The Threefold Division of the Law: Part 2 - Five Old Testament Presuppositions that Shape the New Testament's understanding of Law

Last time we found out how the Westminster Confession defined the Threefold Division of biblical law, we reviewed some of the criticism that the doctrine has received from well intended Christians, and gave some broad responses to those criticisms.

Despite the negative tone taken to biblical theology (BT) as an academic discipline in Ross introduction of his address the majority of the rest of the lecture and the book is in fact a study in BT! That is, Ross' starts at the book of Genesis and goes to Revelation reviewing what the Bible says about God's Law from beginning to end. It really is a demonstration of the correct relationship between BT and systematic theology (ST).

Here's where we are at in relationship to where we are going:

1. Introduction
2. Five Old Testament presuppositions that shape the New Testament's understanding of law
3. Jesus and the Gospels
4. The Apostolic Interpretation of the law in the Book of Acts
5. The Epistles of the Apostles
6. Conclusion
7. Sabbath Extracts

The current post will be a five point look at the entire Old Testament (OT). Even though it's brief and the other four post will be more focused on different parts of the New Testament (NT) its important to note that in the book Ross spends a lot more time working through the OT in his book and that much of the remaining posts depend on these five presuppositions being true to understand the view of the law as expounded by Jesus and the Apostles. Many of these five points, it should be noted, deal indirectly with Jason Meyer's objections to the division as stated in the first post.

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Five OT presuppositions in summary form that shape the NT authors and provide clear exegetical support from the OT itself.

1. Indicators that the Decalogue is distinct from the laws that God revealed through Moses to the nation of Israel (pgs. 52 - 80):
• The Decalogue is designated as the ten words - categorized the 'ten words' by Moses. (pgs. 80 - 83)
• God distinguished those ten words from all other law by writing them in tablets of stone. (pgs. 83 - 86)
• He spoke those ten words and added nothing more. (pgs. 86 - 88)
• He gave them in an exclusive apodictic - as opposed to - casuistic format; that is to say, there are no 'if ... thens' in the Decalogue. (pgs. 88 - 92)
2. If we look backwards from Sinai to Eden the distinctiveness of the Decalogue appears not as a distinct historical development, but to the writing laws that are already self understood. (pgs. 92 - 104)
3. The Decalogue stands out as the constitutional basis of all the statutes and ordinances. The statutes and ordinances are a specific and carefully constructed outworking of the ten words. (pgs. 106 - 110)
4. Although the Hebrew words and phrases do not determine distinctions they do sometimes recognize them (pgs. 110 - 115):
• Exodus 25 designates the laws governing the tabernacle as 'according to the pattern' and this marks out the laws from Exodus 25 - Leviticus 15 as laws that point from shadow to reality. (pgs. 111 - 113)
• Deuteronomy marks out the statutes and ordinances as laws to be obeyed 'in the land' - this body of law was not binding always and everywhere, but 'in the land'. (pgs. 113 - 115)
• In the Pentateuch we have, in embryonic form, the framework for biblical law that grew into the orthodox view of the threefold division of the law. (pg. 144)
5. The 'mercy not sacrifice' theme that appears throughout the OT, particularly in the prophets, reflects the Pentateuchal framework. (pgs. 126 - 132)
• According to the prophets, God can hate obedience to pattern laws, yet He always desires obedience to the ten words, including the Sabbath.
• For the Prophets these ten words were the standard by which all nations are judged.

If the Pentateuch and the Prophetic writings view the law of Moses as an united body of law, yet one which has classification and priority then anyone who sets aside the whole law because it is an unity must explain why those prioritizations that originate the Pentateuch are irrelevant.

Only by paying careful attention to those classifications and prioritizations can we make sense of the teachings of Christ and the Apostles concerning the law.

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If you want to hear more about any of Ross' five points I would encourage you to listen to the lecture and get a copy of his book, because as I have pointed out in the notation Ross is summarizing two chapters and almost one hundred pages in these five points. Next week we will discover what Jesus and the Gospels writers had to say about the law.