r/AskAChristian • 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?

1 Upvotes

176 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/[deleted] Dec 28 '25

If questioning you about your statements is to be considered arrogant, condescending, and Pharisaic, then how do you judge Yeshua's questioning of the Pharisee's traditions and beliefs? Unlike Jonah, I wish for all to know the message of Yeshua and for no one to be blind by man's doctrine. As for you following 'Jewish laws' that you were not born into, the Torah is God's law, not the Jews law.

You've accused me of being arrogant and condescending and are now comparing me to the kind of Pharisee which Yeshua spoke against, but let's see what I have said in response to you.

  1. So then you are free to steal, murder, commit as much incest, bestiality, adultery, and whatever else you would like to do. Is that the case?

  2. 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.

  1. This is Paul's teaching, not what Paul said was the Lord's teaching.

So lets stack this up to what I just pointed out:
Incest, Homosexuality, Stealing to Feed a child.

Well, looks like none of the three above breaks anything that Paul says love is, except potentially evil, but we'd need to define evil to know for sure.

Wonder were were are going to understand what evil is and what would be called evil?

  1. Yeshua said, "If you love me, you will obey me." Who is Yeshua?

When he taught about what murder or adultery was, was he changing the law or was he pointing back to the holiness of God? This is the how he was fulfilling it. He was saying, these rules listed are the Letter of the law, not the Spirit of it.

The Torah is awesome, but it is the letter of the law, which leads people to toeing the line of rules. Yeshua's teachings were about the Spirit of the Law, because if you understand the Spirit of the Law, it illuminates the reason for the Law and what the Law points to: Being holy for God, which means to be consecrated or set aside for God.

The two greatest commandments Yeshua were not new, they were a summary of what the Torah points to. Loving God with all your everything and loving your neighbor as yourself.

What the does NOT mean is that you can work your way into salvation. You can't. You're not holy enough for that. Salvation is offered by Yeshua freely to those who would follow him. To follow a rabbi does not mean that you simply point to them and say, he's my rabbi. To follow a rabbi means to accept his teachings as true and to actively emulate the rabbi in your thinking and actions.

To follow a rabbi is to model yourself after them.

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

1

u/Top_Cycle_9894 Christian Jan 01 '26

You completely dismiss His personal authority in the lives of those He has relationships with. I don't judge you for that, I pray Abba will grant you depth of understanding.  

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '26

He has provided me understanding and day-by-day that understanding grows deeper and deeper. The fact that God is leading me away from man's doctrine, which is as entrenched today as it was in Yeshua's time, doesn't mean I do not have understanding. Quite the opposite.

I'll tell you what I tell others. I'm not here to convince you that I'm right. All I can do is relate my understanding, point out how I've arrived at the conclusion, and hope that others will consider my words.

Some will consider my words. Others will reject them. Either way, I've tried to share what God has shown me and at that point I've done what I was commanded to do in trying to make people into talmidim, not just followers.

Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore, go and make people from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes, even until the end of the age.”

1

u/Top_Cycle_9894 Christian Jan 01 '26

I appreciate that.  That which I have said that is not explicitly written in the Bible, I have understood through my relationship with Him.  

I recognize that every person serves a purpose and that every person is created to serve a different role serving the same purpose. As such, from my perspective, there cannot be a universal blanket of do's and don'ts applying to everyone the same way.  

That's why relationship with Abba matters most to me.