Law, The. This term is applied in the New Testament to the old covenant and revelation, in distinction from the new; the dispensation under the law in distinction from the dispensation under the gospel; that by Moses and the prophets in distinction from the dispensation by Christ. John 1:17; Acts 25:8; Hebrews 10:1-18. It was the title applied by the Jews to the first five books of the Bible. The law, the prophets, and the psalms, Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44; Acts 13:15, thus designate the entire Old Testament. The term often refers more specially to the Mosaic legislation, including the moral, Matthew 6:17, the ceremonial, Ephesians 2:15, and the political, but particularly the first. Sometimes Paul uses the word "law" (without the article) in a wider sense—of principle, rule of moral conduct—and speaks of the heathen as having such a law written on their conscience or being a law to themselves. Romans 2:14-15.