Do Christians Have to Obey the 10 Commandments?
In the sense that most people understand it— no.
From Spurgeon:
“But there is a doctrine, too often perverted, which is, nevertheless, a blessed truth, and ought to dwell in your hearts. ’Ye are not under the Law, but under Grace [Romans 6:14]’ hence you do not obey the will of God because you hope to earn heaven thereby, or dream of escaping from divine wrath by your own doings, but because there is a life in you which seeks after that which is holy, pure, right, and true, and cannot endure that which is evil. You are careful to maintain good works, not from either legal hopes or legal fears, but because there is a holy thing within you, born of God, which seeks, according to its nature, to do that which is pleasing to God.” (The Soul Winner)
He uses some great words to describe our relation to the commands of God.
Does your relation to the law feel “real, true, natural, vital”? Then it is done from the heart, to please God, and not as a means to justify yourself before God.
Or does your obedience feel “artificial, constrained, superficial, a thing of times, days, and places, a fungus produced by excitement, a fermentation generated by meetings and stirred by oratory”? If this is the case, then you have not yet believed the gospel of grace, but continue to remain under the law.
Here’s another great response to the question:
