Program / Course 22: Christian Ethics / Lesson 2.1
What you will learn
- Describe the threefold division of the Old Testament law into moral, civil and ceremonial parts.
- Explain why Christians have used this division and what texts support it.
- State the main criticisms of the division and the alternatives proposed.
- Summarize how Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions treat the law after Christ.
The big idea
The first five books of the Bible contain hundreds of commands about worship, purity, justice and daily life. Christians do not follow all of them in the same way. For centuries, most have sorted the commands into three groups: moral laws that bind everyone, civil laws that governed ancient Israel as a nation, and ceremonial laws about sacrifice and purity that Christ fulfilled. The sorting is old and useful, but it is not stated in the text, and modern scholars and theologians have questioned it. Each tradition handles the question somewhat differently.
Key terms
- Torah
- A Hebrew word meaning instruction or teaching. It names the first five books of the Bible and, more broadly, God’s instruction to Israel.
- Moral law
- In the traditional division, the commands that express permanent duties to God and neighbor, summed up in the Ten Commandments.
- Civil (judicial) law
- In the traditional division, the laws that governed the political life of ancient Israel, such as penalties and courts.
- Ceremonial law
- In the traditional division, the laws about sacrifice, priesthood, festivals, food and purity.
- Antinomianism
- The view that Christians are free from any obligation to moral law. Most traditions reject it, though they have accused one another of it.
- Uses of the law
- A Reformation way of describing what the law does: it restrains evil in society, drives sinners to Christ, and guides believers.
- Covenant
- A binding relationship between God and a people, with promises and obligations. The law is given within the covenant at Sinai.
Background
The Hebrew Bible presents law as part of a covenant. God rescues Israel from Egypt, then gives the commandments at Sinai (Exodus 19 and 20). The law covers moral duties, such as not murdering, but also the building of the tabernacle, the duties of priests and the laws of clean and unclean food. The text does not label these as separate kinds. They are mixed together, and some commands combine aspects, such as the Sabbath, which is both worship and rest from work.
The New Testament speaks of the law in several ways. Jesus says that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it (Matthew 5:17). Paul says that the law is holy and good (Romans 7:12), that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth (Romans 10:4), and that Gentile believers need not be circumcised, as the council in Acts 15 decided. The letter to the Hebrews says that the sacrifices are fulfilled in Christ. Readers have long asked how these statements fit together, and the threefold division is a main answer.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The threefold division
Aquinas gave the division its classic form in the Summa Theologiae (First Part of the Second Part, Questions 98 to 105). Moral precepts belong to natural law and bind always. Ceremonial precepts directed worship under the old covenant and are now fulfilled in Christ, so that to keep them as required would be to deny that he has come. Judicial precepts organized the common life of Israel as a state, and are not binding on other societies in the same form, though they show principles of justice.
The Reformers adopted the division. The Westminster Confession, chapter 19, says that God gave Israel ceremonial laws now abrogated under the New Testament, and judicial laws that expired with the state of Israel, but that the moral law binds all people forever. The Heidelberg Catechism, Lutheran writings and the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles (Article 7) speak similarly, though with differences of emphasis.
Step 2: Support from Scripture
Defenders cite several things. The Ten Commandments were spoken by God to the whole people and written on stone, and the prophets treat their breach as sin against God. The New Testament repeats many of them (Romans 13:9). Paul and the council of Acts 15 release Gentile believers from circumcision and ritual laws while still calling them to avoid idolatry and sexual immorality. Hebrews says the priesthood and sacrifices are replaced by Christ. Jesus summarizes the law and the prophets as love of God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40), which points to a core of moral law.
Texts also show that the division is not the whole story. The prophets sometimes say that mercy matters more than sacrifice (Hosea 6:6, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 9:13), showing that ceremonial law had a moral purpose. And the civil laws of Israel often rest on moral principles, such as the protection of the poor and the stranger.
Step 3: Criticisms of the division
Scholars raise several objections. First, the Bible itself does not use the three categories, and some commands cannot be clearly placed. Is the law against mixed fabrics ceremonial or moral? Is the Sabbath moral, ceremonial or both? Second, the division can be used selectively. Critics say people may call a command moral when they like it and ceremonial when they do not, and this has been charged in debates about sexual ethics, usury, and the status of slavery laws. Defenders reply that the tradition has principles for sorting, including appeal to the New Testament’s own use of a command.
Third, some argue that the Torah is a unity that cannot be divided. Jewish tradition holds the commandments as a whole, though it also distinguishes the commands for all humanity, the seven laws of Noah, from those for Israel. Some Christian theologians, such as those in the Anabaptist and in some New Covenant traditions, hold that Christ’s teaching replaces the old law as the Christian rule. Others, such as certain Reformed theonomists, argue that the civil laws of Israel still carry authority. These are minority positions in the Reformed world.
Step 4: Other ways to read the law
Paul’s discussion in Romans and Galatians has led to a long debate. The traditional Protestant reading, from Luther, sees the law as showing sin and driving people to Christ. Since the 1970s, a group of scholars called the New Perspective on Paul, including E. P. Sanders and N. T. Wright, argue that Paul is mainly addressing the ethnic boundary markers of the law, such as circumcision and food laws, and the question of who belongs to the people of God. Critics, including many Reformed scholars, say that the traditional reading remains sound. The debate is live.
Catholic and Orthodox readings stress that the law was a preparation for Christ, a tutor (Galatians 3:24), and that the new law of the Gospel is the grace of the Holy Spirit expressed in the Sermon on the Mount. Aquinas calls the new law mainly an inward gift and secondarily a written teaching.
- Which kind of law is this command, moral, civil or ceremonial, and what is the reason for placing it there?
- How does the New Testament treat this command?
- Is the command grounded in creation, in the covenant with Israel, or in both?
- What purpose did this law serve in its original setting?
- Is the sorting of this command consistent with how similar commands are sorted?
- What would a person from another tradition say about how this command applies today?
Examples
Murder and mildew
The prohibition of murder (Exodus 20:13) is repeated in the New Testament and treated as binding on all. The laws about mildew in houses (Leviticus 14) belong to the ancient purity system and are not applied to modern houses by any major Christian tradition. Most commands are somewhere between these cases, and that is where debate arises.
The Sabbath
Some Christians hold that the fourth commandment is a permanent moral law, so that Sunday takes the place of the seventh day. Others, such as Seventh-day Adventists, keep the seventh day. Many Lutherans and Catholics hold that the day of worship is set by the church while the principle of rest and worship is permanent. The traditions agree that the commandment is in the Decalogue but differ on what it requires.
Judicial laws as principle
The law of Israel required that a rooftop have a parapet so that no one fall (Deuteronomy 22:8). Few apply this verse as such, but many see in it a principle of responsibility for others’ safety, which they apply to modern building codes. This is the kind of use that the tradition calls drawing out the general equity of the judicial law.
Different perspectives
Catholic
Catholic teaching holds that the Old Law, the law of Moses, was good and holy but imperfect, a preparation for the New Law of the Gospel. Its moral precepts, summed up in the Decalogue, remain binding. The ceremonial and judicial precepts are fulfilled and not binding in themselves. The New Law is chiefly the grace of the Holy Spirit given to believers, as taught by Aquinas and the Catechism.
Orthodox
Orthodox tradition receives the Old Testament as Scripture and reads the law as pointing to Christ. The Fathers often read ritual laws allegorically as signs of the Christian mysteries. The moral commandments are binding and are deepened in the teaching of Christ. Orthodox writers speak less in terms of a threefold division and more of the law as a tutor leading to Christ and now fulfilled in the life of the church.
Protestant
Lutheran, Reformed and Anglican confessions affirm the threefold division. They differ in the use of the law: Lutherans stress that the law first accuses, Reformed writers stress its use as a guide for the redeemed. Anabaptist and Baptist traditions vary, with some placing the teaching of Christ above the old law. Dispensational writers distinguish the law for Israel from the age of the church. Some Reformed theonomists argue that civil laws still bind.
Jewish
Jewish tradition reads the Torah as a whole whose commandments remain binding on Jews, interpreted through the rabbinic tradition. It distinguishes the commands for Israel from the seven Noahide laws for all humanity. Jewish scholars object that Christian categories cut the Torah into parts that the text does not separate, and that the claim that the law is fulfilled and ended is not accepted.
Scholarly
Biblical scholars generally note that the categories are later systematic constructs. Many find them helpful, others find them artificial. Scholars such as Sanders and Wright have shifted attention to the covenantal and community functions of the law in Paul. Others, such as Douglas Moo and Thomas Schreiner, defend more traditional readings.
Why it matters
A student who reads the Bible without a way to handle its laws will either apply everything or apply nothing. Neither is what any Christian tradition does. Understanding the threefold division, and its critics, helps a reader see why different churches reach different conclusions from the same book and what is at stake when one cites a verse from Leviticus or Deuteronomy.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Christians ignore the Old Testament laws they do not like.
Correction: Christians in every tradition work from a principle, such as the division or Christ’s fulfilment of the law. Critics may find the principle inconsistent, but the aim is not convenience. The fair test is whether the principle is applied evenly.
Misunderstanding: The Bible itself teaches a threefold division.
Correction: The division is a later summary of the way the New Testament treats the law. It is old, and widely used, but it is not stated in Scripture.
Misunderstanding: Jesus abolished the law.
Correction: Jesus says he came to fulfil it (Matthew 5:17). How he fulfils it is what the traditions discuss. None teaches that morality is abolished.
Misunderstanding: Jews and Christians read the law in the same way.
Correction: Jewish tradition holds the commandments binding on Jews in all their parts, while Christians hold that Christ has fulfilled much of the law. The relation is a major question in both faiths.
Knowledge check
What are the three categories of Old Testament law in the traditional division?
Moral law expresses permanent duties to God and neighbor and is summed up in the Ten Commandments. Civil or judicial law governed Israel as a nation. Ceremonial law concerned sacrifices, priesthood, festivals and purity. Christians have usually held that the moral law remains binding and the other two are fulfilled in Christ.
Name two criticisms of the threefold division.
The text does not itself use the categories, and some commands, such as the Sabbath, do not fit neatly. The division can also be used selectively, so that people call a command moral when they agree with it. Jewish scholars add that the Torah is a unity not meant to be cut into parts.
How do Lutheran and Reformed writers differ in the use of the law?
Both hold that the law restrains evil and shows sin. Lutherans put the most weight on the law as accusing, driving sinners to Christ. Reformed writers give more weight to the law as a guide for the life of the redeemed, the so-called third use. Both affirm all three uses.
What is the New Perspective on Paul, in brief?
It is a scholarly movement that argues that Paul’s criticism of the works of the law mainly concerned markers of Jewish identity, such as circumcision and food laws, and the question of who belongs to the people of God, not a general scheme of earning salvation. Many scholars adopt parts of it, while others defend the older reading.
Think it through
- Can you give a principle for deciding which Old Testament laws bind Christians today? Is it applied evenly?
- Why might a Jewish reader find the Christian threefold division unconvincing?
- Does the idea that Christ fulfils the law make morality easier or more demanding?
- Which tradition’s treatment of the law, Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, seems closest to Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:17?
Independent assignment
Sorting ten commands
In your notebook, write 400 to 600 words. Read Leviticus 19 and choose ten commands from it. Classify each as moral, civil or ceremonial according to the traditional division, and give a reason from the New Testament for each decision. Mark any that you find hard to classify and say why. Finish by stating one weakness of the division. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae Read the treatise on the Old Law, Questions 98 to 105.
- Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith Read the chapter on the law of God.
- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion Read the discussion of the three uses of the law.
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read Exodus 19 to 24 and Leviticus 19 in a Jewish translation.
- Matthew 5:17 Not to destroy but to fulfil.
- Romans 7:12 The law is holy.
- Galatians 3:24 The law as schoolmaster.
- Acts 15:19 The council’s decision about Gentile believers.