At the core of the
disagreement between the Commandment Keepers and
mainstream Christianity is a stronger commitment by
the former to the eternal and universal validity of
many Old Testament commandments. Of course, respect
for the Old Testament is a vital part of the
historic Christian tradition. It is clear that the
Hebrew scriptures emphasize appreciation for the
written code of law preserved by the followers of
Yahweh. The longest chapter, Psalm 119, in the Old
Testament was written in praise of the Law. "Oh, how
I love your law! It is my meditation all the day"
(Psalm 119:97). Many New Testament scriptures take a
similar approach. Paul wrote in his epistle to the
Romans, "Therefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy and just and good" (7:12). The
First Epistle of John states, "For this is the love
of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome" (5:3).
It should be
noted here that the criticism that Jesus brought
against the extreme legalism of certain rabbinic
authorities was a criticism from within the
Yahwistic religious tradition. The basis of the
relationship of a Jew or Jewess to his or her God
was the fact that he or she was a member of the
Jewish community. The children of Israel were all
included in a divine covenant. An aspect of this
covenant was God's miraculous intervention to
deliver God's people from Egyptian bondage. Being
born into a community is not something one earns. So
the future eternal salvation of a Jew or Jewess was
ultimately based on God's love rather than on his or
her works. To obtain the same quality of reward,
gentiles needed to enter the covenant community. The
Pharisaic emphasis on do's and don'ts caused Judaism
to resemble a pagan system of attempting to purchase
divine favor with deeds and discipline--salvation by
works.
The critical
difference between Commandment Keepers and
mainstream Christianity is the tendency of the
former to view the commandments of the Torah, to
state it metaphorically, as innocent until proven
guilty. Their reading of New Testament scriptures
causes them to accept the literal applicability of
laws that traditional Christianity has considered to
be intended for a specific nation at a particular
historical period.
It has already
been shown that, for a theist, right personal
behavior is not solely a matter of ethics.
Commandment Keepers believe that God has a plan
involving a relationship with each and every human
being. Authentic Christians are in the vanguard. A
proper relationship with God is lived within the
appropriate human community, the one most in harmony
with God's will. Certain practices which, prima
facie, may be ethically neutral, may nevertheless be
critical to identifying the community that God is
using to advance God's purpose.
The Jews of the
first century CE were the remnant of Israel, the
chosen people. From a New Testament perspective, the
Church becomes a spiritual Israel (Romans 2:28-29;
Galatians 6:16). In the book of Romans, Paul sees a
future role for the Jews in God's plan (Romans
9-11). In the meantime, Romans 11 pictures gentile
Christians as achieving Israelite status spiritually
without necessitating inclusion in the physical
community. Commandment Keepers read such passages
more closely than most, assuming that the holy days
and dietary laws commanded for ancient Israel and
preserved in Judaism, are also required of
Christians. It is quite reasonable to contend that
one of the values of these practices is that the
practices constitute important signs designating the
divinely chosen community.
Roman Catholic
theology reached a certain culmination in the
writings of Thomas Aquinas. Probably history's two
most influential Protestant theologians are Martin
Luther and John Calvin. All three presuppose that
both the Old Testament and the New Testaments are
divinely inspired and thus authoritative in matters
of doctrine. Each of these theologians discusses how
Christians should view the applicability of the laws
associated with the Sinaitic Covenant. It will be
useful to compare their perspectives on Old
Testament law with the perspective that can be
discerned in the writings of contemporary
Commandment Keepers and their most influential
spokesperson of recent decades, Herbert W.
Armstrong.
The traditional
Roman Catholic perspective on Old Testament law can
be gleaned from the thirteenth century theologian,
Thomas Aquinas. Considered a saint by his church,
Thomas Aquinas cannot be ignored by contemporary
theologians who are practicing Roman Catholics. His
highly influential writings reflect the view that
the Old Testament provides a model for a society
ordered on the New Testament. New, but similar
practices are substituted for the old. The religion
that results can be described as a gentilized form
of Judaism.
Martin Luther
reacted against this approach to the Torah when
applied to the use of ceremonies and rituals, but
considered that the Pentateuch could be consulted
for options in handling civil and political matters.
Calvin's position was similar, but later Calvinists
for a time attempted to more closely apply many of
the laws of ancient Israel to their own societies.
Luther's
approach to the Pauline writings had revolutionary
implications for Christianity's approach to the
Hebrew Bible. For Luther, the ideal of the Pauline
tradition is for Christians to practice their
religion based on a Christ-directed conscience,
rather than on any written code. Of course, Luther
did not discard the specific instructions found in
the New Testament. Nor could he ignore the law code
of the ancient Hebrews that was its prelude.
Luther
acknowledged two uses of the law:
1.It has a social
use since it exercises a restraining influence
on society.
2.It has a pedagogic use since it points out sin
and drives the sinner to Christ. (Brinsmead
1981, 61)
Luther can even be said to endorse, in a qualified
manner, a third use of the law, usually associated
with John Calvin.
3.It has a
guiding use since it acts as a rule of life for
those who have been justified. (Brinsmead 1981,
61)
Luther would not carry
this third use too far. He opposed the reimposition
of the Hebraic code or of an ecclesiastical
equivalent. However, while Luther preached New
Testament ethics for the individual Christian, he
utilized the Old Testament as a guide to societal
norms. In the Augustinian tradition exemplified in
modern times by the "moral man, immoral society"
perspective of Reinhold Niebuhr ( 81), Luther
condoned activities such as the waging of war by
Christian nations, as ancient Israel had done.
Luther was
reacting against what could justifiably be called
the legalism and devotion to ritual of sixteenth
century Roman Catholicism. In practical terms, he
simplified Catholic practice but retained traces of
Catholicism in his approach. By encouraging Bible
study, including study in the vernacular, Luther
enhanced the influence of the Old Testament on
Christian thought and practices. However, his
theology contained the seeds for the virtual
rejection of the Old Testament as a Jewish relic,
entirely superseded by the New Testament. This
position, however, cannot be attributed to Luther
himself. He made extensive use of the Old Testament
in the formulation of his theology.
Robert D.
Brinsmead reminds us that, while having much in
common with Lutheranism:
The Reformed
branch of Protestantism, however, traditionally
placed greater emphasis on the third use of the
law. While the Lutheran tradition has tended to
permit any form of worship except that which God
has forbidden, the Reformed tradition has tended
to permit only that form of worship which God
has enjoined. (61)
Calvin did not
seek to re-establish a system of rituals and
ceremonies, but he did respect the ethical
requirements of the Old Testament. Subsequent
generations of Calvinists went further in using the
Old Testament scriptures as authoritative for
personal and societal conduct:
Puritanism was
the outgrowth of Reformed theology. The Puritans
searched the Bible for directives on liturgy,
church government and the entire spectrum of
Christian existence. They expounded the Ten
Commandments in great detail and applied them
with rigor, believing that they were the rule of
life par excellence. (Brinsmead 1981, 61)
The Renaissance
witnessed a return to the study of the Graeco- Roman
classics that had served as a basis for European
civilization. In religion there was also a return to
the study of the biblical texts in their original
languages. To an extent, the Protestant Reformation
represented an effort to return to a more
authentically biblical approach to religion,
clearing out encrustations of generations of church
traditions.
It can be
argued that John Calvin went further than Luther in
returning to a more Old Testament based approach to
religion. His backing away from Catholicism included
a renewed respect for the specific instructions
contained in the Old Testament. Calvinism gave
Christianity an opportunity to recapture a "proper"
balance between its Hebraic and Graeco-Roman
heritage. The struggles between Judaism and
Christianity of the early centuries CE had long
ceased to be of significance. Christianity was a
major world religion with a distinct identity and
history. The time had come with the Reformation for
Christianity to more explicitly return to its
Hebraic theological roots.
In a sense, the
interest that Calvinist Protestants came to develop
for Old Testament examples was a recasting of a
tradition which existed within Roman Catholicism.
There had been a tendency in Catholicism to view Old
Testament laws and institutions as patterns upon
which Christian laws and institutions should be
based. This Old Testament typology included the
concept that nations should ideally be theocratic,
that national laws and institutions should reflect
Church teaching and practice.
During the
twelfth century in Europe, there was a revival of
interest in the Old Testament in the light of the
Catholic understanding that the Old Covenant was
"preparing and prefiguring" the New Covenant (Chenu
1968, 146-7). Citing the axiom popularized by
Augustine, "Vetus in novo patet (The Old
unfolds in the New); Novum in veteri latet
(the New lies enveloped in the Old)," Chenu contends
that in the first two-thirds of the twelfth century,
the Old Testament, ". . . exercised a Judaizing
influence upon the interpretation of the New" (148).
M.D. Chenu
points out one very significant way in which
Catholicism utilized the Old Testament during the
Middle Ages. The Church investigated the historical
accounts in the Old Testament for what it termed
exempla, which Chenu defines as "normative or
'type' actions fitted by their concrete detail to
provide an efficacious model for human conduct,
which was also governed by general principles"
(159).
Of course, this
use of the Old Testament for guidance on human
conduct presupposes some enduring relevance. In that
regard, such a position is implicit in such New
Testament material as 2 Timothy 3:15-16 where the
scriptures referred to are what are popularly
referred to today as the Old Testament.
Of great
significance is the fact that "In the area of social
morality, precepts that rested upon Old Testament
legislation abounded. The most characteristic case
was the forbidding of interest" (Chenu 1968, 154).
Yet the basic Roman Catholic teaching rejecting the
authority of the Mosaic Code on Christians remained
intact. ". . . Men of the Middle Ages recognized and
proclaimed the cessatio legalium (cessation
of the Law)" (Chenu 1968, 158). Much Catholic
writing spoke disparagingly or condescendingly about
the legal system of the Old Testament (Chenu 1968,
159). The final third of the eleventh century
witnessed an "evangelical awakening," (Chenu 1968,
239) and a return to emphasis on the New Testament,
particularly the gospels, and a rejecting of what
might be termed an earlier legalism. For example,
Peter the Chanter wrote a chapter criticizing what
Chenu describes as ". . . the proliferation of
precepts . . ." (Chenu 1968, 216). Probably having
Thomas Aquinas in mind, Chenu opines that:
Not until the
thirteenth century was a just and balanced
evaluation of the Old Law proposed within the
evangelical freedom of the New. (216)
A capsule summary of
the underlying theology concerning the Torah is that
viewed as a complete written code, it was the
vehicle to salvation under the Old Covenant. Of
course, the divine inspiration of the Pentateuch was
acknowledged. On a case by case basis, the ancient
laws could provide divine guidance for appropriate
civil policy, ecclesiastical policy, or personal
morality.
There was a
theological tension between respect for the Old
Testament commandments as reflecting God's will, at
least for a particular time, and for a particular
ethnic group, and the opprobrium in which its
descendants were held in the Middle Ages because of
their refusal to accept Christianity. Upon the
election of a new Pope, a special ceremony would
take place in Rome. The Jewish elders would march
out of their ghetto in procession and present a
scroll of the law before the new Pontiff. He would
then declare "Excellent Law'detestable race"
(Ausubel 1984, 101-102).
A perusal of
Thomas' writings will quickly demonstrate that he
took the entire Old Testament into consideration,
including the "deutero-canonical" books excluded
from the Hebrew canon and later by most Protestants.
Other contemporaries of Thomas also utilized Old
Testament scriptures in their theological
expositions. One example is the "Golden Sequence"
attributed to Stephen Langton, which reflects the
influence of Psalms, Isaiah, and Jeremiah
(Fairweather 1956, 319-360). Another example
is a passage in Section 3 of Disputed Questions
on Faith by Matthew of Aquasparta, where he
quotes Deuteronomy 6:4 and Genesis 1:1 (Fairweather
1956, 410).
One would
expect to find considerable influence from the Book
of Psalms on the writings of Thomas Aquinas. It is
the Old Testament book directly cited most often in
the New Testament. It is also one of the most quoted
biblical books in the selections from the Summa
Theologica on Nature and Grace translated and
edited by A. M. Fairweather (375-380). The
importance of the Old Testament Psalms in medieval
Christianity can be traced back many centuries.
R. W. Southern
points out that:
However
out-of-date, and even moribund, the Benedictine
ideal became in the later Middle Ages, it
continued to provide an authoritative standard
of normal religious life, more ancient, more
dignified, and more stable than any order. (217)
The Rule of St.
Benedict required of monks that:
All 150 psalms
must be chanted during the week so that on
Sunday Matins the series may start afresh. Monks
who chant less than the entire Psalter, with
canticles, each week are slothful in their
service to God. Our spiritual fathers performed
with determination in one day what we now take a
whole week to do. (68)
& nbsp The Psalms
are replete with praises for the divine law. Thomas,
in discussing the need for a divine law, quotes from
Psalm 119:33 (Psalm 118 in Catholic versions) which
evidently in the text he had available states, "Set
before me for a law the way of Your justifications,
O Lord" (Baumgarth 1988, 23). Baumgarth and Regan
will be the edition of Thomas' Summa used in
this paper unless otherwise noted). Later in the
same article, he quotes extensively from the praise
of the law in Psalm 19 (18) which is an earlier
Psalm in praise of the law (mistakenly cited as
Psalm 118 in Baumgarth and Regan, page 24, and
perhaps even in Thomas's original text).
Since the law
is so highly praised within The Holy Scriptures, it
must have been of great spiritual utility, even
though, as a codified collection, not binding today.
Thomas comments at length on the historical
importance of the Old Covenant law in his commentary
on Galatians:
[I]t should be
noted that the Old Law was given for a fourfold
purpose corresponding to the four consequences
of sin enumerated by Bede, namely because of
wickedness, weakness, passion, and ignorance.
(Larcher 1966, 95).
He elaborates by
stating that " . . . men who are ill disposed need
to be kept from sin by penalties . . ." (Larcher
1966, 96). On the second consequence, he states that
" . . . Finding that without grace he was unable to
avoid sin, he would more ardently yearn for grace .
. ." (96). Regarding the third consequence, " . . .
the Law was given in order to tame the concupiscence
of a wanton people, so that, worn by various
ceremonies, they would not fall into idolatry or
lewdness . . ." (97). Finally, " . . . the Law was
given as a figure of future grace in order to
instruct the ignorant . . ." (97).
Thomas in his
writings expounds on how the Old Testament set the
stage for the New, a sort of progressive view of
biblical revelation. In Galatians 3:23, Paul tells
his readers "But before the faith came, we were kept
under guard by the law, kept (margin: confined) for
the faith which would afterward be revealed." He
then goes on to write, "Therefore the law was our
tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith" (verse 24). He adds in verse 25,
"But after faith has come, we are no longer under a
tutor." Thomas comments in Summa Theologica,
22ae, Question 1, Article 7, that:
[A] master who
knows the whole art does not impart it, but
imparts it gradually, in accordance with his
pupil's capacity. Now it is as learners that men
have progressed in knowledge of the faith with
the passing of time. Hence the apostle likens
the Old Testament to childhood, in Gal. 3:24
(Fairweather 1954, (232).
Do Paul's words
imply that only if a biblical law is restated in the
New Testament does that law apply to Christians?
Paul said a great deal in favor of the law, as when
he wrote in Romans 7:12, "Therefore the law is holy,
and the commandment holy and just and good." Thomas
Aquinas would hold that essential morality is
constant and that laws which reflect it remain in
force, whether or not they are restated in the
Christian scriptures after first appearing in the
Jewish. That position continues to be held by
current Catholic theologians. The normative teaching
is that Catholics, viewing Old Testament laws from a
New Testament perspective, can see which laws are
expressions of an essential moral code and therefore
remain applicable. Through Christ:
[A]ll the
precepts of the moral law, even the most sacred,
are given a new and glorious orientation in
divine grace and new focus, the Person of the
God-man. (Haring 1966, 3)
Thomas interprets
Romans 2:14 as an indication that human beings have
in their consciences the "natural law," and that
people can discern on a basic level, " . . . what is
good and what is evil". Thomas defines natural law,
as " . . . nothing else than the rational creature's
participation of the eternal law" (20). Original sin
did not diminish man's capacity to reason morally
but did diminish his capacity to live rightly. " . .
. The natural inclination to virtue . . . is
diminished by sin . . . ." (Fairweather 1954, 126).
Human beings
were in need of divinely revealed laws to direct
more effectively their lives toward their ultimate
purpose, which is spiritual. Additional factors are
the uncertainty of human judgment, man's incapacity
to judge properly what is going on in his or her
inner self, and the need to leave no evil
"unforbidden and unpunished" (Baumgarth 1988,
23-24).
As does
Augustine, Thomas distinguishes the commandments of
the Old Testament, "the Old Law," from the
commandments of the New Testament, "the New Law"
(Baumgarth 1988, 24-26):
The natural law
directs man by way of certain general precepts
common to both the perfect and the imperfect;
wherefore it is one and the same for all. But
the divine law directs man also in certain
particular matters to which the perfect and
imperfect do not stand in the same relation.
Hence the necessity for the divine law to be
twofold . . .. (26)
As a Roman
Catholic theologian, Aquinas would see the death and
resurrection of Jesus as cosmic events. After the
ministry of Jesus Christ, the New Covenant that he
brought her caused a redefinition of the specific
obligation in comparison with these of the old
Sinaitic Covenant. The New Covenant of Christianity
is qualitatively different from the old Sinaitic
covenant. The New Covenant is based on a new law.
In his
commentary on the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the
Church at Ephesus, Thomas states that:
The Old Law was
termed of works because it ordained only what
must be done, but did not confer the grace
through which men would have been assisted in
fulfilling the law. The New Law, on the other
hand, regulates what must be done by giving
commands, and it aids in fulfilling them by
bestowing grace. (Lamb 1966, 106).
The New Covenant
is made with God's new Israel. Galatians 6:16
evidently refers to the Christian community as "the
Israel of God." Based on his reading of Galatians,
Thomas compares the Israelites under the Old
Covenant to a child under the kind of discipline
traditionally exercised over children, as opposed to
New Covenant Christians, who live as spiritual
adults.
In Galatians
4:3 Paul writes that " . . . we, when we were
children, were in bondage under the elements of the
world." Thomas comments that " . . . it was
necessary that the Jews serve God under the elements
of this world, because such an order is in harmony
with human nature which is led from sensible to
intelligible things" (Larcher 1966, 111). Back in
the third chapter of the Epistle to the Galatian
Churches, the Apostle declares that " . . . the law
was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might
be justified by faith." Thomas expatiates:
[For] under the
Law the just were restrained from evil, as
helpless boys are, through fear of punishment;
and they were led to progress in goodness by the
love and promise of temporal goods. Further, the
Jews were promised that through a seed that was
to come the time for obtaining that inheritance
had not yet come. Consequently, it was necessary
that until the seed should come, they be kept
safe and not do unlawful things. And this was
effected by the Law. (102)
In his writings,
Thomas Aquinas expounds upon the Pauline concept of
the Church as the spiritual Israel. He explains
that:
Even the Gentiles
have become the Israel of God by uprightness of
mind; for Israel means "most upright": "Israel
will be your name" (Genesis 32:28). (Larcher
1966, 207)
The etymology here is
loose, but theologically interesting. In any case,
the requirements of physical Israel's covenant with
God did not necessarily carry over to the Church.
Thomas informs us in Question 98 of Part I of the
Second Part of his Summa Theologica,
that:
The Old Law
showed forth the precepts of the natural law,
and added certain precepts of its own.
Accordingly, as to those precepts of the natural
law contained in the Old Law all were bound to
observe the Old Law; not because they belonged
to the Old Law, but because they belonged to the
natural law. But as to those precepts which were
added by the Old Law, they were not binding on
any save the Jewish people alone. (Sullivan
1955, 244)
Later in the
Summa Theologica we find an interesting
statement concerning the relationship of the Old Law
to the New Law:
One thing may be
contained in another in two ways. First,
actually, as a located thing is in a place.
Secondly, virtually, as an effect in its cause,
or as the complement in that which is
incomplete; thus a genus contains its species,
and a seed contains the whole tree, virtually.
It is in this way that the New Law is contained
in the Old: for it has been stated (A.I) that
the New Law is compared to the Old as perfect to
imperfect . . . . (Sullivan, 1955, 329)
From this premise
one can expect that basic guiding principles would
continue from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant,
but that many actual details would change. Why was
the Old Law given only to the people of Israel? The
Summa Theologica gives us a partial
explanation, that " . . . it was merely from
gratuitous election that the patriarchs received the
promise, and that the people sprung from them
received the law . . ," (243) and later adds that ".
. . Although the salvation which was to come through
Christ was prepared for all nations, yet it was
necessary that Christ should be born of one people,
which, for this reason, was privileged above other
peoples . . .." (243)
Since Aquinas
would acknowledge an enduring moral law, he would
recognize that Pentateuchal commandments which
reflect it would continue to apply under the New
Covenant. Therefore, it is important to him to
categorize those commandments into certain general
areas of concern. Organizing the laws into such
categories serves not only to better understand
their original purpose, from a Thomist perspective,
the analysis also enables us to discern which of the
old laws would still be incumbent upon Christians.
In Question
100, Article 1, Thomas places the commandments of
the Old Testament into three categories: moral
precepts, ceremonial precepts, and judicial precepts
(Sullivan 1955, 251). He also states that:
The moral
precepts, distinct from the ceremonial and
judicial precepts, are about things pertaining
of their very nature to good morals . . .. (251)
Thomas sees the need
to explain the significance of the ceremonial
commandments and leans heavily on the twelfth
century treatise, The Guide of the Perplexed,
by Moses Maimonides (276, 278, 296-297). However, he
is clear in his belief concerning their lack of
authority over Christians.
The career of
Maimonides was similar to that of Aquinas. One of
the most brilliant and talented men of his day, he
had fused Aristotelianism with Rabbinic Judaism.
Though his work caused some initial controversy, it
later came to define normative Judaism, and
Maimonides came to be thought of as a spiritual
leader of nearly biblical proportions. Maimonides
discussed laws that for his religious community
were, at least theoretically, binding. For Thomas
Aquinas, however, the laws of the Torah of Moses,
when viewed as a whole, had not been authoritative
since the beginning of Christianity:
The Old Law is
said to be "for ever" simply and absolutely, as
regards its moral precepts; but as regards the
ceremonial precepts it lasts for ever in respect
of the reality which those ceremonies
foreshadowed. (Baumgarter 1988, 301).
He then infers from
the Catholic understanding of the significance of
the ceremonial commandments of the Old Testament
that as religious rites they have not only lost
their authority, but are actually forbidden to
Christians, giving us the impression that this view
reflects the position of the earlier Catholic
authority, Augustine:
The ceremonies of
the Old Law signified Christ as having yet to be
born and to suffer, but our sacraments signify
Him as already born and having suffered.
Consequently, just as it would be a mortal sin
now for anyone, in making a profession of faith,
to say that Christ is yet to be born, which the
fathers of old said devoutly and truthfully, so
too it would be a mortal sin now to observe
those ceremonies which the fathers of old
fulfilled with devotion and fidelity.
(Baumgarter 1988, 302)
The position of
Thomas concerning the applicability of specific Old
Testament laws is problematic to me in light of
Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees for placing their
own traditions in a position of higher esteem than
God's revealed commandments (Matthew 15, Mark 7,
Luke 6). For Aquinas, the fact that the Old
Testament ceremonies are abolished and the judicial
laws merely an option does not mean that the Church
does not legislate in such matters. In theory and
practice, a new system of ceremonies and of
requirements replaces the old. Medieval Christianity
had taken upon itself, believing it had the
authority to do so, its own legal system that it
connected with its own post-Old Testament
experience. Christianity had brought a New Law and
Catholics understood that ". . . the New Law is in
the first place a law that is inscribed in our
hearts, but that secondarily it is a written law"
(Sullivan 1955, 321).
By the
thirteenth century, many Church practices had been
instituted to officially replace the divinely
commanded practices of the Torah, as we see in this
revealing passage from the Summa Theologica:
As to the
Sabbath, which was a sign recalling the first
creation, its place is taken by the Lord's Day,
which recalls the beginning of the new creature
in the Resurrection of Christ. In like manner
other solemnities because the blessings
vouchsafed to that people foreshadowed the
favours granted us by Christ. Hence the feast of
the Passover gave place to the feast of Christ's
Passion and Resurrection; the feast of Pentecost
when the Old Law was given, to the feast of
Pentecost on which was given the Law of the
living spirit; the feast of the New Moon, to the
feast of the Blessed Virgin, when appeared the
first rays of the sun, that is, Christ, by the
fullness of grace; the feast of Trumpets, to the
feasts of the Apostles; the feast of Expiation,
to the feasts of Martyrs and Confessors; the
feast of Tabernacles, to the feast of the Church
Dedication; the feast of the Assembly and
Collection, to the feast of the Angels, or else
to the feast of All Saints. (Baumgarter 1988,
301-302)
The ancient
Israelite feasts had foreshadowed various aspects of
Christology and ecclesiology (283). Some of the
sacramental rites of the Old Testament were figures
of Christian sacraments, " . . . For Baptism, which
is the sacrament of Faith, corresponds to
circumcision . . ." (286). Thomas also explains
that:
In the New Law
the sacrament of the Eucharist corresponds to
the banquet of the paschal lamb. The sacrament
of Penance in the New Law corresponds to all the
purifications of the Old Law. The sacrament of
Orders corresponds to the consecration of the
pontiff and of the priests. (Baumgarter 1988,
286)
I find the use of
the Old Testament by Aquinas to be fascinating. He
is not only discussing typology, looking for
spiritual truths or fulfilled prophecies symbolized
or foreshadowed by the Mosaic festivals. He also
cites those festivals as precedent or precursor to
Church festivals that are nowhere enjoined or even
mentioned in the New Testament. Yet, these Church
festivals are obviously considered by Aquinas to
have a greater validity for Christians than the
sacred rites of ancient Israel.
The Pentateuch
explicitly teaches that God spoke to Moses
concerning sanctified days and that Moses passed
that information on to the nation of Israel (see for
example, Leviticus 23:1-2, 44). The implication of
the Thomistic perspective is that the leadership of
the Catholic Church now stands in God's place, with
the power to refashion the Hebrew observances for
Christian use. The net effect theologically is
twofold. A sufficient connection is maintained with
the Old Testament to preserve the credibility of the
Church as the appropriate spiritual successor to the
people of Israel. On the other hand, the new
observances sufficiently break the connection
between the Church and the Torah so as to transcend
the code's ethnic roots. What we see in the
ecclesiastical calendar of Roman Catholicism could
be described as a detribalized form of ancient
Judaism.
Since the
Sabbath is in the Decalogue, it would seem
problematic to abandon it. A modern Catholic text
explains that "In New Testament times, Sunday
replaced the Jewish Sabbath" (Hardon 1975, 314). It
was called "the Lord's Day" or "Dominica" (314.).
From another text we have a more thorough
explanation of how this was doctrinally possible:
This commandment
tells us of our obligation to set aside a
certain part of our time for God, since
otherwise in our busy daily life it would be
easy for the consciousness of His presence to be
lost . . . .
The Church
regulates which days are to be specially
dedicated to God, and the manner in which they
should be observed. The actual Lord's Day is
Sunday . . . . (Van Doornik 1958, 404)
A well-known
Catholic manual explains that " . . . Natural law
obliges man to adore and thank God for His
continuous blessings" (Morrow 1963, 212). It
explains that "In the Old Law the Jews kept holy the
seventh day of the week, Saturday" (212). It then
points out in heavy black ink the belief that "the
vital principle of the Third Commandment was not the
specific day, but that one day out of seven should
be devoted to the worship of God the Creator" (212).
We are informed that " . . . In the New Law,
Catholics keep holy the first day of the week,
Sunday. It is called 'The Lord's Day' . . .." (213)
We can see this
separation of the Sabbath commandment of the
Decalogue into a moral and ceremonial aspect in the
writings of Thomas. For him and for later Catholics
it is the Third Commandment. In Judaism and in
Protestantism it is the fourth. Thomas explains in
Summa Theologica I-II, Question 100, Article
3, that " . . . The precept of the Sabbath
observance is moral in one respect, insofar as it
commands man to give some time to things of God . .
. ." He continues that " . . . In this respect, it
is placed among the precepts of the Decalogue, but
not as to the fixing of the time, in which respect
it is a ceremonial precept" (Baumgarter 1988, 89).
The
understanding of Old Testament law in the Summa
Theologica remains the standard Roman Catholic
perspective. For example, The Law of Christ,
Moral Theology for Priests and Laity by Bernard
Haring, written in 1959, after discussing "natural
law," goes on to discuss, "the positive divine law"
in the Old Testament (250). He differentiates three
kinds, two of which have been abolished, the "cultal
law" and the "judiciary law," and the third, the
"moral law" which remains binding upon New Testament
Christians (250-252). A catechism text published in
1975 states that "The Decalogue is not out of date,
nor is there a syllable in the New Testament that
suggests the contrary . . . " (Hardon 1975, 289).
A statement of
the Archbishops and Bishops of the United States
issued on November 18, 1951, gives a good
contemporary summary of the moral requirements of
human life as seen from the Catholic perspective. In
speaking of "natural law," it explains, "These
religious truths of the natural order can be known
by human reason . . ." (Brantl, 1962, 207).
It then
continues:
But God, in His
goodness, through Divine Revelation has helped
man to know better and to preserve the natural
law. In the Old Testament this revelation was
given to the chosen people of God. Completed and
perfected in the New, it has been communicated
to mankind by Jesus Christ and His Apostles and
it has been entrusted to the church to teach all
men. (Brantl 1962, 207-208).
The Talmud
illustrates the concept of examining the scriptures
so as to reduce the 613 commandments to a smaller
number of overarching principles. For example, in
the discussion in Makkoth 23b-24a, (pages 169-173),
Thomas similarly reduced the details of the Natural
Law to a basic core principle. He taught that the
Natural Law was based on the precept, " . . . that
good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be
avoided . . ." (Baumgarth 1988, 47). He quoted the
account of the synoptic gospels (Matthew 22, Mark
12, Luke 10) of how Jesus summarized the Law into
the principal precepts of love of God and love of
neighbor (88).
Overarching
summaries, however, do not mean abolition of the
deducible details. After all, the complex,
many-faceted discipline of Judaism was summarized
about two thousand years ago by Rabbi Hillel thus:
What is hateful
to you, do not to your neighbor, that is the
whole Torah, while the rest is commentary
thereof; go and learn it. (Epstein 1938, 140).
Rabbinic Judaism is
a challenging way of life, but a devout Catholic
also has his or her share of do's and don'ts. After
studying Thomas' writings on biblical law, one can
understand how later Protestant theologians could
question whether through the Roman Catholic
tradition, Christianity had been, ". . . corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus" (II
Corinthians 11:3). Or, they could inquire as to
whether a complex system of extra-biblical commands
is really to be preferred to a legal system divinely
revealed and canonized.
Writing within
the Roman Catholic tradition, Thomas Aquinas uses
the written Torah as a guide concerning the
type of legislation appropriate for the Christian
Church. The church can legislate in the same areas
of life that we find covered by the Mosaic Law.
Church laws would be similar enough to Old Testament
laws so that a certain validity will adhere to them,
as reflecting biblical values. However, the New
Testament practices must be sufficiently distinct to
be perceived as New Covenant laws rather than Old
Covenant laws.
Old Testament
influence is discernible in the approach that Thomas
takes towards the use of civil authority to enforce
ecclesiastical norms. The same tendency is found in
the theology of Luther and Calvin. Some radical
reformers of the sixteenth century challenge the
notion that state power should be used to achieve
religious ends.
As Maimonides
had done for Judaism, Thomas Aquinas thoroughly and
eloquently states the doctrines of Catholicism in
the light of the thinking of the most highly
educated people of his day. Thomas states that:
If forgers of
money and other evildoers are forthwith
condemned to death by the secular authority,
much more reason is there for heretics, as soon
as they are convicted of heresy, to be not only
excommunicated but even put to death. (Baumgarth
1988, 256)
Yet, the New
Testament warns that:
Wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it. Because
narrow is the gate and difficult is the way
which leads to life, and there are few who find
it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
It is clear from
the New Testament that the suffering and death of
Jesus Christ abolished the penal system included in
the laws of the written Torah. For the early
Church, the sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah had made
the entire sacrificial system of Judaism redundant,
although Jesus himself instituted a new ceremony to
replace the paschal sacrifice. The dominant
Christian view traditionally has been that the
entire written code connected to the Old Covenant is
abolished.
While the
historic Church has generally taught that Christians
are not obligated to obey the written code as a
complete corpus, it has also taught that there is an
eternal moral law reflected in biblical Judaism.
There are principles contained in the old law that
carry over into the new law. Christians can keep
those principles in a manner that they could
consider to be spiritually mature. The New Testament
scriptures provide the basis for Christian conduct.
Thomas states
concerning judicial precepts:
That they refer
to man's relations to other men; secondly, that
they derive their binding force not from reason
alone, but in virtue of their institution.
(Baumgarter 1988, 304)
Under the New
Covenant the judicial laws commanded to Ancient
Israel:
Are dead indeed,
because they have no binding force, but they are
not deadly. (306)
In other words, they
may be still observed by Christians. According to
Aquinas:
If a sovereign
were to order these judicial precepts to be
observed in his kingdom, he would not sin;
unless perhaps they were observed, or ordered to
be observed, as though they derived their
binding force through being institutions of the
Old Law, for it would be a deadly sin to intend
to observe them thus. (306)
The preceding
statement is difficult to accept in the light of
actual church practices recorded in Acts. The book
implies that Jewish Christians in Jerusalem
continued to participate in the Temple sacrifices as
long as they could.
The writings of
Aquinas leave the Roman Catholic Church open to the
charge that, in effect, it has re-established an Old
Testament form of religion, with the authority of
the Church replacing the authority of the Hebrew
scriptures. Even more problematic is the very real,
possible concern that medieval Christianity had also
absorbed pagan elements that had taken Christianity
in a very different direction from its apostolic
path. At the least, it can be said that Aquinas
supports the replacement of a scripturally commanded
cycle of community of observances with an
extra-scriptural one.
This was the
sin of Jeroboam discussed in First Kings 1 and
elsewhere. He sought to refashion the religion of
Israel so that the northern Israelite tribes could
observe it apart from the nation of Judah (the Jews)
to the south. The agenda of Jeroboam could be stated
as removing the influence of Judah from the northern
kingdom, which had taken the name of Israel. The
agenda of Catholicism was to remove Jewish influence
(physical Israel) from the Church (spiritual
Israel).
A perceived
legalism and excessive ritualism in Roman
Catholicism was an important factor in the
Protestant Reformation. Yet, it could be argued that
the Reformers perpetuated the break that Roman
Catholicism had made with many specific requirements
of the Old Testament. It continued the policy of a
gentilized Christianity. This perception was an
important factor in the rise of Commandment-keeping
branches of certain fellowships related to the
Radical Reformation.
Martin Luther
as a theologian was attempting to reform the Roman
Catholic Church from within. He did not reject the
foundational theological writings of his religious
tradition. In Luther's Commentary on Galatians,
we see that his general approach to the relationship
of the Old and New Testaments is in keeping with the
dominant Church's position:
[W]e know that
when by faith we apprehend Christ himself in our
conscience, we enter into a certain new law,
which swalloweth up the old law that held us
captive (Dillenberger 1961, 119).
Luther perceives
that Roman Catholicism had, in effect, substituted
its own form of salvation by works for the Pharisaic
system that Jesus Christ had shown to be ultimately
ineffective. Luther's reading of Paul causes him to
teach that:
For like as
neither the law nor any work thereof is offered
unto us, but Christ alone: so nothing is
required of us but faith alone, whereby we
apprehend Christ, and believe that our sins and
our death are condemned and abolished in the sin
and death of Christ. (121)
Martin Luther's
response to the Pentateuch as scripture differs from
the response of Thomas Aquinas. Luther does not see
a need to provide Christian equivalents for various
practices required by laws contained in the Five
Books of Moses. In his "Preface" to his translation
of the New Testament, Luther criticizes what I would
call Roman Catholic, gentilized Old Testament style
Christianity:
[B]eware lest you
make Christ into a Moses, and the gospel into a
book of law or doctrine, as has been done before
now, including some of Jerome's prefaces. In
fact, however, the gospel demands no works to
make us holy and to redeem us. Indeed, it
condemns such works, and demands only faith in
Christ, because He has overcome sin, death, and
hell for us. Thus it is not by our own works,
but by His work, His passion and death, that He
makes us righteous, and gives us life and
salvation. This is in order that we might take
to ourselves His death and victory as if they
were our own (Dillenberger 1961, 17).
In 1520, Luther,
writing in The Freedom of a Christian,
condemns "stubborn ceremonialists [who] . . . having
no faith, boast of, prescribe, and insist upon their
ceremonies as means of justification. Such were the
Jews of old, who were unwilling to learn how to do
good" (Dillenberger 1961, 82).
A person
understanding Paul the way Luther does:
Could easily and
without danger find his way through those
numberless mandates and precepts of pope,
bishops, monasteries, churches, princes, and
magistrates upon which some ignorant pastors
insist as if they were necessary to
righteousness and salvation, calling them
"precepts of the church," although they are
nothing of the kind. (Luther 1957, 33)
Such a person would
submit to ecclesiastical authority, while
understanding that fulfilling those requirements
does not earn salvation. "Although tyrants do
violence or injustice in making their demands, yet
it will do no harm as long as they demand nothing
contrary to God" (Luther 1957, 33).
Luther sees a
"double use of the law" as codified in the Old
Testament (Dillenberger 1961, 139). "One is civil:
for God hath ordained civil laws, yea all laws to
punish transgressions. Every law then is given to
restrain sin" (Dillenberger, 1961, 139).
He goes on to
explain:
The first use,
then, of laws is to bridle the wicked. For the
devil reigneth throughout the whole world, and
enforceth men to all kinds of horrible
wickedness. Therefore God hath ordained
magistrates, parents, teachers, laws, bonds and
all civil ordinances, that, if they can do no
more, yet at the least they may bind the devil's
hands, that he rage not in his bondslaves after
his own lust. (Dillenberger 1961, 139)
The law also
serves to convict us as transgressors in need of
God's mercy:
Another use of
the law is theological or spiritual, which is
(as Paul saith) "to increase transgressions";
that is to say, to reveal unto a man his sin,
his blindness, his misery, his impiety,
ignorance, hatred and contempt of God, death,
hell, the judgment and deserved wrath of God. (Dillenberger
1961, 140)
Luther is critical
of Catholic theologians for generally not making a
proper distinction between the law and the gospel.
However, Luther should not be misunderstood as
unheedful of the moral guidance contained in the
Pentateuch's commandments. He sees no reason to
re-invent a ceremonial system on the Old Testament
model. However, he does believe in the applicability
of Old Testament examples to Christian ethics and in
using the civil code of the Pentateuch as a guide
for civil law in Christian nations:
For time and
external circumstances matter not among
Christians. Neither is it true that the Old
Testament was abolished in such a way that it
need not be kept, or that it would be wrong for
any one to keep it in full, as St. Jerome and
many more erred in thinking. It is indeed
abolished in the sense that we are free to keep
it or not to keep it, and it is no longer
necessary to keep it on penalty of one's soul,
as was formerly the case (Dillenberger 1961,
376)
However, Old
Testament moral laws may be followed if doing so
shows love for one's fellow human beings, a basis of
Christian conduct. Therefore, regarding the use of
military force to enforce internal security within a
nation, or to right wrongs on an international
scale, Luther explains:
Hence, the
precedents for the use of the sword also are
matters of freedom, and you may follow them or
not, but where you see that your neighbor needs
it, there love constrains you so that you must
needs do what otherwise would be optional and
unnecessary for you to do or to leave undone.
(Dillenberger 1961, 376)
For Luther,
salvation is ultimately the result of grace only,
not the result of a combination of grace and works.
Thus, he does not, in Roman Catholic fashion,
anticipate a Christianity involving an intricate
body of explicit laws and prescribed ceremonies
reminiscent of Judaism. The relationship of
believers with God under the New Covenant is
qualitatively different from that under the Old
Covenant. The Church would be working at cross
purposes with that better relationship if it were to
conduct itself as a refashioned Levitical system.
However, Luther does combine the Old and New
Testaments in his social ethics, at least in terms
of guiding principles and examples.
When we
consider the practical application of Lutheran
theology concerning the law, we can see that it is a
"reformation" of Catholicism, but not a "radical
reformation," as reflected in Anabaptist theology.
The Christianity of Luther is not so much a
counter-culture as it is ideally a positive,
leavening agent in society. In their application,
the teachings of Luther cause Lutheran churches to
have a tendency ". . . to leave the essentials of
religion to be dictated and controlled by the state
. . ." (MacGregor 1989, 390).
When Luther
lists the uses of the law, he omits the obvious, as
a guide to personal conduct. Perhaps he thinks such
a statement to be redundant since one cannot be
restrained from sin or made to feel guilty and
inadequate from an invalid code of law. However,
this omission on his part hints at a certain
distancing of Christianity from its Old Testament
roots. Luther is not Marcionite, but it can be
argued that he begins a process, perhaps
unwittingly, that leads to a German Protestantism
which is insufficiently respectful of the Judaic
element in Christianity. In that regard the approach
of Calvin to the law provides a theological balance.
The heritage of the Calvinist churches is thus more
biblically rooted and perhaps less potentially
anti-Jewish.
Luther uses the
Old Testament to justify a Christ and culture
paradigm as Aquinas had done. Luther's approach to
the manner in which the Old Testament might be
applied in a contemporary setting differs from
Aquinas's. Luther emphasizes the scriptures
themselves without giving the same level of
deference as Thomas Aquinas does to ecclesiastical
tradition. Theoretically, these views would have
allowed for the ancient Torah to influence Lutheran
communities. However, Luther's reaction against the
"works" orientation of sixteenth century Roman
Catholicism lays a basis for future Lutheran
aloofness towards the do's and don'ts required of
ancient Israel.
In a sense, the
Protestant Reformation was, indeed, an effort to
return to the biblical roots of Christianity
unencumbered by certain traditions that in the
Reformers' views, had obscured the essential
biblical message. It can be proposed that Calvin
proceeded further than Luther towards a more purely
biblical Christianity:
If Luther is
willing to think of a Bible within the Bible
because of the centrality of justification by
faith, and of the way in which Gospel is set
against law, Calvin without retreating from
justification, nevertheless sees the totality of
Scripture as a book which makes manifest the
benefits of God for men. (Dillenberger 1975, 13)
John Dillenberger
notes that Calvin's writings display a more positive
view of the significance of the Old Testament than
do Luther's:
The harmony
between the old and the new is more pronounced
than is the case in Luther, for whom the major
accent sets the two against each other. While in
Luther the law as a schoolmaster that drives one
to Christ is considered to be the "alien work"
of God, for Calvin it certainly belongs to his
"proper works." Law as the schoolmaster that
drives one to mercy and as the restraining force
which makes community possible, is in both
instances already in the service of the religion
of Israel. (15)
Calvin is more
explicit in his respect for the Old Covenant
commandments. It would seem useful to quote
Dillenberger's summary of Calvin's belief that:
The law under the
old dispensation is the guide to the believers
in Israel and now, under the new dispensation,
to the Christians. While the forms of the
ceremonial law have been abandoned, the law is
not abolished but finds its true setting in the
context of believers (15).
According to
seminary professor John H. Leith: "Predestination
never issued in passive living, allowing life to be
determined by what happened to one. Predestination
meant election to responsibility" (Keesecker 1985,
9). Responsibility can imply the obligation to be
law abiding.
Calvin's more
explicitly positive approach to the ancient laws can
be seen in his writings on the Decalogue: " . . .
[T]he Ten Commandments are interpreted not with
respect to what they prohibit, but rather to what
they enjoin upon the believer" (Dillenberger 1975,
15). An annotated edition of the Institutes
notes that: "For Calvin a positive evaluation of the
law allows the 'third use' to be the principal one .
. .. Calvin regards the condemning function as
"accidental" to its true purpose . . ." (McNeill
1960, 348).
It should also
be noted that "Calvin wholly rejects the notion of a
theocracy based on the judicial laws of the Old
Testament" (McNeill 1960, 1502). Even so, the Old
Testament precepts are still important and useful as
a guide for proper conduct. Calvin explicitly states
in his writings that an independent human conscience
is an insufficient guide to proper behavior. "For,
however people may dispute concerning virtues and
duties, no work is worthy of praise concerning
virtues and among virtues, except what is pleasing
to God" (Keesecker 1985, 109). Calvin
believes that Christians should apply the Old
Testament scripture in which God:
Himself testifies
that he makes greater account of obedience than
of sacrifice (I Sam. 15:22). Wherefore, our life
will then be rightly constituted when we depend
upon the word of God and undertake nothing
except at his command. (Keesecker 1985, 109)
In Book 4,
Chapter 20, section 14 of his Institutes of the
Christian Religion, Calvin discusses the topic
"Old Testament law and the laws of nations" (McNeill
1960, 1502). He avers that:
I would have
preferred to pass over this matter in utter
silence if I were not aware that here many
dangerously go astray. For there are some who
deny that a commonwealth is duly framed which
neglects the political system of Moses, and is
ruled by the common laws of nations. Let other
men consider how perilous and seditious this
notion is; it will be enough for me to have
proved it false and foolish. (1502)
Thus, while
personal behavior must be based upon biblical
instructions, the details of civil law do not have
to imitate the civil law of ancient Israel. Calvin
accepts the categorization of Old Testament law that
Thomas Aquinas notes in his Summa Theologica.
"We must bear in mind that common division of the
whole law of God published by Moses into moral,
ceremonial, and judicial laws" (McNeill 1960, 1502).
In the tradition of Aquinas, Calvin declares:
It is a fact that
the law of God which we call the moral law is
nothing else than a testimony of natural law and
of that conscience which God has engraved upon
the minds of men. (1504)
If the tables of
the law can be seen as first involving one's
relationship to God and, second, one's relationship
to other people, the two tables have a practical
relevance for Calvin, rather than the implication in
Luther that only the second table has such direct
relevance for Christians. The biblical laws relating
to personal and societal morality are explicit
statements of principles that ideally would have
been understood by each and every human conscience:
Consequently, the
entire scheme of this equity of which we are now
speaking has been prescribed in it. Hence, this
equity alone must be the goal and rule and limit
of all laws. (McNeill 1960, 1504)
Laws involving
disciplinary measures, enforcement procedures, are
linked to time, place, and the people involved:
Whatever laws
shall be framed to that rule, directed to that
goal, bound by that limit, there is no reason
why we should disapprove of them, howsoever they
may differ from the Jewish law, or among
themselves. (McNeill 1960, 1504)
The methods of
enforcement in an ethical society need not replicate
those commanded to ancient Israel in the scriptures:
For the Lord
through the hand of Moses did not give that law
to be proclaimed among all nations and to be in
force everywhere; but when he had taken the
Jewish nation into his safekeeping, defense, and
protection, he also willed to be a lawgiver
especially to it; and-- -as became a wise
lawgiver---he had special concern for it in
makings its laws. (McNeill 1960, 1505)
John T. McNeill
(1960) brings to the attention of the reader of the
Institutes that in Chapter 20 of Book 4,
Secs. 11 and 12 are:
Directed against
Anabaptist pacifism, and offer a concise
rationale of the resort to war by rulers under
necessity to defend their subjects from
violence, whether it arises from sedition or
invasion. The fourth and sixth of the articles
of Schleitheim had denied this. (1500)
In Book 2, Chapter
7 of the Institutes, Calvin surveys " . . .
the function and use of what is called the 'moral
law.' Now, so far as I understand it, it consists of
three parts." McNeill explains that by 1535
Melanchthon, Luther's colleague, was also writing
about the same three uses of the law (354).
For Calvin, the
moral law of the Old Testament is valuable for
Christians because:
While it shows
God's righteousness, that is, the righteousness
alone acceptable to God, it warns, informs,
convicts, and lastly condemns, every man of his
own unrighteousness. (354)
Knowledge of the
law brings humans to the humility necessary to
properly appreciate divine grace (McNeill 1960,
354-356). The commandments of the Old Testament were
recorded with penalties for their transgressions
along with dire warnings directed towards the
individual transgressors as well as the nation as a
whole, should the community not maintain proper
standards. Calvin states that:
At least by fear
of punishment to restrain certain men who are
untouched by any care for what is just and right
unless compelled by hearing the dire threats in
the law. (McNeill 1960, 358)
The second use of the
law is that, " . . . this constrained and forced
righteousness is necessary for the public community
of men, (sic) for whose tranquillity the Lord herein
provided when he took care that everything be not
tumultuously confounded" (McNeill 1960, 359).
In expounding
on 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Calvin explains "that the law
is like a halter to check the raging and otherwise
limitlessly ranging lusts of the flesh" (McNeill
1960, 359). Those whom God has chosen to put into
His church are thus kept from degenerating before
being supernaturally called. Calvin remarks that " .
. . if [God] does not immediately regenerate those
whom he has destined to inherit his Kingdom until
the time of his visitation, he keeps them safe
through the works of the law under fear . . ."
(360).
Ideally, people
should want to have a positive relationship with
God, should want to please God, and should want to
lead ethical lives. For people who are selected by
God to be placed into the fellowship of the church
of God, Calvin discusses the " . . . principal use,
which pertains more closely to the proper purpose of
the law . . ." (McNeill 1960, 360). Moreover, " . .
. the law points out the goal toward which
throughout life we are to strive . . ." (362). In
expounding upon the Decalogue, Calvin notes that " .
. . the Lord has provided us with a written law to
give us a clearer witness of what was too obscure in
the natural law, shake off our listlessness, and
strike more vigorously our mind and memory" (368).
John Calvin did
not encourage the observance of the biblical
festivals or the maintenance of biblical dietary
restrictions. These practices were evidently
subsumed under the ceremonial law which:
Was the tutelage
of the Jews, with which it seemed good to the
Lord to train this people, as it were, in their
childhood, until the fullness of time should
come [Gal. 4:3-4; cf. ch. 3:23-24], in order
that he might fully manifest his wisdom to the
nations, and show the truth of those things
which then were foreshadowed in figures.
(McNeill 1960, 1503)
For Calvin the
New Testament church did not need to recreate a
system of weekly, monthly, and annual occasions to
replace the special days in the Hebrew year. He did
not see a need to establish specific dietary laws to
set apart the Christian community from
non-believers. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches
had a priesthood which played an intercessory role
and a system of rituals reminiscent of Jewish Temple
practice. For Calvin it was not necessary to
refashion the sacrificial system and the Levitical
priesthood. In a sense, Catholicism and Eastern
Orthodoxy have done so through their more
standardized liturgy and system of rituals. Calvin
did remain in the historic tradition of normative
Christianity, retaining a simplified system of
holidays, worship on Sunday, baptism and communion.
Calvin's
separation from Roman Catholicism freed him to take
a fresh look at the Old Testament laws that he
believed to be a reflection of the will of God.
Calvin was a reformer, but not a radical reformer.
Within the Radical Reformation movement of his time,
there emerged a practical theology based on a return
to the perceived first century church and even, in
some circles, a return to the Jewish roots of that
church. Calvin's theological writings opposed such
an interpretation of New Testament Christianity.
Commandment-keeping sectarians became a significant
factor in Christianity in the century after the
demise of Calvin. The Calvinist communities tended
to strongly emphasize scripture and place less
emphasis on tradition. Such an approach can provide
a basis for a sympathetic climate to Bible believers
who call for a revival of Old Testament holy days
and dietary laws.
The Calvinist
heritage has come to be associated with an emphasis
on the re-ordained chosenness of the saints, and on
good works as evidence of being chosen. Commandment
Keepers do not believe that people are predestined
for punishment or reward, but they generally
emphasize the divine selection of true Christians.
Others receive their opportunity to respond to God's
offer of salvation after the onset of the
millennium. Observance of the Saturday Sabbath, and
Levitical holy days and dietary laws are seen as
signs of membership in the divinely chosen
community.
The Catholic
tradition, as exemplified by Aquinas, does not
consider Christians to be subject to the details of
those Old Testament laws which are thought of as
civil or ceremonial. Regarding the latter,
Catholicism officially rejects the Saturday Sabbath,
the festivals listed in Leviticus 23, and the
dietary laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. Yet
Catholicism developed its own set of instructions,
created de novo, based upon Old Testament
precedents. Thomas Aquinas reflected the traditional
Roman Catholic respect for the Church's Magisterium.
He accepted the replacement of Old Testament
institutions such as the Saturday Sabbath and annual
festivals with Roman Catholic equivalents.
Martin Luther
rejected the idea that the Church should institute
its own replacements for many, if not all, of the
institutions of the Old Covenant. Luther rejected
this recasted system of ecclesiastical rulings
similar in nature to the specific rule by rule
requirements contained in the Pentateuch. For
Luther, such an approach to Christianity is contrary
to the essential spirit of the New Testament.
Calvin also
agreed that the Church need not, in fact should not,
attempt to reinvent the complete religious system of
Ancient Israel. But Calvin more explicitly
emphasized the continuing spiritual value of the Old
Testament instructions. Within the Protestant
tradition, the Calvinist perspective reinstated a
greater respect for Old Testament law.
Commandment-keeping Christians would find more
common ground with the Calvinist tradition than the
religious tradition based on the teachings of
Luther. The theoretically greater affinity between
the two positions stems from the more generally
positive respect for the contemporary relevance of
Old Testament law that can be found in the Calvinist
tradition. However, Calvin's renewed respect for the
ancient commandments did not extend to returning to
actual observance of specific requirements, such as
the Saturday Sabbath, the annual festivals, or the
dietary laws.
It was within
the currents of religious thought released by the
Radical Reformation that historians can find a real
openness to linking Christianity directly with the
specific commandments of the Old Covenant. Radical
Reformation communities such as the Anabaptists
helped to foster a religious climate in which non-
traditionalist sects could flourish. These sects
could bypass historic tradition and attempt to
reconstruct a religious life more directly based on
biblical instructions as they understood them. Among
these sects were those fellowships seeking to
recapture the original heritage of Christianity as
recorded in the Book of Acts.
