Outline:
- Fallen Man Ought to Seek
Redemption in
Christ.
- The
Law Was Given, Not to Restrain the Folk of the Old Covenant Under
Itself, but to Foster Hope of Salvation in Christ Until His Coming.
- Explanation of
the Moral Law (the Ten
Commandments).
- Christ,
Although He Was Known to the Jews
Under the
Law, Was at Length Clearly Revealed Only in the Gospel.
- The
Similarity of the Old and New
Testaments.
- The Difference Between the
Two Testaments.
Plan for the Class
1st-present the 3 functions of the law
.....1=II.7.6 First, by
exhibiting the righteousness of God, - in other words, the
righteousness which alone is acceptable to God, - it admonishes
every one of his own unrighteousness, certiorates, convicts, and
finally condemns him.
.....2=II.7.10 The second office of the Law is, by
means of its fearful
denunciations and the consequent dread 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
.....3=II.7.12 The
third use of the Law (being also the principal use, and
more closely connected with its proper end) has respect to believers
in whose hearts the Spirit of God already flourishes and reigns. For
although the Law is written and engraven on their hearts by the
finger of God, that is, although they are so influenced and actuated
by the Spirit, that they desire to obey God, there are two ways in
which they still profit in the Law. For 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; just as a servant who desires with
all his soul to approve himself to his master, must still observe,
and be careful to ascertain his master's dispositions, that he may
comport himself in accommodation to them.
2nd-look closer at the issue of what
exactly is written on regenerate
people's hearts vs. unregenerate and how this can form the basis for a
consistent view of civil government via natural law. akin to the
natural theology arguments we encountered in Book I. As a side benefit
this can logically and consistently lead into a study of the issues
around theonomy, reconstructionism, dominion theology.
II.2.24
24. Human knowledge wholly fails as regards the First Table of
the Law; as regards the Second, fails in a critical situation
3rd-continuity of the covenants leads naturally into covenant theology
see: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/Covenant-theology.html
Abridged Text:
6. REDEMPTION FOR MAN LOST TO BE SOUGHT IN CHRIST.
from:
http://www.smartlink.net/~douglas/calvin/bk2ch06.html
1. Only the Mediator helps fallen Man
The whole human race having been
undone in the person of
Adam, the excellence and dignity of our origin, as already
described, is so far from availing us, that it rather turns to our
greater disgrace, until God, who does not acknowledge man when
defiled and corrupted by sin as his own work, appear as a Redeemer
in the person of his only begotten Son. Since our fall from life
unto death, all that knowledge of God the Creator, of which we have
discoursed, would be useless, were it not followed up by faith,
holding forth God to us as a Father in Christ. The natural
course
undoubtedly was, that the fabric of the world should be a school in
which we might learn piety, and from it pass to eternal life and
perfect felicity. But after looking at the perfection beheld
wherever we turn our eye, above and below, we are met by the divine
malediction, which, while it involves innocent creatures in our
fault, of necessity fills our own souls with despair. For although
God is still pleased in many ways to manifest his paternal favour
towards us, we cannot, from a mere survey of the world, infer that
he is a Father.
Conscience urging us within, and showing that sin is
a just ground for our being forsaken, will not allow us to think
that God accounts or treats us as sons. In addition to this are our
sloth and ingratitude. Our minds are so blinded that they cannot
perceive the truth, and all our senses are so corrupt that we
wickedly rob God of his glory. Wherefore, we must conclude with
Paul, "After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them
that believe," (1 Cor. 1: 21.) By the "wisdom of God," he designates
this magnificent theatre of heaven
and earth replenished with
numberless wonders, the wise contemplation of which should have
enabled us to know God. But this we do with little profit; and,
therefore, he invites us to faith in Christ, - faith which, by a
semblance of foolishness, disgusts the unbeliever. Therefore,
although the preaching of the
cross is not in accordance with human
wisdom, we must, however, humbly embrace it if we would return
to
God our Maker, from whom we are estranged, that he may again become
our Father. It is certain that after the fall of our first parent,
no knowledge of God without a Mediator was effectual to salvation.
Christ speaks not of his own age merely, but embraces all ages, when
he says "This is life eternal that they might know thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent," (John 17: 3.) The
more shameful therefore is the presumption of those who throw heaven
open to the unbelieving and profane, in the absence of that grace
which Scripture uniformly describes as the only door by which we
enter into life. Should any confine our Saviour's words to the
period subsequent to the promulgation of the Gospel, the refutation
is at hand; since on a ground common to all ages and nations, it is
declared, that those who are estranged from God, and as such, are
under the curse, the children of wrath, cannot be pleasing to God
until they are reconciled. To this we may add the answer which our
Saviour gave to the Samaritan woman "Ye worship ye know not what; we
know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews," (John 4: 22.)
By these words, he both charges every Gentile religion with
falsehood, and assigns the reason, viz., that under the Law the
Redeemer was promised to the chosen people only, and that,
consequently, no worship was ever pleasing to God in which respect
was not had to Christ. Hence also Paul affirms, that all the
Gentiles were "without God," and deprived of the hope of life. Now,
since John teaches that there was life in Christ from the beginning,
and that the whole world had lost it, (John 1: 4,) it is necessary
to return to that fountain; And, accordingly, Christ declares that
inasmuch as he is a propitiator, he is life. And, indeed, the
inheritance of heaven belongs to none but the sons of God, (John 15:
6.) Now, it were most incongruous to give the place and rank of sons
to any who have not been engrafted into the body of the only
begotten Son. And John distinctly testifies that those become the
sons of God who believe in his name. But as it is not my intention
at present formally to discuss the subject of faith in Christ, it is
enough to have thus touched on it in passing.
2. Even the Old
Covenant declared that there is no faith in the gracious God apart from
the Mediator
Hence it is that God never showed
himself propitious to his
ancient people, nor gave them any hope of grace without a Mediator.
I say nothing of the sacrifices of the Law, by which believers were
plainly and openly taught that salvation was not to be found
anywhere but in the expiation which Christ alone completed. All
I
maintain is that the prosperous and happy state of the Church was
always founded in the person of Christ. For although God embraced
the whole posterity of Abraham in his covenant, yet Paul properly
argues, (Gal. 3: 16,) that Christ was truly the seed in which all
the nations of the earth were to be blessed, since we know that all
who were born of Abraham, according to the flesh, were not accounted
the seed.
(Christ essential to
the covenant and to true faith, 3-4)
3. The faith and hope of the Old Covenant fed upon the promise
Moreover when comfort is promised in affliction, especially
when the deliverance of the Church is described, the banner of faith
and hope in Christ is unfurled. "Thou wentest forth for the
salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed,"
says Habakkuk, (3: 13.) And whenever mention is made in the Prophets
of the renovation of the Church, the people are directed to the
promise made to David, that his kingdom would be for ever. And there
is nothing strange in this, since otherwise there would have been no
stability in the covenant.
4. Faith in God is faith in Christ
By familiarising the Jews with these
prophecies, God
intended to teach them, that in seeking for deliverance, they should
turn their eyes directly towards Christ. And though they had
sadly
degenerated, they never entirely lost the knowledge of this general
principle, that God, by the hand of Christ, would be the deliverer
of the Church, as he had promised to David; and that in this way
only the free covenant by which God had adopted his chosen people
would be fulfilled. Hence it was, that on our Saviour's entry into
Jerusalem, shortly before his death, the children shouted, "Hosannah
to the son of David," (Matth. 21: 9.) For there seems to have
been a
hymn known to all, and in general use, in which they sung that the
only remaining pledge which they had of the divine mercy was the
promised advent of a Redeemer. For this reason, Christ tells his
disciples to believe in him, in order that they might have a
distinct and complete belief in God, "Ye believe in God, believe
also in me," (John 14: 1.) For although, properly speaking, faith
rises from Christ to the Father, he intimates, that even when it
leans on God, it gradually vanishes away, unless he himself
interpose to give it solid strength. The majesty of God is too high
to be scaled up to by mortals, who creep like worms on the earth.
Therefore, the common saying that God is the object of faith,
(Lactantius, lib. 4 c. 16,) requires to be received with some
modification. When Christ is called the image of the invisible God,
(Col. 1: 15,) the expression is not used without cause, but is
designed to remind us that we can have no knowledge of our
salvation, until we behold God in Christ. For although the Jewish
scribes had by their false glosses darkened what the Prophets had
taught concerning the Redeemer, yet Christ assumed it to be a fact,
received, as it were, with public consent, that there was no other
remedy in desperate circumstances, no other mode of delivering the
Church than the manifestation of the Mediator. It is true, that the
fact adverted to by Paul was not so generally known as it ought to
have been, viz., that Christ is the end of the Law, (Rom. 10: 4,)
though this is both true, and clearly appears both from the Law and
the Prophets. I am not now, however, treating of faith, as we shall
elsewhere have a fitter place, (Book 3 Chap. 2,)
but what I wish to
impress upon my readers in this way is, that the first step in piety
is, to acknowledge that God is a Father, to defend, govern, and
cherish us, until he brings us to the eternal inheritance of his
kingdom; that hence it is plain, as we lately observed, there is no
saving knowledge of God without Christ, and that, consequently, from
the beginning of the world Christ was held forth to all the elect as
the object of their faith and confidence. In this sense,
Irenaeus
says, that the Father, who is boundless in himself, is bounded in
the Son, because he has accommodated himself to our capacity, lest
our minds should be swallowed up by the immensity of his glory,
(Irenaeus, lib. 4 cap. 8.) Fanatics, not attending to this, distort
a useful sentiment into an impious dream, as if Christ had only a
share of the Godhead, as a part taken from a whole; whereas the
meaning merely is, that God is comprehended in Christ alone. The
saying of John was always true, "whosoever denieth the Son, the same
has not the Father," (1 John 2: 23.) For though in old time there
were many who boasted that they worshipped the Supreme Deity, the
Maker of heaven and earth, yet as they had no Mediator, it was
impossible for them truly to enjoy the mercy of God, so as to feel
persuaded that he was their Father. Not holding the head, that is,
Christ, their knowledge of God was evanescent; and hence they at
length fell away to gross and foul superstitions betraying their
ignorance, just as the Turks in the present day, who, though
proclaiming, with full throat, that the Creator of heaven and earth
is their God, yet by their rejection of Christ, substitute an idol
in his place.
7. THE LAW GIVEN, NOT TO RETAIN A PEOPLE FOR
ITSELF, BUT TO KEEP
ALIVE THE HOPE OF SALVATION IN CHRIST UNTIL HIS ADVENT.
from:
http://www.smartlink.net/~douglas/calvin/bk2ch07.html
(The moral and ceremonial law
significant as leading to Christ, 1-2)
1. The Mediator helps only fallen man
From the whole course of the
observations now made, we may
infer, that the Law was not superadded about four hundred years
after the death of Abraham in order that it might lead the chosen
people away from Christ, but, on the contrary, to keep them in
suspense until his advent; to inflame their desire, and confirm
their expectation, that they might not become dispirited by the long
delay. By the Law, I understand not only the Ten Commandments, which
contain a complete rule of life, but the whole system of religion
delivered by the hand of Moses. Moses was not appointed as a
Lawgiver, to do away with the blessing promised to the race of
Abraham; nay, we see that he is constantly reminding the Jews of the
free covenant which had been made with their fathers, and of which
they were heirs; as if he had been sent for the purpose of renewing
it. This is most clearly manifested by the ceremonies. For what
could be more vain or frivolous than for men to reconcile themselves
to God, by offering him the foul odour produced by burning the fat
of beasts? or to wipe away their own impurities by be sprinkling
themselves with water or blood? In short, the whole legal worship
(if considered by itself apart from the types and shadows of
corresponding truth) is a mere mockery. Wherefore, both in Stephen's
address, (Acts 7: 44,) and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, great
weight is justly given to the passage in which God says to Moses,
"Look that thou make them after the pattern which was showed thee in
the mount," (Exod. 25: 40.) Had there
not been some spiritual end to
which they were directed, the Jews, in the observance of them, would
have deluded themselves as much as the Gentiles in their vanities.
Profane men, who have never made religion their serious study,
cannot bear without disgust to hear of such a multiplicity of rites.
They not merely wonder why God fatigued his ancient people with such
a mass of ceremonies, but they despise and ridicule them as childish
toys. This they do, because they attend not to the end; from which,
if the legal figures are separated, they cannot escape the charge of
vanity. But the type shows that God did not enjoin sacrifice, in
order that he might occupy his worshippers with earthly exercises,
but rather that he might raise their minds to something higher. This
is clear even from His own nature. Being a spirit, he is delighted
only with spiritual worship. The same thing is testified by the
many
passages in which the Prophets accuse the Jews of stupidity, for
imagining that mere sacrifices have any value in the sight of God.
Did they by this mean to derogate in any respect from the Law? By no
means; but as interpreters of its true meaning, they wished in this
way to turn the attention of the people to the end which they ought
to have had in view, but from which they generally wandered. From
the grace offered to the Jews we may certainly infer, that the law
was not a stranger to Christ. Moses declared the end of the adoption
of the Israelites to be, that they should be "a kingdom of priests,
and an holy nation," (Exod. 19: 6.) This they could not attain,
without a greater and more excellent atonement than the blood of
beasts. For what could be less in accordance with reason, than that
the sons of Adams who, from hereditary taint, are all born the
slaves of sin, should be raised to royal dignity, and in this way
made partakers of the glory of God, if the noble distinction were
not derived from some other source? How, moreover, could the
priestly office exist in vigour among those whose vices rendered
them abominable in the sight of God, if they were not consecrated in
a holy head? Wherefore, Peter elegantly transposes the words of
Moses, teaching that the fulness of grace, of which the Jews had a
foretaste under the Law, is exhibited in Christ, "Ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood," (1 Pet. 2: 9.) The transposition of
the words intimates that those to whom Christ has appeared in the
Gospel, have obtained more than their fathers, inasmuch as they are
all endued with priestly and royal honour, and can, therefore,
trusting to their Mediator, appear with boldness in the presence of
God.
2. The Law
contains a promise
And it is to be observed, by the
way, that the kingdom,
which was at length erected in the family of David, is part of the
Law, and is comprehended under the dispensation of Moses; whence it
follows, that, as well in the whole tribe of Levi as in the
posterity of David, Christ was exhibited to the eyes of the
Israelites as in a double mirror. For, as I lately observed,
(sec.
1,) in no other way could those who were the slaves of sin and
death, and defiled with corruption, be either kings or priests.
Hence appears the perfect truth of Paul's statement, "The law was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ," "till the seed should
come to whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3: 24, 19.) For Christ not
yet having been made familiarly known to the Jews, they were like
children whose weakness could not bear a full knowledge of heavenly
things. How they were led to Christ by the ceremonial law has
already been adverted to, and may be made more intelligible by
several passages in the Prophets. Although they were required, in
order to appease God, to approach him daily with new sacrifices, yet
Isaiah promises, that all their sins would be expiated by one single
sacrifice, and with this Daniel concurs, (Isa. 53: 5; Dan. 9:
26,
27.) The priests appointed from the tribe of Levi entered the
sanctuary, but it was once said of a single priest, "The Lord has
sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the
order of Melchizedek," (Ps. 110: 4.) The unction of oil was then
visible, but Daniel in vision declares that there will be another
unction. Not to dwell on this, the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews proves clearly, and at length, from the fourth to the
eleventh chapter, that ceremonies were vain, and of no value, unless
as bringing us to Christ. In regard to the Ten Commandments, we
must, in like manner, attend to the statement of Paul, that "Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth," (Rom. 10: 4;) and, again, that ministers of the new
testament were "not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter
killeth, but the split giveth life," (2 Cor. 3: 6.) The former
passage intimates, that it is in vain to teach righteousness by
precept, until Christ bestow it by free imputation, and the
regeneration of the Spirit. Hence he properly calls Christ the end
or fulfilling of the Law, because it would avail us nothing to know
what God demands did not Christ come to the succour of those who are
labouring, and oppressed under an intolerable yoke and burden. In
another place, he says that the Law "was added because of
transgressions," (Gal. 3: 19,) that it might humble men under a
sense of their condemnation. Moreover, inasmuch as this is the only
true preparation for Christ, the statements, though made in
different words, perfectly agree with each other. But because he had
to dispute with perverse teachers, who pretended that men merited
justification by the works of the Law, he was sometimes obliged, in
refuting their error, to speak of the Law in a more restricted
sense, merely as law, though, in other respects, the covenant of
free adoption is comprehended under it.
(We cannot fulfill the moral law, 3-5)
3. The law renders us inexcusable and
drives us into despair
But in order that a sense of guilt may urge us to seek for
pardon, it is of importance to know how our being instructed in the
Moral Law renders us more inexcusable.
If it is true, that a perfect
righteousness is set before us in the Law, it follows, that the
complete observance of it is perfect righteousness in the sight of
God; that is, a righteousness by which a man may be deemed and
pronounced righteous at the divine tribunal. Wherefore Moses, after
promulgating the Law, hesitates not to call heaven and earth to
witness, that he had set life and death, good and evil, before the
people. Nor can it be denied, that the reward of eternal salvation,
as promised by the Lord, awaits the perfect obedience of the Law,
(Deut. 30: 19.) Again, however, it is of importance to understand in
what way we perform that obedience for which we justly entertain the
hope of that reward. For of what use is it to see that the reward of
eternal life depends on the observance of the Law, unless it
moreover appears whether it be in our power in that way to attain to
eternal life? Herein, then, the weakness of the Law is manifested;
for, in none of us is that righteousness of the Law manifested, and,
therefore, being excluded from the promises of life, we again fall
under the curse. I state not only what happens, but what must
necessarily happen.
The doctrine
of the Law transcending our
capacity, a man may indeed look from a distance at the promises held
forth, but he cannot derive any benefit from them. The only
thing,
therefore, remaining for him is, from their excellence to form a
better estimate of his own misery, while he considers that the hope
of salvation is cut off, and he is threatened with certain death. On
the other hand, those fearful denunciations which strike not at a
few individuals, but at every individual without exceptions rise up;
rise up, I says and, with inexorable severity, pursue us; so that
nothing but instant death is presented by the Law.
4. Nevertheless the promises in the law are not without meaning
Therefore, if we look merely to the Law, the result must be
despondency, confusion, and despair, seeing that by it we are all
cursed and condemned, while we are kept far away from the
blessedness which it holds forth to its observers. Is the Lord,
then, you will ask, only sporting with us? Is it not the next thing
to mockery, to hold out the hope of happiness, to invite and exhort
us to it, to declare that it is set before us, while all the while
the entrance to it is precluded and quite shut up? I answer,
Although the promises, in so far as
they are conditional, depend on
a perfect obedience of the Law, which is nowhere to be found, they
have not, however, been given in vain. For when we have learned,
that the promises would be fruitless and unavailing, did not God
accept us of his free goodness, without any view to our works, and
when, having so learned, we, by faith, embrace the goodness thus
offered in the gospel, the promises, with all their annexed
conditions, are fully accomplished. For God, while bestowing all
things upon us freely, crowns his goodness by not disdaining our
imperfect obedience; forgiving its deficiencies, accepting it as if
it were complete, and so bestowing upon us the full amount of what
the Law has promised. But as this point will be more fully
discussed
in treating of justification by faith, we shall not follow it
further at present.
5. The fulfillment of the law is
impossible for us
...
The Pelagians annoyed Augustine with
the sophism, t
hat it was insulting to
God to hold, that he orders
more than believers are able, by his grace, to perform; and he, in
order to evade it, acknowledged that the Lord was able, if he chose,
to raise a mortal man to angelic purity; but that he had never
done,
and never would do it, because so the Scripture had declared,
(Augustine, lib. de Nat. et Grat.) This I deny not: but I add, that
there is no use in absurdly disputing concerning the power of God in
opposition to his truth; and therefore there is no ground for
cavilling, when it is said that that thing cannot be, which the
Scriptures declare will never be. But if it is the word that is
objected to, I refer to the answer which our Saviour gave to his
disciples when they asked, "Who then can be saved?" "With men," said
he, "this is impossible; but with God all things are possible"
(Matth. 19: 25.)
Augustine argues in
the most convincing manner,
that while in the flesh, we never can give God the love which we owe
him. "Love so follows knowledge, that no man can perfectly love God
who has not previously a full comprehension of his goodness,"
(Augustin. de Spiritu et Litera, towards the end, and elsewhere.) So
long as we are pilgrims in the world, we see through a glass darkly,
and therefore our love is imperfect.
Let it therefore be held
incontrovertible, that, in consequence of the feebleness of our
nature, it is impossible for us, so long as we are in the flesh, to
fulfil the law. This will also be proved elsewhere from the
writings
of Paul, (Rom. 8: 3.)
(The law shows the righteousness of
God, and at a mirror discloses our sinfulness, leading us to implore
divine help, 6-9)
6. the severity of the law takes away
from us all self-deception
That the whole matter may be made clearer, let us take a
succinct view of the office and use of the Moral Law. Now this
office and use seems to me to consist of three parts. First, by
exhibiting the righteousness of God, - in other words, the
righteousness which alone is acceptable to God, - it admonishes
every one of his own unrighteousness, certiorates, convicts, and
finally condemns him. This is necessary, in order that man, who is
blind and intoxicated with self-love, may be brought at once to
know
and to confess his weakness and impurity. For until his vanity is
made perfectly manifest, he is puffed up with infatuated confidence
in his own powers, and never can be brought to feel their feebleness
so long as he measures them by a standard of his own choice. So
soon, however, as he begins to compare them with the requirements of
the Law, he has something to tame his presumption. How high soever
his opinion of his own powers may be, he immediately feels that they
pant under the heavy load, then totter and stumble, and finally fall
and give way. He, then, who is schooled by the Law, lays aside the
arrogance which formerly blinded him. In
like manner must he be
cured of pride, the other disease under which we have said that he
labours. So long as he is permitted to appeal to his own judgement,
he substitutes a hypocritical for a real righteousness, and,
contented with this, sets up certain factitious observances in
opposition to the grace of God. But after he is forced to weigh his
conduct in the balance of the Law, renouncing all dependence on this
fancied righteousness, he sees that he is at an infinite distance
from holiness, and, on the other hand, that he teems with
innumerable vices of which he formerly seemed free. The
recesses in
which concupiscence lies hid are so deep and tortuous that they
easily elude our view; and hence the Apostle had good reason for
saying, "I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt
not covet." For, if it be not brought forth from its lurkingplaces,
it miserably destroys in secret before its fatal sting is discerned.
7. the punitive function of the
law does not diminish its worth
Thus 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. He who has no power of
following righteousness is necessarily plunged in the mire of
iniquity, and this iniquity is immediately followed by the curse.
Accordingly, the greater the transgression of which the Law convicts
us, the severer the judgement to which we are exposed. To this
effect is the Apostle's declaration, that "by the law is the
knowledge of sin," (Rom. 3: 20.) By these words, he only points
out
the first office of the Law as experienced by sinners not yet
regenerated. In conformity to this, it is said, "the law entered
that the offence might abound;" and, accordingly, that it is "the
ministration of death;" that it "worketh wrath" and kills, (Rom. 5:
20; 2 Cor. 3: 7; Rom. 4: 15.) For there cannot be a doubt that the
clearer the consciousness of guilt, the greater the increase of sin;
because then to transgression a rebellious feeling against the
Lawgiver is added. All that remains for the Law, is to arm the wrath
of God for the destruction of the sinner; for by itself it can do
nothing but accuse, condemn, and destroy him. Thus Augustine says,
"If the Spirit of grace be absent, the law is present only to
convict and slay us." But to say this neither insults the law, nor
derogates in any degree from its excellence. Assuredly,
if our whole
will were formed and disposed to obedience, the mere knowledge of
the law would be sufficient for salvation; but since our carnal
and
corrupt nature is at enmity with the Divine law, and is in no degree
amended by its discipline, the consequence is, that the law which,
if it had been properly attended to, would have given life, becomes
the occasion of sin and death. When all are convicted of
transgression, the more it declares the righteousness of God, the
more, on the other hand, it discloses our iniquity; the more
certainly it assures us that life and salvation are treasured up as
the reward of righteousness, the more certainly it assures us that
the unrighteous will perish. So far, however are these qualities
from throwing disgrace on the Law, that their chief tendency is to
give a brighter display of the divine goodness. For they show that
it is only our weakness and depravity that prevents us from enjoying
the blessedness which the law openly sets before us. Hence
additional sweetness is given to divine grace, which comes to our
aid without the law, and additional loveliness to the mercy which
confers it, because they proclaim that God is never weary in doing
good, and in loading us with new gifts.
9. the law,
as Augustine states, by accusing moves us to seek grace
...
But even in
the reprobate themselves, this first office of the law is not
altogether wanting. They do not, indeed, proceed so far with the
children of God as, after the flesh is cast down, to be renewed in
the inner man, and revive again, but stunned by the first terror,
give way to despair. Still it tends to manifest the equity of the
Divine judgement, when their consciences are thus heaved upon the
waves. They would always willingly carp at the judgement of God; but
now, though that judgement is not manifested, still the alarm
produced by the testimony of the law and of their conscience
bespeaks their deserts.
(the law restrains
malefactors and those who are not yet believers, 10-11)
10. The law as protection of the
community from unjust men
The second office of the Law is, by
means of its fearful
denunciations and the consequent dread 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. It is
true,
they are not on this account either better or more righteous in the
sight of God. For although restrained by terror or shame, they dare
not proceed to what their mind has conceived, nor give full license
to their raging lust, their heart is by no means trained to fear and
obedience. Nay, the more they restrain themselves, the more they are
inflamed, the more they rage and boil, prepared for any act or
outbreak whatsoever were it not for the terror of the law. And not
only so, but they thoroughly detest the law itself, and execrate the
Lawgiver; so that if they could, they would most willingly
annihilate him, because they cannot bear either his ordering what is
right, or his avenging the despisers of his Majesty. The feeling
of
all who are not yet regenerate, though in some more, in others less
lively, is, that in regard to the observance of the law, they are
not led by voluntary submission, but dragged by the force of fear.
Nevertheless, this forced
and extorted righteousness is necessary
for the good of society, its peace being secured by a provision but
for which all things would be thrown into tumult and confusion.
Nay,
this tuition is not without its use, even to the children of God,
who, previous to their effectual calling, being destitute of the
Spirit of holiness, freely indulge the lusts of the flesh. When,
by
the fear of Divine vengeance, they are deterred from open
outbreakings, though, from not being subdued in mind, they profit
little at present, still they are in some measure trained to bear
the yoke of righteousness, so that when they are called, they are
not like mere novices, studying a discipline of which previously
they had no knowledge. This office seems to be especially in the
view of the Apostle, when he says, "That the law is not made for a
righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them
that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars,
for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine," (1 Tim. 1: 9, 10.) He thus indicates
that it is a restraint on unruly lusts that would otherwise burst
all bonds.
11. The law a
deterrent to those not yet regenerate
To both may be applied the declaration of the Apostle in
another place, that "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto
Christ," (Gal. 3: 24;) since there are two classes of persons, whom
by its training it leads to Christ. Some
(of whom we spoke in the
first place,) from excessive confidence in their own virtue or
righteousness, are unfit to receive the grace of Christ, until they
are completely humbled. This the law does by making them
sensible of
their misery, and so disposing them to long for what they previously
imagined they did not want. Others have need of a bridle to restrain
them from giving full scope to their passions, and thereby utterly
losing all desire after righteousness. For where the Spirit of God
rules not, the lusts sometimes so burst forth, as to threaten to
drown the soul subjected to them in forgetfulness and contempt of
God; and so they would, did not God interpose with this remedy.
Those,
therefore, whom he has destined to the inheritance of his
kingdom, if he does not immediately regenerate, he, through the
works of the law, preserves in fear, against the time of his
visitation, not, indeed, that pure and chaste fear which his
children ought to have, but a fear useful to the extent of
instructing them in true piety according to their capacity. Of
this
we have so many proofs, that there is not the least need of an
example. For all who have remained for some time in ignorance of God
will confess, as the result of their own experience, that the law
had the effect of keeping them in some degree in the fear and
reverence of God, till, being regenerated by his Spirit, they began
to love him from the heart.
(Principally it admonishes believers and
urges them on in welldoing,12-13)
12. Even the believers have need of the law
The
third use of the Law (being also the principal use, and
more closely connected with its proper end) has respect to believers
in whose hearts the Spirit of God already flourishes and reigns. For
although the Law is written and engraven on their hearts by the
finger of God, that is, although they are so influenced and actuated
by the Spirit, that they desire to obey God, there are two ways in
which they still profit in the Law. For 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; just as a servant who desires with
all his soul to approve himself to his master, must still observe,
and be careful to ascertain his master's dispositions, that he may
comport himself in accommodation to them. Let none of us deem
ourselves exempt from this necessity, for none have as yet attained
to such a degree of wisdom, as that they may not, by the daily
instruction of the Law, advance to a purer knowledge of the Divine
will. Then, because we need not doctrine merely, but exhortation
also, the servant of God will derive this further advantage from the
Law: by frequently meditating upon it, he will be excited to
obedience, and confirmed in it, and so drawn away from the slippery
paths of sin. In this way must the saints press onward, since,
however great the alacrity with which, under the Spirit, they hasten
toward righteousness, they are retarded by the sluggishness of the
flesh, and make less progress than they ought. The Law acts like a
whip to the flesh, urging it on as men do a lazy sluggish ass. Even
in the case of a spiritual man, inasmuch as he is still burdened
with the weight of the flesh, the Law is a constant stimulus,
pricking him forward when he would indulge in sloth. David had
this
use in view when he pronounced this high eulogium on the Law, "The
law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of
the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord
are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes," (Ps. 19: 7, 8.) Again, "Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path," (Ps. 119: 105.) The whole
psalm abounds in passages to the same effect. Such passages are not
inconsistent with those of Paul, which show not the utility of the
law to the regenerate, but what it is able of itself to bestow. The
object of the Psalmist is to celebrate the advantages which the
Lord, by means of his law, bestows on those whom he inwardly
inspires with a love of obedience. And he adverts not to the mere
precepts, but also to the promise annexed to them, which alone makes
that sweet which in itself is bitter. For what is less attractive
than the law, when, by its demands and threatening, it overawes the
soul, and fills it with terror? David specially shows that in the
law he saw the Mediator, without whom it gives no pleasure or
delight.
15. The law is abrogated to the
extent that it no longer condemns us
16. The ceremonial law
The case of ceremonies is different,
these having been
abrogated not in effect but in use only. Though Christ by his advent
put an end to their use, so far is this from derogating from their
sacredness, that it rather commends and illustrates it. For as these
ceremonies would have given nothing to God's ancient people but
empty show, if the power of Christ's death and resurrection had not
been prefigured by them, - so, if the use of them had not ceased, it
would, in the present day, be impossible to understand for what
purpose they were instituted. Accordingly, Paul, in order to
prove
that the observance of them was not only superfluous, but pernicious
also, says that they "are a shadow of things to come; but the body
is of Christ," (Col. 2: 17.)
We see,
therefore, that the truth is
made clearer by their abolition than if Christ, who has been openly
manifested, were still figured by them as at a distance, and as
under a veil. By the death of Christ, the veil of the temple was
rent in vain, the living and express image of heavenly things, which
had begun to be dimly shadowed forth, being now brought fully into
view, as is described by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews,
(Heb. 10: 1.) To the same effect, our Saviour declares, that
"the
law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of
God is preached, and every man presseth into it," (Luke 16: 16;) not
that the holy fathers were left without the preaching of the hope of
salvation and eternal life, but because they only saw at a distance,
and under a shadow, what we now behold in full light. Why it behaved
the Church to ascend higher than these elements, is explained by
John the Baptist, when he says, "The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," (John 1: 17.) For though it
is true that expiation was promised in the ancient sacrifices, and
the ark of the covenant was a sure pledge of the paternal favour of
God,
the
whole would have been delusory had it not been founded on
the grace of Christ, wherein true and eternal stability is found.
It
must be held as a fixed point, that though legal rites ceased to be
observed, their end serves to show more clearly how great their
utility was before the advent of Christ, who, while he abolished the
use, sealed their force and effect by his death.
8. EXPOSITION OF THE MORAL LAW.
1. The Law was committed to writing,
in order that it might teach more fully and perfectly that knowledge,
both of God and of ourselves, which the law of nature teaches meagrely
and obscurely. Proof of this, from an enumeration of the principal
parts of the Moral Law; and also from the dictate of natural law,
written on the hearts of all, and, in a manner, effaced by sin.
I believe it will not be out of place here to introduce the
Ten Commandments of the Law, and give a brief exposition of them. In
this way it will be made more clear, that the
worship which God
originally prescribed is still in force, (a point to which I
have
already adverted;) and then a second point will be confirmed, viz.,
that the Jews not only learned from the law wherein true piety
consisted, but from feeling their inability to observe it were
overawed by the fear of judgements and so drawn, even against their
will, towards the Mediator. In giving a summary of what
constitutes
the true knowledge of God, we showed that we cannot form any just
conception of the character of God, without feeling overawed by his
majesty, and bound to do him service. In regard to the knowledge of
ourselves, we showed that it principally consists in renouncing all
idea of our own strength, and divesting ourselves of all confidence
in our own righteousness, while, on the other hand, under a full
consciousness of our wants, we learn true humility and
self-abasement. Both of these the
Lord accomplishes by his Law,
first, when, in assertion of the right which he has to our
obedience, he calls us to reverence his majesty, and prescribes the
conduct by which this reverence is manifested; and, secondly, when,
by promulgating the rule of his justice, (a rule, to the rectitude
of which our nature, from being depraved and perverted, is
continually opposed, and to the perfection of which our ability,
from its infirmity and nervelessness for good, is far from being
able to attain,) he charges us both with impotence and
unrighteousness. Moreover, the very things contained in the two
tables are, in a manner, dictated to us by that internal law, which,
as has been already said, is in a manner written and stamped on
every heart. For conscience, instead of allowing us to stifle our
perceptions, and sleep on without interruption, acts as an inward
witness and monitor, reminds us of what we owe to God, points out
the distinction between good and evil, and thereby convicts us of
departure from duty. But man, being immured in the darkness of
error, is scarcely able, by means of that natural law, to form any
tolerable idea of the worship which is acceptable to God. At all
events, he is very far from forming any correct knowledge of it. In
addition to this, he is so swollen with arrogance and ambition, and
so blinded with self-love, that he is unable to survey, and, as it
were, descend into himself, that he may so learn to humble and abase
himself, and confess his misery. Therefore, as a necessary remedy,
both for our dullness and our contumacy, the Lord has given us his
written Law, which, by its sure attestations, removes the obscurity
of the law of nature, and also, by shaking off our lethargy, makes a
more lively and permanent impression on our minds.
2. From the knowledge of God,
furnished by the Law, we learn that God is our Father and Ruler.
Righteousness is pleasing, iniquity is an abomination in his sight.
Hence, how weak soever we may be, our duty is to cultivate the one, and
shun the other.
It is now easy to understand the doctrine of the law, viz.,
that God, as our Creator, is entitled to be regarded by us as a
Father and Master, and should, accordingly, receive from us fear,
love, reverence, and glory; nay, that we are not our own, to follow
whatever course passion dictates, but are bound to obey him
implicitly, and to acquiesce entirely in his good pleasure. Again,
the Law teaches, that justice and rectitude are a delight, injustice
an abomination to him, and, therefore, as we would not with impious
ingratitude revolt from our Maker, our whole life must be spent in
the cultivation of righteousness. For if we manifest becoming
reverence only when we prefer his will to our own, it follows, that
the only legitimate service to him is the practice of justice,
purity, and holiness. Nor can we plead as an excuse, that we
want
the power, and, like debtors, whose means are exhausted, are unable
to pay. We cannot be permitted to measure the glory of God by our
ability; whatever we may be, he ever remains like himself, the
friend of righteousness, the enemy of unrighteousness, and whatever
his demands from us may be, as he can only require what is right, we
are necessarily under a natural obligation to obey. Our inability to
do so is our own fault.
If lust, in
which sin has its dominion, so
enthrals us, that we are not free to obey our Father, there is no
ground for pleading necessity as a defence, since this evil
necessity is within, and must be imputed to ourselves.
(We learn from it that God is
our Father: that he is merciful and all-holy, and in kindness requires
obedience, 3-5)
3. The severity of the law has a
positive goal
When, under the guidance of the Law, we have advanced thus
far, we must, under the same guidance, proceed to descend into
ourselves. In this way, we at length arrive at two results:
First,
contrasting our conduct with the righteousness of the Law, we see
how very far it is from being in accordance with the will of God,
and, therefore, how unworthy we are of holding our place among his
creatures, far less of being accounted his sons; and, secondly,
taking a survey of our powers, we see that they are not only unequal
to fulfil the Law, but are altogether null. The necessary
consequence must be, to produce distrust of our own ability, and
also anxiety and trepidation of mind. Conscience cannot feel
the
burden of its guilt, without forthwith turning to the judgement of
God, while the view of this judgement cannot fail to excite a dread
of death. In like manner, the proofs of our utter powerlessness must
instantly beget despair of our own strength. Both feelings are
productive of humility and abasement, and hence the sinner,
terrified at the prospect of eternal death, (which he sees justly
impending over him for his iniquities,) turns to the mercy of God as
the only haven of safety. Feeling his utter inability to pay what he
owes to the Law, and thus despairing of himself, he rethinks him of
applying and looking to some other quarter for help.
4. Promises and threats
But the Lord does not count it enough to inspire a reverence
for his justice. To imbue our hearts with love to himself, and, at
the same time, with hatred to iniquity, he has added promises and
threatening. The eye of our mind being too dim to be attracted by
the mere beauty of goodness, our most merciful Father has been
pleased, in his great indulgence, to allure us to love and long
after it by the hope of reward.
5. The sufficiency of the Law
The Lord, in delivering a perfect rule of righteousness, has
reduced it in all its parts to his mere will, and in this way has
shown that there is nothing more acceptable to him than obedience.
There is
the more necessity for attending to this, because the human
mind, in its wantonness, is ever and anon inventing different modes
of worship as a means of gaining his favour. This irreligious
affectation of religion being innate in the human mind, has betrayed
itself in every age, and is still doing so, men always longing to
devise some method of procuring righteousness without any sanction
from the Word of God. Hence in those observances which are
generally
regarded as good works, the precepts of the Law occupy a narrow
space, almost the whole being usurped by this endless host of human
inventions. But was not this the very license which Moses meant to
curb, when, after the promulgation of the Law, he thus addressed the
people: "Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that
it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever,
when thou does that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord
thy God." "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou
shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it," (Deut 12: 28-32.)
...
The best cure for this vice would be
a constant and deep-seated conviction that the Law was given from
heaven to teach us a perfect righteousness; that the only
righteousness so taught is that which the divine will expressly
enjoins; and that it is, therefore, vain to attempt, by new forms of
worship, to gain the favour of God, whose true worship consists in
obedience alone; or rather, that to go a wandering after good works
which are not prescribed by the Law of God, is an intolerable
violation of true and divine righteousness. Most truly does
Augustine say in one place, that the obedience which is rendered to
God is the parent and guardian; in another, that it is the source of
all the virtues.
(It is to be spiritually understood
and interpreted with reference to the purpose of the Lawgiver, 6-10)
6. Since the law is God's law,
it makes a total claim upon us
After we shall have expounded the Divine Law, what has been
previously said of its office and use will be understood more
easily, and with greater benefit. But before we proceed to the
consideration of each separate commandment, it will be proper to
take a general survey of the whole. At the outset, it was proved
that in the Law human life is instructed not merely in outward
decency but in inward spiritual righteousness. Though none can deny
this, yet very few duly attend to it, because they do not consider
the Lawgiver, by whose character that of the Law must also be
determined. Should a king issue an edict prohibiting murder,
adultery, and theft, the penalty, I admit, will not be incurred by
the man who has only felt a longing in his mind after these vices,
but has not actually committed them. The reason is, that a human
lawgiver does not extend his care beyond outward order, and,
therefore, his injunctions are not violated without outward acts.
But God, whose eye nothing escapes, and who regards not the outward
appearance so much as purity of heart, under the prohibition of
murder, adultery, and thefts includes wrath, hatred, lust,
covetousness, and all other things of a similar nature. Being a
spiritual Lawgiver, he speaks to the soul not less than the body.
The murder which the soul commits is wrath and hatred; the theft,
covetousness and avarice; and the adultery, lust. It may be alleged
that human laws have respect to intentions and wishes, and not
fortuitous events. I admit this but then these must manifest
themselves externally. They consider the animus with which the act
was done, but do not scrutinise the secret thoughts. Accordingly,
their demand is satisfied when the hand merely refrains from
transgression. On the contrary, the
law of heaven being enacted for
our minds, the first thing necessary to a due observance of the Law
is to put them under restraint. But the generality of men, even
while they are most anxious to conceal their disregard of the Law,
only frame their hands and feet and other parts of their body to
some kind of observance, but in the meanwhile keep the heart utterly
estranged from everything like obedience. They think it enough to
have carefully concealed from man what they are doing in the sight
of God. Hearing the commandments, "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou
shalt
not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not steal," they do not unsheathe
their sword for slaughter, nor defile their bodies with harlots, nor
put forth their hands to other men's goods. So far well; but with
their whole soul they breathe out slaughter, boil with lust, cast a
greedy eye at their neighbour's property, and in wish devour it.
Here the principal thing which the Law requires is wanting. Whence
then, this gross stupidity, but just because they lose sight of the
Lawgiver, and form an idea of righteousness in accordance with their
own disposition? Against this Paul strenuously protests, when he
declares that the "law is spiritual", (Rom. 7: 14;) intimating that
it not only demands the homage of the soul, and mind, and will, but
requires an angelic purity, which, purified from all filthiness of
the flesh, savours only of the Spirit.
7. Christ himself has restored the
right understanding of the law
In saying that this is the meaning of the Law, we are not
introducing a new interpretation of our own; we are following
Christ, the best interpreter of the Law, (Matth. 5: 22, 28,
44.)...which proceeds on the supposition that Christ
added to the Law, whereas he only restored it to its integrity by
maintaining and purifying it when obscured by the falsehood, and
defiled by the leaven of the Pharisees.
8. Ways to right meaning
...
We must consider, I say,
how far interpretation
can be
permitted to go beyond the literal meaning of the words, still
making it apparent that no appending of human glosses is added to
the Divine Law, but that the pure and genuine meaning of the
Lawgiver is faithfully exhibited. It is true that, in almost all the
commandments, there are elliptical expressions, and that, therefore,
any man would make himself ridiculous by attempting to restrict the
spirit of the Law to the strict letter of the words. It is plain
that a sober interpretation of the Law must go beyond these, but how
far is doubtful, unless some rule be adopted.
The best rule,
in my
opinion, would be, to be guided by the principle of the commandment,
viz., to consider in the case of each what the purpose is for which
it was given.
from chapters 9-50 Calvin offers a commandment by commandment
exposition. For the sake of time in the class i reluctantly need to
skip these. The substance of these chapters could easily form a 10 week
class by themselves. My plea is that this is meant to be a SURVEY.
(Principles of the law in the light
of Christ's teaching, 51-59)
51. The sum of the law
It will not now be difficult to ascertain the general end
contemplated by the whole Law, viz., the fulfilment of
righteousness, that man may form his life on the model of the divine
purity. For therein God has so delineated his own character, that
any one exhibiting in action what is commanded, would in some
measure exhibit a living image of God. Wherefore Moses, when he
wished to fix a summary of the whole in the memory of the
Israelites, thus addressed them, "And now, Israel, what does the
Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk
in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of
the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day for thy
good?" (Deut. 10: 12, 13.) And he ceased not to reiterate the same
thing, whenever he had occasion to mention the end of the Law. To
this the doctrine of the Law pays so much regard, that it connects
man, by holiness of life, with his God; and, as Moses elsewhere
expresses it, (Deut. 6: 5; 11: 13,) and makes him cleave to him.
Moreover, this holiness of life is comprehended under the two heads
above mentioned.
"Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all
thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself". First, our mind must be
completely filled with love to God, and then this love must
forthwith flow out toward our neighbour. This the Apostle shows
when
he says, "The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart,
and a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned," (1 Tim. 1: 5.) You
see that conscience and faith unfeigned are placed at the head, in
other words, true piety; and that from this charity is derived. It
is a mistake then to suppose, that merely the rudiments and first
principles of righteousness are delivered in the Law, to form, as it
were, a kind of introduction to good works, and not to guide to the
perfect performance of them.
9. CHRIST, THOUGH KNOWN TO THE JEWS UNDER THE
LAW, YET ONLY
MANIFESTED UNDER THE GOSPEL.
4. The opposition between law and
gospel ought not to be exaggerated
But the Gospel has not succeeded the whole Law in such a sense
as to
introduce a different method of salvation. It rather confirms the
Law, and proves that every thing which it promised is fulfilled.
What was shadow, it has made substance. ...Hence we infer, that when
the whole
Law is spoken of, the Gospel differs from it only in respect of
clearness of manifestation. Still, on account of the inestimable
riches of grace set before us in Christ, there is good reason for
saying, that by his advent the kingdom of heaven was erected on the
earth, (Matth. 12: 28.)
from:
http://www.smartlink.net/%7Edouglas/calvin/bk2ch10.html
10. THE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND
THE NEW.
(Introduction, showing the necessity
of proving the similarity of both dispensations in opposition to
Servetus and the Anabaptists, 1-6)
1. The question
From what has been said above, it must now be clear, that
all whom, from the beginning of the world, God adopted as his
peculiar people, were taken into covenant with him on the same
conditions, and under the same bond of doctrine, as ourselves; but
as it is of no small importance to establish this point, I will here
add it by way of appendix, and show, since the Fathers were
partakers with us in the same inheritance, and hoped for a common
salvation through the grace of the same Mediator, how far their
condition in this respect was different from our own.
2. This similarity in general. Both
covenants truly one, though differently administered. Three things in
which they entirely agree.
It is possible, indeed, to explain both in one word. The
covenant made with all the fathers is so far from differing from
ours in reality and substance, that it is altogether one and the
same: still the administration differs. ... - First, That temporal
opulence and felicity was not
the goal to which the Jews were invited to aspire, but that they
were admitted to the hope of immortality, and that assurance of this
adoption was given by immediate communications, by the Law and by
the Prophets. Secondly, That the covenant by which they were
reconciled to the Lord was founded on no merits of their own, but
solely on the mercy of God, who called them; and, thirdly, That they
both had and knew Christ the Mediator, by whom they were united to
God, and made capable of receiving his promises.
7. Another proof from the Law and the
Prophets, viz., the power of the divine word in quickening souls before
Christ was manifested. Hence the believing Jews were raised to the hope
of eternal life.
...When I say that they embraced the word which brought
them nearer to God, I refer not to that general method of
communication which is diffused through heaven and earth, and all
the creatures of the world, and which, though it quickens all
things, each according to its nature, rescues none from the bondage
of corruption. I refer to that special mode of communication by
which the minds of the pious are both enlightened in the knowledge
of God, and, in a manner, linked to him. Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham,
and the other patriarchs, having been united to God by this
illumination of the word, I say there cannot be the least doubt that
entrance was given them into the immortal kingdom of God. They had
that solid participation in God which cannot exist without the
blessing of everlasting life.
10. Fourth proof from examples. Adam,
Abel, and Noah, when tried with various temptations, neglecting the
present, aspired with living faith and invincible hope to a better
life. They, therefore, had the same aim as believers under the Gospel.
Let us now see (and on this the controversy principally
turns) whether or not believers themselves were so instructed by the
Lord, as to feel that they had elsewhere a better life, and to
aspire to it while disregarding the present. First, the mode of life
which heaven had imposed upon them made it a constant exercise, by
which they were reminded, that if in this world only they had hope,
they were of all men the most miserable.
17. An eighth proof from the common
feeling and confession of all the pious who sought by faith and hope to
obtain in heaven what they did not see in the present shadowy life.
Therefore, even from this confession of David, let us learn
that the holy fathers under the Old Testament were not ignorant that
in this world God seldom or never gives his servants the fulfilment
of what is promised them, and therefore has directed their minds to
his sanctuary, where the blessings not exhibited in the present
shadowy life are treasured up for them. This sanctuary was the final
judgement of God, which, as they could not at all discern it by the
eye, they were contented to apprehend by faith. Inspired with this
confidence, they doubted not that whatever might happen in the
world, a time would at length arrive when the divine promises would
be fulfilled.
19. A ninth proof from Job, who spoke
most distinctly of this hope. Two objections disposed of.
Let no trifler here burst
in with the objection that these are the sayings of a few, and do
not by any means prove that there was such a doctrine among the
Jews. To this my instant answer is, that these few did not in such
passages
give
utterance to some hidden wisdom, to which only
distinguished individuals were admitted privately and apart from
others, but that having been appointed by the Holy Spirit to be the
teachers of the people, they openly promulgated the mysteries of
God, which all in common behaved to learn as the principles of
public religion. When, therefore, we hear that those passages in
which the Holy Spirit spoke so distinctly and clearly of the
spiritual life were public oracles in the Jewish Church, it were
intolerably perverse to confine them entirely to a carnal covenant
relating merely to the earth and earthly riches.
20. A tenth proof from the
later Prophets, who taught that the happiness of the righteous was
placed beyond the limits of the present life.
When we descend to the later prophets, we have it in our
power to expatiate freely as in our own field. If, when David, Job,
and Samuel, were in question, the victory was not difficult, much
easier is it here;
for
the method and economy which God observed in
administering the covenant of his mercy was, that the nearer the
period of its full exhibition approached, the greater the additions
which were daily made to the light of revelation. Accordingly,
at
the beginning, when the first promise of salvation was given to
Adam, (Gen. 3: 15,) only a few slender sparks beamed forth:
additions being afterwards made, a greater degree of light began to
be displayed, and continued gradually to increase and shine with
greater brightness, until at length all the clouds being dispersed,
Christ the Sun of righteousness arose, and with full refulgence
illumined all the earth, (Mal. 4.) In appealing to the Prophets,
therefore, we can have no fear of any deficiency of proof; but as I
see an immense mass of materials, which would occupy us much longer
than compatible with the nature of our present work, (the subject,
indeed, would require a large volume,) and as I trust, that by what
has already been said, I have paved the way, so that every reader of
the very least discernment may proceed without stumbling, I will
avoid a prolixity, for which at present there is little necessity;
only reminding my readers to facilitate the entrance by means of the
key which was formerly put into their hands, (supra, Chap. 4 sec. 3,
4;)
namely, that whenever the Prophets
make mention of the happiness
of believers, (a happiness of which scarcely any vestiges are
discernible in the present life,) they must have recourse to this
distinction: that the better to commend the Divine goodness to the
people, they used temporal blessings as a kind of lineaments to
shadow it forth, and yet gave such a portrait as might lift their
minds above the earth, the elements of this world, and all that will
perish, and compel them to think of the blessedness of a future and
spiritual life.
23. Conclusion of the whole
discussion concerning the similarity of both dispensations. For fuller
confirmation, four passages of Scripture produced. Refutation of the
error of the Sadducees and other Jews, who denied eternal salvation and
the sure hope of the Church.
...Hence, it is the more
wonderful how the Sadducees of old fell into such a degree of
sottishness as to deny both the resurrection and the substantive
existence of spirits, both of which where attested to them by so
many striking passages of Scripture. Nor would the stupidity of the
whole nation in the present day, in expecting an earthly reign of
the Messiah, be less wonderful, had not the Scriptures foretold this
long before as the punishment which they were to suffer for
rejecting the Gospel, God, by a just judgement, blinding minds which
voluntarily invite darkness, by rejecting the offered light of
heaven. They read, and are constantly turning over the pages of
Moses, but a veil prevents them from seeing the light which beams
forth in his countenance, (2 Cor. 3: 14;) and thus to them he will
remain covered and veiled until they are converted to Christ,
between whom and Moses they now study, as much as in them lies, to
maintain a separation.
11. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO TESTAMENTS.
1.
Five
points of difference between the Old and the New Testaments. These
belong to the mode of administration rather than the substance. First
difference. In the Old Testament the heavenly inheritance is exhibited
under temporal blessings; in the New, aids of this description are not
employed.
...The
first difference then is, that though, in old time, the Lord was
pleased to direct the thoughts of his people, and raise their minds
to the heavenly inheritance, yet, that their hope of it might be the
better maintained, he held it forth, and, in a manner, gave a
foretaste of it under earthly blessings, whereas the gift of future
life, now more clearly and lucidly revealed by the Gospel, leads our
minds directly to meditate upon it, the inferior mode of exercise
formerly employed in regard to the Jews being now laid aside. Those
who attend not to the divine purpose in this respect, suppose that
God's ancient people ascended no higher than the blessings which
were promised to the body. They hear the land of Canaan so often
named as the special, and as it were the only, reward of the Divine
Law to its worshipers; they hear that the severest punishment which
the Lord denounces against the transgressors of the Law is expulsion
from the possession of that land and dispersion into other
countries; they see that this forms almost the sum of the blessings
and curses declared by Moses; and from these things they confidently
conclude that the Jews were separated from other nations not on
their own account, but for another reason, viz., that the Christian
Church might have an emblem in whose outward shape might be seen an
evidence of spiritual things.
2.
Proof
of this first difference from the simile of an heir in pupillarity, as
in Gal. 4: 1.
...Here we see that the Lord is
the final reward promised to Abraham that he might not seek a
fleeting and evanescent reward in the elements of this world, but
look to one which was incorruptible. A promise of the land is
afterwards added for no other reason than that it might be a symbol
of the divine benevolence, and a type of the heavenly inheritance,
as the saints declare their understanding to have been. Thus David
rises from temporal blessings to the last and highest of all, "My
flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and
my portion for ever." "My heart and my flesh crieth out for the
living God," (Ps. 73: 26; 84: 2.) Again, "The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot," (Ps. 16:
5.) Again "I cried unto thee O Lord: I said Thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living," (Ps. 142: 5.) Those who can
venture to speak thus, assuredly declare that their hope rises
beyond the world and worldly blessings.
3.
This
the reason why the Patriarchs, under the Law, set a higher value on
this life and the blessings of it, and dreaded the punishments, these
being even more striking. Why severe and sudden punishments existed
under the Law.
...The unskilful, not considering this analogy
and correspondence (if I may so speak) between rewards and
punishments, wonder that there is so much variance in God, that
those who, in old time, were suddenly visited for their faults with
severe and dreadful punishments, he now punishes much more rarely
and less severely, as if he had laid aside his former anger, and,
for this reason, they can scarcely help imagining, like the
Manichees, that the God of the Old Testament was different from that
of the New. But we shall easily disencumber ourselves of such doubts
if we attend to that mode of divine administration to which I have
adverted - that God was pleased to indicate and typify both the gift
of future and eternal felicity by terrestrial blessings, as well as
the dreadful nature of spiritual death by bodily punishments, at
that time when he delivered his covenant to the Israelites as under
a kind of veil.
4.
A second difference. The Old Testament typified Christ under
ceremonies. The New exhibits the immediate truth and the whole body.
The scope of the Epistle to the Hebrews in explaining this difference.
Definition of the Old Testament.
...Another distinction between the Old and New Testaments is in
the types, the former exhibiting only the image of truth, while the
reality was absent, the shadow instead of the substance, the latter
exhibiting both the full truth and the entire body. Mention is
usually made of this, whenever the New Testament is contrasted with
the Old, but it is no where so fully treated as in the Epistle to
the Hebrews, (chap. 7-10.)... Here we may see in what respect the legal
is compared with the
evangelical covenant, the ministry of Christ with that of Moses. If
the comparison referred to the substance of the promises, there
would be a great repugnance between the two covenants; but since the
nature of the case leads to a different view, we must follow it in
order to discover the truth. Let us, therefore bring forward the
covenant which God once ratified as eternal and unending. Its
completion, whereby it is fixed and ratified, is Christ. Till such
completion takes place, the Lord, by Moses, prescribes ceremonies
which are, as it were formal symbols of confirmation. ... Since there
is nothing substantial in it, until we look
beyond it, the Apostle contends that it behaved to be annulled and
become antiquated, (Heb. 7: 22,) to make room for Christ, the surety
and mediator of a better covenant, by whom the eternal
sanctification of the elect was once purchased, and the
transgressions which remained under the Law wiped away. But if you
prefer it, take it thus: the covenant of the Lord was old, because
veiled by the shadowy and ineffectual observance of ceremonies; and
it was therefore temporary, being, as it were in suspense until it
received a firm and substantial confirmation. Then only did it
become new and eternal when it was consecrated and established in
the blood of Christ. Hence the Saviour, in giving the cup to his
disciples in the last supper, calls it the cup of the new testament
in his blood; intimating, that the covenant of God was truly
realised, made new, and eternal, when it was sealed with his blood.
5.
Hence the Law our Schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ.
It is now clear in what sense the Apostle said, (Gal. 3: 24;
4: 1,) that by the tutelage of the Law the Jews were conducted to
Christ, before he was exhibited in the flesh. ... Accordingly, this
slender measure of
intelligence is designated by Paul by the term childhood, which the
Lord was pleased to train by the elements of this world, and
external observances, until Christ should appear. Through him the
knowledge of believers was to be matured.
7.
Third
difference. The Old Testament is literal, the New spiritual. This
difference considered first generally.
... From
these words, the Apostle took occasion to institute a comparison
between the Law and the Gospel, calling the one a doctrine of the
letter, the other a doctrine of the spirit; describing the one as
formed on tables of stone, the other on tables of the heart; the one
the preaching of death, the other of life; the one of condemnation,
the other of justification; the one made void, the other permanent,
(2 Cor. 3: 5, 6.) ... All which is attributed to it is, that it
commands what is
right, prohibits crimes, holds forth rewards to the cultivators of
righteousness, and threatens transgressors with punishment, while at
the same time it neither changes nor amends that depravity of heart
which is naturally inherent in all.
8.
Next treated specially, on a careful examination of the Apostle's text.
A threefold antithesis. The Old Testament is literal, deadly,
temporary. The New is spiritual, quickening, eternal. Difference
between the letter and the spirit.
Let us now explain the Apostle's contrast step by step. The
Old Testament is literal, because promulgated without the efficacy
of the Spirit: the New spiritual, because the Lord has engraven it
on the heart. The second antithesis is a kind of exposition of the
first. The Old is deadly, because it can do nothing but involve the
whole human race in a curse; the New is the instrument of life,
because those who are freed from the curse it restores to favour
with God. The former is the ministry of condemnation, because it
charges the whole sons of Adam with transgression; the latter the
ministry of righteousness, because it unfolds the mercy of God, by
which we are justified. The last antithesis must be referred to the
Ceremonial Law. ... When
we consider the multitude of those whom, by the preaching of the
Gospel, he has regenerated by his, Spirit, and gathered out of all
nations into the communion of his Church, we may say that those of
ancient Israel who, with sincere and heartfelt affections embraced
the covenant of the Lord, were few or none, though the number is
great when they are considered in themselves without comparison.
9.
Fourth difference. The Old Testament belongs to bondage, the New to
liberty. This confirmed by three passages of Scripture. Two objections
answered.
Out of the third distinction a fourth arises. In Scripture,
the term bondage is applied to the Old Testaments because it begets
fear, and the term freedom to the New, because productive of
confidence and security. Thus Paul says to the Romans, "Ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received
the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father," (Rom. 8: 15.)
12.
The
second part of the chapter depending on the preceding section. Of the
calling of the Gentiles. Why the calling of the Gentiles scented to the
Apostles so strange and new.
The calling of the Gentiles, therefore, is a distinguishing
feature illustrative of the superiority of the New over the Old
Testament. This, it is true, had been previously declared by the
prophets, in passages both numerous and clear, but still the
fulfilment of it was deferred to the reign of the Messiah. ... Nor is
this strange; for
it seemed by no means in accordance with reason, that the Lord, who
for so many ages had selected Israel from the rest of the nations
should suddenly, as it were, change his purpose, and abandon his
choice. Prophecy, indeed, had foretold it, but they could not be so
attentive to prophecies, as not to be somewhat startled by the novel
spectacle thus presented to their eye. It was not enough that God
had in old times given specimens of the future calling of the
Gentiles. Those whom he had so called were very few in number, and,
moreover, he in a manner adopted them into the family of Abraham,
before allowing them to approach his people. But by this public
call, the Gentiles were not only made equal to the Jews, but seemed
to be substituted into their place, as if the Jews had been dead.
13.
The
last part of the chapter. Two objections considered.
... What irregularity is there in the Divine arrangement, which
confined them to the rudiments which were suitable to their age, and
trains us by a firmer and more manly discipline? The constancy of
God is conspicuous in this, that he delivered the same doctrine to
all ages, and persists in requiring that worship of his name which
he commanded at the beginning. His changing the external form and
manner does not show that he is liable to change. In so far he has
only accommodated himself to the mutable and diversified capacities
of man.
14.
1. God being immutable, cannot consistently disapprove what he once
ordered. Answer confirmed by a passage of Scripture.
Objections.
2.
God could at first have transacted with the Jews as he now does with
Christians. Answer, showing the absurdity of this objection. Another
answer founded on a just consideration of the divine will and the
dispensation of grace.
... let us not doubt that every
thing which God has done has been done wisely and justly, although
we may be ignorant of the cause which required that it should be so
done. We should arrogate too much to ourselves were we not to
concede to God that he may have reasons for his counsel, which we
are unable to discern. It is strange, they say, that he now
repudiates and abominates the sacrifices of beasts, and the whole
apparatus of that Levitical priesthood in which he formerly
delighted. As if those external and transient matters could delight
God, or affect him in any way! ... But who, I ask, can deny the right
of God to have
the free and uncontrolled disposal of his gifts, to select the
nations which he may be pleased to illuminate, the places which he
may be pleased to illustrate by the preaching of his word, and the
mode and measure of progress and success which he may be pleased to
give to his doctrine, - to punish the world for its ingratitude by
withdrawing the knowledge of his name for certain ages, and again,
when he so pleases, to restore it in mercy? We see, then, that in
the calumnies which the ungodly employ in this matter, to perplex
the minds of the simple, there is nothing that ought to throw doubt
either on the justice of God or the veracity of Scripture.
research
notes:
note-this is a Roman Catholic site, the link and text are provided to
see what they do with the definition of the word, not to support or
commend their
effort. It is however, imho, necessary to understand what happened in
the Roman Church both in the council of Trent and in our days, in the
Vatican II council, and furthermore to understand exactly how
they perceive us as Protestants, if only to be able to give a defense
of our faith to our R.C. neighbors.
from:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04208a.htm
Concupiscence
In its widest acceptation, concupiscence is any yearning of the soul
for good; in its strict and specific acceptation, a desire of the lower
appetite contrary to reason. To understand how the sensuous and the
rational appetite can be opposed, it should be borne in mind that their
natural objects are altogether different. The object of the former is
the gratification of the senses; the object of the latter is the good
of the entire human nature and consists in the subordination of reason
to God, its
supreme good and ultimate end. But the lower appetite is of itself
unrestrained, so as to pursue sensuous gratifications independently of
the understanding and without regard to the good of the higher
faculties. Hence desires contrary to the real good and order of reason
may, and often do, rise in it, previous to the attention of the mind,
and once risen, dispose the bodily organs to the pursuit and solicit
the will to consent, while they more or less hinder reason from
considering their lawfulness or unlawfulness. This is concupiscence in
its strict and specific sense. As long, however, as deliberation is not
completely impeded, the rational will is able to resist such desires
and withhold consent, though it be not capable of crushing the effects
they produce in the body, and though its freedom and dominion be to
some extent diminished. If, in fact, the will resists, a struggle
ensues, the sensuous appetite rebelliously demanding its gratification,
reason, on the contrary, clinging to its own spiritual interests and
asserting it control. "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the
spirit against the flesh."
From the explanation given, it is plain that the opposition
between appetite and reason is natural in man, and that, though it be
an imperfection, it is not a corruption of human nature. Nor have the
inordinate desires (actual concupiscence) or the proneness to them
(habitual concupiscence) the nature of sin; for sin, being the free and
deliberate transgression of the law of God,
can be only in the rational will; though it be true that they are
temptations to sin, becoming the stronger and the more frequent the
oftener they have been indulged. As thus far considered they are only
sinful objects and antecedent causes of sinful transgressions; they
contract the malice of sin only when consent is given by the will; not
as though their nature were changed, but because they are adopted and
completed by the will and so share its malice. Hence the distinction of
concupiscence antecedent and concupiscence consequent to the consent of
the will; the latter is sinful, the former is not. The first parents
were free from concupiscence, so that their sensuous appetite was
perfectly subject to reason; and this freedom they were to transmit to
posterity provided they observed the commandment of God.
A short but important statement of the Catholic doctrine on this point
may be quoted from Peter the Deacon, a Greek, who was sent to Rome to
bear witness to the Faith of the East: "Our belief is that Adam came
from the hands of his Creator good and free from the assaults of the
flesh" (Lib. de Incarn., c. vi). In our first parents, however, this
complete dominion of reason over appetite was no natural perfection or
acquirement, but a preternatural gift of God,
that is, a gift not due to human nature; no was it, on the other hand,
the essence of their original justice, which consisted in sanctifying
grace; it was but a complement added to the latter by the Divine
bounty. By the sin of Adam freedom from concupiscence was forfeited not
only for himself, but also for all his posterity with the exception of
the Blessed Virgin by special privilege. Human nature was deprived of
both its preternatural and supernatural gifts and graces, the lower
appetite began to lust against the spirit, and evil habits, contracted
by personal sins, wrought disorder in the body, obscured the mind, and
weakened the power of the will, without, however, destroying its
freedom. Hence that lamentable condition of which St. Paul complains
when he writes:
I find then a law, that when I have a will to do good,
evil is present with me. For I am delighted with the law of God,
according to the inward man: but I see another law in my members,
fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of
sin, that is in my members. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? (Rom., vii, 21-25)
Christ by His death redeemed mankind from sin and its bondage. In
baptism the guilt of
original sin
is wiped out and the soul is cleansed and justified again by the
infusion of sanctifying grace. But freedom from concupiscence is not
restored to man, any more than immortality; abundant grace, however, is
given him, by which he may obtain the victory over rebellious sense and
deserve life everlasting.
The Reformers of the sixteenth century, especially Luther, proposed
new views respecting concupiscence. They adopted as fundamental to
their theology the following propositions:
- Original justice with all its gifts and graces was due to man as
an integral part of his nature;
- concupiscence
is of itself sinful, and being the sinful corruption of human nature
caused by Adam's transgression and inherited by all his descendants, is
the very essence of original sin;
- baptism, since it does not
extinguish concupiscence, does not really remit the guilt of original
sin, but only effects that it is no longer imputed to man and no longer
draws down condemnation on him. This position is held also by the Anglican Church
in its Thirty-nine Articles and its Book of Common
Prayer.
The Catholic Church condemns these doctrines as erroneous or heretical.
The
Council of
Trent
(Sess. V, e.v.) defines that by the grace of baptism the guilt of
original sin is completely remitted and does not merely cease to be
imputed to man. As to concupiscence the council declares that it
remains in those that are baptized in order that they may struggle for
the victory, but does no harm to those who resist it by the
grace of God,
and that it is called sin by St. Paul, not because it is sin formally
and in the proper sense, but because it sprang from sin and incites to
sin. Later on
Pius
V, by the Bull "Ex omnibus affictionibus" (1 Oct., 1567),
Gregory XIII, by
the Bull "Provisions Nostrae" (29 Jan., 15798),
Urban VIII,
by the Bull "In eminenti" (6 March, 1641), condemned the propositions
of Bajus (21, 23, 24, 26), Clement XI, by the Constitution
"Unigenitus", those of Quesnel (34, 35); and finally
Pius VI,
by the Bull "Auctorem fidei" (28 Aug., 1794), those of the Synod of
Pistoja (16), which maintained that the gifts and graces bestowed on
Adam and constituting his original justice were not supernatural but
due to human nature. (See GRACE, JUSTIFICATION, SIN.)
---------------------------------------
propitious
- Presenting favorable circumstances; auspicious. See Synonyms at favorable.
- Kindly; gracious.
[Middle English
propicius, from
Old French
propicieux, from Latin
propitius. See
pet- in Indo-European Roots.]
-----------------------------------------
esoteric knowledge
i am interested in the topic of esoteric knowledge see:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rmwilliamsjr/53937.html
note how strongly Calvin condemns such a position, this is in line with
the traditional viewpoint that Christians teach in the light, even as
Jesus is in the light. It is also in alignment with his strong position
that we do not pursue knowledge pass the borders appropriate to us, in
particular, we do not try to fathom the endless mysteries of God when
He has told us not to.
CHAPTER IX
Of Free Will
I. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that
it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature,
determined to good, or evil.[205]
II. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom, and power to will
and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God;[206] but
yet, mutably, so that he might fall from it.[207]
III. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all
ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation:[208] so as,
a natural man, being altogether averse from that good,[209] and
dead in sin,[210] is not
able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself
thereunto.[211]
IV. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of
grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin;[212] and,
by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is
spiritually good;[213]
yet so, as that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not
perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that
which is evil.[214]
V. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good
alone, in the state of glory only.[215]
CHAPTER XIX
Of the Law of God
I. God gave to Adam a law, as a covenant of works, by which he bound
him and all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual
obedience, promised life upon the fulfilling, and threatened death upon
the breach of it, and endued him with power and ability to keep it.[366]
II. This law, after his fall, continued to be a perfect rule of
righteousness; and, as such, was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in
ten commandments, and written in two tables:[367] the
first four commandments containing our duty towards God; and the other
six, our duty to man.[368]
III. Beside this law, commonly called moral, God was pleased to
give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws,
containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring
Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits;[369] and
partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties.[370] All
which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the new testament.[371]
IV. To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial
laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not
obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may
require.[372]
V. The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as
others, to the obedience thereof;[373]
and that, not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in
respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it.[374]
Neither doth Christ, in the gospel, any way dissolve, but much
strengthen this obligation.[375]
VI. Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of
works, to be thereby justified, or condemned;[376]
yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a
rule of life informing them of the will of God, and their duty, it
directs and binds them to walk accordingly;[377]
discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and
lives;[378] so as,
examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of,
humiliation for, and hatred against sin,[379]
together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the
perfection of his obedience.[380] It is
likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in
that it forbids sin:[381]
and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve;
and what afflictions, in this life, they may expect for them, although
freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law.[382]
The promises of it, in like manner, show them God’s approbation of
obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance
thereof:[383]
although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works.[384]
So as, a man’s doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law
encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of
his being under the law; and, not under grace.[385]
VII. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the
grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it;[386]
the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that
freely, and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed in the law,
requireth to be done.[387]
research notes:
Calvin's Institutes book II:8:1 [Beveridge trans.]
"
Moreover, the very things contained in the two tables are, in
a manner, dictated to us by that internal law, which as has already
been said, is in a manner written and stamped on every heart."
Institutes book IV:20:9
"
The duty of the magistrates, its nature, as described by the
word of God, and the things in which it consists, I will here indicate
in passing. That it extends to both tables of the law,
did Scripture not teach, we might learn from profane writers; for no
man has discoursed of the duty of magistrates, the enacting of laws,
and the common weal, without beginning with religion and divine worship.
And here is the John Allen translation of the Institutes IV:20:9
"
Here it is necessary to state in a brief manner the nature of the
office of magistracy, as described in the word of God, and wherein
it consists. If the Scripture did not teach that this office
extends to both tables of the law,
we might learn it from heathen writers; for not one of them has treated
of the office of magistrates, of legislation, and civil government,
without beginning with religion and Divine worship. And thus they have
all confessed that no government can be happily constituted, unless its
first object be the promotion of piety, and that all laws are
preposterous which neglect the claims of God, and merely provide for
the interests of men."
from a thread at:
http://www.theologyweb.com/forum/showthread.php?p=598301#post598301
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