- Jan 19, 2024
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thank you for your comments, I have edited the O.P. It was too long and repetitive and somewhat confusing I admit,You've conflated the term "end" with "destroy" which is not the intended meaning by those who use it and is also a strawman. You've also failed to identify the similarities of outcome for "end" and "fulfill" or that they can be used to describe the same process. If a prophecy has been completed then is it not also ended? So your language is confusing.
what I see is that you've dichotomized law with fulfilled law that has led to its ending (we are no longer bound by it) and fulfilled law that still continues (the moral aspects). Then you've used this moral label to prop up certain laws. This is again a strawman.
The bible does not use these labels but in practice you're using them to show what we are bound by and what we are not bound by, effectively adding a non-biblical clause to Christ's words trying to expand and say what he really meant, vs what he actually said. I'm sure you'll justify it using various rhetoric but nothing that can confirm supposed unwritten declarion of what I imagine amounts to the 10 commandments. Somehow crossing out what Christ said and changing it to say the 10 commandments.
So who has given you these definitions? if you say we are not bound by ceremonial and sacrificial laws then who told you which laws are ceremonial and which are sacrificial that we are no longer under them? How do you define what is of moral laws and what is not of moral laws. labels aside, If we are to critically look at laws, then laws like the 10 commandments do not all best fit a moral framework.
laws regarding behaviour to each other can be called natural/univerally moral, essentially commandments 6-10. these laws we don't have to be told in order to understand them and they apply to all universally but generally they are pillars of morally and only address outward action not inward. Laws regarding our commitment to servitude fits a honor framework of law that can be called moral as well. commandments like the 1-3 fit this but also the 5th. the 5th is generally looked at as moral in regards to an outlook of "love your neighbour" but it in fact it is honor driven that cannot be universally applied.
In the ancient near east honor driven morality was often the highest order of morality, where in the modern west we look to fact driven morality as the highest; both can be called truth. It is of no surprise the 5th identifies a unique honor driven code outside of God. We are too not lie, steal, murder, etc... from our parents too but that is far more universally applied, yet for our parents they deserve a special sort of honor that can be contrasted by the honor given universally to others. what if by recounting the facts you dishonor your parents? What are you to do, lie or dishonor your parents? In the west we see facts synomous with truth and the highest form of morality so we don't lie (or say that's the best path) but in the ancient world honor was the highest so in that case they would do what they can to honor their parents, even if it meant exaggerating accounts. But honor is also morally driven so commandments 1-3 and commandments 5 are honor driven over a more universal morality of treating each other with civility: both are morally rooted.
This leaves the 4th commandment. the action of the 4th is to cease work to remember that God ceased work on the 7th day. This is not honor driven (although everything was honor driven then), nor is it a of civility towards others. The action of "ceasing" is declared as holy but more abstractly because the same action on another day would be considered lazy and injust. So it is not directly clear where it fits, the morally part of it can include simple obedience which is the same for the entire torah, we don't have to understand the commandments to keep them and the obedience part can still be a moral contribution and yes broadly honor driven then. But obedience is also applied to ceremonial and sacrificial laws as well (and every single law found in torah) so it's not a uniqueness that can help us identify it's moral components since all inherit the obedience factor. By instruction what is happening is a ritual practice that is repeated every sabbath and this makes it ceremonial by definition not moral in the sense of honor driven or in the sense of how we treat each other.
I suspect however you will protest calling the 4th ceremonial and again layer on the rhetoric but still without any biblical cause to separate laws like these or no biblical cause to call the 4th not ceremonial. just things like "finger of God" or "commandments of God" "Law of God" etc... but what you're really trying to say is the only laws God values is the 10, nothing else matters. I'm sure you'll reject this as well but in practice is this not what you're saying? What gives you the authority to say one part of the law is less important than another part of the law? I instead choose to accept Christ words, who tells us a heuristic approach to keeping law using the 2 greatest commandments (both of which are found outside of the 10) he then says all of the law and prophets hang upon these two. What he does not say is it sums up the 10 (which is a common knee jerk reaction) NT authors says it fulfills all of the law as well (not just the 10 but "all")
I see you've quoted from Galations despite pervious voiced issues you've had with Pauline theology. Since you've open the door to Pauline theology in Galations here is another passage in Galation Gal 5:14 "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So which "fulfilled" does this occupy? It's not end, because the passage is not about "ending" but it is about completing just though the action of this one commandment “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
No need to cut up law and give it post-biblical labels, no need to call some laws universally moral when clearly they are still limited since they are broad moral pillars of physical action but do not address the heart. No need to call law ended, or destroyed, not kept or broken, or whatever other words you want to throw in here. I see only keeping law with lawful practice and it is "fulfilled". The law is complete through this one commandment and this is consistent with what Jesus says. So why desect law with a bias scalpel? No need to do anything to law, let's just call it torah and look at how Christ's tell's us to complete it.
Blessings.
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