1.8 – Four Types of Law

Before we can study the specifics of the American Constitution and laws, we must first understand the four types of law and the concept of jurisdictions. We begin this discussion with David Barton and Michele Bachmann covering the four types of law in the following video:

For a written review of the four types of law, read the following article from The Founder’s Bible. You can either continue to read the content on this web page, or enjoy the same content by flipping through the interactive excerpt below and enlarging to full size (the the buttons below the image of The Founder’s Bible or just click on the bottom right hand corner to turn the page).

Exodus 20:1-17 | The Ten Commandments: The Moral Law for Nations

Four spheres of jurisdiction are established in the Bible—four areas in which God establishes levels of governance and to which He gives specific instructions. They are: (1) the individual, (2) the family, (3) civil government, and (4) the church.

First, God created Adam as an individual and dealt directly with him (Genesis 1–2).

Second, God placed Adam into a lifetime heterosexual relationship with Eve, and they had children, thus establishing the family (Genesis 1 –4).

Third, as families grew and increased and began to form cities, God delivered specific instructions on how individuals were not only to conduct their horizontal relationships (the laws and standards to use in treating one another) but also on how they were to choose leaders to enforce those laws and standards—i.e., civil government (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 18:21; Deuteronomy 1:13–16; 16:18).

Fourth, as families and societies increased, God also gave specific instructions to the growing group called by His name on how to conduct their vertical relationship with Him—i.e., the temple, or the church, or what we would understand as the community of God’s people (Exodus 25–31; Leviticus 1–27; Ephesians 4).

Some mandates in the Scriptures are directed to all four of the jurisdictions, such as directions on moral behavior and rights and wrongs, but others pertain only to one and not the other three.

As an example of the latter, Romans 13:1–6 makes clear that God has given to government the sword of civil justice to punish societal evil­doers, and that it is for this reason that citizens pay taxes. While there is a sword of Scriptural self-defense that may be wielded by other entities, only government may bear the sword of civil justice. And whenever any other entity wrongly takes up that particular responsibility, it consistently malfunctions as evidenced by the numerous atrocities that occurred after the church took up that sword, such as the slaughter of Jews, the Inquisition, etc. God gave the sword of civil justice (Romans 13:4) only to civil government.

Likewise, the Scriptural directive to “bring [children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) is pointed at the family, not government or the church. While both of the others may assist in strengthening the family, it is not the responsibility of either to raise children. Understanding this, the U.S. Supreme Court long recognized the limits of the government’s jurisdiction, acknowledging that it was the God-ordained right “of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control.”¹ The Court was unequivocal: “It is cardinal with us that the custody, care, and nurture of the child reside first in the parents… It is in recognition of this that these decisions have respected the private realm of family life, which the State cannot enter.” ²

Similarly, the directive of Ephesians 4:12 to prepare believers “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” is pointed at the church, not the others.

God clearly gives specific instructions to particular entities, and because of this, when we read the Scriptures and we see a command, we should always ask ourselves: to which sphere(s) did God give this command? For example, in Matthew 25:35–36, Jesus says the hungry are to be fed, the thirsty given drink, the naked clothed, and the sick and those in prison visited. When Jesus gave that command, was He directing it to government? Definitely not. He was speaking to “the righteous” (v. 37)—that is, to His followers either as individuals or as the church.

Similarly, in Matthew 28:16–20, Christ instructed His followers to go and make disciples of all peoples, training them to follow His ways. This command, like the one above, was given to His followers as He ascended into Heaven; thus, this command can apply to the individual, the family, or the church, but not the government. As affirmed by early American minister and theologian Samuel Spear:

The state, as a political organization, has never been trusted by the Divine Founder of Christianity with the duty of its propagation. He never said to the state: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel,” and “Lo! I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” [Matthew 28:20]. He said these things to His apostles, and to those who through them should believe on His name. The apostleship of His Word He located in His disciples and followers, and not in kings, governors, rulers, senators, or legislative assemblies.³

While the Scriptures make clear that the state may encourage religion, its role is not to evangelize or disciple in Christianity; it simply provides a friendly atmosphere wherein the other three may freely do so. And just as the church is incompetent to wield the secular weapons of civil justice, so, too, the state is incompetent to wield such spiritual weapons.

But just as there are unique responsibilities pertaining singly to each of the four areas, there are also Scriptural responsibilities that apply equally to all four. To better understand which commands in the Bible apply to all areas and which to specific ones, it is necessary to understand the four types of laws in the Bible (all four of which were well understood and regularly commented upon by the Founding Fathers):

1. The Ceremonial Law

2. The Moral Law

3. The Judicial Law

4. Social Compact Law

The Ceremonial Law

The Ceremonial Law relates to temple regulations, symbols, sacrifice, worship, dietary laws and the nature of what was considered clean and unclean, laws of purification, etc. These were given to Israel in particular and considered temporary, as types and shadows, prior to the Gospel and Christ’s death on the cross. As explained by Founding Father Noah Webster:

Ceremonial Law: The Mosaic institutions which prescribe the external rites and ceremonies to be observed by the Jews.⁴

For Christians, this type of law has been superseded by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all the requirements of the Ceremonial Law. He is now the means by which individuals are made righteous; no more sacrifices or shedding of blood for the remission of sins is required. As Hebrews 10:4–14 affirms:

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins… He [Jesus] takes away the first [sacrifices] in order to establish the second [righteousness]. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

The result of Christ’s sacrifice is given in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Now that the substance is here, Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice on the cross, “once for all,” the types and shadows (the Ceremonial Law) are no longer the focus, as evidenced by Peter’s encounter in the book of Acts prior to the Holy Spirit being poured out upon the Gentile household of Cornelius (Acts 10). While Peter was on the roof, he fell into a trance and had a vision of a sheet being let down from the sky with all kinds of unclean animals, birds, and creatures represented. And God spoke to him:

“Get up, Peter, kill and eat!” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (vv. 13–15).

So, while the Ceremonial Law is one of the four types of law in the Bible, because of what Christ has done, it is no longer an active obligation for believers today; but the remaining three definitely are.

The Moral Law

The Moral Law encompasses God’s declarations of what types of behavior are morally acceptable to Him. Behavior that He declares morally unacceptable includes RAPE (Deuteronomy 22:25–27), ADULTERY (Leviticus 20:10), CONSANGUINITY (Leviticus 20:14), INCEST (Leviticus 20:11–12, 20 –21), PROSTITUTION (Leviticus 19:29; 21:9), SODOMY (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13), MURDER (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12–14; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:9–34), HARMING OR CURSING A PARENT (Exodus 21:15, 17; Leviticus 20:9), KIDNAPPING (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7), PERJURY (Deuteronomy 19:15–21), IDOLATRY (Exodus 22:20; Leviticus 17:7), WITCHCRAFT (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27), BLASPHEMY (Leviticus 24:10–16), SABBATH BREAKING (Exodus 31:14–15; 35:2; Numbers 15:32–36), etc.

Some Christians reject this view, claiming that it is based on Old Testament law and that Christians are now under a new covenant—a New Testament, and so the Old no longer applies. But for those Christians who insist that they are to be morally guided only by the New Testament, a few simple questions are in order. Do you believe any of the following is wrong: BESTIALITY (sex with animals), INFANTICIDE (killing of children), OR ARSON (deliberately setting fire to destroy another’s property)? If the answer is “yes,” then, “On what Biblical basis do you believe this behavior to be wrong?” After all, each of these is condemned only in the Old Testament, not the New. For example, BESTIALITY is denounced in Exodus 22:19 and Leviticus 20:15–16, ARSON condemned in Exodus 22:6, and INFANTICIDE condemned in Exodus 21:22–24 and Jeremiah 32:35.

Significantly, the Moral Law, expressing what God says is right and wrong, does not change from the Old Testament to the New. Whenever God says something is morally wrong, it remains wrong forever (or until He gives subsequent notification otherwise). As Founding Father John Jay, the original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, explained:

The moral or natural law was given by the Sovereign of the universe to all mankind; with them it was coeval [existing at the same time as man] and with them it will be coexistent [lasting as long as man lasts]. Being founded by infinite wisdom and goodness on essential right, which never varies, it can require no amendment or alteration.⁵

Jay further explained that the Moral Law was just as applicable to Christians as it was to anyone in the Old Testament:

The Gospel not only recognizes the whole moral law and extends and perfects our knowledge of it, but also enjoins on all mankind the observance of it. Being ordained by a legislator of infinite wisdom and rectitude and in Whom there is “no variableness” [James 1:17], it must be free from imperfection and therefore never has nor ever will require amendment or alteration. Hence I conclude that the moral law is exactly the same now that it was before the flood.⁶

Founding Father Noah Webster agreed, declaring that “the moral precepts … are of perpetual obligation.”⁷

Significantly, many passages in the New Testament reaffirm the Moral Law originally established in the Old Testament, such as 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Galatians 5:19–21; Ephesians 5:3–5; 1 Timothy 1:9–10; Revelation 21:8; 22:15.

The Moral Law of the Scriptures as set forth by God Himself became the basis of what the western world, or Christendom, called the Common Law, which was incorporated into the U.S. Constitution in the Seventh Amendment. Historically, the Ten Commandments have always been viewed as the embodiment of the Moral Law. As signer of the Declaration John Witherspoon affirmed:

The Ten Commandments … are the sum of the moral law.⁸

Noah Webster agreed, declaring:

The moral law is summarily contained in the decalogue or Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai.⁹

William Penn, the great lawgiver of Pennsylvania and Delaware, declared that civil magistrates should draw upon the “Ten Commandments, or Moral Law.”¹⁰ John Quincy Adams likewise affirmed:

Vain indeed would be the search among the writings of profane antiquity [secular history] … to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis for morality as this decalogue [Ten Commandments] lays down.¹¹

The Moral Law is openly acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence as “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.” William Blackstone, the second most-invoked political authority during the Founding Era,¹² explained the meaning of the two phrases “the laws of nature” and the “laws of nature’s God” (i.e., “the law of revelation”):

Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being… And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker’s will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature… This law of nature, being coeval [coexistent] with mankind and dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this… The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed of Divine law and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures… Upon these two foundations, law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.¹³

John Locke, the third most-cited political authority in the Founding Era,¹⁴affirmed:

The law of nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they [legislators] make for other men’s actions must … be conformable to the law of nature, i.e., to the will of God.¹⁵ Human laws must be made according to the general law of nature and without contradiction to any positive law of Scripture , otherwise they are ill made. ¹⁶

Romans 1:19–20 and Psalm 19:1–4 each affirms that God reveals Himself both through what He has made in nature and also through what appears in His written Word. Significantly, these two revelations always agree with and never contradict each other.

For example, abortion is wrong under God’s revealed Word, but it is also wrong under God’s laws of nature. Consider: there is no species in nature that kills its young while still in the womb, so abortion is a violation of both “the laws of nature” and “the laws of nature’s God”—thus, it is a violation of God’s Moral Law.

The same is true with homosexuality. Homosexuality is condemned in God’s written Word, and while occasions of homosexuality do exist in nature, they are always aberrations rather than the norm. Homosexuality is a violation of “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” a violation of God’s Moral Law. There are many other examples.

In short, the Moral Law is the listing of God’s timeless, unchangeable, and universal rules of right and wrong that do not change and which apply equally to the individual, the family, the government, and the church. The Moral Law is just as applicable to the lives of today’s New Testament Christians as when it was first delivered more than 3,500 years ago.

The Judicial Law

Judicial Law is the civil and statutory laws that take the rights and wrongs from the Moral Law and assign penalties for their violations i.e., the laws setting punishments for murder, theft, arson, etc. As Founding Father Noah Webster affirmed:

The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws.¹⁷

The Judicial Law applies only to the arena of civil government and no other. And while the Moral Law remains unchanged across time, the Judicial Law can and does change.

For example, theft is always a violation of the Moral Law; but at the time of the Hebrews, the Judicial Law punished it with economic penalties; at the time of the Arabs, with the removal of the hand; at the time of the colonial British, with death; and in America, with imprisonment. The moral violation was the same in all eras; the judicial penalty was different.

Similarly, adultery was a violation of the Moral Law; the Judicial Law at the time of the Hebrews punished it with death; at the time of Jesus, He still condemned the moral misbehavior but declined to enforce the previous judicial laws; and in America today, it is still a moral wrong, but its penalty is nothing more than public disgrace if the offense is made known.

Notice that even the Ten Commandments – the epitome of the Moral Law – attach no judicial penalty to any of its commands. That is, while perjury is declared to be wrong, no specific punishment is attached to it (or to any other moral misbehavior in the Ten Commandments). In short, the Judicial Law determines civil penalties for the Moral Law; and while the Moral Law does not change, the Judicial Law can.

Social Compact Law

These are the laws governing a society that fall below the level of the Moral Law. The Moral Law is God’s declaration of what is absolutely right and wrong, but the Social Compact Law is merely society’s agreement upon what is relatively right and wrong. These laws involve things such as speed limits, municipal ordinances, parking regulations, and everything else that a society may enact to help maintain an orderly environment for living. Social Compact Law is what the Declaration of Independence recognizes as being enacted by “the consent of the governed,” and this type of law can regulate only those things that are not touched by any Moral Law. As affirmed by Blackstone, government is free to set its own Social Compact Law only in areas where God has not already explicitly defined the boundaries:

To instance in the case of murder: this is expressly forbidden by the Divine… If any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit it, we are bound to transgress that human law… But with regard to matters that are … not commanded or forbidden by those superior laws, such, for instance, as exporting of wool into foreign countries, here the … legislature has scope and opportunity to interpose.¹⁸

A Biblical example of Social Compact Law is seen in the account of Ruth and Boaz. While Boaz wanted to take Ruth for his wife, he was not the nearer kinsman who had the legal right to marry Ruth. But after the nearer kinsman declined, Boaz then had the right. So, to seal the deal, the kinsman took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Huh? A sandal? What was that all about? It was the way in which that society had agreed to seal legal agreements. As explained in Ruth 4:7: “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel.” Today, we would get a notary public to witness and sign the agreement. But whether it is a sandal or a notary, both are representations of what each society had agreed upon as the means of legally consummating an agreement; neither violated any provision of the Moral Law and therefore both were acceptable Social Compact Law.

In Summary

THE CEREMONIAL LAW, which pertained to temple regulations, sacrifices, temple worship, dietary laws and that which is clean and unclean, and laws of purification is no longer applicable today, having been completely fulfilled and superseded by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

THE MORAL LAW identifies the timeless, unchangeable, and universal rules of right and wrong – the laws described by Blackstone as “the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms.”¹⁹

THE JUDICIAL LAW stipulates the civil penalties attached to the violations of God-established rights and wrongs.

SOCIAL COMPACT LAW are the laws enacted by a society to provide order – they are laws that fall beneath the level of the Moral Law and violate none of its provisions.

It is indisputable that the Ten Commandments—the quintessential representation of the Moral Law as given in Exodus 20 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5 formed the basis of American law and society. For this reason, it was always easier to find a copy of the Ten Commandments hanging in a government building than a religious one. As Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged concerning the Ten Commandments in government buildings just in Washington, D.C., alone:

We need only look within our own courtroom. Since 1935, Moses has stood, holding two tablets that reveal portions of the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew, among other lawgivers in the south frieze. Representations of the Ten Commandments adorn the metal gates lining the north and south sides of the Courtroom as well as the doors leading into the courtroom. Moses also sits on the exterior east facade of the building holding the Ten Commandments tablets. Similar acknowledgments can be seen throughout a visitor’s tour of our Nation’s Capital. For example, a large statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments, alongside a statue of the Apostle Paul, has overlooked the rotunda of the Library of Congress’ Jefferson Building since 1897. And the Jefferson Building’s Great Reading Room contains a sculpture of a woman beside the Ten Commandments with a quote above her from the Old Testament (Micah 6:8). A medallion with two tablets depicting the Ten Commandments decorates the floor of the National Archives. Inside the Department of Justice, a statue entitled “The Spirit of Law” has two tablets representing the Ten Commandments lying at its feet. In front of the Ronald Reagan Building is another sculpture that includes a depiction of the Ten Commandments. So, too, a 24-foot-tall sculpture, depicting, among other things, the Ten Commandments and a cross, stands outside the federal courthouse that houses both the Court of Appeals and the District Court for the District of Columbia. Moses is also prominently featured in the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives.²⁰

Indisputably, Exodus 20 shaped the Moral Law of the United States. For this reason, the Ten Commandments have always been inseparable from American legal culture.

1. Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925). See also Meyer v. State of Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923 ).
2. Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158 (1944). See also Moore v. East Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
3. Samuel T. Spear, Religion and the State (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1876), p. 91.
4. Samuel T. Spear, Religion and the State (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1876), p. 91.
5. John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry Johnston (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893), Vol. IV, p. 403, to John Murray Jr., April 15, 1818.
6. Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Vol. IV, p. 391, to John Murray on October 12, 1816.
7. Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. “Law,” #14.
8. John Witherspoon, The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1802), Vol. II, p. 485, “Seasonable Advice to Young Persons,” February 21, 1762.
9. Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. “Law,” #8.
10. William Penn, The Select Works of William Penn (London: James Phillips, 1782), Vol. III, p. 258, “England’s Present Interest Considered with Honour to the Prince, and Safety to the People.”
11. John Quincy Adams, Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son (Auburn, NY: Derby, Miller, & Co., 1848), pp. 70–71.
12. Donald S. Lutz, The Origins of American Constitutionalism (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988), p. 142.
13. Sir William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (Philadelphia: Robert Bell, Union Library, 1771), Vol. I, pp. 39, 41–42.
14. Lutz, The Origins of American Constitutionalism, p. 142.
15. John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (London: A. Millar, 1764), Book II, p. 316, Chapter XI, §135.
16. Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Book II, p. 316, Chapter XI, §135 n., quoting Hooker’s Eccl. Pol. i. iii, sect. 9.
17. Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven, CT: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 339, ¶53.
18. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. I, pp. 42–43.
19. Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. I, p. 40.
20. Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005).