Sunday, July 30, 2017

What Laws? (modified)

I found this interesting table in the book All Old Testament Laws are Cancelled
by Greg Gibson. It list seven popular views and which laws they say must be
obeyed:


Popular Views



A. Orthodox JudaismAll OT and no NT Laws: 
1) Decalogue 
2) Temple 
3) Priests, sacrifices, 
4) State-Church Theocracy 
5) Infant Members
B. Roman CatholicismSome OT and all NT Laws: 
1) Decalogue 
2) Priests, sacrifices, 
3) State-Church Theocracy 
4) Infant Members 
5) All NT Laws
C. Theocracy, Reformed Covenant TheologySome OT and all NT Laws: 
1) Decalogue 
2) State-Church Theocracy 
3) Infant Members 
4) All NT Laws
D. Non-Theocracy, Reformed Covenant TheologySome OT and all NT Laws: 
1) Decalogue 
2) Infant Members 
3) All NT Laws


E. Reformed Baptist Covenant Theology
Some OT and all NT Laws: 
1) Decalogue 
2) All NT Laws
F. New Covenant TheologyNo OT and all NT Laws: 
1) All NT Laws
G. AntinomianismNo Laws


Some of it you might quibble with, but I think it gets it approximately right. In any event, it is food for thought. I would say the one view that requires modification is Roman Catholicism. I would at least have a modern version that removed "State-Church Theocracy." There should also be a row for Dispensationalism.

Of course a New Covenant Theologian would offer clarification regarding the jettisoning of the Decalogue: There is no practice that was illegal under the Ten Commandments that is suddenly legal under NT law (quit the contrary) so the Decalogue is redundant. However, the reason to view it as void is not to remove redundancy, it is a more nuanced position that the Decalogue was explicitly introduced as covenant document for the Mosaic Covenant, which was inacted exclusively with a now non-existent nation.

Personally, I'm comfortable with views D, E, and F.

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