The entire Old Testament has been superseded or replaced with the New Testament (2 Corinthians 3:6-11; Ephesians 2:14-15; Colossians 2:14). It is obvious that the Ten Commandments, which are part of the Old Testament, have been suspended, too. We know this because one of the passages that instructs us that the Old Testament has been taken away uses one of the Ten Commandments as an example of that from which we have been delivered. “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Sin’s Advantage in the Law What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:6-7 NKJV). However, nine of the Ten Commandments essentially have been reinstated in the New Testament, but the Sabbath Day has not been restored in the New Testament. The nine, though, are authoritative not because they were in the Old Testament, but because they appear in the New Testament.
(1) “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). Compare these verses: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Matthew 4:10). “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’” (Matthew 22:37).
(2) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. … (Exodus 20:4-5). “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising” (Acts 17:29). “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:20-23).
(3) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8-9). “Blasphemy” in this verse corresponds to the Old Testament reference to taking God’s name in vain. “
(4) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12). “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise” (Ephesians 6:1-3).
(5) “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). (6) “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). (7) “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). (8) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). (9) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17). “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:8-9). See also 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:21; 1 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 5:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; Revelation 21:8.
The above New Testament counterparts to the Ten Commandments are samplings and not exhaustive of the reintroduction of the teachings of nine of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament. Again, these instructions carry force today, not because they were in the Old Testament, but because they now appear in the New Testament. Let me give this illustration. If while driving my car in Tennessee, I turn right at a red light after stopping, though I reside in Mississippi and have a driver’s license from Mississippi, by the laws of which state am I authorized to turn right on red in Tennessee? The correct answer, of course, is we have to obey the traffic laws of the state in which we are driving (Tennessee in the illustration). Likewise, people living today must obey the laws of God under which they live – the New Testament, rather than the Old Testament from which we have been delivered.
