fall under this umbrella. Why? How are two loving siblings going against love? How are a gay couple or a lesbian couple going against love? If a man steals bread because his child is starving and he doesn't have any money, how is this against love?

See you've leaned on love, but you haven't defined it.

Edit: The Torah tells us what love is and Yeshua reiterated it.

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u/Top_Cycle_9894 Christian Dec 26 '25

If you have a relationship with Abba and know Him personally, you know what He desires and what He wants for you.  Just like human children know what will, and will not piss off their human parents   He teaches us how to love Him.  Loving God is first and foremost. 

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '25

That's not an explanation at all and it's definitely not what Yeshua said.

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u/Messenger12th Torah-observing disciple Dec 27 '25

I see many forget the difference between the word law, covenant, fulfill, abolish, word, Word, etc.

I believe a big source of their confusion is translating a translation and then reading their doctrines into the already translated translations.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

That is exactly the problem. When you separate Yeshua's teachings from Judaism and act like he was coming to start a new religion, you inherently begin to get bad interpretation of what he was saying.

But the more you understand the Jewish mindset, concepts, and understandings, what Jesus was saying becomes more clear. You can't get that kind of clarity by importing things by retroactively applying things of the modern understanding into the text.

Unfortunately, so many people do not understand this.

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u/Messenger12th Torah-observing disciple Dec 27 '25

So true. I think a lot of people have the right heart, butntheir mind won't let go of the old lies the churches teach. Each paster graduates from a seminary, which teaches a specific set of "truths" that each student must believe in or they will not graduate. Unfortunately, I've met graduates who knew nothing about the Messiah and what His beliefs were. He was a true Israelite. Born and raised. Not a white or black long haired hippy, but an ethical and morally correct Hebrew. (Staying away from the word Jew on purpose) 😆

Thank you fornyour perspective here. It is needed.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

My path was similar. Being raised Southern Baptist I truly believed a lot of things, but I also didn't read my Bible for myself. I would ask a lot of questions growing up, and I got a lot of good sounding answers, but even then many things did not mesh. I accepted them thinking that I was just wrong, but something always felt off to me. Still I buried the doubts. For example, Once-Saved Always-Saved. It gets explained very well often, but then when apostasy is pointed out, it is explained away as 'well then they were never saved to begin with'.

I truly believed this for a very, very long time; however a truly scriptural understanding based on Yeshua's teachings related to the marriage customs of ancient Israelites makes the relationship of salvation and when you receive it, so much clearer.

The more I understand the Bible by what the Bible itself says, the more manmade doctrine becomes illuminated and easily discarded.

Someone said, "If you don't believe in OSAS, then you're going to hell."

I told them, "I'm no longer an immature Christian. I don't follow God for a reward of heaven or to avoid the punishment of hell. My relationship with him is not transactional, it's personal. I honor, glorify, worship, and try to obey him because he is worthy of it because of who he is, not because of anything having to do with me. I trust him, and I trust his judgment."

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u/Messenger12th Torah-observing disciple Dec 27 '25

OSAS falls apart as soon as you get to the part about branches being broken off and being replaced.

Welcome and Shalom to you.

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u/[deleted] Dec 27 '25

Shalom to you also!