Bible Truth Versus Adventist Truth Moral Versus Ceremonial Law

Adventist Truth about Moral and Ceremonial Law Adventists have some distinctive teachings about the Moral and Ceremonial Laws. 1. The Ten Commandments are the moral law of God. They were written on stone by God's finger and placed inside the Ark of the Covenant indicating they are to last forever. Christians today are obligated to keep all ten of the commandments given to Israel, including honoring the seventh day Sabbath. 2. All of the statutes, ordinances, and other laws in the books written by Moses are ceremonial laws. They were not written on stone and were not placed in the ark. The ceremonial laws all met their fulfillment when Jesus died and are no longer binding on Christians. The following table illustrates Adventist teaching on the subject:1 The Ten Commandments The Ceremonial Law Written on Stone (Ex 31:18) Written in a book, Book of the law (Deut 31:24,7; Deut 31:24) Placed in the Ark (Deut 10:5) Placed on side of Ark (Deut 31:25) Written by God’s finger (Ex 31:18, 32:16) Written by Moses’ finger (Deut 31:9; Ex 24:4) Spoken by God (Ex 20:1,22) Spoken by Moses (Ex 24:3) God gave Moses gave The Law of God, God's law, The law (eternal) The Law of Moses, Moses Law (Done away) The Moral Law The Ceremonial Law Breaking is sin 1 Jn 3:4 Merely prescribes offerings for sin  Commandments Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees Still in force today? (Ps 111:7-8) Nailed to the cross (Eph 2:14) 3. There is a third category of "law", which is neither ceremonial nor moral, yet is still binding upon Christians today. According to 21st article of Seventh-day Adventist belief, this binding law includes dietary restrictions: "The New Testament did not abolish the distinction between clean and unclean flesh foods [meat]. ... these dietary laws carry with them an ongoing obligation."2 Seventh-day Adventists also teach that the Old Testament practice of tithing is still binding upon Christians.3

Problems with Adventist Truth about Moral and Ceremonial Laws Let us examine 10 problems with Adventist teachings regarding the Moral versus the Ceremonial law. (Material for this section compliments of bible.ca)4 1. "Written on Stone" vs. "Written in a book" - While it is true the Ten Commandments were originally written by God on stone, they were copied twice by Moses in the book of the law (Ex. 20 and Deut. 5) Both the Ten Commandments and all the other laws were written in the book. 2. Placed in the Ark vs. Placed on side of Ark - The stone tablets were placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, but the Ten Commandments were copied twice by Moses in the book of the law. Therefore, both the Ten Commandments and all the other laws were placed beside the ark. 3. Written by God’s finger vs. Written by Moses Finger - The Ten Commandments were originally written by God, but were copied twice by Moses' finger into the book of the law. 4. Spoken by God vs. Spoken by Moses - In Exodus 20:24,25 God speaks to Moses giving him instructions regarding alters and sacrifices. This clearly shows God’s voice was used in the giving of "ceremonial laws" as well. 5. God gave vs. Moses gave - Adventists try to establish a distinction in the Old Testament law by focusing on what was "written/given" by God versus what was "written/given" by Moses. But the Bible does not make such a distinction. The Bible says that God gave the Law of Moses and Moses gave the Law of God. God gave the "Law of Moses" Moses gave the "Law of God" Ezra 7:6 "Ezra... a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given" Nehemiah 10:29 "walk in God's law, which was given through Moses" Nehemiah 8:1 "bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel" John 7:19 "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" Mark 7:9-10 "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'" John 1:17 - "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ."   2 Chron 34:14 "the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses" Nehemiah makes it clear that God spoke not only the commandments, but also the laws and statutes. Furthermore, the laws and statutes were also written by the hand of Moses. The Bible makes it clear that the source of all the laws, both moral and ceremonial, was God, and that Moses wrote down all the laws, both moral and ceremonial: Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant. (Neh. 9:13,14) Even in the New Testament there is no distinction made between the Ten Commandments and other commandments of the Lord. For example, in Paul's writings about the prophets' wives being silent in the churches are called the "Lords commandments" (1 Cor 14:35-37) 6. The Law of God, God's law, The law vs. The Law of Moses, Moses Law The Law of God contained animal sacrifices and ceremonial laws: The "Law of God" commands animal sacrifices - Luke 2:23 "written in the Law of the Lord, 'Every first-born male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord', and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, 'A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.'" The "Law of the Lord" commands burnt offerings - 2 Chron 31:3 "He also appointed the king's portion of his goods for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the Sabbaths and for the new moons and for the fixed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord." The law told Israel to dwell in tents - Nehemiah 8:14 "They found written in the law how the Lord had commanded through Moses that the sons of Israel should live in booths during the feast of the seventh month." Offerings in the "Law of the Lord" - 1 Chron 16:40 "burnt offering...written in the law of the lord" History in the "Law of the Lord" - 2 Chronicles 35:26 "Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion as written in the law of the Lord" Law told Israel to make sacrifices - Nehemiah 10:36 - "and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God." Jesus never talked about splitting up the law into moral and ceremonial pieces. Here are examples where Jesus talked about the 10 Commandments and other laws as all being part of the "Law": Law is 10 Commandments - John 7:19 - "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?" Law is Not 10 Commandments - Matthew 12:5 - "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? (Cf Num 28:9-10) The Ten Commandments are called the Law of Moses: Mark 7:9-10 - "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'" When you read the 10 commandments, you "read Moses" - 2 Corinthians 3:3,15 The Law of Moses was the law given at Horeb (10 commandments) - Malachi 4:4 - "Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel." Law of Moses included everything God commanded - 1 Kings 2:3 The Bible does not make a distinction betwen the Ten Commandments, "the law of the Lord" or "law of God" and the "law of Moses" within a single passage. 7. The Moral Law vs. The Ceremonial Law - Adventists attempt to create a false distinction between the "10 commandments" and the "book of the law" by claiming one contains moral law and the other ceremonial laws. Adventists create the false impression that there is nothing moral in the "book of the law" and nothing ceremonial in the Ten Commandments when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. The "ceremonial law" contains the "10 commandment moral law" twice (Ex. 20, Deut. 5). The 4th commandment, the Sabbath, is also a ceremonial law. Keeping a day is, by nature, a ceremonial observance. In the Books of Moses there are numerous laws prescribing exactly how the Sabbath was to be ceremoniously kept. Jesus said the two greatest moral laws were not part of the 10 commandments (Mt 22:36-40). The "Ceremonial law" contained the two greatest "moral commandments": love God and love thy neighbor. The expression "Ceremonial law" is not found in scripture: the words "ceremonial, ceremony, ceremonies and all roots etc" are never found in the same verse as the word "law or laws". The expression "Moral law" is not found in scripture: the words "Moral, Morals, morality and all roots" are never found in the same verse as the word "law or laws". The five books of Moses are filled with moral laws not contained in the 10 commandments. For example, Ex 22:21-22,31; Ex 23:2; Lev 19:2,14-18; Deut 16:18. According to Adventists, the whole of the Moral law (The Ten Commandments) hangs upon two laws found in the book of the law (known to Adventists as the "law of Moses"): "Love God with all heart" and "Love your neighbor as thy self". In other words, the two most important moral laws are not found in the Ten Commandments, but in the Book of the Law, which Adventists say is abolished! 8. Breaking is sin vs. Merely prescribes offerings for sin - There are numerous laws which most Christians believe are "sin" which are not found within the text of the Ten Commandments. For example, In Leviticus 20 the death penalty is given to homosexuals, those who commit incest, and those who have a familiar spirit. This shows that there are moral teachings about "sin" outside of the Ten Commandments. 9. Commandments vs. Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees - Every time an Adventist sees the expression "the commandments" or "My commandments" in the Bible, they have been trained to automatically think these are references to the Ten Commandments! There are many passages where these common expressions refer to what Adventists would call "the Ceremonial Law of Moses" and NOT the 10 commandments. The phrases "commandments", "The commandments", "my commandments", "the Lord commanded", "what Moses commanded" are used so many times in the Old Testament in reference to what Adventists call the Ceremonial law to the exclusion of the Ten Commandments, it would take many pages to list all the verses. Lev 27:34 - "These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai." Num 36:13 - "These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded" Deut 30:10 - "obey the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law" Jesus defined the commandments to include the Law of Moses - Mt 19:17-19 "Jesus said: 'keep the commandments.' The man replied 'Which ones?' And Jesus said, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself' Every time an Adventist sees the expression "Statutes, Ordinances and Decrees", they have been trained to automatically exclude the Ten Commandments and apply it only to what they call, "the ceremonial law". There are many passages where these common expressions refer to the Ten commandments: Deut 5:1 - The Ten commandments are called "My statutes and all My ordinances" Ezekiel 20:19-21 - The weekly Sabbath is called "My statutes and all My ordinances" Neh 9:13-14 - The weekly Sabbath is included without distinction: "right judgments, true laws, good statutes, commandments" Lev 19:1-37 - The Ten commandments and the ceremonial law are mixed together without distinction and called "My statutes and all My ordinances" Deut 5:1-6:25 - Two whole chapters that deal exclusively with the 10 commandments and the following 5 terms are used interchangeably without distinction: "statutes", "ordinances", "commandments", "judgments", "testimonies". Lev 23 - The Weekly Sabbath is lumped in with all the yearly Sabbaths without distinction and they are all called "The Lord’s appointed times" and "holy convocations". Ezek 20 - The first and fourth commandment are called "My statutes" and "My ordinances" Neh 8 - Uses interchangeably without distinction, the following terms: "the book of the law of Moses", "the law", "the book of the law", "the law of God", "book of the law of God". 10. Ten Commandments remain vs. Ceremonial law abolished Adventists have traditionally pointed to Ephesians 2:15 as evidence that the "ceremonial law" has been abolished. However, in the prior section we have seen how the terms "statutes" and "ordinances" are used in reference to the Ten Commandments. Therefore, Ephesians 2:15-16 shows the Old Covenant of laws, statutes, and ordinances was abolished by Christ's sacrifice: "by abolishing [Strongs #2673] in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity." The exact same word for abolished [Strongs #2673] is used specifically of the Ten Commandments twice in Romans 7 and four times in 2 Cor 3. Adventists confuse identical expressions like "keep the whole law" as referring to two different parts of the old covenant law. "And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. " (Galatians 5:3) "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." (James 2:10) They believe in Gal 5:3, that the expression "keep the whole law" means keep the whole ceremonial law, yet in James 2:10 they believe the identical expression, "keep the whole law", refers exclusively to the Ten Commandments. The truth is "keep the whole law" refers to the entire old covenant--the entire writings of Moses. While the Adventists teach the "ceremonial law" was abolished", they continue to follow the Old Covenant statutes regarding dietary restrictions and tithing. This would seem to contradict their own teaching about the "laws of Moses" being abolished.

Bible Truth about the Moral versus Ceremonial Law 1. While Adventists create an artificial separation between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the laws of Moses, such a divide is foreign to the Scriptures. Both ceremonial laws and moral laws are referred to interchangeably throughout the Bible as the "law of Moses" or the "law of God." While the Bible never calls the Ten Commandments a "moral law", it does have a name for them: God's "covenant" or legal agreement with the Israelite people. The Israelites were asked to obey God's commandments, and in return, God would bless them as a people and make Israel a great and prosperous nation. The Bible makes it very clear that the Ten Commandments were God's covenant with a specific group of people--Israel--and not with the entire world: He declared to you {Israelites} His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. (Deut. 4:13) Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments. (Ex. 34:28) The Bible further makes it very clear that the Ten Commandement Covenant was only for a limited time frame, being "introduced" at Sinai in about 1450 BC, and surpassed by the New Covenant that Christ instituted at around 30 AD: The law, introduced 430 years later {after Abraham}, … was added because of transgressions until the Seed (Christ) to whom the promise referred had come. (Gal. 3:17-19) The New Covenant replaces the covenant that God made with Israel at Mount Sinai: After the supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’ (Luke 22:20) But God found fault with the people {Israel} and said : ‘The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers {at Sinai} when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to My covenant, and I turned away from them,’ declares the Lord. … By calling this covenant "new," He has made the first one {the Old Covenant of Ten Commandments} obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. (Heb 8:8-9, 13; see also 2 Cor. 3:6-11) Conclusion There are 613 laws found in the writings of Moses, called the Torah or "law". Adventists pick and choose which parts of the Torah to follow and which to ignore. They keep the Ten Commandments, some of the dietary laws, and the tithing laws (although they change many of the "rules" about how tithing is to be collected and distributed). Adventists split the law into "moral" and "ceremonial" pieces, but such an approach cannot be supported from Scripture. There are many "moral" laws in the "ceremonial" sections, and there are ceremonies in the "moral" sections. Even Jesus blended the Ten Commandments with other laws when he gave his sermon on the mount, found in Matthew 5. Thankfully Christians are not left to struggle and debate over which "laws" of the Torah to follow. The New Testatment teachings tell us exactly how to live a godly life. They explain to us the difference between right and wrong, and show us exactly the duties we need to carry out as Christians. Furthermore, Christians have the gift of the Holy Ghost, who writes the laws of the New Covenant into our heart.

Your Questions about Moral Versus Ceremonial Law QUESTION: My Adventist friend told me the dietary laws about clean and unclean meats are still in effect. Is that so? ANSWER: Dietary restrictions have never been part of the New Covenant. What you eat or do not eat will never make you holy or unholy. Jesus explained: “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) (Mark 7:18-19 NIV) Further evidence that Old Testament dietary laws were never enforced upon Christians can be found in the writings of Paul: As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. ... Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. (Romans 14:14,20) Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience. (1 Cor. 10:25) While Christians should endeavor to eat healthy because the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the rules of the Torah regarding diet are no longer mandatory upon the Christian. A Christian may choose to follow the teachings of the Torah because he sees the wisdom in so doing, but it is not a requirement and matters of food should not be made a stumbling block between Christians.

Links for Deeper Study about Moral vs Ceremonial Law Ten Commandments Abolished Ten Commandment Facts by Pastor Cleveland

 

1. "10 False distinctions between the 10 Commandments and the ceremonial law exposed!", http://www.bible.ca/7-2laws.htm.

2. Seventh-day Adventists Believe, p. 285, Review and Herald (1989).

3. Ibid., pp. 269-276.

4. Much of this sections sourced from the article "10 False distinctions between the 10 Commandments and the ceremonial law exposed!", http://www.bible.ca/7-2laws.htm.