What is at the heart of the law?
At the heart of the law are the Ten Commandments, identified as the moral law. While the broader system included civil and ceremonial regulations, the core remains the moral law. Paul’s references to the law speaking to those under it point to the Ten Commandments.
Les explains that the law given to Israel was not only the Ten Commandments but also the whole system of religious ritual, sacrifices, priesthood, and civil law. Yet at the heart of all of it is the moral law, or what we call the Ten Commandments. He notes that in Romans, when Paul says the law speaks to them who are under the law, he is talking about the Ten Commandments, the moral law, while the phrase “under the law” can also refer to the whole system of law.