First, with respect to revelation.
CHAPTER I: THE DISTINCTION OF CEREMONIAL AND FORENSIC LAWS
FROM THE MORAL LAW
§ 2. Both the ceremonial and forensic laws differ from the moral Law in many ways, but especially in revelation, obligation, duration, and end purpose.
First, with respect to revelation.
(1) With respect to revelation, the following difference stands between them: The moral Law was instilled and engraved upon the minds of men right from the beginning of creation and was merely reiterated through Moses. The ceremonial and forensic laws, however, were only later made and promulgated at the time of Moses. The precepts of the moral Law were given in the first time and place and in a more solemn way. Only after these were repeated in the midst of many portents did the promulgation of the ceremonial and forensic laws follow. God gave the Decalogue, which is a summary of the moral Law, immediately to all the people. Deut. 5:22: “Jehovah spoke these words to all your congregation at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness with a loud voice, and He made no addition.” The other laws, however, were given only to Moses later, after the people had returned to their tents, and through Moses were given to the people. Deut. 5:30–31: “Go and say to them: ‘Return to your tents.’ But you stay here with Me that I may tell you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances that you shall teach them.” God Himself inscribed the commandments of the Decalogue on stone tablets. Deut. 5:22: “Jehovah wrote these words on tablets of stone and gave them to me.” Exod. 32:16: “The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets.” The rest of the laws, however, were written down by Moses. Deut. 31:9: “And Moses wrote that law.” Nevertheless here we should remember that the Decalogue itself could seemingly also have been engraved by Moses on later tablets. Exod. 34:28: “Moses was there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, and he wrote on tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.” The tablets of the covenant which included the Decalogue were placed into the ark. Exod. 25:16: “You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.” Exod. 40:20: “Moses took the testimony and placed it into the ark.” (See also Deut. 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9; Heb. 9:4.) Deuteronomy, however, which included the rest of the laws written by Moses, was entrusted to the priests and to the protection of the king. Deut. 17:18–19: “When the king sits upon the throne of his kingdom, he will write for himself in a book this law, lettered” (Münster: “He will write down for himself in a book a copy of this law”; Vulgate: “He shall write for himself a Deuteronomy of this law”) “from before the Levitical priests, and it shall be with him and he shall read in it.” Deut. 31:9: “Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.”
Second, with respect to obligation.
§ 3. (2) With respect to obligation there is a notable distinction between the moral Law and the others, both the ceremonial and forensic. The former is the universal rule and norm that is binding upon all men and even the angels. You see, it prescribes the rule of the conformity which ought to exist between God the archetype and the rational creature created after the image of God. Therefore it has always sounded forth in the church from the beginning of the world, even before Moses. The latter, however, are specific regulations binding only for the people of Israel, for a law is binding only upon those toward whom it was enacted. Now, the ceremonial and forensic laws were enacted only toward the Israelites, which is why these words are so often repeated in their publication: “You will observe these laws in your generations, in your homes,” etc. Therefore they are binding only for the Israelites and, accordingly, so long as the Jewish state still stood. They were not imposed upon converted Gentiles even though the term of those laws’ duration was still in force. That is a clear proof that those laws bound and obligated only the Israelites. To this belongs the fact that the moral Law requires outward and inner obedience, that is, an obedience that is perfect in every detail, and thus the integrity of one’s entire nature, for “it is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14). The ceremonial and forensic laws, however, are content with teaching outward obedience, because they describe only external obligations.
Third, with respect to duration.
§ 4. (3) From this second part of the distinction comes the third, which lies in the discrepancy of their duration. The moral Law is the eternal and immovable rule, not only instilled in the minds of men from the beginning of creation and enduring to the end of the world but also existing in the mind of God from eternity, even before the foundations of the world were laid, and it shall continue unmoved and unchanged for all eternity, as we showed in § 14 of the treatise immediately preceding [On the Law of God (Commonplace XV)]. The ceremonial and forensic laws, however, apply only to the time of the Old Testament and, consequently, were made obsolete once the new covenant was promulgated, as Heb. 8:13 concludes from Jer. 31:31: “In speaking of a new covenant, He made the first obsolete. Now, what is obsolete and old is almost gone.” From this it follows that the ceremonial should in no way be preferred to the moral but must be esteemed a great deal less. This is quite different from what the hypocritical Pharisees used to claim, whom Christ opposed with the prophet’s word (Hosea 6:[6]; Matt. 9:13; 12:7): “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
Fourth, with respect to end purposes.
§ 5. (4) Finally, there is no small difference between those laws with respect to their different end purposes. Earlier we explained what are the ends of the moral Law [On the Law of God (Commonplace XV), §§ 203–4, 206]; a bit later we shall give an explanation of what the ends are of the ceremonial and forensic laws [§§ 16–17, 26, 38]. Speaking briefly, both the ceremonial and the forensic laws were promulgated by God for the sake of the Jewish state in order to contain it within certain bonds of ecclesiastical and forensic regulations and to keep it separate from other, Gentile states.
The reason for the divinely established Jewish state.
Furthermore, there are four main reasons why the Jewish state was established in this way: (1) That it might be the workplace of His divine revelations, that is, that there might be a specific people to whom God revealed Himself by the proclaimed Word and accompanying great miracles. Ps. 76:1–2: “In Judah is God known; in Israel His name is great. In Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place is in Zion.” Isa. 31:9 alludes to this: “Said Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.”
(2) That it might be an academy and school, that is, a sure seat of doctrine [sedes doctrinae] from which all people should have sought out the true knowledge of God and the way for truly worshiping Him. Ps. 122:3–4: “Jerusalem is built as a city for this purpose, that they may gather there together; the tribes go up to there, the tribes of the Lord, that the testimony” (or the word) “of the Lord of Israel might be preached.” Ps. 147:19–20: “He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; He has not made known His ordinances to them.” Here note that Jerusalem was located almost in the middle of the known world, so that from this central point the fragrance of heavenly doctrine might be wafted into every area of the inhabited world.
(3) That there might be a library in which to preserve and transmit to posterity the writings of Moses and the prophets. Rom. 3:2: “The oracles of God were entrusted to the Israelites.” Augustine (Contra Faustum, bk. 12, ch. 23): “What is the Jewish people but a sort of bookcase for Christians which holds the Law and the prophets as a testimony to the assertion of the church?”
(4) To be a shelter for Christ as He was born, teaching, and carrying out His office of Redeemer. Gen. 49:10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the lawgiver from the midst of his people until Shiloh comes.” Rom. 9:4–5: “To the Israelites belong the promises, and from them comes Christ according to the flesh.” John 4:22: “Salvation is from the Jews.” Bernard (Serm. 6 de nativ., col. 51): “The wicked synagogue has produced for us Christ, the Son of God, though by motherly office not motherly affection.”