The Categories of God’s Law – A Kingdom Catechism

The Categories of God’s Law

A Kingdom Catechism

The Law consists of three categories.

Q 5: Are there specific categories of the Law of God?

A 5: The categories of God’s Law are the Ten Commandments, the civil laws, and the religious or ceremonial laws. (Exod. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21; Exodus-Deuteronomy)

The statutes, precepts, rules, and testimonies of God’s Law provide more specific instruction concerning how the Law of God is to be obeyed. They are not meant to be exhaustive but are merely indicative of the general direction of the mind of God. It was the duty of priests and judges to become so familiar with the Law, and so practiced in it, that they could judge on the application of the Law to specific situations, even if these were not expressly covered by some aspect of the Law.

The example of Ruth 4 is instructive here. The situation in question was not expressly addressed in the Law of God. However, certain statutes seemed to the elders of the city of Bethlehem to have been relevant. They made their judgment on the basis of wise deliberation before the Lord, and He blessed their decision.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.