Students of the Bible must realize that God’s natural law existed prior to the law of Moses. I still see much confusion over the transitions of covenants (Mosaic versus New) and then what law in the Bible we are accountable to. I believe this is due to a lack of teaching on the natural law, thus Christians wrongly see the Mosaic law as the foundation of morality.
On Facebook, I see individuals believing that stating a Christian is not under the Law of Moses is tantamount to detracting from the Word of God. It is not. The Sinaitic law, the law God gave Moses to write down, was given to Israel—not the world. This was God’s covenant with His people, which He rescued from Egypt. In part, this law was given to Israel so that they could clearly see that they could not be righteous on their own; thus, they needed a Savior (Messiah). We, disciples of Christ, were not rescued from Egypt—we are under a New Covenant relationship, not the Mosaic covenant. But the NC does not negate or eliminate God’s natural law. Those under the law of Christ desire to please God and, therefore, know innately that they cannot transgress the law that existed prior to Moses.
Genesis records no less than 2000 years of human history prior to Moses. During those millennia of years, humans knew right from wrong. Sin exists in Genesis 4 and sin is a transgression of God’s law. We do NOT need the Ten Commandments to know it is evil for Cain to kill Abel. Paul’s words in Roman 2 are very helpful at this point. 14 “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law [of Moses], by nature do what the law [of Moses] requires, they are a law to themselves.” We call this law, that all the nations had prior to Moses, God’s natural law because of Paul’s words “by nature”. Verse 15, “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness.” God’s natural law was written on the human heart by God since the fall of man.
In Genesis 19, Lot asks the men of the city not to “do evil” with the two men he is sheltering in his home. How does he know men raping men is evil without the law of Moses—God’s natural law is the answer. In Genesis 20, Abimelech rebukes Abraham for lying about Sarah being his sister. He says “You have done things to me that should never be done” (v.9). This non-Jew has pronounced a moral judgment without the Law of Moses. God’s natural law existed before the law given at Mt. Sinai and it still stands today as the standard of right and wrong for the world. In Genesis 9 capital punishment is instituted as the law of the land for all nations because all people are made in God’s image.
When we say we are not under the Law of Moses, we are not saying murder is no longer a sin. Murder was wrong before the Law of Moses, and the annulment of the Law of Moses for God’s people does not eliminate God’s natural law written on the hearts of the converted and unconverted. As you study Genesis, you can see that a moral code is alive and well. Read Genesis 34. What Shechem does to Dinah is described as “an outrage against Israel (Jacob) by raping his daughter.” The moral compass in her biological brothers is screaming: This is wrong! Those who have never heard of the Ten Commandments are still culpable before God because of the natural moral law written in their hearts.
In Genesis, sabbath, as rest, is presented as an example to follow. Man should work and then rest. But in Exodus, the Sabbath is presented as the absolute law of the land. Christians no longer under the law of Moses, are not bound to the law of the Sabbath. Read Romans 14. But NC believers are foolish if they ignore the work-rest example of sabbath, presented by God in Genesis 2.