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They believe that there were two separate
laws, or covenants that God gave to Moses
for the nation of Israel to keep. They say
the Ten Commandments and the ceremonial laws
were two separate and distinct laws, or
covenantal agreements.
Romans 7:1-7 says that the law is
no longer binding on us, “having died to
that which held us captive, so that we serve
in the new way of the Spirit and not in the
old way of the written code.” The written
code was made obsolete by the New Covenant
(2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8:6-9:4). What law was Paul talking about
in Romans 7?
At conversion, believers
die to the law (Rom. 7:4), with the result
that they are now able to serve in newness
of life (Rom. 6:4). They have a new life in
the Holy Spirit, not in the old way of the
letter, the old way of trying to gain life
by means of law-keeping (Rom. 8:1-11).
Romans 7:6 says, “But now we are
released from the law, having died to that
which held us captive, so that we serve in
the new way of the Spirit and not in the old
way of the written code.”
Which law is the written code?
Romans 7:7 says it was the law
that said, “You shall not covet” from Exodus 20:17
and Deuteronomy 5:21.
According
to Romans 7:1-7, there can be no mistaking
that the law Christians are to die to, the
law of the written code (2 Cor. 3:2-11), is
the Ten Commandments along with all of the
other Old Covenant laws.
Romans 7:6 is
perfectly clear, “we are released from the
law, having died to that which held us
captive, so that we can serve in the new way
of the Spirit and not in the old way of the
written code.”
The Mosaic Law (the
Old Covenant) was made with the
nation of Israel alone on Mount Sinai (Exod. 19; Lev. 26:46; Rom. 9:4).
It was made up of three parts: the Ten
Commandments, the ordinances, and the system
of worship, which included the priesthood,
the tabernacle, the offerings, and the
festivals (Exod. 20-40; Lev. 1-7; 23).
The Ten Commandments were the “words of the
covenant.” They served as the framework for
the rest of the laws in the Old Covenant (Exod. 34:28;
Deut. 4:13). As part of the Old
Covenant, the people at Mount Sinai also
agreed to obey all the laws in Exodus 20-24.
These additional laws became part of the
covenant God made with Israel. The covenant
was then ratified with a blood sacrifice
(Exod. 24:6-8). Additional laws governing
Israel are found in the books of Leviticus
and Numbers, and the book of Deuteronomy has
laws regarding how they should conduct
themselves in the Promised Land, but those
laws were all still considered part of the
same covenantal agreement that God made with
the nation of Israel. In fact, the name
‘Deuteronomy’ is derived from the Greek and
it means a “copy,” or a “repetition,” of the
law rather than it being a second law
(Deut. 4:44-49; 5:1-5; 6:20-25).
The Book
of the Law was placed beside the Ark of the
covenant so it could be read regularly. No
one was allowed to open the Ark in which was
the actual covenant containing the “words of
the covenant”, the Ten Commandments. Some
theologians believe the Book of the Law was
just the book of Deuteronomy but it was most
likely all five books of Moses and had two
written copies of the Ten Commandments,
alone with all of the rest of the 613 Laws
of Moses to be read publicly every seven
years (Exod. 20:2-17; Deut. 5:6-21; 31:9-15).
I believe all five books of Moses
were included because the Book of the Law
was one of the titles given to the
Pentateuch in the rest of the Old Testament
(Deut. 31:24-26; Josh. 1:8; 8:34).
Deuteronomy 31:9 says that Moses wrote down this
law and gave it to the priests. Ancient
treaties specified that a written copy of the
covenant
was to be placed before the gods at the
religious centers of the nations involved.
For Israel, that meant to place it inside of the
Ark of the Covenant (see Deut. 31:26; 33:9;
Exod. 16:34; 31:18].
Groups like the
Seventh-day Adventists that
make an artificial distinction between the
Law of God (the Ten Commandments), and the
Law of Moses are simply wrong. The Bible
never makes that distinction. They are
one and the same law! They were the Old
“Mosaic” Covenant that was replaced by the
New Covenant of Jesus Christ. There is no
difference between the “Law of God“ and the
“Law of Moses.”
The New Testament
teaches that Sabbath-keeping
along with all of the other ceremonial
requirements of the Old Covenant Law are not
required under the
New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8; Acts 15:1-20;
Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12;
Eph. 2:11-18; 2 Cor. 3:3-11; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
Here’s a list of the 613 Old Covenant
laws:
“The 613 Mitzvot”
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