This debate-page is a debate between two different schools of thought regarding Christianity. Therefore, only for this page, < means against OT laws still being binding, and >> means pro OT laws still being binding. The website encourages review of both sides of the argument.
< STRONG Ceremonial laws have passed away, civil laws have changed, and moral laws will remain forever.
The Old Testament laws can be divided into three categories: ceremonial, civil, and moral law.
Ceremonial laws were added because the moral laws were being broken. They consisted of ordinances, ceremonies, and sacrifices that pointed to the future redemption through Jesus. For example, the Passover feast and first fruit offerings required of the Jews represented Christ (1 Cor 5:7 and 15:20-23). After Christ's death, the ceremonial law no longer needed to be observed:
"Having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, 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 a sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." (Col 2:14-17)
"By abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace..." (Eph 2:15)
"For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near...And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." (Heb 10:1,11,12)
"Since its primary purpose was to point to the coming Savior, Jesus made it unnecessary. He did not abolish it, in the sense of destroying it; He fulfilled it. Nowhere do we read that Jesus thought that the ceremonial law was wrong. The principles behind the ceremonial law are still applicable to us today, that is, the principles of worshipping and serving a holy God." (http://www.hoshuha.com/articles/moses.html)
"The civil law prescribed rules for the Israelites' daily living. These laws separated the Jews from the Gentiles, and gave the Gentiles the example of how a holy people should live. Since much was given to the Jews, much was expected. But God gave a new covenant in Christ, and there is now no distinction to be made between Jew and Gentile. We are still to follow the requirements of this law as God's people, but the punishments are not for any nation to impose on its people, because we are no longer separated by nations but by God's grace (Christians and non-Christians)." (http://www.hoshuha.com/articles/moses.html)
Further, "When it comes to what do you do with a thief, a rapist, or a murderer those things have not changed in Christ. The basic law has not changed, but what has changed is the ability to go to God for further light." (http://www.truthortradition.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=618). Click the link for more on civil law.
Moral laws are eternal, universal, and based on God's own character. For example, the commandment to not bear false witness is a specific application of God's will for us to tell the truth. This is based off of God's nature- he is honest and trustworthy. Similarly, he wants everyone else to be honest also. This principle of honesty is always true and should be followed by everyone, everywhere, all the time; it's a moral law. God wanted to make a new covenant, and it consisted of writing the moral law in our minds and hearts (Heb 8:10). The Ten commandments are a summary of the moral laws, so we should follow them.
From these categories, circumcision would be considered a ceremonial law, used as a mark of the covenant and to establish one as clean versus unclean. It no longer needs to be done, as Paul makes crystal clear in his letters (1 Cor 7:18, Gal 5:2, Rom 2:25, etc).
The Sabbath was a ceremonial/civil law given to the Israelites. It does not need to be followed today. Click here for a debate page on this specific subject.
The tithe transferred through the cross and is applicable today. The priests collected the tithes of the people and brought them into the storehouse. Jesus is our High Priest in heaven (Heb 4:14), so we are to tithe today. Not as a matter of law, but as an act of worship.
- http://www.gci.org/law/sabbath/moral, http://www.hoshuha.com/articles/moses.html
>> But those distinctions (moral, civil, ceremonial) are man-made.
" I would argue those distinctions are man made, since there is no Scriptural support for the terms, though I’ve read the passages people use to try and extrapolate them from.
Rather, G-d’s commandments in Torah are classified in one of two ways: positive (commanded to do something) or negative (commanded not to do something). This is the way my rabbis in yeshiva teach me, and it’s the way Torah has been taught since the beginning. In fact, throughout the Tanakh we find prophets referring to the completeness or oneness of the Law itself. Saul in Galatians 5:7 himself says, “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised (physically and/or of the heart), that he is a debtor to do the whole Law.”
If I were to read that I am “a debtor to do the whole Law” I would interpret that to mean I am not free to pick and choose which commandments and aspects of Torah to follow, but that I have been commanded to follow, as it says, the whole of it–all of it."
- Reggie from http://versebyversecommentary.com/matthew/matthew-518/
>> But what about Paul's commandments regarding church structure and such?
For example, he forbade women to talk in church.
< Refer to the following pages for more on the role of women in church.
>> What about Jesus saying not one commandment was to be relaxed?
Please see the argument below entitled: "Yes. Jesus said He didn't come to abolish the Law and the Prophets."
< He was talking about moral and civil laws only.
There are laws which passed away through Christ's work on the cross, such as the sacrifical laws, thus not all of the laws are included in his statement. He was speaking about the moral and civil laws (see above for more). (from another argument)
>> But the law shows what sin is, and so to disobey the law is to sin.
Therefore, if the law is obsolete, then disobeying the law is no longer "sinful." But people can still sin, therefore the law still seems relevant. Here is the verse that shows how the law brings about knowledge of sin:
Rom 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Also, in the following verse, it says without the law, sin is dead. But today, people sin, so sin isn't dead. And so it makes no sense to say the law is irrelevant today.
Rom 7:8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
>> Yes. Jesus said He didn't come to abolish the Law and the Prophets.
For he said:
Mat 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Mat 5:18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
>> Yes, for whatever defiles a people and thus makes the land "vommit them out," deserves at least a Christian to review.
"Do not forget that it was not only Israel that was held accountable for disobeying God's laws. Take, for example, Leviticus 18:24-30:
‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore you shall keep My ordinance, so that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: I am the LORD your God.’”
- http://www.hoshuha.com/articles/moses.html
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