Explore the relationship between Jesus' teachings and the Mosaic Law. Understand how early Christians navigated the continuity and discontinuity between the old and new covenants.

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How Do You Reconcile Jesus' Teachings in Matthew 5 and Being Lord of the Sabbath with the Apostles' Instructions in Acts 15?
Free Course Guide

What This Free Course Covers

This free course addresses a focused question: how should Christians reconcile Jesus’ words in Matthew 5 about the least of these commandments, His claim to be Lord of the Sabbath, and the apostles’ decision in Acts 15 about Gentile believers? The lesson works through the context of Matthew 5, especially Jesus’ statement that He came not to destroy the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them.

It explains the view that Jesus fills the law full by reaching the roots of sin and by teaching the deeper way of love for God and neighbor. The course also considers why Acts 15 does not require Gentile believers to keep the whole Mosaic Law, including Sabbath regulations.

In the Sabbath discussion, the lesson distinguishes Jesus’ authority over the Sabbath from a command that Christians must keep every Mosaic Sabbath requirement, and it notes the early Christian understanding that every day is sacred for doing good.

Matthew 5 Acts 15 Law and Gospel Fulfillment of the Law Gentile Believers Jerusalem Council Lord of the Sabbath Love of God and Neighbor Early Christian Practice

What You Will Study

  • The tension students often see between Matthew 5 and Acts 15
  • The immediate context of Jesus’ words about fulfilling the Law and the Prophets
  • Why the lesson reads “these commandments” in Matthew 5 as Jesus’ own teachings
  • How Jesus’ teaching reaches beyond external acts to the roots of sin in the heart
  • Why some Mosaic commandments are described as temporary and given specifically to Israel
  • The Jerusalem Council’s instructions for Gentile believers in Acts 15
  • Jesus’ authority as Lord of the Sabbath to interpret, modify, or bring the Sabbath law to its fulfillment
  • The claim that early Christians did not keep the Jewish Sabbath as a binding Mosaic requirement

Questions This Course Helps Answer

  • How can Matthew 5 be reconciled with the apostles’ instructions in Acts 15?
  • What does Jesus mean when He says He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets?
  • Does “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments” refer to the whole Mosaic Law?
  • How does Jesus’ teaching go deeper than commandments against murder and adultery?
  • Why does the lesson say the whole law turns on loving God and loving neighbor?
  • Were all Mosaic commandments intended to apply permanently to all Christians?
  • Why did Jewish Christians struggle with whether Gentiles should keep the law?
  • What did the Jerusalem Council require of Gentile believers in Acts 15?
  • Why does Acts 15 not list every moral command, such as prohibitions against murder or stealing?
  • What does it mean that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath?
  • Was Jesus’ Sabbath teaching meant to make Sabbath observance stricter?
  • Do Christians today generally keep the Sabbath regulations as stated in Exodus?

Lesson-by-Lesson Guide

How Do You Reconcile Jesus' Teachings in Matthew 5 and Being Lord of the Sabbath with the Apostles' Instructions in Acts 15?

This lesson explains how Matthew 5, Jesus’ authority over the Sabbath, and the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 are understood together. It argues that Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets, gives His own kingdom teaching, and does not require Gentile believers to keep the whole Mosaic Law.

  • How should Matthew 5 be read in its context?
  • What does it mean for Jesus to fulfill the law?
  • Why did Acts 15 give Gentile believers a limited set of instructions?
  • What does Jesus’ lordship over the Sabbath imply about Sabbath law?

First student reviews

1 review so far
Daniel Segura May 12, 2026
★★★★★
Good starting point. I will also add that all the specific applications of laws found in the 10 commandments also have a spiritual meaning and application. As Paul says, "the Law is spiritual." So we Christians do abide and meet those spiritual applications, such as giving to each worker his due as Paul applies in 1 Corinthians 9, but we need not obey the physical/literal words of the Law of Moses. We are spiritually circumcised Jews of the heart, not physically circumcised Jews according to the flesh.
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Jesus and the Law of Moses

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