"He to whom thou wast sent for ease being by name Legality, is the son of the bond-woman which now is in bondage with her children; and is, in a mystery, this Mount Sinai, which thou hast feared will fall on thy head. Now if she with her children are in bondage, how canst thou expect by them to be made free? This Legality therefore is not able to set thee free from thy burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him, no, nor ever is like to be; ye cannot be justified by the works of the law; for by the deeds of the law no man living can be rid of his burden; therefore, Mr. Worldly-Wiseman is an alien, and Mr. Legality a cheat; and for his son Civility, he is but a hypocrite, and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise, that thou hast heard of these sottish men, but a design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had set thee." –John Bunyan from Pilgrim’s Progress

In this narrative Pastor Bunyan has Evangelist rebuke Christian for turning out of the way of grace to go by way of Mount Sinai which leads to bondage.

These articles are an attempt to bring to light what the Scriptures teach regarding the new order that Jesus came to introduce. He called this new order the Kingdom of God. This subject is worthy of our attention because Christ gave it a prominent place in His teaching, and the apostles have unfolded the doctrine for us. We are not in need of more revelation. Our great need is to understand and believe the revelation we have been given.

Part I dealt with the ceremonial law given in types and shadows pointing to the priest who would offer up himself as the acceptable sacrifice, once and for all. We concluded that these laws are passed away along with the temple in Jerusalem. They are fulfilled in the present reality of the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.

Part II will address the issue of civil law. Why did Old Testament Israel stone to death blasphemers and adulterers? Should there be state law today against blasphemy? What part of the Old Covenant is applicable to the church? What is new in the New Covenant? These are some of the questions before us.

Israel was given more than ceremonial regulations at Sinai. By the hand of Moses another body of laws identified as judicial or civil ordinances were also given to regulate the people of God politically as a visible nation. As the worship of the Jews was governed by God, so was their social order.

In Galatians chapters 3 and 4 Paul discusses the Mosaic economy in its relationship with the Abrahamic Covenant. What purpose did the Mosaic economy serve in the covenant plan? The promise to Abraham was not invalidated by Moses. He did not introduce a new way of salvation. [Galatians 3:17] Was the Mosaic system presented as God’s model for world governments? Was it introduced as the ideal of social management in all ages? Was it a pattern for subsequent social and political philosophy?

The reason for God affixing a Mosaic rider to the original covenant is clearly stated:

‘It was added because of transgressions…until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made.’ [Galatians 3:19]

The Mosaic economy was an appendage which did not alter, but which helped to enforce the original terms. Furthermore it was temporary, only effective ‘till the seed should come.’ Thus the termination point of the Mosaic economy was fixed as the coming of Christ the seed.

Paul speaks of life under Moses: It ‘differs nothing from a slave’ and is akin to being ‘in bondage’! [Galatians 4:1-3] No wonder the Jews hated Paul. They accused him of opposing Moses, but his real message was of liberty in Christ available to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.

Take for example this quote from Leviticus:

"And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou shall speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death…" [Leviticus 24:13-16]

Blasphemy is always immoral. Today as in the days of Moses cursing God is a violation of the third commandment. How should a blasphemer be treated by the civil authorities today? There is now no theocracy, no identification of church and state. Should the modern state put all false prophets to death and execute all who lead men away from the true God? [Deuteronomy 18:20 & 13:5] Is capital punishment appropriate, even if it were granted that states should forbid blasphemy?

Before Christ came all the people of God were children: children in understanding; children in focusing attention upon the material; children in respect of the development of power and grace. To protect children from dangers, with which they are not ready to cope, we place restrictions on them. We repeat our warnings endlessly. We apply stern and rigid punishment. All of this is intended to shield our children from injury.

Such severe and rigorous treatment of the Jews was a kindness to them. In their sin they tended to stray from God, especially into idolatry. In their spiritual immaturity they would have been lost. The Mosaic system was a fence erected to impede the decline of Israel from the Lord. The revelation of God deposited with the Jews must be preserved, and the chosen people of God must be preserved until the seed should come.

Such austere measures are not appropriate in the New Covenant. For New Covenant Jews a return to judicial laws would be turning from our liberty in Christ to bondage.

It was necessary that such social and national regulations be temporary. For as the judicial laws shut up the Jews to faith, they shut out the rest of the world from faith. By the institution of ‘the Commonwealth of Israel’ all other nations were made ‘aliens’ and ‘strangers’. Judicial law kept all Gentiles ‘far off’. Civil regulations built a ‘wall of partition’ shutting all others out from the gospel to which the Jews were shut in. [Ephesians 2:12-14]

In Abraham all nations were to be blessed, not excluded. Hence with the coming of Christ, the Gentiles were made near. Christ broke down the middle wall of partition, ‘having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances’. He reconciled in one body Jew and Gentile. There could be no Great Commission until the judicial law was nailed to the cross. [Ephesians 2:15-16]