Should Christians be obligated to keep the Ten Commandments or only the New Testament writings?

Point:false god

As Christians, we do not have any other gods or graven images, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because the whole concept of false gods is condemned in the New Testament. We do not take the name of the Lord in vain, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because we find all types of profanity strictly forbidden in the New Testament. We honor our parents, not because the Ten Commandments command it, but because we are taught in the New Testament to obey and honor our parents. We do not kill, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because the New Testament warns us against it. We do not commit adultery, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because the New Testament strictly forbids it. We do not steal, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because the New Testament forbids it. We do not bear false witness against our neighbor, not because it is forbidden in the Ten Commandments, but because the New Testament prohibits falsehood. We do not covet, not because the Ten Commandments forbid it, but because the New Testament speaks against it.

Answer:

I noticed you left out one of the Ten Commandments in your commentary. You did not mention the Sabbath commandment. Many people have the idea that Christ abolished the Ten Commandments and reinstated nine of them, all but the Sabbath command. This idea would have some reasonable basis for being accepted if the Bible had recorded that the Ten Commandments have been abolished or any of them reinstated. Many people point out the fact that the fourth commandment is never quoted in the New Testament, attempting to use this as proof that it is not binding upon New Testament Christians. However, the first three commandments are not quoted in the New Testament either. Many people assume that since New Testament writers quoted six of the Ten Commandments that they somehow reinstated those commandments. However, when these commandments were quoted in the New Testament they were quoted in such a way that it was taken for granted that they were already in force, rather than trying to reinstate them. If merely quoting one of the Ten Commandments reinstates that commandment, then you have the last six commandments being reinstated several times. That would mean that God gave the Ten Commandments originally, then abolished that law, and reinstated it through Christ, then abolished it again, and reinstated it through Paul, then abolished it again and reinstated it through James. This would make God out to be very unsure of what He was doing and full of variableness. But the Bible says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) There is no record anywhere in the New or Old Testaments that the Ten Commandments have been abolished even once. Therefore it is impossible for any of them to be reinstated.

Jesus gave us one new commandment, which in no way abolished any of the Ten Commandments, but rather magnified them and made them honourable. He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34) Prior to this we were commanded to love one another as we love ourselves. Now we are commanded to love one another as Christ loved us. John wrote, “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” (1 John 2:7) John expressed no hint that he had the idea that the Ten Commandments had been abolished.