Categorizing the Law

[Guest]

Sorry, I worded it poorly

I wasn't saying Jesus divided them into 3 categories

I was saying that when we follow Jesus it tends to produce an observable division

[Guest]

Perhaps this thought might be helpful. A person who emigrates from England to the United States is no longer under obligation to adhere to any of the laws of England. Being in the U.S., he will find many laws seem to be the same (murder, theft, &c) but he will readily recognize that he is not under any of the laws of his former country. There would be no point in comparing and categorizing the laws of his former home and his new one. His greatest happiness is to be obtained in simply following the laws required by his new citizenship.

Likewise, we are citizens of a new kingdom, unlike the old, and find our greatest good in following Christ, whose law is more excellent than the Law of Moses, just as Christ is more excellent than Moses. This is not to say the Law was not good, for it was "holy, just, and good", but we have something even better.

What need have we of the Law to show us how we ought to live? We have Jesus' teachings which burst the bounds of the Law. In Matt. 5:21-22, Jesus first "You have heard it said....But I say unto you..." concerned one of the Ten Commandments! If you study the Sermon on the Mount, you can find every idea in it also repeated, perhaps in other words, in the epistles, which shoots down the idea of some that the SOM does not apply to us.

As has been noted before elsewhere on this forum, you could keep the Law of Moses perfectly and be a failure as a Christian.

[Guest]

Someone has written a book entitled "The Law above the Law". It seems to me that there is a basic law of God which is applicable to all people in all ages.

In philosophy, these are called "basic moral principles".
These basic principles transcend cultural differences as well as personal values. Although some societies practice them more consistently than others, virtually everyone seems to believe in them. That, of course, does not imply that many people adhere to them.

In Christ's teachings in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, he was in essence stating the same things that were stated in the law, except they were more than external. They dealt also with peoples' motives.

When Paul stated that "to those without law, I became as one without law", he was careful to add "not being without law toward God".

To this basic law of God there were added other laws which are NOT applicable to all people of all ages. As Justin Martyr pointed out to Trypho,
holy men of God before Moses "kept no sabbaths" and yet they were pronounced as "righteous".

[Guest]

also very helpful

thanks again everyone

[RND]

What do you think about the school of thought that categorizes Old Testament law into 3 categories (moral, cermonial, civil). This line of thinking usually implies that moral law still applies to Christians, but the other two categories do not.

Without this model, how do we decide what Old Testament laws are still applicable and which laws are not? Do we simply seek to love God & love people and let the details fall where they may?

God bless,
matthew

Actually there are four divisions of law and that is Moral, Ceremonial, Civil and Health laws. In fact this division was known in early protestantism through Westley and Calvin. The Westminster Confession of Faith, written in 1646 separates the Mosaic Law into three areas: moral, civil, and ceremonial. Under the Westminster Confession, only the moral laws such as the Ten Commandments apply to Christians. The Westminster Confession is used by Presbyterians and Calvinists today. The fact of the matter is that all the law is still relevant for today.