The End of the Old Testament Ceremonial Law
St. Paul in Galatians 5:1–6 declared that the observance of circumcision and the ritual requirements of the Law of Moses were abrogated and no longer binding upon Christians. What remains obligatory is the moral law—the ceremonial and civil precepts of the Old Law no longer apply. This is why Old Testament prescriptions such as wearing tassels (Deuteronomy 22:12), abstaining from pork or shellfish, or prohibitions against plowing with different animals, are no longer followed. Although the Jews historically identified 613 laws in the Torah, the arrival of the New Covenant fulfilled and completed what was prefigured in the Old.
The ceremonial laws, especially those found in Leviticus, have been abolished. Only the moral law remains binding. The Apostles and the Early Church made this distinction clear, teaching definitively that Mosaic dietary laws and ceremonial practices no longer applied to the faithful.
Ecclesiastical Laws and the Church’s Authority to Bind and Loose
While the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant have passed away, Christ gave His Church true authority to establish disciplinary laws that are binding on the faithful. Our Lord said to St. Peter, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven” (Matthew 16:19), a power also extended to the other Apostles (Matthew 18:18). This divine commission allows the Church to regulate worship and discipline in each era for the spiritual good of her members.
For example, although the Old Testament Sabbath was on Saturday, the Church—exercising her authority—established Sunday as the Lord’s Day in honor of the Resurrection. Similarly, the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 imposed temporary disciplinary norms on Gentile converts, such as abstaining from blood, food offered to idols, and meat from strangled animals (Acts 15:20). These were not moral absolutes, but prudent regulations intended to preserve harmony between Jewish and Gentile Christians. As Haydock’s Commentary on Acts 15:20 explains, these were imposed “not as things necessary for salvation, but as necessary at that time to avoid scandal and dissensions.” Haydock's Bible Commentary further adds:
"The Jews had such a horror of blood, that they considered those who eat it as defiled, and violators of the law of nature. The Lord had in effect from the beginning forbidden the use of blood to Noe [Noah], (Genesis ix. 4.) which he likewise reported in the strongest terms in Leviticus viii. 26. By this we see the great authority of God’s Church, and Councils which may make permanent or temporary decrees, such as are fitting for the state of the times or peoples, without any express Scripture at all, and by this authoritative exaction, things become of strict obligation, which previous to it, were in themselves indifferent."
In later centuries, as the Church matured and these circumstances changed, such dietary and ceremonial restrictions were gradually lifted. This development shows how the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, possesses genuine legislative authority in matters of discipline—always within the limits of the moral law.
Why Do Catholics Then Have Certain Restrictions on Days like Fridays?
Given this authority, the Church can impose obligations such as fasting and abstinence. To knowingly disregard such laws is not a trivial matter. Both Pope Innocent III in the 13th century and Pope Alexander VII in the 17th century affirmed that deliberately violating the law of abstinence on required days constitutes mortal sin.
The sin lies not in the food itself, but in the disobedience to lawful authority. As Fr. Michael Müller wrote in his Familiar Explanation of Christian Doctrine (1874): “It is not the food, but the disobedience that defiles a man.” We abstain from meat on Fridays not because meat is impure, but to obey the Church’s discipline, offered as a small act of penance in remembrance of Our Lord’s Passion. Thus, to eat meat unintentionally on a Friday is no sin—but to knowingly reject the Church’s precept is gravely sinful due to the willful disobedience involved (cf. Matthew 15:11).
A Review of The Baltimore Catechism:
Q. 1136. How many kinds of laws had the Jews before the coming of Our Lord?
A. Before the coming of Our Lord the Jews had three kinds of laws:
1. Civil laws, regulating the affairs of their nation;
2. Ceremonial laws, governing their worship in the temple;
3. Moral laws, guiding their religious belief and actions.
Q. 1137. To which of these laws did the Ten Commandments belong?
A. The Ten Commandments belong to the moral law, because they are a compendium or short account of what we must do in order to save our souls; just as the Apostles' Creed is a compendium of what we must believe.
Q. 1138. When did the civil and ceremonial laws of the Jews cease to exist?
A. The civil laws of the Jews ceased to exist when the Jewish people, shortly before the coming of Christ, ceased to be an independent nation. The ceremonial laws ceased to exist when the Jewish religion ceased to be the true religion; that is, when Christ established the Christian religion, of which the Jewish religion was only a figure or promise.
Q. 1139. Why were not also the moral laws of the Jews abolished when the Christian religion was established?
A. The moral laws of the Jews could not be abolished by the establishment of the Christian religion because they regard truth and virtue and have been revealed by God, and whatever God has revealed as true must be always true, and whatever He has condemned as bad in itself must be always bad.
1 comment(s):
Precise and to the point. What most Christians don't understand (including shamefully, Catholics), is that the Judaism of our Lord no longer exists - it was fulfilled on the Cross. The Jewish faith that is practiced today is younger than Christianity, and much of it is based on the blasphemous Talmud. Yes, Jesus was a Jew, but that bears little resemblance to what is practiced today.
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