Chapter 4, The Law and the Gospel, The Reformed Reader

CHAPTER FOUR

The Giving of the Law
at Sinai

"The law is holy, and the commandment holy
and just and good." (Rom. 7:12)

THE GREAT CREATOR and possessor of heaven and earth. has an indisputable authority to make laws for governing His creatures and to require their obedience. God has opened to us His mind and instructed us in His will. He has made His laws a matter of record. First, He wrote them on the hearts of our original parents. Then He proclaimed them by word of mouth through prophets and preachers, from Adam to Sinai. Later, at Sinai, God inscribed them on tables of stone.

The orthodox Christian church has always referred to the Ten Commandments as the moral law. All the creeds and confessions use the same terminology. It is the moral law as spoken of in Romans 7:12 that will now occupy our attention.

Good Exposing Evil

The apostle is treating the usefulness of the moral law for discovering the sinfulness of sin: "I would not have known sin," he says, "except through the law" (v. 7). The law must first lay down a rule before one can know what sin is—the transgression of that rule. Paul explains, "For I would not have known covetousness," and that the very first inclination of the heart toward evil is sin, "unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet"' (v. 7)—the tenth commandment. It is evident that Paul is speaking of the moral law, which in its perfect purity exposes the evil cravings of the heart and, by restraining them, highlights their sinfulness, thereby provoking greater rebellion. "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead" (v. 8). Although sin is in us, it is not perceived until it is held before the holy, spiritual law of God (v. 14). Then it begins to stir and rage. Before he knew the law, Paul considered himself alive: "I was alive once without the law" (v. 9). His conscience never troubled him, nor did he apprehend the deadly nature of sin. "But when the commandment came," that is, when he began to understand the commandment in its spiritual nature, and it penetrated his conscience with divine power, then "sin revived and I died." He found himself dead in trespasses and sins. "The commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment," not through any fault in the commandment, but entirely through his own fault, "deceived me, and by it killed me (vv. 10-11). What shall we say then? Are the law and the commandment sin? God forbid. The "law is holy"; all the fault is in us, who abuse the law. "The commandment [is] holy and just and good" (v. 12).

Moses and Christ

In the very first words of the law, the prologue to the Ten Commandments, the great Creator asserts His own divinity: "I am the LORD [Jehovah] your God" (Ex. 20:2). He is to be understood as the whole, undivided Trinity, whose three persons are of equal majesty, worthy to be acknowledged and worshiped as deity. That means that the revelation of the Mosaic law came from the Son of God no less than from the Father and His Spirit. The law of Moses is the law of Christ. 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. Certainly there are great differences between the old covenant and the new, but a true understanding of them appreciates their proper connection. The fuller we recognize their relationship, the closer we are to grasping biblical Christianity. The following quotations by Calvin (gathered in J. Graham Miller, Calvin's Wisdom [Edinburgh, Scotland: Banner of Truth, 1992]) underscore that relationship:

THE LAW OF GOD

Paul, by the word law, frequently intends the rule of a righteous life in which God requires of us what we owe to him, affording us no hope of life, unless we fulfil every part of it, and, on the contrary, annexing a curse if we are guilty of the smallest transgression. Inst. II:ix.4.

It is not unusual in Scripture, to seek a description of a pious and holy life, from the Second Table of the Law. Gen. 1:482.

No mortal will be found who can perform the Law. But in the gospel God receives, with fatherly indulgence, what is not absolutely perfect. Four Last Books of Moses 1:414.

Free affection is the foundation and beginning of duly obeying the Law, for what is drawn forth by constraint, or servile fear, cannot please God. Four Last Books of Moses 1:381.

[On Isa. 45:19] The principal end and use of the Law, to invite men to God. Isa. III:421.

The peculiar office of the Law [is] to summon consciences to the judgment-seat of God. John II:140.

Law and Gospel

[On Heb. 10:1] Under the Law was shadowed forth only in rude and imperfect lines what is under the Gospel set forth in living colours and graphically distinct.... To both the same Christ is exhibited, the same righteousness, sanctification, and salvation; and the difference only is in the manner of painting or setting them forth. Heb. 222.

When Christ or the Apostles are treating of a perfect life, they always refer believers to the Law. Four Last Books of Moses 111:69.

He who is the foundation of the covenant of grace, held also the highest rank in the giving of the Law. Gal. 102.

The law was the grammar of theology, which, after carrying its scholars a short way, handed them over to faith. Gal. 108.

If the Law be separated from Christ, it is a dead letter; Christ alone gives it life. Ezek. II:176, 177.

In all the ceremonies of the Law [faith] beholds the salvation which has been manifested in Christ. John 11:241.

Moses had no other intention than to invite all men to go straight to Christ. John 1:217.

Preaching the Law

We ought to imitate the Prophets, who conveyed the doctrine of the Law in such a manner as to draw from it advices, reproofs, threatenings, and consolations, which they applied to the present condition of the people. isa. i:xxx.

So you can see that John Calvin did not believe there was an antithesis between the law and the gospel but rather taught their vital relationship.

Whatever Happened to Sin?

In place of historic Christianity's emphasis on unity and the antinomian's false antithesis between the law and the gospel, today there is a lack of concern for the moral law. We noted in chapter 1 that this has come about with the secularization of society and the destruction of ethical standards. The fruit our educational system's attempt to create an amoral society is that, in the home, the school, or the workplace, people do whatever they please. The church is also partly to blame for this moral decline. Modern theology has "liberated" itself from the absolutes of the Ten Commandments. Many theologians have even done away with Jesus Christ as a historical person. They preach a universal salvation in which the law and the gospel as historically understood are irrelevant. Equally serious, some evangelical churches have emphasized the love and grace of God while never showing sinners the holiness of the God against whom they have sinned. Scores of people who have been told they are forever saved have never learned of the law of God. Having never understood that sin is separation from God, they have never come to embrace Christ's death on the cross as satisfaction of God's just and eternal wrath against their sin. They have failed to grasp the meaning of free, unmerited grace. In the next chapter we will be considering just how important the connection between law and gospel really is. As a prelude to that chapter, I wish to appeal to one of the most respected theologians in church history.

Ursinus on the Knowledge of Sin and Savior

Almost 450 years ago, Zacharias Ursinus was commissioned by the elector Frederick of Heidelberg to write a catechism for systezrtatic study of the doctrines presented in the Bible. He divided the Heidelberg Catechism into 129 questions in fifty-two lessons. The third question of the catechism is, "Whence knowest thou thy misery?" The answer comes, "Out of the law of God." Dr. Ursinus in his catechism shows, first of all, man's sinfulness from the law of God and then goes on to set forth how God sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior by meeting the demands of that law. Later in the catechism, Ursinus comes back to show that when Christ has met the demands of the law for us, we stand in a new relationship to the law. The law has become our standard by which we purpose to live in obedience before the God who has saved us. In the introduction to his commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, Dr. Ursinus discusses the doctrine of the church and asks, "What are the parts of the Doctrine of the Church, and in what do they differ from each other?" His answer, quoted in part below, shows the true relationship of the law and the gospel, which is so neglected today.

The doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures. The law is called the Decalogue and the gospel is the doctrine concerning Christ the mediator, and the free remission of sins, through faith. This division of the doctrine of the church is established by these plain and forcible arguments.

1. The whole doctrine comprised in the sacred writings, is either concerning the nature of God, his will, his works, or sin, which is the proper work of men and devils. But all these subjects are fully set forth and taught, either in the law, or in the gospel, or in both. Therefore, the law and gospel are the chief and general divisions of the holy scriptures, and comprise the entire doctrine comprehended therein.

2. Christ himself makes this division of the doctrine which he will have preached in his name, when he says, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name." (Luke 24. 46, 47.) But this embraces the entire substance of the law and gospel.

3. The writings of the prophets and apostles, comprise the Old and New Testament, or covenant between God and man. It is, therefore, necessary that the principal parts of the covenant should be contained and explained in these writings, and that they should declare what God promises and grants unto us, viz: his favor, remission of sins, righteousness, and eternal life; and also what he, in return, requires from us: which is faith and obedience. These, now, are the things which are taught in the law and gospel.

4. Christ is the substance and ground of the entire Scriptures. But the doctrine contained in the law and gospel is necessary to lead us to a knowledge of Christ and his benefits: for 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. Therefore we have, in the law and gospel, the whole of the Scriptures, comprehending the doctrine revealed from heaven for our salvation. (The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. C. W. Williard [Philhipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, n.d.], 2-3)

Thus, it can be seen that in the giving of the law at Sinai, Christ reaffirmed what had already been established with Adam and further pointed the way for man to see his sinfulness and need of a Savior. The gospel, then, related directly to the law by showing Christ's perfect fulfillment of it in our place and promises mercy to those who love its perfect righteousness. Christ's giving the Ten Commandments, reaffirming them in His teaching, and fulfilling them in His ethical behavior show a unity—not an antithesis—between the law and the gospel. In our next chapter we will consider the importance of that Unity between the moral law and the gospel.

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