The law is often referred to by some Sabbatarian Christians as the ceremonial law excluding the Ten Commandments. They maintain that this law has been fulfilled and done away with at the cross, but not the Ten Commandments, defined as the moral law. But the law really appears to be the Ten Commandments including what they call the ceremonial law. This seems to be apparent in Exodus 19-31 and John 1:17, where the law was given by God through Moses as a covenant between Himself and the people of Israel, and such distinctions were not made. The Ten Commandments seem to be an introduction and summation for the rest of the law, much like the Constitution of the United States of America is the introduction and summation for all United States law, but yet is a part of it. It is also similar to an abstract that precedes the full body of a research paper, yet is still part of the paper. The following are a couple of good questions to ask. Are there ceremonial as well as moral aspects in the Ten Commandments? The answer seems to be yes. Are there moral aspects within what is called by Sabbatarian Christians the ceremonial law? Again the answer seems to be yes. There is no clear-cut dividing line between what is ceremonial and what is moral when examining the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic Covenant. Often Sabbatarian Christians cite the fourth commandment of the Decalogue as their basis for Sabbath observance, yet selectively make use of what is in that which they describe as the ceremonial law (everything after the Ten Commandments) to determine how it should be observed. Many Sabbatarian Christians often base their observance of the Sabbath from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday on Leviticus 23:32. Let's take a closer look at more of Leviticus 23.

This passage refers to the Day of Atonement. Is this ceremonial or moral? Do most Sabbatarian Christians observe the Day of Atonement? Do they not consider this day ceremonial? Is it consistent to insist on Sabbath observance making selective use of ceremonial aspects of the law to determine how the Sabbath is to be kept? For after all, as was pointed out earlier in Exodus 31:15, Sabbath-breaking was considered a capital offense. How many Sabbatarian Christians believe that this part of the law must be enforced? Also, there is no call within the Ten Commandments to assemble for worship on the Sabbath day, only to work six days and rest one. Again, one would have to look outside the Decalogue to determine that Christians should assemble for worship on the Sabbath. If what is described as ceremonial law can be used to define moral law, how can one set limits on such a method of definition? There is no definite distinction between what is called the moral law and what is called the ceremonial law; yet there are moral, ceremonial, and even civil aspects in all of the law. So terms such as moral law and ceremonial law as defined by many Sabbatarian Christians are artificial distinctions that have no real validity in a careful examination of Scripture.

Another reason given in favor of required Sabbath observance is that since God made the seventh day holy before the giving of the Ten Commandments, it is necessary for us, if we are to follow the will of God, to also keep this day holy. Yet it is interesting to note that there is no record anywhere in Scripture of anyone keeping the Sabbath before Exodus 16, where it was given as a command to the Israelites. There is no Biblical evidence to show that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or any of the other patriarchs kept the Sabbath. Job, which is generally acknowledged by Biblical scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible, makes no mention of Job keeping the Sabbath. The first eight verses of this book describe the blamelessness and uprightness of Job before God, yet no mention is made of Sabbath-keeping as part of the reason why God considered him such a righteous person. One might think that if Sabbath-keeping was such an important thing, this would have been mentioned. Another point to remember is that Moses wrote the creation account found in Genesis during the time of the Exodus, during the time of the reception of the law from God. Exodus 20:11 shows that the Sabbath day, first given as a command to the Israelites four chapters earlier, was made holy because God rested from His work of creation on the seventh day. In other words, the Sabbath day appears to have been made holy at Sinai, not at creation. It was given to the Israelites to make known to them the true God who created all things, and break them away from over four centuries of idolatrous worship of the gods of Egypt (Joshua 24:14). Later in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, once the Israelites had become more familiar with the true God, the Sabbath was declared holy because God liberated the Israelites with a "mighty hand and by an outstretched arm" from slavery in Egypt. So the Sabbath can be considered a memorial to creation, but also a memorial to the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. It pointed forward to the rest they would receive once they reached the promised land in Canaan, and much farther in history to the time when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, would arrive to bring about true rest for all humanity through His life, death, and resurrection. At any rate, the Sabbath day was given as a sign between God and Israel, not the Christian Church to come thousands of years later, which would be comprised of Gentiles as well as Jews.

A further study of related Biblical passages such as the following illustrate that the law is a single large entity consisting of moral, ceremonial, civil, judicial, and prophetic precepts. These were completely fulfilled in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44).