A Few Additional Thoughts About the Threefold Division of the Law

Dr. C.J. Williams, Old Testament Professor at RPTS, demonstrates the Threefold Division of the Law in the Old Testament by pointing to Leviticus 19. For example, let's look at verses 4-10:

4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. 5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people. 9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God."

In verse 4, we have a restatement of the second commandment of the moral law. In verses 5-10, we then see the commandment applied to the state of Israel in two slightly different ways. Verses 5-8, instruct the people how to apply the second commandment through the ceremonial system that God gave His people to show them Christ. Verses 9-10, then, show how the second commandment applies to the civil society of Israel before Christ's coming (Genesis 49:10).

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 Here's a brief original restatement of the three categories of law that makeup the Threefold Division:

Moral—God's standard for all the people of the world at all times which is written on every person's heart as a part of the image of God (Genesis 1:26; 9:6; Romans 2:15-16).

Ceremonial—God's requirement for sin to be dealt with that pictures Christ's satisfaction for our sins before Christ came, died, and rose again.

Civil—God's application of the moral law to a special people before Christ's first coming.

I think this is a helpful short summary for the following three reasons:

1. Both the ceremonial and civil laws had different purposes in God's redemptive history when they were revealed
2. They were both instituted at different times: the ceremonial law was given to Adam and Eve in the Garden after they sinned to prefigure Christ; the civil laws were given to Israel through Moses after the Ten Commandments were republished to the entire nation of Israel in Exodus 21:1-22:29
3. Different events in redemptive history marked the end of these two different laws: the ceremonial law was abrogated upon Christ's death as demonstrated by the temple veil being torn in two (Matthew 27:51); the civil law ended when Christ came (Genesis 49:10). Jesus is the Shiloh that Jacob was prophesying to Judah about. Christ took the scepter from Judah and now has it with Him in heaven

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For more information about the Threefold Division start with part one of Phillip Ross' lecture about the Division.