It is simply the fact that you seem to want to turn your academic "types" into Scriptural "types". In Scripture, I find that the Law and the Prophets refers to the Old Testament.
So what commandments are Jesus referring to when He talks to the rich man? God gave the commandments in the OT, and since Jesus is God, He can't very well be giving other commandments in the NT. He also confirms this:
Luke 16:17 (NIV)
It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
And if we are to be honest, there are many types of Scripture, like prophesy, parable, history, law, gospel and wise sayings. Are we then to assume that there not different types of each of those? The Bible does not specifically distinguish between those types, they are deduced by studying theology. I hope this helps you understand that in order for us to properly understand, we need to distinguish between the different types of writings in the Bible. If we don't we fall into the trap of interpreting everything as literal, or everything as symbolic. And if we can agree on that, why is it then not possible to distinguish between the different types of law?
I don't think we can say we should obey the 10 commandments. That gives the impression that we should obey the Old Covenant (which it is a part of).
The Old Covenant did not contain only the 10 Commandments, it contained the whole law, which I already agreed was not binding on us. In the New Covenant however, Jesus restated 9 of the 10 commandments. You also seem to conveniently ignore the fact I mentioned previously, that since Jesus is God and God can never change His morality, the commandments necessarily have to be the same.
It is my understanding from Scripture that we do not obey the tenants of the 10 commandments today. We obey those same tenants because they are now a part of the Law of Christ.
I have a problem believing that it was purely by chance that the commandments Jesus mentioned, was the same as the original 10 commandments. Why would the moral code for Israel be different to that of the code given to Christians? God's morality can never change since God can never change. If you believe that God changes, then you believe He is not perfect either.
Why is it so hard for you to understand that there is an unchanging morality, that is an absolute, it will be the same always, everywhere, for all people? If we cannot believe in that absolute morality, can we believe in God? And that morality is consistent throughout God's special revelation, the commandments in Bible.
If I am understanding your post correctly, moral = universal (no matter the covenant, the moral laws are the same).
Yes.
Where does faith in Jesus fall - civil, ceremonial, or moral? If moral, why was it not mentioned at the giving of the 10 Commandments?
I'm not sure I follow your argument. Faith does not come from the commandments, faith comes from grace. The commandments show us the moral way to live, or when we are sliding away from sanctification.
Because they were under a different Law. Hebrews 8:7 - the Law is changed, fulfilled, obsolete.
To understand that, you need to understand the context of Hebrews. It was written to second-generation Christians, who was considering a return to Judaism. It was therefore necessary to make them understand that to achieve salvation, it was no longer necessary to uphold the Judaic law, since Jesus fulfilled that. It does not say that the moral law was fulfilled. I want to be really careful here, since I don't want to imply that by obeying the moral law can we be saved.
Hebrews 7:11 (NIV)
If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the law was given to the people), why was there still need for another priest to come--one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?
This clearly refers to the Judaic law, as does:
Hebrews 13:9 (NIV)
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.
If you read through the rest of hebrews 12 and 13, many of the commandments are repeated there in the authors teaching to be holy.
Galatians 6:2 (NIV)
Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
James 2:12 (NIV)
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
And what is the law of Christ, in your opinion?
Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Does this not mean His moral law is the same, and therefore, the Law of Christ cannot be seperate from the law of God?
We also need to distinguish something else important here. Every time the law and the believer is mentioned, it is the believer that has changed, not the law. When you become a Christian, you change, and through the grace of God, you become dead to the punitive qualities of the law.
Disobedience of the law is sin, and for there to be sin, there must be a law:
1 John 3:4 (NIV)
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.
and we know about which law the apostle speaks too:
1 John 3:22-24 (NIV)
and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. [23] And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. [24] Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
"It is particularly noteworthy that sins which contravene the law (as breaches of the Ten Commandments) are also contrary to the sound doctrine of the gospel. So the moral standards of the gospel do not differ from the moral standards of the law. We must not therefore imagine that, because we have embraced the gospel, we may now repudiate the law! To be sure, the law is impotent to save us, and we have been released from the law's condemnation, so that we are no longer 'under' it in that sense. But God has sent His Son to die for us, and now puts His Spirit within us, in order that the righteous requirements of the law may be fulfilled in us. There is no antithesis between law and gospel in the moral standards which they teach; the antithesis is in the way of salvation, since the law condemns, while the gospel justifies."
- John R.W. Stott, Guard the Truth, p. 50
