[This subject no doubt needs to be undertaken by men filled with wisdom, scholarly learning, the Spirit of God and the love of the truth. I have decided to begin to undertake this subject armed only with the power of the last two.]
First Usages Of The Word “ordinance” (They appear to be referring to perpetual keeping by Israel in a fleshly sense.)
(1) Exodus 12:12-14 “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.”
(2) v. 17 “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.”
(3) v. 24 “And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.”
(This is clearly referring to fleshly lineage.)
(4) v. 43 “And the Lord said . . . This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof. . . .”
(That is, not of the household of Israel.)
(5) 13:1-16 (10) “Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.”
(6) 15:24-26 (25) “. . . there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them. . . .”
The Seventh Usage Of The Word Is The First Usage Which Is Plural
Exodus 18:20 “And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.” (This is the first time the word “ordinances” is used.)
1st John 2:20-29 (27) “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
New Testament
Luke 1:5-6 “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.”
Romans 13:1-2 “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.”
1st Corinthians 11:1-2 “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.”
Ephesians 2:1-17 (15) “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. . . .”
Colossians 2:8-17 (14) “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. . . .”
vs. 20-23 “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances. . . ?”
Hebrews 9:1-9 (1) “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.”
vs. 10-28 (10) “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.”
1st Peter 2:13-16 “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake. . . .”
Acts 15:1-41 (6) “And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.”
Galatians 2:11-21 “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.”