Guest Post | The Law of Moses and the Christian: A Critical Evaluation of the Reformed and Progressive Covenantal View of the Law

Enjoy this guest post from W. Tyler Sykora!

Introduction

The role of the law in the life of the Christian is, perhaps, one of the more complicated and confusing theological issues in the church today. Jonathan Edwards, over 250 years ago, rightly stated, “There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much intricacy, and wherein orthodox divines do so much differ as stating the precise agreement and difference between the two dispensations of Moses and Christ.” One reason for confusion is Paul’s apparent inconsistency when it comes to the law. Paul says in Ephesians 2:15 that Christ has “abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances,” and then in Ephesians 6:1-2 he quotes the law, “Honor your father and mother…” as if to imply it is instruction for believers. If this tension is still not felt, then a more formal contradiction is seen in Romans 3:31, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” This seeming contradiction is strengthened when one sees that Paul uses the verb “katargeo” for both “abolish” in Eph 2:15 and “overthrow” in Rom 3:31. In other words, in Ephesians 2 the law is abolished and in Romans 3 the law is upheld. How is one to make sense of this apparent contradiction? 

Throughout church history, several different theological systems have been developed in order to decipher the biblical data associated with the law. The purpose of this article is to compare two of the more prominent theological systems, namely, the reformed covenantal view and the progressive covenantal view. It will be shown that the progressive covenantal view, seen as repudiation, replacement, and reappropriation of the law, makes the best sense of the biblical data. In the end, one must consider the breadth of Scripture to resolve apparent contradictions as mentioned above. Yet, if God’s word is inspired and inerrant, the significance cannot be overstated.

The Reformed View of the Law

The reformed interpretation of the law in the Christian’s life is a widely-held view today. In this system, the law serves three primary purposes. First, it restrains sin and promotes righteousness. Second, it brings man under conviction and makes him aware that he cannot meet the law’s righteous demands. Third, the law is a rule of life for all who are in Christ. The first two purposes are embraced by most with regards to the law’s function, however, as will be examined below, whether the law is a rule of life for those in Christ or not, is a common point of disagreement. 

In order to understand the reformed view one must also understand its relation to covenant theology. Covenant theology embraces two basic covenantal structures: the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. According to the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), in the covenant of works “God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which He bound him and all his posterity, to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it.” When Adam fell, this perfect law of righteousness was kept intact and “was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables: the first commandments containing our duty towards God; and the other six, our duty to man.” This law, known as the Decalogue, reveals the eternal, moral will of God. Willem Vangemeren comments on this when he states, “The moral law in its written form does not contradict or change the will of God. Rather, it makes explicit and amplifies that will as originally expressed in natural law. Since the will of God does not change, the law remains virtually the same throughout redemptive history.” In other words, the moral will of God, as revealed in the Decalogue, is still binding upon the Christian today. The WCF continues by stating:

“Besides this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties.” 

These “ceremonial laws” were for the people of Israel and are interpreted as a foreshadowing of the coming sacrifice of Christ. The law is then further broken down into one final section known as civil laws. These “civil” laws are commonly seen as governing the people’s relations between one another as well as the nation’s relations with other nations. 

Since the eternality of the moral law has already been established, one must ask if the civil and ceremonial laws are still binding on the Christian today? The common reformed view is that, “all… ceremonial laws [and civil laws] are now abrogated, under the New Testament.” This means that through Christ’s perfect obedience and sacrifice on the cross, the ceremonial and civil laws are fulfilled in Him, and are no longer binding on the Christian. 

An Example of the Reformed View of the Law

If one wishes to read and apply the law with a reformed interpretation, one must do a bit of hermeneutical gymnastics. Vangemeren, who espouses this view, admits that “The moral laws (i.e., those reflected in the Decalogue) are intertwined with the civil laws, penal code, and ceremonial laws. An example can be seen from Ex 22:22-29:

Moral
“You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

Civil
“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor’s cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

Moral
“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
 

Ceremonial
“You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.”

As seen from a small sample text, the intricacy and possible guesswork it takes to apply this view to the entire law is, indeed, complex. 

However, when stepping away from the text itself, there is relative ease in explaining the reformed view. All the civil and ceremonial laws of Israel have been fulfilled by the perfect obedience of Christ. Conversely, the moral law that reveals the eternal and perfect will of God is still binding on the Christian today. When explanation of intricate details becomes difficult, simplicity becomes convincing.

Weaknesses

While simplicity is enticing, the inadequacies of this view must be considered. First, this view is fundamentally anachronistic. P. K. Jewett helpfully notes:

It should always be remembered, however, that the distinctions Christians make between ‘moral’ and ‘ceremonial’ laws in the Old Testament, was hardly perspicuous to the Hebrew mind. In the Old Testament, cultic and ethical, moral and ceremonial, religious and civil enactments are all worked together, with no sense of impropriety, since they all express the will of Yahweh for his covenant people Israel.

If Israel viewed God’s law in its entirety, then a three-partite division hardly seems like an accurate way to interpret and apply it today. Secondly, Tom Schreiner points out that “Many of the so-called ceremonial laws have a moral dimension that cannot be jettisoned.” The fact that most civil and ceremonial laws had moral implications is something that must be considered. Rosner gives a helpful example of this when he states, “The same goes for the civil laws, such as Deuteronomy 25:4, which speaks of not muzzling an ox while treading out the grain, a law from which Paul and many Jews contemporary with Paul derive a moral lesson.” In the end, the reformed view of the law, though easy to explain, is largely anachronistic and fails to provide solid evidence for why it should be embraced.

The Progressive Covenantalist View of the Law

Stephen Wellum’s and Brent Parker’s book Progressive Covenantalism, seeks to chart a path between Dispensationalism and Covenant theology. One chapter in the book, written by Jason Meyer, deals with progressive covenantalism’s view of the law. In this chapter, Meyer seeks to address the issue of continuity and discontinuity of the law. He states, “The New Testament writers stress both continuity and discontinuity between Christians and the Mosaic law.” How is one to reconcile the issues of both the continuity and discontinuity of the Mosaic law? In what follows, it will be shown that in the New Testament the Mosaic law is repudiated, replaced, and then reappropriated as prophecy and wisdom.

The Law is Repudiated

The New Testament stresses time and again that believers in Christ are no longer under the law. Galatians 5:18 says, “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Likewise, Romans 6:14-15 says, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Again, Romans 7:6 says, “But now we are released from the law.” Furthermore, Paul traces an argument concerning the law’s repudiation through Galatians 3-4. Meyer lays this out succinctly when he says:

“[In Galatians] 3:19 when the ‘Seed’ comes, the authority of the law comes to an end. [In] 3:23-24 when the ‘faith’ era comes, the authority of the guardian comes to an end. [In] 4:1-4 when the time came to completion (the time set by the father), the authority of the guardians and managers came to an end.”

All of these texts indicate that in the mind of Paul, the law of Moses, in its entirety, has been repudiated for the Christian. But if this is the case, will it not result in licentiousness in the lives of believers? The answer to this question comes from the pen of Paul, himself, in Romans 6:15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? By no means!” A contributing factor to the Christians holiness, despite the repudiation of the law, is the replacement of the law. 

The Law is Replaced

Replacement theology is often criticized. However, when one surveys the New Testament, a consistent pattern of replacement appears. Jesus is presented as the new Moses, he replaces the temple, he replaces the priest, he is the ultimate Jewish Passover sacrifice, he “eclipses the Jewish feasts and institutions that marked God’s saving work in the past,” and then institutes his own sacraments in their place.

Specifically, one aspect of replacement is clearly seen when it comes to the replacement of the law in the life of the Christian. A few texts must be considered. In Galatians 6:2, Paul says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In a similar vein, 1 Corinthians 9:21 says, “To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law).” What exactly is Christ’s law? Thiselton notes, “The law of Christ should not be restricted to anybody of traditional sayings of Jesus. Christians stand under the direction of the gospel as that which witnesses to Christ in a broader and more comprehensive sense.” In other words, the law of Christ is not simply the teachings of Jesus, but it is a comprehensive view of all that is testified to in the Gospel, through Jesus and the apostles. Finally, Romans 3:27 says, “Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.” Though slightly different from the law of Christ, the interesting note for this article is that the law is replaced with something else. In all these examples, the first century Jew would have been expecting Paul to say that Christians are to “fulfill the law of Moses” or that Paul was “under the law of Moses.” Instead, Paul supplies a new law that has been established. Rosner gives clarity on this matter when he states:

“Paul… shifts the focus from the law to something else by using the same words and concepts: believers do not rely on the law, but on Christ; do not boast in the law, but in God through Christ; do not find God’s will through the law, but in apostolic instruction, wisdom and the gospel; are not instructed by the law, but by the gospel; are not obliged to obey the law, but rather apostolic instruction.”

Therefore, where Jews in the Old Covenant submitted to and were under the authority of the law of Moses, in the New Covenant, Christians submit to and are under the authority of Christ’s law and apostolic instruction.

The Law is Reappropriated as Prophecy and Wisdom

Is the law of Moses of any value, then, for the believer today? Paul poses a challenge for those who answer “no” in Romans 3:31 when he says, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” This is the apparent inconsistency of Paul that was referenced in the introduction. The reformed view states that “we uphold the law” is a reference to the continual authority of the moral dimension of the law. However, Paul viewed the law as a whole, the same way all other Hebrews did. Meyer correctly states, “the economy of the Mosaic law has come to an end as a whole and the Mosaic law as a whole continues to serve as a helpful, yet indirect guide. Paul relates to the law in terms of the entirety of its guiding wisdom, not as a direct and binding legal code.” What does Meyer’s reference to “indirect” mean? It means “The law of Moses has direct authority as Scripture and indirect authority as law; therefore, the law has an indirect application for our lives today.” This is what is meant by the reappropriation of the law. It is no longer seen as law covenant but as prophecy and wisdom for the believer.

Law as Prophecy

Though the law is commonly viewed as a collection of commands, the law contains prophetic portions that point forward to Christ. D.A. Carson states:

“According to Paul God gave the law not only to regulate the conduct of his people and to reveal their sin until the fulfillment of the promises in Christ. He also gave it because the law has a prophetic function, a witness function: it pointed in the right direction; it bore witness to the righteousness that is now being revealed.”

The prophetic function of the law is seen in several passages throughout the New Testament. In John 5:39, Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” Likewise, on the Emmaus road, Luke 24:27 describes Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” In Acts 28:23 Paul was in Rome “trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the Prophets.” For the law to be reappropriated as prophecy, means that the Christian will study the law and gain insight into how it prophesied and foretold the vast mysteries of the Gospel of Christ. 

Law as Wisdom

Perhaps the best example of the law reappropriated as wisdom is seen in 1 Corinthians 10:1-10. In this passage, Paul is describing Israel’s exodus and desert wanderings with specific reference to their idolatry and sin. Then, in verse 6 Paul says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” Since idolatry and sexual immorality were rampant in the church at Corinth, Paul looks to the law, draws theological implications from it, and then reapplies it to the church at Corinth as a warning. Hays helpfully states, 

“[B]y coaxing the reader to recall the golden calf story, he links the present Corinthian dilemma… to the larger and older story of Israel in the wilderness. This metaphorical act creates the imaginative framework within which Paul judges- and invites his readers to judge- the proper ethical response to the problem at hand.

This concept of law as wisdom is also seen in 2 Timothy 3:16 where Paul, referencing the Old Testament Scriptures, says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” As Rosner notes, “The Law was written for Christians to teach us how to live. It was written for our instruction and the events it records were also written down to instruct us.” The Law reappropriated as wisdom means that the Christian should study the law, not as a binding legal code above their head, but as a means of wisdom in their daily lives before God and other people. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, how believers in the New Covenant interpret the law can have serious ramifications for their view of the Bible as a whole as well as their personal sanctification. In seeking to be faithful to Scripture and to interpret Paul’s apparent contradictory statements concerning the law, as seen in Ephesians 2:15 and Romans 3:31, one must do justice to all the textual data and stray away from anachronisms. 

This paper has sought to show that the progressive covenantal view of the law is a more faithful hermeneutic than that of the reformed view. When questioning the role of the law today, it is vital to see that in the New Testament, the law is repudiated, replaced, and then reappropriated as prophecy and wisdom. 

W. Tyler Sykora is the Chief of Staff in the Office of the President and Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also a pastor a Liberty Baptist Church in Liberty, Missouri. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Exercise Science from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Ark., as well as a M.Div. in Biblical Languages, a Th.M. in Pedagogy, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His doctoral research was on Paul’s construction metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3:9-17 with special focus on the building materials in v. 12. Tyler is married to Samantha, and they have four children: Adeline, Jaxson, Lynlee, and Mylah.

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