CC--Christianese 25d: Christian Liberty (part 3 of 5)

--The essence of the idea behind Christian liberty is very simple. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and by the works which He did to merit the approval of God and thereby our salvation. And therefore, obedience to any other rules neither saves you nor does their violation jeopardize your salvation.
--But what then is to be done with all the rules in the Old Testament? And how do we avoid saying that Christians can do anything at all, no matter how evil?
--Well, Christian scholars have generally resolved this question by classifying the Old Testament commands into three main categories, civil, ceremonial, and moral.
--Civil laws would be related to the constitution of the political structure of ancient Israel.
--Ceremonial laws would be related to the priestly and sacrificial system of the religious structure of ancient Israel.
--The moral commands would be all the rules about human conduct, and these would divide into two major categories.
--First are the moral rules that predated the commands given to Moses and therefore were never limited merely to ancient Israel. Except for the Sabbath which is its own interesting topic, Christians generally consider the Ten Commandments to capture and summarize these.
--Second are the moral rules created uniquely for ancient Israel, such as regards mixing fabrics or the Kosher dietary rules. These were only ever meant for Jews.
--So the civil, ceremonial, and uniquely Jewish moral rules all went away at the Resurrection of Christ.
--What remains then is primarily the Ten Commandments, which always have and always will morally obligate all people, including Christians.
--But every other matter, such as the consumption of alcohol, celebrating particular days, listening to music, the use of medicine, the eating of various foods, what clothes to wear, etc. would be essentially matters of individual judgment.
--And not only are people adamantly free in these areas, but they are so free that it is a grave sin to try to restrict them or judge them for it. Nevertheless, in that freedom, they are supposed to be wise and loving in consideration of people who are still learning to live out this freedom in Christ.