The Three Aspects of Israel's Law

A couple of weeks ago, Jared wrote a reflection on the three uses of the moral law to provide some context for his preaching of the ten commandments. This week, I would like to expand on his reflection to place the moral law in its larger context. This reflection also builds on last week’s reflection on the bounding line of Israel’s legal code. My intention is to provide a further help in how we interpret Exodus 21-23 in light of Christ. The first thing to note is that the moral law is one aspect of Israel’s law. I have chosen the word aspect instead of type because the morality of the law is not limited to a defined set of instructions, e.g. the ten commandments. Rather, it is a vantage point for understanding or unpacking the significance of the revelation of God’s character in Israel’s law.

This moral aspect of Israel’s law is joined to two other aspects: the civil and the ceremonial. The civil aspect is reflected in the laws that governed Israel as a society, as a nation, especially in its dealings with other peoples and the penalties for breaking God’s law. The ceremonial aspect is reflected in the laws that governed Israel’s public worship and also set God’s people apart from the surrounding nations. For any law, one or more of these aspects may be represented. For example, while the ten commandments are typically thought of as the summary of the moral law—and that’s a perfectly reasonable expression to use—it should not be forgotten that at least the fourth commandment includes civil and ceremonial aspects. Even strict Christian observers of the Sabbath recognize that the seventh day Sabbath has been transformed into a first day Sabbath. That is to say, they recognize that there are civil and ceremonial aspects to this predominantly moral law.

Now, with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the civil and ceremonial aspects of the law have been so completely fulfilled that they no longer apply in this way to the church in the New Testament age (cf. WCF 19.3-4). For example, Jesus rails against the religious leaders of his day for their strict observance of certain ceremonial laws, tithing mint, dill, and cumin, all while neglecting the weightier and moral matters like justice, mercy, and faithfulness (Matt 23:23). Again, working against the traditions of men that instrumentalized the law, Jesus declares all foods clean as he points to the moral aspect of the dietary laws (Mark 7:14-23). To be sure, it took the work of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost to lead the church into an understanding that the ceremonial aspect was not enduring (cf. Acts 10) but rather a type and shadow of the true reality in Christ (Col 2:16-19).

Similarly for the civil aspect, when Christ told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), he, in whom all the Law and Prophets are fulfilled, reframed that civil aspect of the law. But it is not as though the moral aspect was lost. Paul translates the death penalty for an inappropriate relationship into excommunication from the church of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 5:1-5). Particularly with the civil aspect, there remains a “general equity thereof” that does apply even today (WCF 19.4). Chad van Dixhoorn cites the example of Paul employing Deut 25:4 (ESV), “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,” as the proof for why ministers ought to be paid for their service to Christ’s church (1 Cor 9:8-10).[1] Another commonly cited example is Deut 22:8 (ESV), “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.” The “general equity thereof” is the taking of preventive measures to keep a person from being harmed on your property, e.g. shoveling your front steps so that the mailman doesn’t get hurt. Thus, the moral aspect can be appreciated even in laws that more directly pertain to the civil and ceremonial life of Israel.

All of this discussion is designed to help us appreciate how we find profit in the legal code of Exodus 21-23 and elsewhere. Because all of the Law and the Prophets has been fulfilled, not destroyed, in Christ, what remains is the moral aspect, that reflection of God’s own perfect character that is present in all of his holy Word. We may profit from laws concerning two men quarreling (Exod 21:12-14) not because we have a one-to-one relationship between Israel’s law and Christ’s church, but because in Christ we can appreciate the moral aspect of seeking to be peacemakers (cf. Matt 5:9).

[1] Chad B Van Dixhoorn, Confessing the Faith: A Reader’s Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2014), 245–46.