The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Ex-legalist

Those laws which were given to Israel as a Theocracy and which are no longer binding upon the New Testament Israel, i.e., the Church are the Civil and Ceremonial Laws since they were given as a "schoolmaster/tutor" until the coming of Christ. (cf. Gal 3:23, 24) But the Moral law is that which is written upon the hearts of all men to which they are accountable, those laws which were finally put into writing by the very finger of God on Mt. Sinai (aka: Ten Commandments), and that which is impressed upon the heart of every true believer. For more, see here: The Christian and the Moral Law.

See above... it is the Moral Law which is written on the heart of every man.

Romans 5:12-14 (ASV) "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned:-- for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come."

Paul's point in this little parenthesis is that without law there is no sin because sin is the transgression of the law. Death is the result of sin and since all men sin they die. And, thus all men had the law before it was given to Moses. One of the easiest examples to see and understand is in regard to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. When confronted by God he was afraid that he would be punished and killed by others when they found him. Without the existence of a law, either written or inherent, Cain would have had no guilt over the killing of his brother nor any fear of being "punished" for what he had done.

In His grace,