We recognize that the law, as written at Sinai, was stated in broad sections or categories. We also acknowledge that some commands are weightier than others (Matthew 22:36-38; 23:23). But we should be cautious about creating a separation in the law. The reason is simply that if we do, it will be largely our own device. For no passage of Scripture in the Bible divides the law of Moses into Moral and Ceremonial. To the contrary, the Scriptures themselves treat the law as a unit or a whole, and continually stress its unified nature. You may see a few of many examples in Deuteronomy 4:8; 17:18-19; 27:8; 28:58; 29:29 and Matthew 5:17-19; 22:40. The human who alters or breaks one part, breaks it all (Deuteronomy 6:20- 25; 17:19; Exodus 34:9-32).
The human who, on his own authority, insists on one part is insisting on it all. For example, Paul says that the person who insists on the part about circumcision is obliged to obey “the whole law” (Galatians 5:3). Also, there is a sense in which everything in the law is moral. Think about the implication of the word “whole” in this passage: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14).
Certainly, in Romans 7 Paul makes no attempt to separate the law into parts. He emphasizes our death to the law yet shows no hesitation in identifying the law by quoting one of the Ten Commandments. In other words, the law is a whole, and Christ’s death has released us from all of it—including the law against coveting.