But God's most prolific legislative activity occurred during the life of Moses. We will assign a date of 1400 B.C. to the activities of Moses, again allowing a century in either direction for approximation. To Moses God gave many laws - 613 by traditional rabbinical count - and these laws attract considerable interpretive attention, among Christians, among Jews, and among skeptics.
One claim made by the skeptics runs along these lines: modern Christians seem to pick and choose from among God's laws. Christians assert the validity of, and make earnest if flawed attempts to adhere to, regulations like "you shall not commit adultery" and "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18) and "Do not deny justice to your poor people" (Exodus 23:6). Simultaneously, however, Christians feel free to ignore laws like "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material" or "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard" (both found in Leviticus, chapter 19). The skeptic will note that the Christians seem arbitrary in their choices: these laws are found in the same texts, often within the same passage or subsection within that text, yet one is diligently enforced and the other dismissed. The skeptic asserts that there is no rational choice here, and that the Christian is picking and choosing within the text according to his personal preference, not according to any logical axiom.
Such debate is not new, of course, and the Christians have standard replies to such allegations. One common response is to say that the laws can be logically, historically, and textually divided into a number of categories. For example, one might say that some of the laws are ceremonial, and apply to the cult and the rituals of the Israelites during their Tabernacle phase or during their Temple phase; other laws might be regarded as civil laws, to govern the nation-state which existed from the time that the land was occupied under the command of Joshua, around 1400 B.C., up until the last captives were taken to Babylon, around 588 B.C., those dates defining a continuous legal tradition and the continuous existence of a geo-political entity governed by such laws; a third and final category contains timeless moral laws which are understood to govern all humans.
Having sorted the laws into these categories, some modern Christians think that they have answered the skeptic's challenge, by arguing that they are obliged to follow only those laws in the third category, the timeless moral laws. The laws in the first two categories, the civil laws and the ceremonial laws, applied only to the historically-conditioned nation-state of Israel as it existed during Old Testament times.
A similar procedure can be applied to New Testament laws; some are dismissed as historically or culturally conditioned, while other are seen as timeless spiritual precepts.
The debate will go at least another round, however. The skeptic argues that the Christian may be making arbitrary assignments in placing various laws in various categories. First, it can be noted that the text has scattered and mixed these laws among each other, and neither mentions any system of categorization nor assigns laws to categories. Second, even if the skeptic grants for the sake of argument the existence of such categories, the assignation of any specific law to a particular category becomes an interpretive ambiguity: is the command to "Stand up in the presence of the aged" a civil law of ancient Israel, or a timeless moral law for all humanity? Is the Sabbath command to "Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest" a ceremonial law, a civil law, or moral law? A few minutes of reflection will reveal that nuanced arguments can be made for conflicting categorization of such laws. A third proposition which the skeptic can use is this: it is theologically attractive to the Christian to assert that God's laws are all timeless and eternal; it seems at least disrespectful, and at most blasphemous, to assert that God's laws, or at least some of them, have expired.
The third objection raised by the skeptic can, however, be turned by the Christian to his defense.
Acknowledging that all of God's laws are timeless and eternal, the Christian can then dispense with the categories of civil, ceremonial, and moral. Instead the Christian can reply thusly: every law given by God is still in full effect and will remain so; the question is not whether the law has expired, but rather whom the law is intended to govern. Some of God's laws are given specifically to the Jews; others were given to all mankind.
There is textual evidence to support this approach: the laws given to Adam and Eve, and the laws given to Noah, can arguably be read as given to all humanity; the Noahide covenant, extrapolated from Genesis (chapter 9), can be understood as a relatively clear foundational statement of commonly accepted morality in Western Civilization, the Judeo-Christian tradition, and European culture. Likewise, much of the New Testament's legislation is universal. By contrast, Mosaic law can be understood as applying to Judaism, narrowly construed. Thus the modern Christian need not be bound by dietary and ceremonial laws, although they are still in full effect for the modern Jew.
This discussion of God's laws can, and in some situations has, gone on for a few more - or many more - rounds. The danger in this debate, however, is that one can finally lose sight of the bigger picture: God's laws are only a part of God's Word.
To think only of God's laws, or even to think primarily of God's laws, is to lose sight of God's nature. God is above all else loving. The beginning of time and space, the beginning of matter and energy, was God's creation of the universe - time and space being called into being by the One Who existed outside of them. This beginning of all things was an act of love. God created in order that He might love. At the end of all time, God awaits His creatures, freely offering unearned and unmerited forgiveness and inviting those creatures to enjoy an eternal life in peace and joy after the end of time. Between the beginning of time and the end of time, God's chief activity is loving His creatures - providing for them, guiding them, encouraging them.
Remembering that the Hebrew vocabulary items translated into English as 'law' - the word Torah is chief - can also be rendered as 'instruction' or 'direction' or 'guidance' or 'training' or 'coaching', manifests the loving motive behind the issuance of the law.
It is in this larger context of God's love that His laws must be viewed. It is good and important that we analyze His laws and try to understand them. But it is better and more important that we have a notion of God's activity as a whole. The Formula of Concord notes that
The law has been given to people for three reasons: first, that through it external discipline may be maintained against the unruly and the disobedient; second, that people may be led through it to a recognition of their sins; third, after they have been reborn — since nevertheless the flesh still clings to them — that precisely because of the flesh they may have a sure guide, according to which they can orient and conduct their entire life.
Each of these three purposes can ultimately be understood in the context of the larger theme of God's love. The first use of the law provides for some manner of civil decency and safety: God's desire to form a good environment for His creatures. The second use of the law enlightens humans as to their imperfect natures and their need for God's forgiveness. The third use of the law keeps humans ever aware of their imperfections - as they attempt to live properly and find it continuously impossible - and prevents humans from thinking that their actions might atone for their imperfections. The Formula of Concord continues:
For although they are regenerate and renewed in the spirit of their mind, yet in the present life this regeneration and renewal is not complete, but only begun, and believers are, by the spirit of their mind, in a constant struggle against the flesh, that is, against the corrupt nature and disposition which cleaves to us unto death.
As humans try and fail to live perfectly, the net effect of the third use of the law is to drive them back to the second use of the law. To be sure, the third use of the law also contains the notion of the law as a "guide" to behavior. We might rightly consider that the third use of the law has two distinct points within it. But the entire discussion of God's law, properly considered, serves to continually highlight human imperfection and the impossibility of human obedience. On those rare occasions when we do seem to obey God's law, it is in fact the Holy Spirit acting within us. We are ever reliant on God's grace.
