The King’s Standard: Defending God’s Eternal Law Against the ‘Done Away’ Delusion 🛡️
The belief that Jesus Christ “canceled” or “abolished” God’s moral law is one of the greatest theological errors of the modern era. Those who await the return of the King of Righteousness must stand firmly on the truth that the principles of God’s governance are eternal. This article provides core arguments from the King James Version (KJV) against the claim that the Law is done away with or is solely an Old Testament relic.
Section I: The Theological Thesis—Fulfillment, Not Abolition
The central defense rests on the words of Christ Himself. Those who claim the Law is dead confuse fulfillment with abolition.
| Scripture (KJV) | The Eternal Thesis |
| “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17) | Christ declared His mission was to fill up the Law—to demonstrate its perfect intent and to satisfy its penalty—not to tear it down. He is the living embodiment of the Law. |
| “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” (Romans 7:12) | Even under the New Covenant, the Law remains the holy standard by which God measures sin. If the standard were abolished, sin itself would cease to exist (Romans 4:15). |
Section II: The Final, Unshakable Argument—The Permanence of the Word
The claim that the Law is done away with utterly collapses under the weight of Christ’s own declaration regarding its permanence. This single passage affirms not only the integrity of the whole Law but also the eternal nature of the divine inspiration behind the very letters of Scripture.
The Divine Guarantee: Not One JOT or TITTLE
The power of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:18 lies in its intense linguistic specificity, proving that God cares about the smallest details of His Word:
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18, KJV)
This statement guarantees the Law’s authority and validity until a time far beyond the Cross:
| Term | Meaning and Significance | Prophetic Application |
| JOT (Iota) | The smallest letter in the Greek alphabet (similar to a period or a comma). | This signifies that the entire substance of the Law, down to its smallest component, remains authoritative. |
| TITTLE | A tiny stroke, hook, or distinguishing mark used to differentiate similar letters. | This signifies that the Law’s specific meaning and nuance are preserved. No minor detail can be altered. |
| TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS | This ties the Law’s duration to the existence of the current physical universe. | Since we are awaiting the creation of the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21:1), the Law remains fully in effect today. |
| TILL ALL BE FULFILLED | The word fulfilled here means to bring to its intended purpose, or to establish. | Christ fulfilled the Law by perfectly obeying it and paying the penalty for its violation. He did not dissolve the moral standard; He established and ratified it with His blood. |
The conclusion is unmistakable: if the Law were “done away with” at the Cross, then the heavens and the earth should have passed away at that moment, according to Christ’s own guarantee. Since we still live in the original creation, the Law, in its moral and eternal principles, remains the unshakable standard of righteousness for those awaiting the Lord’s return.
Section III: Arguments and Counter-Arguments
The following table addresses the most common scriptural claims used to support the idea that the Law has been “done away with.”
| Argument Against the Law | Core Counter-Argument (KJV) |
| ARGUMENT 1: “The Old Testament is done away with.” | The Bible is a single, unified story. The Old Testament contains the moral principles (The Law) that the New Testament redeems us to keep (The Spirit). Christ came to redeem us from the curse of the law, not from the keeping of the law’s moral principles (Galatians 3:13). |
| ARGUMENT 2: “We are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14) | This verse means we are not under the law’s condemnation and penalty. Paul asks in the very next chapter: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law…” (Romans 7:7). Grace provides the power to obey the righteous standard that the Law defines. |
| ARGUMENT 3: “The handwriting of ordinances was blotted out.” (Colossians 2:14) | This refers to the written bond of debt (or cheirographon) that stood against humanity due to sin. Christ nailed the penalty for our sin (the debt), not the moral commandments, to the cross. This blotting out refers to the ceremonial laws and the required rituals that foreshadowed Christ, not the eternal Ten Commandments. |
| ARGUMENT 4: “Christ is the end of the law.” (Romans 10:4) | The Greek word for ‘end’ (telos) means “goal” or “purpose.” Christ is the GOAL of the Law for righteousness. The Law directs us to the need for Christ, and Christ enables us to fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law through faith, not that the Law has ceased to be. |
| ARGUMENT 5: “The Sabbath is canceled.” | The Sabbath command is established in Creation (Genesis 2:3) and will be observed in the new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 66:23). Christ affirmed, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:” (Mark 2:27). The Law’s moral code remains a foundational rhythm for the believer in the New Covenant. |
Section IV: The Rule of Love
The final argument against lawlessness is the purpose of the Law itself. Christ reduced the Law not to two new laws, but to the two great principles that govern the Ten Commandments:
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, KJV)
The Law remains the structure; love is the active force that fulfills that structure. The return of the Lord is a call to holiness, and holiness is defined by His eternal standard of righteousness. To abolish the Law is to abolish the definition of sin and to lower the standard of the King who is coming.