Threefold Division (15)
We must therefore distinguish three kinds of precept in the Old Law; viz. 'moral' precepts, which are dictated by the natural law; 'ceremonial' precepts, which are determinations of the Divine worship; and 'judicial' precepts, which are determinations of the justice to be maintained among men.
We must attend to the well-known division which distributes the whole law of God, as promulgated by Moses, into the moral, the ceremonial, and the judicial law.Institutes
All Christians accept that Christ came to fulfill the law, but what did he mean when he said so in Matthew 5:17? Despite saying in the same breath that he did not come to abolish the law, some interpretations of 'fulfill' demand nothing less than the abolition of the law, leaving us with a Teacher who spoke in unfathomable riddles. In addition, when interpreters look at Matthew 5 in one of several self-imposed contextual microcosms it leads to stifled portrayals of Christ's fulfillment of the law.https://kevinfiske.wordpress.com/tag/threefold-division/
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 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 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 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 Supper
The law of the Lord our God that was handed down to His people through Moses is partly ethical, partly sacrificial, and partly political.A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
those who use the threefold division do not view it as the basis upon which the New Testament develops patterns of continuity and discontinuity, but rather as itself based upon the patterns of continuity and discontinuity developed in the New Testament.From the Finger of God, 165
The threefold division of the law was born and brought to maturity before the two were forced apart.From the Finger of God, 50
The wholesale rejection of the value of this categorisation is premature... only given this premise does Jesus' insistence that he fulfils rather than abolishes the law make sense (Mt. 5:17-20).The Holy Spirit, 164
Strike out the Sabbath and you also shatter the entire category of moral law and all that depends on it.From the Finger of God, 6
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, 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, 1
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