Law (167)
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The Gospel is temporary, but the law is eternal and is restored precisely through the Gospel. Freedom from the law consists, then, not in the fact that the Christian has nothing more to do with the law, but lies in the fact that the law demands nothing more from the Christian as a condition of salvation. The law can no longer judge and condemn him. Instead he delights in the law of God according to the inner man and yearns for it day and night.
though the moral law be thus far abolished, it remains as a perpetual rule to believers. Though it be not their Saviour, it is their guide. Though it be not foedus, a covenant of life; yet it is norma, a rule of life. Every Christian is bound to conform to it; and to write, as exactly as he can after this copy. 'Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid.' Rom iii 31. Though a Christian is not under the condemning power of the law, yet he is under its commanding power.The Ten Commandments, 44
This I urge against Antinomians, who say the moral law is abrogated to believers; which, as it contradicts Scripture, so it is a key to open the door to all licentiousness. They who will not have the law to rule them, shall never have the gospel to save them.The Ten Commandments, 44
A Christian is only dead to the law as a legal sentence of death against them, Christ having died for them; but they are made alive to the law as the righteousness of God. Since Jesus himself is the true mediator between God and man, he rejected the law as mediatorial, in order to re-establish the law in its God-appointed role as law -the path of holiness.The Mission of God, 97
If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by ten thousand commandments.
The words of the Decalogue... remain permanently with us, receiving by means of his advent in the flesh, extension and increase, but not abrogation.Against Heresies
It sounds really spiritual to say God is interested in a relationship, not in rules. But it's not biblical. From top to bottom, the Bible is full of commands. They aren't meant to stifle a relationship with God, but to protect it, seal it, and define it. Never forget: first God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, then He gave them the law. God's people were not redeemed by observing the law. But they were redeemed so that they might obey the law.The Hole in Our Holiness
The laws of the Bible, outside the Ten Commandments, are case laws, and I have been arguing that largely, the Reformed faith has viewed it as the duty of the Christian ruler to extend the equity of these cases to cover whatever details they find in their own society.Mission of God, 343
The law we are called to obey is a law that comes from Him. It is His law. It is a law that defines a relationship— the relationship between the Creator and the creature, between the sovereign and the vassal, between the King and His subjects. Not only is it His law in the sense that it comes from Him, but most significantly, it is a law that comes from and reflects His own character. It reveals and displays His righteousness, and therefore, it makes known what righteousness is. Notice that order. It is not that we first have a sense of righteousness and then we see that God conforms to it. Rather, first there is God in His perfect character, who is the standard of righteousness, and all righteousness is the revelation of who He is.How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
the very manner of their publication plainly showed that God Himself assigned to the Decalogue peculiar importance. The Ten Commandments were uttered by God in an audible voice, with the fearful adjuncts of clouds and darkness, thunders and lightnings and the sound of a trumpet, and they were the only parts of Divine Revelation so spoken—none of the ceremonial or civil precepts were thus distinguished. Those Ten Words, and they alone, were written by the finger of God upon tables of stone, and they alone were deposited in the holy ark for safekeeping. Thus, in the unique honor conferred upon the Decalogue, we may perceive its paramount importance in the divine government.https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
the ten words are distinguished within Israelite law itself by their exclusively apodictic form: 'You shall', 'You shall not', 'Remember', and 'Honour'. Unlike the rest of the law, they are not a mixture of casuistic and apodictic.From the Finger of God, 90
the perpetuity of the Law appears in God's writing it in the hearts of His people at their new birth ( Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26,27).https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
They who cast God's law behind their backs, God will cast their prayers behind his back. They who will not have the law to rule them, shall have the law to judge them.The Ten Commandments, 13
the notion that the Spirit of God is the rule of life for the believer, mistakes the power for life with the rule of life.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9GA6bLUhhg
God is a law unto Himself. This differs from the idea that God is ex lex in that the behavior of God is never lawless. The actions of God are always in conformity to the law of God's own nature and character, which is inherently righteous and eternally holy. All of His actions come forth according to who He is.How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
The man who does not know the nature of the law cannot know the nature of sin. And he who does not know the nature of sin cannot know the nature of the Saviour.
the character of God Himself must change before the Law (the rule of His government) can be revoked. https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
The law sends us to the Gospel that we may be justified; and the Gospel sends us to the law again to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified.
Man was not created autonomous, that is, free to be a law to himself, but theonomous, that is, bound to keep the law of his Maker.Concise Theology, Section 34
The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.https://www.the1689confession.com/1689/chapter-19
Theonomy simply means God's law and implies the abiding validity of the moral law in every sphere of life, including the civil, so that the general equity of those laws with civil or judicial implications should be candidly applied in society.Mission of God, 62
The Law with its function does contribute to justification - not because it justifies, but because it impels one to the promise of grace and makes it sweet and desirable. Therefore we do not abolish the Law; but we show its true function and use, namely, that it is a most useful servant impelling us to Christ; for its function and use is not only to disclose the sin and wrath of God but also to drive us to Christ. Therefore the principal purpose of the Law in theology is to make men not better but worse; that is, it shows them their sin, so that by the recognition of sin they may be humbled, frightened, and worn down, and so may long for grace and for the Blessed Offspring.
A friend of the gospel dare not make an enemy of the law. But this is precisely the sad state of affairs of broad evangelicalism in the Western world today.
hearts always needed the removal and replacement that Ezekiel spoke of, so that the divine inscription of the principles of the Decalogue would be a delight rather than bondage, but the only means by which that was ever achieved and the only guarantee that it will continue in the people of God is in the mediator of the new covenant. Its newness and superiority lie in him. Far from expressing hostility towards the law or commanding a blunt assertion that the law is obsolete, he confirms that the laws inscribed in stone do not pass away.From the Finger of God, 318
The fundamental problem in our lives is the problem of sin, and sin and evil are both defined in light of the law. The fall of Adam and Eve was a transgression against the law of God. Absolute wickedness in the Scriptures is associated with lawlessness (1 John 3:4). And the supreme manifestation of evil incarnate is the man of lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:8–10). So when we deal with questions about the law of God, we are not dealing with peripheral matters or tangential questions, but something that goes to the very core of our lives as human beings who are called to live coram Deo—before the face of God.How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
the Ten Commandments are the very absolute and everlasting rule of true righteousness and all virtues, set down for all places, men, and ages, to frame themselves by. For the sum of the Ten Commandments is this: to show our love to God, and to love one another. And the Lord requires this at all times, and everywhere, of all kinds of men. The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
the law is our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, constraining us to fly to him, and showing us what that righteousness is, which he has wrought out, and now offers unto us. But the gospel, professedly, treats of the person, office, and benefits of Christ. There fore we have, in the law and gospel, the whole of the Scriptures
We must disagree sharply with those liberal theologians— whether Catholic, Jew, or Protestant— who hold that our contemporary society is evolving to a "new morality" based on "love" for others rather than on the fixed, absolute, objective standards of righteousness set out in the Ten Commandments.Law and Gospel
Neither John Calvin nor Francis Turretin nor any other respected theologians, creeds, or confessions ever set up an antithesis between Christ and Moses, the law and the gospel, law and grace. The antinomians, however, envision a conflict between each of these pairs, along with a sharp antithesis between the Old and New Testaments.Law & Gospel
The moral teaching of Christ and his apostles is the old law deepened and reapplied to new circumstances--life in the kingdom of God, where the Savior reigns; and in the post-Pentecost era of the Spirit, where God's people are called to live heaven's life among themselves and to be God's counterculture in the world.Concise Theology, Section 34
As the excellency of his nature giveth him a fitness and a sufficiency for the government of mankind, his creation, preservation, and other benefits give him a full right to make what laws he pleaseth, and to call man to an account whether he hath kept them, yea or no.Works, Volume 10
Christ in fact had not the least intent of making any change or innovation in the precepts of the law. God there appointed once for all a rite of life which he will never repent of... so let us have no more of that error, that here a defect of the law is corrected by Christ; Christ is not to be made into a new law-giver, adding anything to the everlasting righteousness of his Father, but is to be given the attention of a faithful interpreter, teaching us the nature of the law, its object and its scope.
Your laws for blaspheming God's name, let them be more severe; that this Land-destroying vice may be rooted out from amongst us.https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Glimpse_of_Gods_Glory/FDg3AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Without the Law there is no transgression, so without the knowledge of the Law there can be no conviction.Nature, Necessity and Character of True Repentance
Christian righteousness far surpasses pharisaic righteousness in kind rather than in degree. It is not so much, shall we say, that Christians succeed in keeping some 240 commandments when the best Pharisees may only have scored 230. No. Christian righteousness is greater than pharisaic righteousness because it is deeper, being a righteousness of the heartThe message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 75). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
He does more than obey them himself; he explains what obedience will involve for his disciples. He rejects the superficial interpretation of the law given by the scribes; he himself supplies the true interpretation. His purpose is not to change the law, still less to annul it, but 'to reveal the full depth of meaning that it was intended to hold'.
The message of the Sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7): Christian counter-culture (p. 72). Leicester; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
In the plan of God, the covenant and laws of Mount Sinai played an important but temporary role as guardian of God's people until Messiah should come and deliver themJustification Reconsidered, 14
man, by the words of the law, is admonished and taught what he ought to do, not what he can do, that is, that he is brought to know his sin, but not to believe that he has any strength in himself.Bondage of the Will, Section 56
Antinomians go too far by claiming that believers are now released from all obligation to obey—as if any call to duty were legalism.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
Contrary to the Antinomian view, the moral law must still be preached as binding believers to personal obediencehttps://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
The gospel does not lower the standard of perfection. It commands all that the law commands, in the same holiness and purity. "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," and "Be holy, for I am holy," remain gospel commands. The difference is in acceptance, not in requirement. The gospel pardons our failures, but it does not dispense with any of God's commands.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
The obedience commanded in the law as a covenant of works is the same obedience now required under the covenant of grace. The difference lies in how it is fulfilled: Under the law, it was to be performed by our own strength, out of love for God and reverence for His authority. Under the gospel, it is enabled by the grace of Christ and motivated not only by God's authority and love, but also by gratitude to a redeeming Savior.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
In regard to forms of law, there are two basic types: apodictic and casuistic. Casuistic law is case law... Apodictic law is the foundational, fundamental law that governs the people... found in the Ten Commandments.How does God\'s Law apply to me?, 35
Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most religious mistakes.Works of John Newton, 240
According to this view, the law is divided into three categories: the dietary laws, the ceremonial laws, and the moral laws. As helpful as those distinctions may be, we must keep in mind that for the Jew in the Old Testament period, all of the law was moral. It was a moral issue to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego whether they obeyed the dietary laws of God while they were in exile. It was a moral issue for Israel whether it obeyed the ceremonial law. Yet the purpose in our day of distinguishing between the three is to communicate that there is still a substantive stratum of law in the Old Testament that seems to continue into the life of the New Testament church.How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
We might be tempted to rewrite this today and say, "Foolish is the man who delights in the law of the Lord and wastes his time meditating on it day and night." We might think that only a legalist takes delight in the law and spends more than five minutes a year meditating upon it. But God says, "Blessed is the man…."How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
Has anything changed about God that we would disregard His directives? Is His word still law? Is He still as sovereign as He was in the Old Testament? Is the God of Israel and of the New Testament church a commandment giving God? His word is law, and His law is His word, because His law expresses His will. And that will, that law, is sweeter than honey (Ps. 119:103).How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
For a Christian to say, "I once loved the law, but now I love Christ and ignore the law," is simply not to love Christ, because Christ loved the law.How Does God\'s Law Apply to Me?
A man's house is his castle, and God's law, as well as man's, sets a guard up upon it; he that assaults it does so at his peril.Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1:291
We must therefore distinguish three kinds of precept in the Old Law; viz. 'moral' precepts, which are dictated by the natural law; 'ceremonial' precepts, which are determinations of the Divine worship; and 'judicial' precepts, which are determinations of the justice to be maintained among men.
We must attend to the well-known division which distributes the whole law of God, as promulgated by Moses, into the moral, the ceremonial, and the judicial law.Institutes
All Christians accept that Christ came to fulfill the law, but what did he mean when he said so in Matthew 5:17? Despite saying in the same breath that he did not come to abolish the law, some interpretations of 'fulfill' demand nothing less than the abolition of the law, leaving us with a Teacher who spoke in unfathomable riddles. In addition, when interpreters look at Matthew 5 in one of several self-imposed contextual microcosms it leads to stifled portrayals of Christ's fulfillment of the law.https://kevinfiske.wordpress.com/tag/threefold-division/
What the moral law is, I will describe in three points: first, it is that part of God's Word, concerning righteousness and godliness, which was written in Adam's mind by the gift of creation; and the remnants of it be in every man by the light of nature, in regard whereof, it binds all men. Secondly, it commands perfect obedience, both inward in thought and affection, and outward in speech and action. Thirdly, it binds to the curse and punishment everyone that fails in the least duty thereof, though but once, and that in thought only: 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law to do them' (Gal. 3:10). The sum of the moral law is propound in the Decalogue or Ten Commandments, which many can repeat, but few do understand. The Works of William Perkins, (1:243–44).
In regard to use, the moral is the end of the others, while the others are subservient to the moral. A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The moral law regards the Israelite people as men; the ceremonial as the church of the Old Testament expecting the promised Messiah; the civil regards them as a peculiar people who in the land of Canaan ought to have a republic suiting their genius and disposition. A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The moral law is for the most part expressed by mtsvth ("precepts"), the ceremonial by chqym ("statutes") and the judicial by mshptym ("judgments"), which the Septuagint renders by entolas, dikaiōmata and krimata. "I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them" (Dt. 5:31); so also in 6:1, 20; 7:11; and Lev. 26:46. Sometimes however these words are synonymous and used promiscuously (Ezk. 5:6; 20:11, 16, 18). But the distinction appears principally from the nature of the thing and the office of the law (whose it is to settle the order according to which man is joined to God and his neighbor) A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
he law given by Moses is usually distinguished into three species: moral (treating of morals or of perpetual duties towards God and our neighbor); ceremonial (of the ceremonies or rites about the sacred things to be observed under the Old Testament); and civil, constituting the civil government of the Israelite people. The first is the foundation upon which rests the obligation of the others and these are its appendices and determinations. Ceremonial has respect to the first table determining its circumstances, especially as to external worship. Civil has respect to the second table in judicial things, although it lays down punishments for crimes committed against the first table. A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
The law of the Lord our God that was handed down to His people through Moses is partly ethical, partly sacrificial, and partly political.A Clear and Simple Treatise on the Lord’s Supper
One great use for which the moral law serveth is to bring men to a sight and sense of their sins and imperfections, and humble them before God: Rom. 7:7, 'I had not known sin but by the law, for I had not known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet;' and to undeceive them of conceits of their own goodness and righteousness. Look into thy bill, what owest thouhttps://www.monergism.com/rich-young-ruler-exposition-mark-1017-27-ebook
Good teaching on the law and the gospel has never been more badly needed than it is today. We are living in lawless times, when disrespect for authority has led to widespread disdain for God's commandments. People are behaving badly, even in church. Part of the problem is that people don't know what God requires. Even among Christians there is an appalling lack of familiarity with the perfect standard of God's law, and of course the situation is far worse in the culture at large. This ignorance undoubtedly contributes to the general lowering of moral standards in these post-Christian times, but it does as much damage to our theology. People who are ignorant of God's law never see their need for the gospel.
Let the law of God be holy to us, let his gospel be reverend in our eyes; and let the doctrine of the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles be esteemed by us as that which came from God himself. Let us not take the name of the Lord our God into our mouths, unless it is in a matter of weight.The Decades https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
The law is the same everywhere, and the will of God is always one, because God is but one and is never changed. Nevertheless, the commandments were first set down in tablets by God, who was the beginner and writer of them; and after that, were again written into books by Moses.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
First of all, therefore, let no man think that before Moses' time there was no law, and that the law was first published by Moses. For the same special points of the moral law, which Moses sets down in the Ten Commandments, were very well known to the patriarchs, even from the beginning of the world.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
The MORAL law is that which teaches men manners, and lays down before us the shape of virtue; declaring with it how great are the righteousness, godliness, obedience, and perfection that God looks for at the hands of us mortal men.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
The law of God, openly published and proclaimed by the Lord our God himself, sets down ordinary rules for us to know what we have to do, and what to leave undone, requiring obedience, and threatening utter destruction to disobedient rebels. This law is divided into the MORAL, CEREMONIAL, and JUDICIAL laws: all the parts of which, and every point of which, Moses has very exquisitely written, and diligently expounded.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
"By that means," say some, "we will again be wrapped in the law; we shall be forced to be circumcised, to sacrifice the flesh and blood of beasts, to admit again the priesthood of Aaron, together with the temple and the other ceremonies. There will again be allowed the bill of divorce, or putting away a man's wife, together with sufferance to marry many wives." To these I answer, that in the old Testament we must consider that there are some things which are forever to be observed, and some things which are ceremonial and allowed only till the time of amendment.The Decades, https://www.monergism.com/decades-ebook
When Acts is so plain about the Christian's obligations concerning food laws and circumcision it is startling if it should be so vague about what Turner rightly calls 'so fundamental universal, and ingrained an institution as the Jewish Sabbath.'From the Finger of God, 246
So weakened have Christians become that most of them are not accustomed to thinking about moral laws. Biblical teaching regarding the function of God's law in the life of he Christian and in society is either chaotic or non-existent in many churches.Call the Sabbath a Delight
'I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts' (31:33), does not go beyond the expectations of the Mosaic Law itself (Deut. 30:14). According to the Shema (Deut. 6:6), God always intended that the law be internalized in the hearts of his people.From the Finger of God, 203
Foods separated for uncleanness were a sign of Israel's separation to a God whose separation was marked by the veil. The implications of its rending extend to everything touched by the theme of separation, including the people and the purity laws. Divine separation gives way to divine nearness -'I am with you always' (Matt. 28:20), ethnic separation gives way to a universal welcome -'make disciples of all nations' (Matt. 28:19), and the separation of certain foods to uncleanness now symbolizes a past reality that gives way to the intrinsic cleanness of all things.From the Finger of God, 189
'I shall write', He says, 'my Laws upon their hearts, and I shall forget their sins' (Jer. 31:33): these words do not at all depart from the former covenant, but rather declare that it will continue to be firm and valid, when the new has come upon it. This is exactly the intention of Christ's words, when he says that He has come to fulfil the Law. Truly he fulfilled the deadness of the letter by reviving it with His Spirit, and eventually displaying in actual fact, what had till then been indicated figuratively.
When Christ or the Apostles are treating of a perfect life, they always refer believers to the Law.
It is important to emphasize the fact that it was written on Adam's heart from the beginning. Thus we have one standard of righteousness from Creation to the final consummation.Law & Gospel
if people were punished or rebuked for sin before Sinai, that implies that laws must have been in place, because "where there is no law there is no sin."Law & Gospel
The cross makes no sense apart from the law. The cross with out the law is like a jig-saw puzzle with the key piece missing. The evangelical prophet Isaiah said, "He [Christ] will magnify the law and make it honorable" (Isa. 42: 21). Christ magnified the law by His perfect life and in His death on the cross.Law and Gospel
a troubled conscience cannot be properly quieted unless the Gospel is rightly distinguished from the Law; on the other hand, there will be no troubled conscience to be quieted without the Law.
The moral law carries permanent validity because it is an objective standard uniquely sanctioned by God and goes straight to the root of our modern problems. It lays its finger on the church's deepest need in evangelism as well as in the Christian life: sanctification. The Ten Commandments are desperately needed not only in the church but also in societyLaw and Gospel
The third reason for retaining the Decalogue is that obedience is required.Scholia in Epistolam Puali ad Colossense, 93v
The third use of the law is directive or normative: it serves as a didactic "rule of life" to guide believers in ways that are pleasing to their God and Savior.A Puritan Theology, 557
The law is like a mirror. In it we contemplate our weakness, then the iniquity arising from this, and finally the curse coming from both -just as a mirror shows us the spots on our face.Institutes 2.7.6-7
[The law] warns, informs, convicts, and lastly condemns, every man of his own righteousness
True, the Christian is not under the Law as a Covenant of Works nor as a ministration of condemnation, but he is under it as a rule of life and a means of sanctification.https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
the moral law. That is summed up in the Ten Commandments, and more briefly in those two great commandments of love to God and our neighbor (Mat. 22:37, 39); it is more largely explained throughout the Holy Scriptures.The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union with Christ
New Quotes
The law, when infused with the compelling love and gracious authority of our Redeemer, and when approached with thankfulness to Christ who ransomed us—this moral motive—still binds us to obedience. Not only because of the content of its commands, but also because of the authority of the Lawgiver.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
We do not teach that the moral law binds us merely as given by Moses, for if that were so, the ceremonial laws would bind us too —which is not the case for Christians. But we affirm that by the Ten Commandments delivered through Moses, God intended to bind all people, including Christians, to continual obedience until the end of the world.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
Christ clearly said that He did not come to free us from obedience to the least part of the law. The covenant of works is abrogated only in this respect: we are freed from the law as a means of justification and from its curse. That is as far as the Antinomian argument may go—no further.https://www.monergism.com/modest-survey-secrets-antinomianism-ebook
It should be evident from our study so far that Scripture speaks of only one kingdom of God. That kingdom is the historical program of God coming to overcome his enemies, to redeem his people, and to bring his lordship to bear on all areas of created reality. There is no "secular kingdom," no kingdom ruled only by natural law and not by Scripture. All people, all institutions, all spheres of human life have a responsibility to hear God's Word, to respond to it obediently, and to accept the renewal of God's grace.Systematic Theology
In the preaching of the kingdom, law and gospel come together. The coming of the kingdom is the coming of a King to enforce his law on a disobedient world, that is, to enforce his covenant against covenant-breakers. But the King who comes is full of love and forgiveness. So his coming is good news, gospel, not only because he judges the wicked, but because he brings redemption, forgiveness, and reward to his redeemed people.
the righteous fathers had the meaning of the Decalogue written in their hearts and souls, that is, they loved the God who made them, and did no injury to their neighbour.
This should be obvious -every society shows it regards some laws as more important than others by making some penalties more severe than others... It is, however, so obvious that it is missed by those who claim the Pentateuch, and the first century Jews who studied it, regarded the Mosaic Law as an individual whole.From the Finger of God, 91-92
They do not love the law that are always full of excuses, and pretend occasions to neglect the service of God; excuses are always a sign of a naughty heart.
might be able to fulfil the law not only without its being a burden but even with delight. Now this law was given to the Jews in ten commandments which they call the Decalogue.Cateschizandis Rvdibvs, trans. Joseph Patrick Christopher
it seems clear both from the immediate context and from the rest of his teaching that Jesus's affirmation of the unchanging universal force of God's law relates to the moral law as such (Matt 5:17-19; cf. Luke 16:16-17).Concise Theology, Section 34
The wholesale rejection of the value of this categorisation is premature... only given this premise does Jesus' insistence that he fulfils rather than abolishes the law make sense (Mt. 5:17-20).The Holy Spirit, 164
Strike out the Sabbath and you also shatter the entire category of moral law and all that depends on it.From the Finger of God, 6
The non-binding laws were exclusively 'ceremonial'... Laws concerning everyday civil matters in the Israelite community are binding in their underlying principles... The only laws that are, without exception, ever-binding are the laws of the Decalogue.From the Finger of God, 2
the threefold division of the law is catholic doctrine. Throughout history, the church's most prominent theologians expounded, maintained, and defended its teaching.From the Finger of God, 1
There can be no true evangelical holiness, of either heart or life, unless it proceeds from faith working by love; and no true faith, of either the law or the gospel, unless the main distinction between the one and the other is spiritually discernedThe Law and the Gospel
A new and more powerful proclamation of that law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of the law…So it always is: a low view of the law always brings legalism in religion; a high view of law makes a man a seeker after grace. Pray God that the high view may again prevail.What Is Faith? Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1946, 141-42
Clearly to understand the distinction, connection and harmony between the Law and the Gospel, and their mutual subserviency to illustrate and establish each other, is a singular privilege, and a happy means of preserving the soul from being entangled by errors on the right hand or the left
The New Testament Lord's Day, is part of a greater issue of the law and gospel theology as taught by Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, and the great Reformed confessions, versus the new covenant theology of today.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God (iii)
both Torah and Messiah are essential for God's people. Law cannot function properly in the life of God's people without Messiah and Messiah can be properly appreciated only in the context of the LORD's law. Law and gospel must be joined together if God's people tare to experience the full "blessed" condition that comes from the LORD (Pss. 1:1; 2:12; 119:1-2).The Flow of the Psalms, Ch 9
"The law," on the other hand, means in this New Testament use, just the whole body of the authoritative instruction which God has given men.Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, Ch 1
It must be stressed that the moral law, as crystallized in the Decalogue and opened up in the ethical teaching of both Testaments, is one coherent law, given to be a code of practice for God's people in every age. In addition, repentance means resolving henceforth to seek God's help in keeping that law. The Spirit is given to empower law-keeping and make us more and more like Christ, the archetypal law-keeper (Matt. 5: 17). This law-keeping is in fact the fulfilling of our human nature, and Scripture holds out no hope of salvation for any who, whatever their profession of faith, do not seek to turn from sin to righteousness (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rev. 21:8).Concise Theology
Citizens are not governed for their good and for the true glory of the supreme King when the secular authorities do not rule according to the divine Law and are not set to observe it themselves. For where God is not recognized and obedience to Him is not required before all things, there peace is not peace, justice is not justice, and that which should be profitable brings injury instead.
If we do not allow the Law to be our bridle to restrain us from sin, it will become our scourge to punish us for our sins.Sarah and Hagar, Puritan Publications, 2024
He created us out of nothing; and being created, he preserveth us, and giveth us all the good things which we enjoy. And therefore we are obliged to be subject to him, and to obey his holy laws, and to be accountable to him for the breach of them.Works, Volume 10
For Christians, this means taking God's moral law as our rule and God's incarnate Son as our model; this is where our analysis of holiness must startRediscovering Holiness
If, in the name of 'love for the poor', I transgress God's law by supporting legal plunder of my rich neighbour to fund a poverty program, I am not really loving, regardless of my profession; for love is always concerned to fulfil the law of God.
there have been changes in administration since the Promised Land of the Israelites, but not changes in substance.Mission of God, 207
The more others despise the ways and laws of God, the more should a gracious heart love and esteem them.
Our abandonment of the living God and his law for the god of pluralism, has given us a new law-order that is having revolutionary consequences today, seen in the increasing lawlessness, tyranny, and depravity of Western culture.Mission of God, 3.7
The covenant of the Ten Commandments founded the modern principle of constitutionalism, or rule of law, by a perpetual written and binding law. Britain's submission to the rule of law was institutionalized with the Magna Carta (1215), founded on common law, tracing to the code of Alfred the Great. The Mosaic code was the foundation for such legal codes in the West. One-third of Alfred's "Dooms" (AD 893) quoted biblical law while collating the laws of three Christian kingdoms. Ultimately the Word of God was the basis for law and government
As for doctrine, we must not make out that there has been any abrogation of the Law in Christ's coming, for as the rule of holy and devout life is eternal, it must be unchangeable, and likewise God's justice is one and constant, as He composed it therein. As regards ceremonies, if we allow that they may be reckoned somewhat incidental, it is only their practice that was abrogated: their significance was actually given more confirmation. So Christ's coming did not take anything away, even from the ceremonies, but rather the truth behind the shadows was revealed, and served to strengthen them;
Christ intended to teach that in all the structure of the universe there is nothing so stable as the truth of the law, which stands firm, and that in every part.
as the Greek lexicons show, fulfilment certainly denotes that Christ is the object (end) of the law and the prophets; he is also the perfect manifestation of its requirements, and as the Lord and giver of the law, he has also come to implement and put into force his law.The Mission of God, 96
But though the moral law be thus far abolished, it remains a perpetual guide. Though it be not foedus, a covenant of life; yet is is norma, a rule of life. Every Christian is bound to conform to it; and to write, as exactly as he can, after this copy.
Biblical law [is] an integration of different instructional genres of the Bible which together express a vision of society ultimately answerable to God.
Missiology is the study of the salvation activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit throughout the world geared toward bringing the kingdom of God into existence. Seen in this perspective missiology is the study of the worldwide church's divine mandate to be ready to serve this God who is aiming his saving acts toward the world. In dependence on the Holy Spirit and by word and deed the church is to communicate the total gospel and the total divine law to all mankind.
Many now deny the obligation of the moral law to believers, as antinomians, [but] as the apostle telleth us, that we 'do not make void the law by faith; yea, we establish the law.'
The origin of the Law and of individual subjectivity, according to their religious unity and temporal diversity in the coherence of meaning, is God's holy sovereign creative will. Our cosmos is equally the creation of God with respect to its law-and subject-side; the law is the absolute boundary between God and His creation, that is to say all creatures are by nature subject to the law, God alone is "legibus solutus" (sed non exlex, as in nominalism)... Christ [is] the root and fullness of meaning of the cosmos; Christ fulfilled the law and in Him all subjective individuality is concentrated in its fullness of meaning; nothing in our temporal cosmos is withdrawn from Him... The law in its modal diversity of meaning is the universally valid determination and limitation of the individual subjectivity which is subject to it. The subject is sujet, that is subjected to the law in the modal diversity of the law spheres. There is no law without a subject and vice versa.Dooyeweerd, NC I, pp. 507-508
Without the law commanding good there could be no evil. But the same law makes it possible for the creature to exist. Without the law man would sink into nothingness; the law determines his humanity.
Law is the condition of life in God's world. All things are governed by his law-word. All civil law is the legislation of somebodies morality. There is no neutral law. Do you want the righteous law of God, inscribed in stone by the very finger of God, or the tyrannical law of sinful man? Take your pick and live with the consequences.https://x.com/DrJoeBoot/status/1806717057435603010
for the future; I beseech you be careful to sense God's glory from being trampled on, and advance him in this Kingdom by wholesome Laws; Blessed be God for those we already enjoy;https://www.google.ca/books/edition/A_Glimpse_of_Gods_Glory/FDg3AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
Those who deny the Deity of Christ, the authority of the Holy Scripture, their obligation to the Moral Law, etc., forsake Christ.The Zealous Christian
Although most Neo-Calvinists uphold the idea of natural law, they view it as an insufficient means of properly ordering the world because of the darkening of man's heart and mind. And so we need God's word in every sphere, not only in the church.Deep Discipleship, 181
The curse of the law is its penal sanction. This is essentially the wrath or curse of God, the displeasure which rests upon every infraction of the law's demand.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 41
To suppose that we are delivered from the law in the sense of such obligation would bring contradiction into the design of Christ's work. It would contradict the very nature of God to think that any person can ever be relieved of the necessity to love God with the whole heart and to obey his commandments. When Scripture relates redemption to the law of God it uses terms that are more specific.Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 41
He really endeavours to obey God's law perfectly; and wherein he comes short he runs to Christ's blood to supply his defects. This cordial desire, and real endeavour, God esteems as perfect obedience.Ten Commandments, 188
When God originally gave his commands to Adam and Eve in the garden, he gave those commands to them as blessings. They weren't things upon which his love was contingent. He loved them and blessed them in the garden. And their obedience to the commands was the very sphere in which they enjoyed that blessedness. And when we are saved by Christ, when we are united to Christ, we are able to walk in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. We are to live in a manner that is like the Lord Jesus Christ. And he delighted in obeying God. And so the law of God shows us what that life of peace and blessedness is like. It shows us what it's like to live a life worthy of the gospel once we've trusted in Jesus Christ.
The law of God helps us to know God, know ourselves, know our need, and know the life of peace and blessedness. It helps us to know God because it specifically reveals his character and his attributes, his holy will, what he's like.
These poor men think they can preach the Gospel without preaching the Law. I say, they must preach the Law, unless they do not mean to preach the Gospel. The Law entered that the offence might abound: proclaim it, I say, for this purpose among your ungodly congregations; lift up your voices like trumpets, and tell the people their transgressions, that you may glorify the more your honoured Master, in proclaiming the infinite riches and fulness of His great salvation. Preach the Law to those who believe, as finished, cancelled, dead for their salvation: point them to Immanuel as holding it in His bleeding hand, and saying to them, "If ye love me, keep my Commandments."
The law says, 'do this,' and it is never done. Grace says, 'believe in this,' and everything is already done.
What is the difference between the moral law and the gospel? (I) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ.The Ten Commandments, 43
Obedience without knowledge is blind, and knowledge without obedience is lame. Rachel was fair to look upon, but, being barren, said, 'Give me children, or I die;' so, if knowledge does not bring forth the child of obedience, it will die.The Ten Commandments, 1
It seemed to Alfred that oath-keeping truly was the virtue that most clearly distinguished a Christian nation from a pagan nation.The White Horse King, 201
Alfred insisted that every Anglo-Saxon man keep his oaths and pledges. Instead of a prohibition of murder, treason, or some other heinous crime, the king saw oath-breaking as the greatest threat to the endurance of his kingdom.The White Horse King, 201
After this length preface, which underlined the king's deep conviction that justice had been passed down from God to men and that it was the duty of law-givers to study Scripture, history, and the counsel of other men as they made their legislative decrees, Alfred finally listed his collection of one hundred twenty laws. (It is suspected that the total number of one hundred twenty laws was chosen to equal the age of Moses at his death, acknowledging once more the biblical foundation for Alfred's law code.)The White Horse King
Only those laws that had been founded on the eternal principles of justice, had stood the test of time, had been passed on from generation to generation, and had received the approval of the wisest of counsellors should be enacted and enforced by a just king. To make this point clear, Alfred began the domboc with a translation of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God on Mount SinaiThe White Horse King, 198-199
Great sinners are most easily convinced of the notorious wickedness of their lives; and reflecting upon themselves because of their horrid crimes against the light of nature, are more inclinable to endeavor an escape from the devil's slavery, and are frighted and shaken by their consciences into a compliance with the doctrine of redemption; whereas those that do by nature the things contained in the law, are so much a law to themselves, that it is difficult to persuade them of the necessity of conforming to another law, and to part with this self-law in regard to justification
Despite Canadian pride in our peacefulness, according to the UN international comparisons, Canada has a rate of police-reported criminal incidents among the highest in the world - almost double that of the United States. Furthermore, our failure to punish incorrigible violent offenders and murderers with the biblically-required death penalty (Gen. 9:5-6; Num. 35:16; Deut.21:18-21), in the name of 'rehabilitation' and an enlightened 'humaneness' has led to rampant evil.Mission of God, 345
We coddle the criminal today and thereby show little care for the victim. At the same time we legally murder tens of thousands of unborn babies every year (right up to term in Canada as we are without any abortion law) and want to practice infanticide, euthanize the elderly and assist depressed people to commit suicide with a physician. Clearly then, the ending of life is not the real objection to capital punishment; we appear anxious to end innocent life in any number of ways - we just don't want to punish the guilty.Mission of God, 344
Therefore this is the first point concerning the law, that it must be used to deter the ungodly from their wicked and mischievous intentions. For the devil, who is an abbot and prince of this world, allures people to work all manner of sin and wickedness; wherefore God has ordained magistrates, elders, schoolmasters, laws and statutes, to the end, if they can do no more, that at least they may bind the claws of the devil, and hinder them from raging and swelling so powerfully in those who are his, according to his will and pleasure.Table Talk, 218
The fact that we do not regard these offenses as serious is probably because we do not see relationships as significant nor adultery as one of the worst breaches of trust and relational devotion. We are so committed to living in what Dale Kuehne calls the "iworld" of postmodern individualism that we are insensitive to the relational concerns of the "rworld," which is based on the belief that "humans are made for relationships and that we find our deepest fulfilment not when seeking self-fulfillment but when living and engaging in the full constellation of healthy human relationships."God Justice and Society, 365
I long for the day when the precepts of the Christian religion shall be the rule among all classes of men and all transactions. I often hear it said, 'do not bring religion into politics.' This is precisely where it ought to be brought and set there in the face of all men as on a candlestick. I would have the cabinet and members of Parliament do the work of the nation as before the Lord
The Psalmist testifies that the Divine Law was his school-master and guide in leading a holy life. He thus by his own example, prescribes the same rule to us all; and it is highly necessary to observe this rule; for while each of us follows what seems good in his own estimation, we become entangled in inextricable and frightening mazes...the word of God is set in opposition to all human counsels. What the world judges right is often crooked and perverse in the judgment of God, who approves of no other manner of living, than that which is framed according to the rule of his law.
The prophetic teachings point forward (principally) to the actions of Christ and have been revealed in them in an incomparably greater way. The Mosaic laws point forward (principally) to the teachings of Christ and have also been realized in them in a more profound mannerMatthews understanding of the law
it is the best instrument for enabling them daily to learn with greater truth and certainty what that will of the Lord is which they aspire to follow, and to confirm them in this knowledge [use 3]Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 7
The second office of the Law is, by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dream of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice. Such persons are curbed not because their mind is inwardly moved and affected, but because, as if a bridle were laid upon them, they refrain their hands from external acts, and internally check the depravity which would otherwise petulantly burst forth. [use 2]Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 7
the Law is a kind of mirror. As in a mirror we discover any stains upon our face, so in the Law we behold, first, our impotence; then, in consequence of it, our iniquity; and, finally, the curse, as the consequence of both. [use 1]Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 7
If there were merely a command and no promise, it would be necessary to try whether our strength were sufficient to fulfill the command; but since promises are annexed, which proclaim not only that aid, but that our whole power is derived from divine grace, they at the same time abundantly testify that we are not only unequal to the observance of the Law, but mere fools in regard to it.Institutes, Book 2, Chapter 5
To run and work the law commands, Yet gives me neither feet nor hands; But better news the gospel brings: It bids me fly and gives me wings.
What we typically call the moral norms of the law are fulfilled, at least in some measure, in the lives of believers. Nevertheless, they are not normative merely because they appear in the Mosaic covenant, for that covenant has passed away. It seems that they are normative because they express the character of God. We know that they still express God's will for believers because they are repeated as moral norms in the New Testament. It is not surprising that in the welter of the laws we find in the Old Testament (613 according to the rabbis) that some of those laws express transcendent moral principles. Still, the mistake we make is trying to carve up neatly the law into moral and nonmoral categories. Many of the so-called "ceremonial" laws have a moral dimension that cannot be jettisoned. They are not applicable to believers today because we live in a completely different cultural situation.
The distinction between the moral, ceremonial, and civil law is appealing and attractive. Even though it has some elements of truth, it does not sufficiently capture Paul's stance toward the law. As stated earlier, Paul argues that the entirety of the law has been set aside now that Christ has come.
Paul conceives of the Mosaic (old) covenant as fundamentally non-eschatological in contrast to the eschatological nature of the new covenant. Paul declares that the Mosaic covenant is now old because it belongs to the old age, whereas the new covenant is new because it belongs to the new eschatological age.The End of the Law (New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology) (Kindle Locations 334-336). B&H Publishing Group
The law drives people to the promise, so that they are righteous by faith in Jesus Christ.Galatians Commentary, 245
Paradoxically, today it is often statements like those of the Confession of Faith that are accused of a lack of biblical-theological perspective, for failing to understand the place of the law in redemptive history. But to this the Westminster Divines would surely be entitled to respond, "But how can you read the prophets and say they did not understand these distinctions? Were they not the mouthpieces of God, saying: 'It is not sacrifice and burnt offering that come first, but obedience'? Did they not thereby distinguish ceremonial law from moral law?"The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (pp. 171). Crossway.
Now whatever in the Sinaitic covenant was intended to preserve and distinguish the people as a nation in a particular land, and to point them to Christ by means of ceremonies and sacraments, has ceased to be binding on the church. The Whole Christ (pp. 170). Crossway
Commandments are the railroad tracks on which the life empowered by the love of God poured into the heart by the Holy Spirit runs. Love empowers the engine; law guides the direction. They are mutually interdependent. The notion that love can operate apart from law is a figment of the imagination. It is not only bad theology; it is poor psychology. It has to borrow from law to give eyes to love.The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (pp. 168-169). Crossway.
To run, to work, the law commands, The gospel gives me feet and hands. The one requires that I obey, The other does the power convey.Ralph Erskine, Gospel Sonnets or Spiritual Songs (Edinburgh: John Pryde, 1870), 288- 89
It was in this context that his friend Johannes Agricola (1492-1566) drew what he thought were the logical conclusions of this radical contrast between law and gospel the abolition of any role for the law in the Christian life. He expounded this "antinomianism" first in debate with Philip Melanchthon and then later with Luther himself.The Whole Christ (p. 139). Crossway
The gospel never overthrows God's law for the simple reason that both the law and the gospel are expressions of God's grace. Therefore the reverse is true: grace confirms the law and its true character.The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (p. 88). Crossway
seeing that, the effect, the work, and the office of the law, is to be a light to the ignorant and the blind; such a light, as discovers to them disease, sin, evil, death, hell, and the wrath of God, though it does not deliver from these, but shows them only.Bondage of the Will, Section 145
Another important grace-event pattern is the "order" of the Exodus and the lawgiving. God did not first give the law and then deliver the people. He first delivered the people and then he gave them the law. Thus we are not saved by the law but saved for the law.Preaching, 83
We are not under the law in the sense that it condemns us; it no longer pronounces judgment or condemnation on us. No! but we are meant to live it, and we are even meant to go beyond it.Studies on the Sermon on the Mount (8)
These Israel-specific laws are not intended to regulate the constitutions of common nations, but ultimately to play their part in a theocratic system that leads us ultimately to Christ and his everlasting kingdom. So you can't invoke the old covenant passages for common nations in this era in which Christ's kingdom is not identified with any geo-political nation.http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/2011/09/27/“why-can’t-i-own-canadiansâ€Â-rightly-dividing-the-word-of-truth/
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