On the Law (2 of 3)
The Tripartite Division of the Law
A big word like Tripartite seems unhelpful in modern discussions about the practicality of Scripture. At the risk of being unhelpful, I’m seeking to use words that I think convey ideas most clearly so that they are not confused. Tripartite is a term that is often used to describe the US Government, and I think that is a helpful analogy as we consider this issue.
The US Government has three branches, Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. Each has different functions and affects the others in different ways. If a branch were to disappear or fail in its duties, it would radically influence the way that other branches carry out their duties. If there is no President, then Congress is hindered in the way it goes about passing laws. If there is no Judiciary, no one can interpret laws, and on and on it goes. When one of them goes away, it changes the function of those other things.
Now returning to the law of God, it is common to speak of it in three divisions. These divisions are the moral law, the civil law, and the ceremonial law. Each “division” is seen in its own context.
Generally speaking, the moral law of God is often said to be summarized in the 10 Commandments. That is, all people everywhere are commanded by God to worship Him, obey their parents, not murder, and so forth.
The civil law comprises those rules and judgments that belonged to Israel under the Old Testament. For example, if an ox gores someone, the ox should be killed (Ex. 21:28). When you’re thinking civil law, think Exodus and Deuteronomy. These Laws are given by God but differ from the moral law. How? They are given to a particular people in the context of a particular covenant. This means that this was the way that the Jewish people were to obey God when they came into the land of Canaan.
The third division of law is that of ceremonial laws. These were laws that regulated Israel’s worship of the Lord in the wilderness generation and in the holy land. Ceremonial laws are closely related to civil laws and sometimes they might even overlap. Nevertheless, it seems clear that ceremonial laws are directly tied to the worship of God in Israel and so remain distinct from the moral law of God and also various civil laws.
Objection
Some might object to this tripartite division of the Law. They might state that this division is never explicitly stated in Scripture and therefore is extra-biblical. The common way to get around this distinction is to state that the entire Law functions as one unit, and therefore we are either bound by all of it or none of it. So to state that we must continue to keep the laws prohibiting murder while abrogating laws about clean and unclean foods seems hypocritical. In fact, it is very common for people defending the LGBTQ agenda to point at Leviticus and state that Christians just pick and choose the laws they like, for no one is condemning people for wearing mixed clothing (Deut. 22:11).
Are we just picking and choosing? Or is there a biblical reason to divide the law in this way?
I would contend that there is a biblical reason for dividing the law into the categories of moral, civil, and ceremonial. Consider two passages in Acts.
Acts 10
Acts 10 is one of my favorite stories in the Scripture, because it is the story where the Lord declares all the animals clean. Peter sees a sheet fall from heaven and it is filled with all kinds of animals and the Lord tells him to kill them and eat them. Peter objects, because he has never eaten unclean animals, to which God responds “What I have made clean do not call common.” (Acts 10:15).
This seems to me to be a clear indication that the Old Covenant laws concerning ceremonial cleanliness have been abrogated. How? Because the blood of Christ is precious enough to wash the vilest sinner clean eternally. There is eternal merit in the blood of Christ, so there is no need to pursue ceremonial cleanliness to come before God and commune with Him. Because of the Christian’s union with Christ, the Old Testament laws concerning ceremonies of cleanliness are done away with. They are abrogated, as the older English authors would say.
What about the civil laws?
Acts 15
The reason for this distinction is clear when we come to a passage like Acts 15. In the early church, the apostles are not sure what they should do when it comes to the Gentiles who are believing in Jesus! Should they be circumcised? Should they follow food laws?(especially since God told Peter they shouldn’t!) What about if a Gentile person’s ox gores another person? Should that law be applied in Ephesus just as it was applied in Israel?
The early church’s answer is clearly no. But what the apostles say in Acts is pretty important for this discussion:
Acts 15:10–11 (ESV)
10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
You can notice that Peter is here applying the Law/Gospel distinction, even if he doesn’t use those words. It is not through obedience to the yoke of their fathers that the Gentiles will be saved. Rather, it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Peter says that none of them have been able to keep the law. Not the civil part, the ceremonial part, or the moral part. The law is not keepable for fallen human beings.
So now, as the gospel goes to the Gentiles, the plan is not to make them Jewish. They are not to adopt the ceremonies or the civil statutes of the Jewish people. Why? Two reasons:
1) they can’t keep the laws of Moses.
2) Jesus kept the law completely in their place.
Romans 5:19 (ESV)
19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
The question then becomes, which part of the Law did Jesus keep? Only the civil? Or the moral and ceremonial parts as well?
I think it is clear that Jesus kept all the parts of the Law, but the only part that is vicariously applied to the sinner is His obedience to the moral Law. That is, we do not gain an inheritance to the land of Israel by Christ’s obedience to the Law. Rather, we gain an inheritance in heaven by Christ’s obedience. We have an inheritance incorruptible because of our Law keeper.
Old Testament Israel was given the Law that they might walk with God in the land of Canaan, but Deuteronomy 28 shows exactly what would happen to the people of God if they did not keep God’s laws, and the people were exiled from the land during the reign of the wicked kings several centuries later. Jesus, however, the true lawkeeper, merited an inheritance that is not perishable, but imperishable for all who believe on His name.
Moral Law
Nevertheless, the Moral Law appears binding. You notice, that whenever Peter addresses the Jerusalem council, he doesn’t say that new Christians should not worry about keeping any part of the law. Rather, he tells them:
Acts 15:20 (ESV)
20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Why these laws and not other laws like circumcision? These things correspond to the worship of idols, violating the first four commandments and also the prohibition against adultery.
Therefore, while the civil and ceremonial laws have been abrogated, the moral law enshrined in the 10 commandments remains as a permanent statute for the people of God, even under the New Covenant.
Law Keeping
The Law’s tripartite division is important. But we should notice that while God’s moral law is unchanging, the way he works throughout history is unique. God gave Israel his Old Covenant laws during the period of the Old Covenant in order to bring about His promised Messiah who would keep the law perfectly on behalf of His people.
So you are free in Christ, friend, to eat bacon. You are free to order fried calamari or get a tattoo. Why? Because Christ has purchased your freedom through His work on your behalf. So thank God for his good law, and thank God for His good Law-Keeper, the Mediator Jesus Christ.
What of the moral law? The next article will consider the ways in which Christians are to use the moral law of God towards its good ends.