SweetSue92
Diamond Member
There is great confusion as to why Christians hold to some OT laws and not others. This can be better understood if you breakdown OT laws for the nation of Israel into three categories:
--Civil Law
--Ceremonial Law
--Moral Law
Civil laws are broadly how to live together as a nation. Ceremonial laws are about how to worship in the tabernacle. Moral laws are how to conduct yourself as a person of God.
The first two--civil and ceremonial laws--are fulfilled. We are not living in the desert as the Nation of Israel. We do not worship in the tabernacle.
The moral laws, such as found in the Ten Commandments, are applicable throughout time.
This should be made more clear by thinking of rules made by parents. At some point, your parents (hopefully) gave you a bedtime. That is a form of a civil law. But you stopped needing 10-12 hours of sleep a night. The bedtime law is not "bad" or "wrong"--it's no longer necessary. The law did what it needed to do when it was necessary.
Hopefully, however, your parents also taught you not to lie or cheat. This law is pertinent when you are six, sixteen, and sixty. This is moral law; it is not made obsolete by differing circumstances (typically).
(A caveat: some say that because the Bible does not have chapters or headings on the Civil, Ceremonial and Moral Laws, these things don't exist. Right. That's like saying because my favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, does not say "this is a love story between a man and woman of different social classes with a good dose of witty and incisive social commentary included" means it is not....that.
Except it is that, and you can conclude this if you read for comprehension.)
--Civil Law
--Ceremonial Law
--Moral Law
Civil laws are broadly how to live together as a nation. Ceremonial laws are about how to worship in the tabernacle. Moral laws are how to conduct yourself as a person of God.
The first two--civil and ceremonial laws--are fulfilled. We are not living in the desert as the Nation of Israel. We do not worship in the tabernacle.
The moral laws, such as found in the Ten Commandments, are applicable throughout time.
This should be made more clear by thinking of rules made by parents. At some point, your parents (hopefully) gave you a bedtime. That is a form of a civil law. But you stopped needing 10-12 hours of sleep a night. The bedtime law is not "bad" or "wrong"--it's no longer necessary. The law did what it needed to do when it was necessary.
Hopefully, however, your parents also taught you not to lie or cheat. This law is pertinent when you are six, sixteen, and sixty. This is moral law; it is not made obsolete by differing circumstances (typically).
(A caveat: some say that because the Bible does not have chapters or headings on the Civil, Ceremonial and Moral Laws, these things don't exist. Right. That's like saying because my favorite novel, Pride and Prejudice, does not say "this is a love story between a man and woman of different social classes with a good dose of witty and incisive social commentary included" means it is not....that.
Except it is that, and you can conclude this if you read for comprehension.)
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