The Law of Moses was never intended as a permanent, gradually expandable code of righteousness for the Church. It was a temporary pedagogue (Galatians 3:24–25), a shadow of the good things to come (Hebrews 10:1; Colossians 2:16–17). Christ is the end (telos) of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). In Him the old covenant has been made obsolete (Hebrews 8:13).
Acts 15 is decisive. The apostles and elders, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, explicitly rejected the claim that Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. The four stipulations were pastoral measures to preserve table fellowship between Jewish and Gentile believers in the mixed churches of that time – not a “starting point” from which Christians are expected to progress toward fuller observance of dietary laws, clothing regulations, or the biblical festivals. Nowhere do the apostles teach that maturation in Christ consists of taking on more of the 613 commandments.
St. Paul is equally clear: we have died to the Law through the body of Christ so that we may belong to Another (Romans 7:4). The righteousness of the New Covenant is not progressive conformity to the Mosaic code, but participation in the life of the risen Christ through the Holy Spirit, the sacraments of the Church, and the commandments of the Gospel. The moral precepts that reflect the eternal will of God remain; the ceremonial and civil legislation that marked Israel as a theocratic nation under the old covenant do not bind the Body of Christ.
None of us attains perfection in this life – on that we agree. But the path of holiness is not the gradual adoption of Torah lifestyle commandments. It is theosis: becoming by grace what Christ is by nature, through repentance, the liturgical and ascetic life of the Church, and the indwelling of the Spirit.
The Messiah has perfectly fulfilled the Law. We live in the freedom of the sons of God, not under a renewed administration of the Mosaic covenant.
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