Letter from the Pastor 1/14/2025, Part 4 of 7
INTRODUCTION
“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.” (Deut. 22:8 ESV)
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” (Deut. 25:4)
“You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. 15 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”(Deut. 25:13-15)
What do these three Scripture references have in common? They are all commands found within the judicial laws of Moses. These laws governed the civic life of Israel in the Old Testament, and there are roughly 200 of them in the Mosaic law.[1]
Last week we said that we are not obligated to keep the ceremonial laws of Israel, though we may benefit from their symbolizing of Christ. What about the judicial laws? Must we obey them? Here, the Second London Confession offers a succinct and helpful paragraph.
1: The Law of God Given to Adam[2]
2: The Nature of the Moral Law
3: The Mosaic Ceremonial Laws
4: The Mosaic Judicial Laws
5: The Perpetuity of the Moral Law
6: The Moral Law and Our Salvation
7: The Moral Law and the Gospel
SECOND LONDON CONFESSION, 19:4
Today, we will consider paragraph 4 of chapter 19 which reads:
To them also he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution; their general equity only being of moral use.
EXPOSITION
The Ancient Expiration of the Mosaic Judicial Laws[3]
The confession says that the judicial laws of the Mosaic Covenant expired, “together with the state of that people…” In other words, when the Mosaic Covenant was ended by the coming of Christ (who fulfills the law), Israel as a theocratic state and the accompanying judicial, or civil, laws expired as well. John Reuther writes, “Israel today is no longer constituted as the people of God as they were under the Old Testament.” We know this because Jesus Christ declared, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Matt. 21:43 ESV) Jesus’ statement raises a question: “What is the nation that the kingdom of God was given to?” According to 1 Peter 2:9, the church is the “holy nation” which receives the kingdom of God.
The church is not an ethnic, theocratic state. Rather the church is made up of people from every nation, who live in and among the nations of the earth. The true King of the church, in this age, isn’t a monarch ruling from an earthly, but rather a heavenly throne. The church is not tasked with establishing an outward Christian government. Rather the church’s mission is to proclaim the gospel to every creature, baptize converts from the nations, and teach them to obey Christ. In other words, the mission of the church is the church. This will, of course, have spillover effects in surrounding culture and politics.
Therefore, the judicial laws of Moses have expired, or died. We are not obligated to obey the judicial law of Moses.
The Modern Application of the Mosaic Judicial Laws
The expiration of the judicial law does not, however, mean there is no value to reading and following the spiritual principles of these laws. The second half of paragraph 4 teaches that the “general equity” of the judicial law is of “moral use” to New Covenant Christians. In other words, the judicial law has modern applications. It contains, as Sam Waldron put it, “timeless principles of general equity, justice, goodness, and righteousness.”[4]
Thankfully, the New Testament gives helpful examples of the “general equity” principle. Deuteronomy 25:4 forbids muzzling an ox as he treads grain. The ancient judicial law states that the animal that helps produce grain is owed some of the grain that falls to the ground as he is treading. Muzzling the ox was a way to increase profit margins to the detriment of the workers, in this case, the ox. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul applies the “general equity” of this judicial law to the compensation of pastors.
17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Tim. 5:17-18)
Though we are not obligated to obey the letter of the judicial laws, as we read them, we are being trained in timeless civic principles. You are not obligated to build parapets on your house (Deut. 22:8) but you should not install shoddy electrical work. Accountants are not required to have literal scales and weights, but they should not have two versions of their ledgers (one for themselves and another for the auditors).
CONCLUSION
Behind the time-bound judicial laws of Israel stands the timeless principles of God’s unchanging moral law. Christians would do well to read the judicial laws and meditate on their modern application today. Our nation would do well to write civic laws that reflect the principles contained in the judicial laws of Israel. On the one hand, we are not trying to build a theocratic Christian state. But on the other hand, we dare not minimize or degrade the value of reading and applying the judicial laws of Moses appropriately.
[1] Estimates vary based on how laws are classified.
[2] I have found Pastor Tom Hick’s expositions on the confession helpful. They can be accessed here: https://www.fbcclintonla.com/ss-1689-Confession.html
[3] The terminology of “ancient expiration,” and “modern application,” is borrowed from Sam Waldron’s exposition of the London Baptist Confession.
[4] Samuel E Waldron, Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (Leyland, England: Evangelical Press, 2013), 284.