As we consider the Age of the Law, which begins with the public enthronement of Yahweh (the Second Person of God; the Son; the Word) on Mount Sinai and then in the Tabernacle, we need to consider the Ten Words. These are generally called the "Ten Commandments," but that is an unhelpful and misleading name for them. The Bible calls them the Ten Words, and never calls them the Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:28; Dt. 4:13, 10:4). The New Testament uses the word "commandment" (Greek: entole) to refer to all parts and aspects of the Law given at Sinai: two great commandments, many least commandments, etc. Thus, we might speak of the Ten Words as the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, the phrase "Ten Commandments" has driven out the phrase "Ten Words," so that the actual nature of the Ten Words is not clearly understood.

The Ten Words contain more than commands. They contain historical facts ("who brought you out of the land of Egypt"), theological statements ("for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God"), threats ("visiting iniquity"), promises ("showing lovingkindness"), rationales ("for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth..."). The same thing is true of the rest of the "laws" given at Sinai, which are called "ordinances," for which reason it is not correct to speak of Exodus 21-23 as a "law code," nor is it accurate to speak of it as "case laws."

Thus, the Words and Ordinances (Ex. 24:3) are not "laws" or "commandments" in the usual English sense of these words. We don't really have a good English word for the Sinaitic "Law." We might use the word "Torah," which means "teaching," and of course any teaching from God has absolute authority. Exodus 24:12 calls the Ten Words torah, but it also calls them mitsvah, which means "something commanded." Thus, the Ten Words and the many Ordinances are a combination of teaching and commandment from God. For simplicity's sake and because the word already has pretty good connotations for our purposes, I shall call the "Mosaic law" by the name Torah.

Thus, "Biblical law" is something a bit looser and broader than what we think of as law. It is God's authoritative teaching and commandment, which would form the foundation for a specific law code, but which would also form the foundation for wisdom and insight. Thus, when Paul speaks of the condemnation of the "law" (torah), he refers not only to condemnation that comes from breaking commandments, but also to condemnation that comes from not living in the full stature of human holiness. To put it another way, Torah has both a legal and a personal dimension to it. When we use the English word "law" or "commandment," we miss the personal, teaching side of Torah. Issuing from the mouth of the Second Person of the Trinity, Torah is both Son (person) and Word (content). [Read more]