Biblical law is confusing for both non-believers and believers. There are people who believe that all the laws are done away with, which makes no sense as there can be no sin without a law. Obviously the end of the world is brought about by man's sin therefore there must be a law to sin against! Others believe that if you are keeping any of the laws from the Pentateuch, then you should also be upholding the punishments of stoning and such, which generally leads them to lose faith in the Bible all together. Then of course we have people who follow the rules that suit them and dismiss the others without reason. This can't be right either. There has to be a defined law in place if we are expected to follow Christ. So what's the deal with these laws? What are we supposed to follow?

There are three types of law defined in the Bible: moral laws, ceremonial laws, and judicial laws.[1][2] The moral laws concern behavior that God deems improper (such as those listed in the ten commandments, incest, etc.). The ceremonial law concerns how the feasts God mandates are to be held, while the judicial law concerns punishment for breaking the aforementioned laws. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price that was required of us for breaking the law with His own blood. The New Testament has a lot to say about the law and the ordinances, which is why it is easy for the devil to play with the words for those who don't study the word.

Jesus confirms here that He is not destroying the law, He is fulfilling the law. His fulfillment of the law is that His death on the cross counts as the sacrifice we should have to give after breaking a law. If we commit a sin (break the moral law) that according to the judicial law required us to be killed, we don't have to be killed because Jesus' blood pays that debt. This doesn't mean that the part of the law stating we must die or that we must offer a blood sacrifice has been removed—it has been fulfilled.

Exodus 21:13 says that God can redeem a man who commits murder, that is precisely what being washed in Jesus' blood means. There is a gospel song, "Blessed & Highly Favored" by the Clark Sisters, in which the lyrics are "it could've been me, it should've been me, if it wasn't for the blood!" This is what the fulfillment of the law is all about, that by believing in Jesus we do not owe blood for the sins we commit. That's not to say we have no longer sinned, but rather that we have grace—forgiveness and the chance to do better after messing up.

Paul has a lot more to say about ordinances which are the quotes many use to claim the law is completely abolished. Yet in 1 Corinthians, even Paul says that the ordinances are to be kept. Why do Paul's statements seem to conflict?

In Ephesisans, Paul says that Jesus abolished enmity or hostility. The phrase "even the law of commandments contained in ordinances" reappears in Colossians 2:14, "ordinances that was against us." Paul is not saying that Jesus did away with the law of commandments but the hostility that stemmed for our inability to keep those commandments. Notice in the passage from Colossians 2, Paul uses the phrase "commandments and doctrines of men." He is referring to laws the Pharisees has implemented. Here, Paul is talking about laws that the church comes up with today. We are not bound by man's law, we are bound by God's moral law (since Jesus has fulfilled the ceremony and paid the judicial price). Obviously some law has to be in existence as the end of the world is brought about by rampant sin—sin being defined as breaking God's law.

Often when people of today talk about God's law it becomes a discussion of hypocrisy and the idea of picking and choosing which laws they wish to follow. If a person says homosexuality is wrong, people will point to the passages in the Bible about stoning women who have premarital sex and accuse the person of hypocrisy. Well, both homosexuality and premarital sex (or sex with someone you don't marry, there are many passages saying a man is to marry the woman he has sex with if she is not his betrothed) are morally wrong.[4] However, both have been paid for by Jesus—that does not mean that you can go out and behave however you wish, rather it means that both the person who engages in premarital sex as well as the person who engages in homosexual sex are equality able to be redeemed by Jesus. Neither needs to be stoned. Jesus' fulfillment of the law means that both people have the ability to confess their sin, ask for forgiveness, then attempt to do better. Murder, theft, lying, idolatry, sexual immorality, and the like are all still sins. Granted, during the pre-Jesus era we probably would have been more careful about our actions as we knew they bore a death penalty; today we have are blessed to have a Savior that has paid the price so that we don't have to be stoned for every infraction we make. Remember, the prize of eternal life is granted only if you believe in Jesus (John 3:16) because it is only through faith that we can be forgiven and it is only through faith that we will choose God's way over our own.

Note that Hebrews 10:26 tells us that there is no sacrifice for willingly committed sins (you know when said "Lord forgive me" then proceeded to do something you knew was wrong) because there wasn't a sacrifice mentioned in the Books of Law for willing sins, only unwilling sins.[3] Only through faith and repentance can those be forgiven (evidenced by people like Abraham and Moses).