RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
This is not to be a theonomy thread. Let that be the only time the T-word is mentioned. I have no dog in the hunt, and this question should be equally challenging to non-T'ers.
While I affirm the Westminster tri-furcation of the Law, I confess that in my own personal study, I can't make some categories "stick." For example,
Markus Brockmuehl writes,
Jewish Law in Gentile Churches: Halakah and the Beginning of Christian Public Ethics, 149n14
While I think he goes too far, he is on to something. What about nocturnal emissions: civil or ceremonial? How do you tell? Or intercourse with a woman during her period: civil, moral, or ceremonial--how do you tell?
Tripping the blind?, etc.
If we determine that a law is “typological,” then are we free to dismiss it when thinking through ethical questions? Do the sacrificial laws, for instance, have nothing to teach us about ethics or politics? Jacob Milgrom, the Jewish scholar who is the universally recognized dean of Levitical studies, would certainly differ.
To his credit Joe Morecraft tries to answer this question.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1505203736
While I affirm the Westminster tri-furcation of the Law, I confess that in my own personal study, I can't make some categories "stick." For example,
Markus Brockmuehl writes,
"The very distinction between moral, civil, and ceremonial laws, aside from being unknown to the Old Testament and New Testament and to Judaism, is legally unworkable and practically awkward. Who would confidently classify the laws about gleaning or taking of a bird's nest, not to mention the Sabbath and the command about images?
Jewish Law in Gentile Churches: Halakah and the Beginning of Christian Public Ethics, 149n14
While I think he goes too far, he is on to something. What about nocturnal emissions: civil or ceremonial? How do you tell? Or intercourse with a woman during her period: civil, moral, or ceremonial--how do you tell?
Tripping the blind?, etc.
If we determine that a law is “typological,” then are we free to dismiss it when thinking through ethical questions? Do the sacrificial laws, for instance, have nothing to teach us about ethics or politics? Jacob Milgrom, the Jewish scholar who is the universally recognized dean of Levitical studies, would certainly differ.
To his credit Joe Morecraft tries to answer this question.
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1505203736