“The Law”RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD(part 1a)

This Series

• Is not a mini series but will have several installments• Will have milk and meaty components (Heb. 5:12-14)• I will do my best to keep it as clear and simple as possible,

though, we must respect that some things can be more difficult (2 Pet. 3:16)

• Will have some ideas that are introduced that will not be elaborated on until later

• Today’s two lessons serve more as introductory material• Some of the lessons build on each other while others are

independent

What Is Law?

• “Law,” – a rule or standard by which our lives are to work and be governed

• The way things ought to work– Natural law (Biogenesis, Gravity, Thermodynamics,

etc.)• God put these laws into effect and man has observed

them• Non-living matter never produces living material• Jump off a building you will always fall• Drink poison you will get sick and likely die

What Is Law?

• Social laws– Designed to give us

“measured freedom”• Traffic laws are to promote

the liberty to drive; they do not license the liberty to drive reckless or erupt in road rage, etc.

• Right to bear arms, freedom of speech, pursuit of happiness, etc.

• With freedom comes responsibility

• Not freedom at the expense of our neighbor

What Is Law?

• Spiritual laws (Ps. 19:7-11)– Are designed to benefit us when obeyed

(compare, Deut. 6:1-3)– Define what is right, wrong, true, good, etc.

2 Timothy 2:15

• Separate Covenants: Old and New Covenants• Called “New” makes the other “Old”• “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first

obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13)

• Cannot Coexist: “…He takes away the first that He may establish the second” (Heb. 10:9)• Much religious confusion stems from an improper

understanding of the covenants (Sabbath-keeping, instrumental music, infant baptism, divorce, separate priesthood, works, etc.)

• “Rightly dividing the word of God” in the most basic form

OLD TESTAMENTNEW TESTAMENT

• Prophets and Psalms fall under “law” (1 Cor. 14:21; Jn. 10:34)

• Points to Christ (Jn. 5:39; Gal. 3:24)

• Looks to the New Testament (Jer. 31:31-34; Gal. 3:22, 23)

• Could not justify (Acts 13:39; Gal. 2:21)

• Reveals examples of godliness (Heb. 11:4ff)

• Contrasts the holiness of God to the wickedness of man (Ps. 119:137, 138; 130:3; Rom. 3:19, 20)

Fulfills the Old (Matt. 5:17) Delivers us from the Old

(Rom. 7:6; Eph. 2:15) Reveals the full nature of

God (Jn. 8:38; 14:7-11; Col. 1:15)

Reveals the full malignity of sin (2 Cor. 5:21)

Reveals the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:16, 17; 3:21)

Reveals the plan for pardon/atonement (Col. 1:14, 20; Rom. 5:9; 6:3, 4)

OLD TESTAMENTNEW TESTAMENTThe Law of Moses The Law of Christ

Moses and Prophets Christ and Apostles

2 Timothy 2:15

Making divisions where there are none intended is wrongly dividing the word!

OLD TESTAMENTNEW TESTAMENT

Law of God Law of Moses

Permanent Temporary

Artificial Distinction!

Sabbath-keepers Today Contend That:• The Ten Commandments constitute the “law of

God” and everything else is the “Law of Moses”• The Ten Commandments remain• The Law of Moses was done away

• The “book of the law” is the “Law of Moses” and was done away

• Hence they desire two laws in the Old Testament: “The Law of God,” and “The Law of Moses”

No Distinction!

• NO DISTINCTIONS EXISTED IN BIBLE DAYS• God gave the Law of Moses, “this Ezra came up

from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given….” (Ezra 7:6)

• Moses gave the Law of God, “these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:” (Neh. 10:29)

• The Ten Commandments and everything Moses wrote was the “Law of God”

NEHEMIAH UNDERSTOOD:The Ten Commandments and all that Moses wrote constituted the “Law of God”

28 Now the rest of the people…who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding—29 these joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes:30 We would not give our daughters as wives to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons;31 if the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and we would forego the seventh year’s produce and the exacting of every debt.

Nehemiah 10:28-31

What Was In God’s Law

Given By Moses?All The

Commandments

Deut. 7:3

Deut. 5:12-15Ex. 23:11

Deut. 15:1ff

Commandments regarding intermarriage, the Sabbath day,

the sabbatical year and debt forgiveness

HEZEKIAH UNDERSTOOD:The Ten Commandments and all that Moses wrote constituted the “Law of God”

3 The king also appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings: for the morning and evening burnt offerings, the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and the New Moons and the set feasts, as it is written in the Law of the LORD.4 Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the LORD.

2 Chronic les 31:3 , 4

Daily Sacrifices (Num. 28:3 -8)

Weekly Sacrifices (Num. 28:9, 10)

Monthly Sacrifices (Num. 28:11-15)

Were the Levites only to devote themselves

to the Ten Commandments?

JESUS UNDERSTOOD:The Ten Commandments and all that Moses wrote constituted the “Law of God”

• “… All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death’” (Mk. 7:9, 10)

1. What Moses said is the commandment of God

2. Jesus quoted the fifth commandment as well as something outside of the Ten Commandments as something “Moses said”

Exodus 20:12 Exodus 21:17

3. Both statements were understood as being “of God,” though Moses spoke them

What We’ve Studied

1. The concept of law2. There are two separate covenants– The failure to recognize such has been the source for

confusion, division, and failure in religion

3. There is a new and an old (obsolete) covenant– We can use the Old Testament to learn (Rom. 15:4)– We can only use the New Testament as law to govern the

church

4. Beware of superficial distinctions made by men, such as:– Ten Commandments are “God’s law”– “Book of the Covenant” is “Moses’ law”

In The Next Section

1. Are making divisions in the law as “Moral,” “Ceremonial,” and “Judicial” something that God wants us to do?

2. Are some correct in asserting that the “moral law” of the Old Testament is binding today?

3. Are the Ten Commandments comprehensive regarding morality?– Is complete morality found in the Ten

Commandments?

What Type Of Religion Do You Have?

• Is what your faith practices based solely on the New Covenant of Christ or mixed with the Old Covenant, (the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones)?

• What about the church that you attend?– Is the Sabbath day spoken of as Gods’ holy day?– Is there a separate priesthood of men?– Are there practices like the lighting up of lamps

and candles, burning incense, the use of mechanical instruments in praise?

• We encourage all to “learn” from the Old Testament (Rom. 15:4)

• We command that all are to obey Jesus Christ– He has all authority (Matt. 28:18, 19)– He is the One God has Spoken through (Heb. 1:1-4)– He is the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey

Him (Heb. 5:9)– “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the

name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17)