The Law (56)
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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
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 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
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 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
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.
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.
'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
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
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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
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
[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 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
"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
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
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
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.
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
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