Law of Christ

"The law of Christ" (ὁ νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ) is a New Testament phrase.

The related Bible verses are in the Pauline epistles at Galatians 6:2 and parenthetically (ἔννομος Χριστῷ "being under the law to Christ") at 1 Corinthians 9:21.

Some Christians hold the belief that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and the inauguration of the New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31–37 and Ezekiel 37:22–28 "replaces" or "completes" or "fulfills" the Law of Moses found in the Hebrew Bible.

Dual-covenant theologians, the Hebrew Roots Movement, and Messianic Judaism are all examples of groups that reject this belief.

In the Epistle to the Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul to a number of early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia, he wrote: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

(1 Corinthians 9:21, YLT) It is not clear exactly what Paul means by the phrase, "the law of Christ".

Although Paul mentions Biblical law several times (e.g., Romans 2:12–16, 3:31, 7:12, 8:7–8, Galatians 5:3, Acts 24:14, 25:8) and preached about Ten Commandment topics such as idolatry (e.g., 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6:9–10, 10:7, 10:14, Galatians 5:19–21, Ephesians 5:5, Colossians 3:5, Acts 17:16–21, 19:23–41), he consistently denies that salvation, or justification before God, is based on "works of the law" (e.g., Galatians 3:6–14), though the meaning of this phrase is also disputed by scholars, see for example the New Perspective on Paul#Works of the Law.

Jesus explicitly warns of severe consequence to those who break and teach others to break one of the least of the commands of God (Matthew 5:19) In the non-canonical Gospel of Marcion's version of Luke 23:2 we find the extension: "We found this fellow perverting the nation and destroying the law and the prophets".