the apostles of Christ were clear in consciously abrogating Mosaic law.
Well said, I concur with that assessment. I agree - we are discussing weighty matters, but I'm enjoying the very civil and friendly, yet thorough, discussion. You're such a gentlemanly and courteous debate partner! (BTW HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
)
My understanding, based upon Baha'i texts I've read from the central figures of the Faith (i.e. Baha'u'llah in the Iqan, Abdu'l-Bahá in SAQ, Shoghi Effendi), is that they largely understood the Christian religion to be '
solely spiritual' as opposed to the temporal / civil religious law that the Torah, Qur'an/Hadith and Aqdas have, respectively, promulgated for the religions of Judaism, Islam and the Baha'i Faith.
There is actually a letter (circa 1899) by Abdu'l-Baha which is very relevant to this topic. Its entitled: "
On the House of Justice and Baha’i Jurisprudence” and an official translation of it was approved for incorporation in a document of the Universal House of Justice dated April 18th 2001:
Takfir, declaration of unbelief
An authorized translation of the excerpt which is central to your concern is presented below, together with the succeeding passages:
Ye have asked concerning the wisdom of referring certain important laws to the House of Justice. Before all else, this divine cycle is purely heavenly and spiritual, and concerned with the matters of the soul. [...] The Christian dispensation was in like manner solely spiritual. Thus, in the entire New Testament, there appeareth naught but the prohibition of divorce and the allusion to the abrogation of the Sabbath. Even as He saith, 'the Son of man came not to judge the world but to save the world'. [...] For the head cornerstone of the religion of God consisteth in refining the characters, reforming the manners, and improving the attributes of men [...]
All other ordinances are subservient to faith, certitude, confidence, and understanding. This blessed cycle being however the greatest of all divine cycles, it embraceth all spiritual and temporal matters, and is endowed with the utmost power and sovereignty. Therefore, those matters of major importance which constitute the foundation of the Law of God are explicitly recorded in the Text, but subsidiary laws are left to the House of Justice. [...]
The Supreme House of Justice will take decisions and establish laws through the inspiration and confirmation of the Holy Spirit [...]
Briefly, this is the wisdom of referring the laws of society to the House of Justice. In the religion of Islam, similarly, not every ordinance was explicitly revealed; nay not a tenth part of a tenth part was included in the Text; although all matters of major importance were specifically referred to, there were undoubtedly thousands of laws which were unspecified. These were devised by the divines of a later age according to the laws of Islamic jurisprudence [...] All these were enforced. Today this process of deduction is the right of the body of the House of Justice [...]
The statement of 'Abdu'l-Bahá that the Bahá'í Faith "embraceth all spiritual and temporal matters" is consonant with that of the House of Justice about the future Bahá'í World Commonwealth.
The scholar Juan Cole commented as follows in an article:
Letter of `Abdu'l-Baha on Baha'i Jurisprudence - Commentary
Abdu'l-Baha began by comparing the Baha'i faith to early Christianity in its focus on spirituality rather than law. He is aware, of course, that there are more than two religious laws in the Baha'i scriptures, unlike the New Testament. That is, a Baha'i shari`ah or code of revealed law does exist [...]
Moreover, these laws deal with personal status matters (marriage, inheritance, etc.) as well as with some matters of what we would call criminal law, In this, Baha'i law resembles that of the Qur'an.
So the upshot of this analysis is that Abdu'l-Baha apparently recognised that (in contrast to Judaism and Islam), Christianity was a religion of '
spirituality rather than law' which proposed no code of revealed law for the state or society. He opined that the Baha'i Faith was closer to Christianity in the spirit being dominant over the letter of the law (than Islam or Judaism) but that, unlike Christianity, the Baha'i Faith "
embraceth temporal matters" as well as just spiritual and from that respect it is more like Islam, in that '
laws for society' are set out both in the Kitab-i-Aqdas by Baha'u'llah and can be legislated on by the Universal House of Justice in the future.
His remarks about Christianity cohere with the longstanding doctrine of orthodox Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox) i.e.
"The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed" (Luke 16:16)
"
[Jesus] has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances" (
Ephesians 2:15-17)
"
Now then, at the very beginning of your questions, you properly and laudably state that your king seeks the Christian law...One should know that the law of the Christians consists in faith and good works [...]
This is the Christian law, and whoever keeps this law properly, shall be saved. [...]
Far be it from your minds that you, who have acknowledged so pious a God and Lord, now judge so harshly [...]
For the blessed apostle Paul did not impose the death penalty on anyone [...]
We consider what you asked about pants (femoralia) to be irrelevant; for we do not wish the exterior style of your clothing to be changed, but rather the behavior of the inner man within you, nor do we desire to know what you are wearing but rather how you are progressing in faith and good works" ((
The Responses of Pope Nicholas I to the Questions of the Bulgars A.D. 866)
"
The judicial precepts [of the Old Testament] did not bind for ever, but were annulled by the coming of Christ [...]
In the ministry of the New Law, no punishment of death or of bodily maiming is appointed...As regards Peter, he did not put Ananias and Saphira to death...The Priests or Levites of the Old Testament were the ministers of the Old Law, which appointed corporal penalties." (St. Thomas Aquinas,
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The judicial precepts (Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 104), 1265–1274)
“ Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience to the Commandments which are called Moral ” (
Article VII of the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England (1571))
“
The moral law doth for ever bind all, the ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament; and the sundry judicial (or civil) laws of Israel expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other now" (
chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1643-46))
"
In history, systems of law have almost always been based on religion: decisions regarding what was to be lawful among men were taken with reference to the divinity. Unlike other great religions, Christianity has never proposed a revealed law to the State and to society, that is to say a juridical order derived from revelation. Instead, it has pointed to nature and reason as the true sources of law" (
Pope Benedict XVI Visit to the Federal Parliament in the Reichstag Building (Berlin, 22 September 2011))
As you can see from preceding, St. Thomas Aquinas (medieval Catholic theologian) and the Protestant Reformers believed that the 'moral law' of the Old Covenant was eternal (inasmuch as adultery is still wrong, exploitation of the poor is still wrong, murder is still wrong etc.) because it derived from natural law but that the 'ceremonial' and 'ritualistic' laws and the 'judicial' punishments were annulled and declared void, with Jesus adding nothing new in this respect to replace them (i.e. no new revealed civil & criminal law for the state). In addition, they believed as St. Thomas noted that the New Testament was also greater than the Old in that it improved upon it morally, as St. Thomas writes in the Summa: "
the New Law is compared to the Old as the perfect to the imperfect. And accordingly the New Law fulfils the Old by supplying that which was lacking in the Old Law."
Christians, in interpreting the Old Covenant, thus make the same distinction that Baha'is make between: "
the two distinct aspects or functions" of religion:
"One the essential or fundamental, the other the material or accidental. The first aspect of the revealed religion of God is that which concerns the ethical development and spiritual progress of mankind, the awakening of potential human susceptibilities and the descent of divine bestowals. These ordinances are changeless, essential, eternal. The second function of the divine religion deals with material conditions, the laws of human intercourse and social regulation. These are subject to change [...]
For instance, in the day of Moses ten commandments in regard to murder were revealed by Him. These commandments were in accordance with the requirements of that day and time. Other laws embodying drastic punishments were enacted by Moses—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth....But in the time of Jesus Christ this kind of law was not expedient; therefore, Christ abrogated and superseded the commands of Moses."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.470)
Christianity (and this is its distinction from Judaism, Islam and the Baha'i Faith) is
entirely concerned with the "
essential or fundamental, the changeless and eternal". It has virtually nothing of the second function: "
the material conditions, laws of human intercourse", the legal side of things. As Abdu'l-Baha notes: "
the very heart of the religion of Christ consists in the greatest human virtues" (
Some Answered Questions).
For as St. Paul wrote, Christians are: "
ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (
2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
The Baha'i Faith appears to support this understanding of Christ's doctrine, which is distinct in focus from the Abrahamic dispensations before and after it in being "
solely spiritual" without any temporal lawmaking for society.
