From The Christian Reader:
The Law of God
by Brian Carpenter
Psalm 119 is an extended meditation on the Law of God. The psalmist says in Psalm 119:97, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” That is not just a Jewish sentiment. That is the sentiment of any saved person.
I find that there is a great deal of confusion among Christians today concerning the Law of God. This has not always been so. It used to be that Evangelical Protestantism in general and Reformed Evangelical Protestantism in particular understood the Law of God very well. Now, thanks to the twin corrosive influences of Dispensationalism and Theological Liberalism, the Law of God is in eclipse. We can no longer say with the Psalmist,
Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble. (Psalm 119:165)
I’ve been toying with the idea on a series of meditations on the Law of God. Since the Sturgis Rally will be upon me in a little over a month, it seems an opportune time to do so. I feel great need of the Law of God right now. So let’s start tonight with a meditation on the nature and function of the Law.
The Law of God can properly be divided into three categories. That is to say, there are three kinds of “Law” in the Pentateuch (the highfalootin’ name for the first five books of the Bible.) The first category is the Ceremonial Law. This has to do with what is clean or unclean. This has to do with tabernacle worship, and bloody sacrifices, and various grain and wave and drink offerings. Any time you see the words “unclean,” it probably has to do with the Ceremonial Law.
Now, we Reformed believe that God gave these things as a pointer to Christ. There are certainly some strange things that God desired of his people in this particular chapter of the history of his people. Certain foods were verboten. You were not to wear clothing made of two kinds of cloth. You were not to sow a field with two kinds of seed. God gave these things in order to show forth his authority in the lives of his people (yes, God actually has the right to tell you what to do and when and how, and if that seems arbitrary or inexplicable, tough. Would you rather go to Hell instead? He’s God, the Holy One of Israel, your creator. You don’t mess around with Him.)
The Ceremonial Law has passed away. It has been fulfilled in Christ and is no longer applicable to the Christian. You may freely eat bacon and shellfish, wear blended clothing, and no longer ostracize your wife to the backyard garden shed during her period, unless you just want to for kicks.
The second category is the Civil Law of God. It has to do with the things we find in our courts today. Somebody’s ox trampled somebody else’s field. Restitution shall consist of such and such. You must build a fence around your roof or be liable to fines if somebody falls and is injured. The punishment for this is this and the punishment for that is that.
This, too, has passed away (most Reformed believe, though there are a group known as “Theonomists” who think it hasn’t.) But since this particular category bears close relationship with the final category, the Reformed have traditionally said that “the general equity thereof” still abides. So, for instance, most of you no longer hang out on your roof. Therefore a fence is not required. But if you have a swimming pool, you ought to fence that for the same reason the ancient Hebrew fenced his roof… the safety of his guests and their children. This is why in America historically adultery and homosexuality have been crimes, but not death penalty offenses. Our forefathers wished to keep the offense on the books, but not the biblically prescribed punishment.
The last category is the biggie. It is the Moral Law of God. We find it encapsulated in the 10 Commandments. It shows forth the holiness of God and what he requires of his creatures. It has not passed away. It is of abiding significance. Let me say that again, and louder:
IT HAS NOT PASSED AWAY. IT IS OF ABIDING SIGNIFICANCE!
Now, Jesus himself taught that the 10 Commandments were what we call a “synecdoche.” That means they stand for more than they actually say. So, for instance, you can say, “I never murdered anyone, so I have not broken the Sixth Commandment.” But Jesus says if you are angry at somebody, you have murdered them in your heart. Likewise, a man can come to the Sturgis Rally and never touch any of the silicone-enhanced ladies who are imported for the event, but still lust after the outsized attention-getters he sees everywhere around him, and be an adulterer in his heart and break the Seventh Commandment. Fornication (sex between unmarried people) and homosexuality are both violations of the Seventh Commandment.
Now, it’s 10:15 PM and I have to wrap this up for tonight, so I will quickly brush on the three functions or uses of the Moral Law of God.
The First Use of the Moral Law is to show the sinner his desperate condition. We’re all prone to compare ourselves to others, and think we’re doing good if we’re somewhere between Yassir Arafat and Mother Theresa on the human morality scale. But God wants us to compare ourselves to His holy standard for an accurate measure of our true moral condition. So the Moral Law of God serves as a mirror in which I behold myself in my true condition, realize I’m headed for hell, grow alarmed at my state, and seek grace. Or else I get really cheesed off and punch the guy who’s explaining these things to me and show myself to be reprobate. Either one works. This is why all true evangelism begins with what the old evangelists called “the preliminary Law work.” You have to show people why they need Jesus before you can tell them to come to Jesus and be saved. It’s not a popular way of doing things nowadays. It never really was. I was told last night that someone actually urinated on Whitfield while he preached during the First Great Awakening. I bet he was preaching the First Use of the Law when they did it.
The Second Use of the Moral Law of God is to restrain civic vice and promote civic virtue. This is why we in America have traditionally put the 10 Commandments in our schools and our courtrooms. Sinners aren’t very good at keeping it, but they’re even worse at keeping it when it’s not right in front of them all the time. Today’s society shows that truth very well. We take it out of the schools and out of the courtrooms and wonder why everyone acts like the godless heathens they really are at heart. It’s because we have cast off the Moral Law of God as a nation and a culture.
The Third Use of the Moral Law of God is for the Christian. We are not saved BY keeping the Law of God, but we are saved UNTO keeping the Law of God. In other words, the Law is necessary to sanctification. It is the goal at which we aim for our whole lives. The Christian should try to keep the whole Moral Law of God out of gratitude to the One who saved him, and because it is God’s self revelation of how He is to be pleased.
So, here’s a quick quiz. When I was in the Cincinnati presbytery of the PCUSA, we had a debate on homosexual marriage. The Levitical prohibitions against homosexuality were mentioned. One of the local feminists with a Ph. D. got up and her argument went something like this: “Blah, blah, blah menstrual blood was considered unclean. Blah, blah, blah homosexuality is mentioned three verses later. Blah, blah, blah we don’t worry the one anymore, why worry about the other?” She apparently thought this was a devastating argument and her logic was totally bulletproof, because she made this argument from the floor of presbytery several times over the three years I was there.
So how do we answer her? Aside from noting that she was very enamored with menses?
To be continued…
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