# Statutes, Rules, Laws, and Commandments



## Romans922 (Dec 22, 2007)

Is there any differences in meaning or the sense of each of these words found throughout Scripture?


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## RamistThomist (Dec 22, 2007)

I know Law can take on different nuances. It can sometimes be God's revelation, the whole OT, the first 5 books, something really bad, etc. 

I remember reading somewhere that statutes can be a bit broader. While I am hesitant to recommend it, Jim Jordan had an interesting discussion on this in his off-balanced critique of theonomy. 

But if you don't want to go that route, Vern Poythress delves into this.


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## Guido's Brother (Dec 22, 2007)

I always find Genesis 26:5 interesting,

"...because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws."


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Dec 22, 2007)

Guido's Brother said:


> I always find Genesis 26:5 interesting,
> 
> "...because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws."



Here is what Matthew Poole notes in his _Synopsis_ on that text:



> [_And he kept my precepts, etc_., [] _My observances_ Samaritan Text, Syriac, likewise Tigurinus, Junius and Tremellius); _my charge_ (Montanus, Chaldean), namely, _of my word_ (Chaldean). Or _my station_; that is to say, he attended to his station and his duty after the likeness of soldiers: thus it is taken in Isaiah 21:83 (Malvenda). This is the name of a genus, of which three species follow (Ainsworth, Malvenda). []/_precepts_ are appointed to have respect to the moral law (Ainsworth, Dutch): []/_statutes_, either the ceremonial law (Dutch, Malvenda), or natural law; for example, thou shalt worship one God (Ibn Ezra in Munster): []/_laws_, either they look toward the doctrine which we are held to believe (Dutch), or unto ceremonies (Ibn Ezra in Munster). To these elsewhere are added []/_judgments_, that is, political laws (Dutch).


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## bookslover (Dec 31, 2007)

Any decent commentary on Psalm 119 (or on Psalm 19:7-9) should delineate the nuances of those terms.


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## Contra_Mundum (Dec 31, 2007)

As with most issues of language, we should probably realize that terms like these are not hermetically sealed off from each other. There is significant overlap in the freight each one of these carries, although we tend to note various shades of meaning or emphasis in each one. The "heaping up" of such terms is probably meant to convey _first of all_ the *completeness*, *totality*, or *unity* (or all three) of God's counsels. The verse regarding Abraham is emphasizing that Abraham was _thoroughly_ obedient (which, interestingly, is of course not LITERALLY true--but still God considered him as perfectly compliant! -- only in Christ, only in Christ).

But it is still worth thinking through the varied terms, and thinking of what they can be used to emphasize in relation to the other terms, without trying to say that a "statute" cannot be at the same time a "commandment" or vice versa.


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## timmopussycat (Dec 31, 2007)

Spear Dane said:


> But if you don't want to go that route, Vern Poythress delves into this.



You are referring to "The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses" right?


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