Quote 4072
The law of the Lord our God that was handed down to His people through Moses is partly ethical, partly sacrificial, and partly political.
Theodore Beza
A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s SupperOther Quotes from the Author & Topic
According to this view, the law is divided into three categories: the dietary laws, the ceremonial laws, and the moral laws. As helpful as those distinctions may be, we must keep in mind that for the Jew in the Old Testament period, all of the law was moral. It was a moral issue to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego whether they obeyed the dietary laws of God while they were in exile. It was a moral issue for Israel whether it obeyed the ceremonial law. Yet the purpose in our day of distinguishing between the three is to communicate that there is still a substantive stratum of law in the Old Testament that seems to continue into the life of the New Testament church.
How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?The Law, Threefold Division0How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
In regard to use, the moral is the end of the others, while the others are subservient to the moral.
A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s SupperThe Law, Threefold Division0A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The moral law regards the Israelite people as men; the ceremonial as the church of the Old Testament expecting the promised Messiah; the civil regards them as a peculiar people who in the land of Canaan ought to have a republic suiting their genius and disposition.
A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s SupperThe Law, Threefold Division0A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The moral law is for the most part expressed by mtsvth ("precepts"), the ceremonial by chqym ("statutes") and the judicial by mshptym ("judgments"), which the Septuagint renders by entolas, dikaiōmata and krimata. "I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them" (Dt. 5:31); so also in 6:1, 20; 7:11; and Lev. 26:46. Sometimes however these words are synonymous and used promiscuously (Ezk. 5:6; 20:11, 16, 18). But the distinction appears principally from the nature of the thing and the office of the law (whose it is to settle the order according to which man is joined to God and his neighbor)
A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s SupperThe Law, Threefold Division0A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
he law given by Moses is usually distinguished into three species: moral (treating of morals or of perpetual duties towards God and our neighbor); ceremonial (of the ceremonies or rites about the sacred things to be observed under the Old Testament); and civil, constituting the civil government of the Israelite people. The first is the foundation upon which rests the obligation of the others and these are its appendices and determinations. Ceremonial has respect to the first table determining its circumstances, especially as to external worship. Civil has respect to the second table in judicial things, although it lays down punishments for crimes committed against the first table.
A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s SupperThe Law, Threefold Division0A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The non-binding laws were exclusively 'ceremonial'... Laws concerning everyday civil matters in the Israelite community are binding in their underlying principles... The only laws that are, without exception, ever-binding are the laws of the Decalogue.
From the Finger of God, 2The Law, Threefold Division0From the Finger of God, 2
the threefold division of the law is catholic doctrine. Throughout history, the church's most prominent theologians expounded, maintained, and defended its teaching.
From the Finger of God, 1The Law, Threefold Division0From the Finger of God, 1
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