Counsel #6 — Two Laws

Picture: Counsel #6 — Two LawsCCW 98.1

Many overlook that the Bible differentiates between two sets of laws from the time of Moses onward. The first is the moral Law which was written on tablets of stone by the finger of God and placed inside the Ark of the Covenant.^{[151]Exodus 31:18} The second was the Book of the Law, written by Moses and placed in the side of the Ark of the Covenant.^{[152]Deuteronomy 29:21; 31:26} This Book of the Law included ceremonies, festivals, health, and civil laws. Because it contained blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience, it came to be referred to as against the people. The seventh-day Sabbath is based on creation and repeated in the Ten Commandments,^{[153]Genesis 1:2, 3; Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:12} not Moses’ ceremonial Book of the Law. This Book of the Law, which included festivals and additional sabbaths based on lunar timing is what Paul refers to as done away with in Colossians 2:14.^{[154]https://whiteestate.org/books/dof/DOFc04.html#sth2}CCW 98.2

“And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” Exodus 31:18 NKJVCCW 98.3

“It is this law of ceremonies, which was to find its fulfillment in the death of Christ, when type should meet antitype, that is so frequently in our day confounded with the moral law of ten commandments, which was engraven by the finger of God upon stone, and which is as enduring as the throne of Jehovah.” Ellen White in The Signs of the Times, July 15, 1880, art. A, par. 2CCW 98.4

Reflect: How should the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law impact how the weekly Sabbath is kept today?CCW 98.5