Episode 8 - The Law

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Introduction

What’s up, guys!

This is Josh with Shepherd’s Cast and I want to welcome you to the podcast where I talk to you about the things that I find important. My content is meant to inform, educate, puzzle, or be funny. If it does something other than what I’ve just said, then Soli Deo Gloria, we will just call it providence. All of what I say is read from blog posts that I have written and can be found on my website with the link in the show notes.

So, anyway, yeah, here we go…

Topic

Rather than simply taking a verse and breaking it down into the context of its origin, I wanted to take an opportunity to touch on a subject that I still regularly see debated. That subject, which still garners heated discussion between many religious groups, is the law of God and what, if any, is to be followed.

For example, you have a group that we could refer to as the “Torah Bro’s” who believe that the entire law is to be followed despite what Christ has done for us. Likewise, on the other end of the table, you have a group more commonly known as “Hyper-Grace,” also known as “Antinomian.” To define what antinomian means we will break the word down; we have “anti-,” which means “opposed to,” and “nomian,” which is someone who upholds religious law. Putting that together, someone who believes in Hyper-Grace, or someone who is Antinomian, is someone who is opposed to the law of God. With these examples defined I want to take the time to answer which end of the spectrum we should end up on. Which end of the law-following scale is the biblical one?

Before we really get started, I believe it may be of further benefit for us to determine the multiple kinds of law in the Bible, as there are certainly more than one category. In doing this, I’m going to define what each one actually is in order to determine its importance and placement as a category. This will help us sort the laws we come across in the bible easier as well as aid us in interpretation.

The first category of law that we will explain we will refer to as the Ceremonial Law. We can derive the larger meaning out of what the name already seems to suggest - ceremony. This often dealt with the issues of cleanness/uncleanness or ritual purity. Things like circumcision, food, or dietary laws, and sacrifices would be placed in this category of law.

Second, we have what we will call the Civil Law. In a state of government that is ruled by priests in the name of God, which is called a theocracy, Israel was given specific laws and commands to follow. These were specific to Israel, the country, and consist of things such as the stoning of homosexuals or witches. In a modern explanation of this, Civil Law is what you follow in your own country today. Things such as road laws or city ordinances, except we don’t typically stone people for having their music too loud.

And, finally, we have something that is called the Moral Law. As a reference point for this, simply think of the Ten Commandments. Yes, this includes the Sabbath, but that is an entirely different podcast for a day when I have much more time to commit to recording. The general thing to see in this, however, is to not kill, not steal, not covet, etc.

In order to lightly touch on this subject I will pull out a couple of different texts, along with their context, of course, in order to determine where we should stand. If we are to remain Biblical, and true to the word of God, these things are necessary in order to be obedient to His will for us. As Jesus says, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments,” John 14:15.

Ceremonial Law

The first text we are going to pull out comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. Now, remember, we are looking to categorize the law and determine if said category is something that we should maintain today.

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

Colossians 2:13-17

While this text contains a wonderful amount of truth, our focus in this instance is the law. The law that brought with it legal demands which had a record against us (Romans 3:20). This was set aside, nailing it to the cross. As we see, however, this word law is used ambiguously in that we must define what it means, and that is done so in the following verses. “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath.” Paul goes on to say why no one should pass judgment on these things. “These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

We can already see from this context that there are buzz-words that relate to a specific law category we mentioned previously, and that is the Ceremonial Law. This text is saying that these ceremonies should not be cause for judgment to come upon the recipients of the letter, i.e. Christians. The ceremonies were all meant to point to the person and work of Jesus Christ and our need for Him.

The easiest and most clear picture of this shadow or type can be found in Leviticus 16:6-10. It says “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.”

This ceremony was an expression of imputation that pointed to Christ. They were just shadows of what was to come - that of which was Christ Who would take away the sins of those for whom He died. The sins of the people were communicated to the goat and the goat carried them outside of the camp and away from the people. Hebrews says “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” Therefore, it is clear and apparent that the sacrificial law, alongside the ceremonial law, has been fulfilled in Christ and is thus finished, as Christ’s sacrifice was “once for all.”

Civil Law

With this negation of the ceremonial law, I want to turn our attention to the law of the land, or the Civil Law, and for that I want to appeal to a text in John chapter 18.

“So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”

John 18:29-32.

As we see in this text, the Jews cannot put anyone to death. How can this be when in Leviticus 20:1-2, we clearly see an example of a call to put people to death who sacrifice children to Molech? The reason for this is simple: the law of the land was no longer a theocracy - it was run by the Roman government. And in this law, a higher authority had to be the one to sentence a person to death. Paul goes into detail on the law of the land in his epistle to the Romans, specifically chapter 13. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” Romans 13:1-2

The argument from people who hold to the Civil Law given to Israel is that the entire law of God is Holy and Perfect and should not be subjugated. The problem proposed is more a matter of perspective. Those who suggest we are to hold to the theocracy that was presented by God in the books of Moses make a grave error in suggesting that the current governors are not appointed by God. Theologian John Calvin even goes as far as to say that “When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers” in his interpretation of Jeremiah 23:19. Thus we can conclude the civil law that is outlined for Israel was, for a time, the law of the governing land and it has been, not done away with, but replaced, by the current law of the land.

Moral Law

This brings us to our third, and final, category of law, which is the Moral Law. And for that text, I want to quote Jesus’ words on the two greatest laws. Jesus says the two greatest commandments are:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the prophets.”

Matthew 22:37-40.

And that’s all the time we have for today. Thanks for coming by and listening to my explanation of the law. Kidding.

The antinomian view would take these verses at face value, minus verse 40, of course, and leave it at that. To love God and to love people, and that is all. The problem, however, is that verse 40 not only exists, but is expressed in more depth in Romans 13. “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” So, as we see Paul expressing, the second greatest commandment was a summary of the moral law, or part of the ten commandments.

In order to dive deeper into this concept, I want to take a look at the ten commandments. In this explanation I am going to break them up into two separate groups.

For the first group, we will start with commandment 5 and work our way down the list. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. And You shall not covet. This list, of course, can be found in Exodus 20. What I want to point out from this first list is that it consists of the second greatest commandment: to love people. Think of this as one tablet, of the two, that the ten commandments were etched onto by the finger of God.

For the second group, we will go back to commandment 1 and work our way down the list. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. If works are a sign of love in the second greatest commandment as explained by Paul, interpretation would make it necessary that works are also important and a sign of love of the greatest commandment. And, thus, to love God would be to do all of those things that He has highlighted we do toward Him. Or, as Jesus says in John 14:15, if you love me you will obey my commandments. Thus, we will consider these four commandments on the other tablet given to Moses.

I want to clarify something before I move forward. The works I’m talking about add nothing to your salvation nor do they earn your salvation. The complete and finished work of Christ Jesus is whose good works have saved us. The works you do after as an expression of love to God and to people are simply that: expressions of the love you have for them in obedience to the first and second greatest commandment as expressed in Matthew 22.

I want to be clear, however, that the moral law does not end with the ten commandments, they are just the example I chose to use. It consists of not being a witch, it consists of not practicing homsexuality, it consists of taking care of the body that is your temple of the Holy Spirit, it consists of not committing sexual sin, and a multitude of other things. It consists of the laws that consider morality and apply to all people throughout all time. It consists of those things that are sin before a Holy, Righteous, and Perfect God. And we do not keep these laws for our salvation - we keep them because we want to. We keep them because the new heart that is within us, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, wants to please the God of our salvation. We keep them, because we love God, and we love people.

In conclusion, then, brothers and sisters, in regard to the law, we are not antinomian, nor are we “Torah Bros.” We are biblical - not because we have to be, but because we want to be.

Final Word

I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast. It is always a pleasure to bring the word of God to those who are seeking to know more about Him.

The final word of the day comes to us from a guy who struggles with determining the place of coffee in the two greatest commandments.

*To hear this you must listen to my podcast*

A special thanks to Jesus Wannabeez for allowing me to use their newest track, Ephesians 6, in my intro and outro music. You can find a link to their Spotify in the show notes. And to Lee with Reformed Meditations for giving me the final word of the day, link also in the show notes.

And, as always, may the light of the Holy God shine upon you..

Amen.