Moral Law

Definition and Meaning

Moral law refers to the portion of the Old Testament law that contains unchanging moral obligations toward God and neighbor. When the law is classified by its character, the moral law is distinguished from the ceremonial law, such as regulations on sacrifice and ritual purity, and from the civil (judicial) law, the judicial and penal statutes of the ancient nation of Israel. Traditions that follow this division hold that the ceremonial law was fulfilled and abolished by the coming of Jesus Christ and that the civil law expired along with the nation of Israel, but that the moral law remains a rule of life for Christians today. The moral law is summarized in the Ten Commandments and, more briefly still, in the two commandments to love God and to love one's neighbor (Mark 12:28–34).

Biblical and Historical Background

Scripture does not itself divide the law into three categories. The New Testament, however, does not retain the dietary regulations (Mark 7:18–19) or the requirement of circumcision (Acts 15:28–29), while teaching that love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8–10). On this basis, theologians have interpreted the law as containing parts of differing character. The framework dividing the law into moral, ceremonial, and judicial precepts is generally credited to the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas, who set it out systematically in the Summa Theologiae.

After the Reformation, the Reformed tradition adopted this division. John Calvin emphasized the law's function of guiding the believer's life, and chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith confesses that the moral law forever binds even those who are justified (see justification). The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England and the Articles of Religion that John Wesley gave to the Methodist church likewise contain an article stating that the ceremonial and civil laws do not bind Christians, yet no Christian is free from obedience to the moral commandments. Lutheranism places the distinction between law and gospel at the center of its theology, yet the Formula of Concord, which belongs to the tradition of the Augsburg Confession, affirms the law's function of instructing believers (the so-called third use of the law).

By contrast, dispensationalist theologians and some Baptist scholars question the threefold division itself, holding that the law is an indivisible unity and that believers are not under the Mosaic law but under "the law of Christ" (citing Romans 10:4 and Galatians 3:24).

Practice in the Korean Church

Across denominations, Korean churches frequently recite the Ten Commandments or read them responsively during worship, and many teach them in new-member classes and in the examinations for admission to the catechumenate and to baptism. This practice reflects the understanding that the moral law is the standard guiding the believer's sanctification.

• Presbyterian: Many denominations adopt the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as their doctrinal standards and therefore teach the threefold division and the continuing validity of the moral law as standard doctrine. They hold that the principle of the fourth commandment is retained as moral law, with only the day of observance changed to the Lord's Day.
• Methodist and Holiness: Following the Wesleyan tradition, these churches emphasize obedience to the moral law as a mark of a holy life.
• Baptist and Full Gospel: Views vary from church to church, and explanations that emphasize new life in the Holy Spirit rather than the law are also common.
• Seventh-day Adventist Church: Adventists regard the entire Ten Commandments, including the fourth commandment, as moral law and advocate Saturday Sabbath observance. Most Protestant denominations do not accept this interpretation (see Sabbath and Lord's Day).