​Christians will defend the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection and yet still miss its theological centrality. Machen reminds us in Christianity & Liberalism that the acts of redemptive history and their meaning are “always combined in the Christian message.”[1] According to eyewitness testimony, Jesus rose again from the dead and by it He “was declared to be the Son of God in power” (Rom 1:4). So the resurrection is not only a fact of history, but, as John Knox said, it is “the chief article of our faith”[2] and therefore our life in the local church.

When (and Why) We WorshipThe Gospels are rather sparing on chronological detail, but they take pains to point out that Christ rose on the first day of the week (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1-2; Luke 24:1, 36; John 20:1, 19, 26). So the church has always gathered on the first day (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2), “the Lord’s Day” (Rev 1:10). In the language of the early church, it is the “day of the resurrection.”[3] Memorably, B.B. Warfield declared,
Christ took the Sabbath into the grave with him and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave with him on the resurrection morn.[4]
​
For too many Christians, why and when the church meets are open questions. Answers are found in this central article of the faith: on the first day of the week, Jesus rose again. We gather weekly on the Lord’s Day because we only come to God through our risen Lord Jesus.

The Biblical Rationale of Creeds
​
A creed is a statement of faith; a codified and summarized list of essential markers of belief. Creeds are an irreducible feature of the regula fidei (the rule of faith), which constitutes established boundary markers of orthodoxy. Creeds are an irreducible feature of the regula fidei (the rule of faith), which constitutes established boundary markers of orthodoxy.CLICK TO TWEETWhen Jude speaks of “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), that word “faith” describes a body of doctrines handed to the faith. It had edges and definitions—by describing the faith was for all delivered to the saints, Jude was demarcating the fact that there is an “in” and an “out” of orthodox Christian belief. Apostacy and heresy are unintelligible concepts apart from the regula fidei.
When the Bible speaks of apostasy and people swerving from the truth and departing from the faith (e.g., 2 Timothy 3:1-8), it positively requires the regula fidei and, at the very least, tacitly endorses something like a creed. How can the church hope to continually hand down the “faith once for all delivered to the saints” if that faith is not summarized and codified in an essential way? Heretics always claim to be faithful Christians, and they always work with the very same data of revelation—they use the same scriptural prooftexts as the orthodox when they argue their case, but they interpret them in a manner that does not accord with “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.” So, are we to reinvent the wheel for every generational departure from sound interpretation of Scripture, or might we use a creedal litmus test to demarcate which proposed doctrines are orthodox and which are not?

​The Reformed confessions of faith all affirm that God made a “covenant of works” with Adam in the Garden of Eden. For example, The Second London Baptist Confession 20.1 explicitly refers to this covenant: “The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life….” But some aren’t sure the doctrine is found in the Bible. This post will set out some of the main arguments for the covenant of works found in Holy Scripture.

Consider the creation of the first man in Genesis 2:7-8, which says, “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.” Here God created the man before He planted the garden. Then Genesis 2:15, says God “put” the man in the garden. So, God made Adam outside of the Garden in a state of nature. But then God put Adam in the Garden and we will see that God made a covenant with him.

In Genesis 2:16-17, we find a threat of death. These verses say, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” This threat of death is a curse. The fact that Adam could die implies something about Adam’s natural state. Prior to eating from the tree, Adam was mutable. He could have sinned or not sinned. He was able to die or not.

The Genesis account not only reveals the threat of death in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but it also reveals the promise of eternal life in the tree of life. Genesis 3:22-24 says:

     “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.           Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”                   therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he           was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim           and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

This promise of “forever” or “eternal” life shows that Adam might have obeyed God to obtain a blessing. The promise of eternal life in Genesis 3 implies that the death threatened in Genesis 2:16-17 was “eternal” death. The promise of “eternal” life further shows us that something about Adam’s nature would have changed had he obeyed God. We’ve already seen that prior to obtaining the promise of eternal life, Adam had a mutable nature that could have sinned or not sinned. But if Adam obtained eternal life, the text tells us that he would love forever. That necessarily means that would be unable to fall or die. He would reach an immortal state of glory.

All of these passages of Scripture contain the elements of a covenant. But what is a covenant? We could define a covenant as sworn oath or promise between at least two people. Covenants set the terms of inter-personal relationships. We might also call a covenant a “guaranteed commitment.” Sometimes covenants have commands attached to promises. Other times they are bare promises. Divine covenants are sovereignly imposed promises and they often have commands attached.

So what elements in the Genesis narrative reveal the presence of a covenant? There were two parties: God and Adam, who was the federal head of all creation. There was a command: don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was a test in which Adam was required to obey God. There was a threat: you will surely die. And it had a promise: eternal life. Those are all elements of a covenant: parties, command, threat and promise.

Now some say there is no covenant in Genesis 2 because the word “covenant” (berith) does not appear. But that assertion contains some assumptions. It assumes that a word has to be present for a doctrine to be present. This is called the word-thing fallacy. A word does not have to be present for a thing to be present. Consider these reductio-ad-absurdum arguments applied to the idea that a word has to be present in a text for the doctrine to be present. The word “Trinity” doesn’t appear in Genesis 1, but does that mean that the Trinity didn’t create the world? Of course not, we know from later revelation that the Trinity created the world. The word “marriage” doesn’t appear in Genesis 2, but clearly there is a marriage covenant between Adam and Eve. We know that marriage is a covenant from later revelation. The words “sin” and “fall” don’t occur in Genesis 3, but we know that Adam sinned in Genesis 3 because later revelation defines sin as a transgression of the law of God. Consistency would demand that people deny the existence of the Trinity in Genesis 1, the existence of marriage in Genesis 2, and the existence of sin in Genesis 3 if the absence of a word means that the doctrine isn’t present.

Further Scriptural Proof of the Covenant of Works

The the use of God’s covenant name “Yahweh” (tetragrammaton: yhvh) appears in Genesis 2:4-25, while the general name God, or “Elohim” appears earlier in Genesis 1:1-2:3. But God’s personal name, Yahweh, is associated with covenants throughout the Bible; so, this use of God’s covenantal name in Genesis 2 is one strong indication that there is a covenant in Genesis 2.
​
Hosea 6:6-7 expressly speaks of a covenant with Adam. This is a case of later revelation explaining earlier revelation. It says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” Some interpreters translate this to say that “like men,” they transgressed the covenant, since the Hebrew word Adam can be translated man. But it makes no sense that men could sin in a way other than “like men” sin. Could men sin like animals, or like angels? Israel could only have sinned “like men,” since they were men. Other interpreters say “Adam” was a city where Israel sinned. But there is no biblical record of Israel sinning at a town named “Adam.” Therefore, it’s best to take Hosea 6:6-7 as saying that the Israelites transgressed their covenant, just like Adam transgressed his covenant. Job 31:33 does not mention a covenant but refers to Adam in a similar way, showing that Hosea 6 isn’t unique.

                           Resources for Law and Gospel study

I pray you find these resources helpful in your Christian life and ministry.

Law and Grace. Sermon by Charles Spurgeon The Spurgeon Library | Law and Grace 

Christ the End of the Law. Sermon by Charles Spurgeon The Spurgeon Library | Christ the End of the Law

The Spurgeon Library | Jehovah Tsidkenu-The Lord Our Righteousness

https://heidelblog.net/2024/03/letter-and-spirit/. A chapter from an excellent book. This chapter provides a history of law/gospel and specifically helps with preaching.

Mike Abendroth Law and Gospel on American Gospel t.v.  A short video series.
Martin Luther sermon on law/gospel distinction LutherSermon.pdf (ccle.org)

Lee Irons on the 3rd use of the law. The Law in the Hand of Christ (upper-register.com).

The Modern Marrow Man podcast with Tom Hicks and John Divito. Modern Marrow Men on Apple Podcasts

Books
The Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded – John Bunyan. The Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded · Great Christian Books · Online Store Powered by Storenvy
​
True Bounds of Christian Freedom - Samuel Bolton. The True Bounds of Christian Freedom - Puritan Paperbacks (Bolton) - Reformation Heritage Books

The Whole Christ - Sinclair Ferguson. The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance?Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (Ferguson) - Reformation Heritage Books

The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification – Walter Marshal. The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (Marshall) - Reformation Heritage Books

A Treatise on Law and gospel by John Colquhoun free from Reformation heritage currently A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel (Colquhoun) - Free Edition (heritagebooks.org). Also some helps to go with it - the-law-and-the-gospel-lecture-notes-template-jan13-v1.pdf (thelawandthegospel.com)

Perhaps, these last two are more for pastor types.
The Marrow of Modern Divinity by E.F. with Thomas Boston’s notes. The Marrow of Modern Divinity (Fisher- Christian Focus Hardcover) - Reformation Heritage Books

The Christian Ministry - Charles Bridges.  The Christian Ministry (Bridges) - Reformation Heritage Books


                                    Law/Gospel Catechism[1]
This is the first lesson, to know the right way to the kingdom of heaven and this entails knowing the difference between the law and the gospel.
​
How many ways does the Word of God teach that there are to come into the kingdom of heaven?
Two.

What are the two ways?
The law and the gospel.

What does the law have to say?
Do this and live.
Rom 2:13; 10:5
 
What does the gospel have to say?
Believe in Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Rom 10:9
 
Can we come into the Kingdom of God by way of God’s Law?
No.
Why not?
Because we cannot do it.
Rom 3:10
 
Why can we not do it?
Because we are all sinners and born in sin.
Rom 3:9, 23
 
What does it mean to be born in sin?
To be naturally bent toward evil.

How did it occur that we are all born in sin?
Because our first father Adam sinned.
Rom 5:12, 18
 
Does the law help us achieve what it requires?
No, it only reveals sin, condemns and kills
Rom 3:20; 7:5, 9-11
 
Which way then do you hope to come to the Kingdom of Heaven?
By the Gospel

What is the Gospel?
The glad words of salvation by Jesus Christ.

To whom are the glad words brought: To the righteous?
No.

Why not?
For two reasons.

What is the first reason?
Because there are none that are righteous and do not sin.

What is the second reason?
Because if we were righteous without sin we should have no need of Christ Jesus.

To whom then is this glad word brought?
To sinners.
Rom 4:5; 5:6
 
Are the glad words brought to all sinners?
The good news is to be offered to all sinners, but not all will receive Christ’s gift.
Rom 10:16, 17
 
Who then receives the good gift?
Only those are saved who through faith alone are grafted into Christ and accept all His benefits.
Rom 3:28; 11:16-21
 
What does the law require?
That we should be without sin in perfect obedience

What does the gospel require?
Nothing, it is a promise to be received by faith alone offering the forgiveness of sin and the righteousness we need.
Rom 4:3, 7
 
The second lesson is knowing how the law and the gospel sweetly comply in the Christian life.
 
Does the law change?
No, it is always holy, righteous and good reflecting God’s unchanging character.
Rom 7:12
 
How then can the law and the gospel sweetly comply?
Our relationship to the law changes.
 
What do you mean?
In the first lesson we are under the law in what is called the “do this and live” sense.
 
What does it mean to be under the law in the “do this and live” sense?
We have to obey all the law personally, perfectly and perpetually in order to have eternal life. Once we are justified we are no longer under the law in that sense. The law can no longer condemn us.
Rom 7:6; 8:1
 
In what sense are we under the law as believers then?
As a rule of life.
 
What does it mean to be under the law as a rule of life?
Two things: First, It means God has revealed to us how He wants us to live.
Rom 2:18; 13:9-10
 
What is the second?
That we obey because we have life, not in order to get life. We want to please our Father.
Rom 6
 
For an unbeliever the law teaches us of our sin and misery?
Right.
 
As believers keeping God’s law is the holy and happy way of living?
Right.
 
Can you summarize these lessons?
Yes. For an unbeliever the law teaches us of our sin and misery. The law is opposed to the gospel. As believers the law and the gospel work together. 
 
As believers, how is the law useful?
It is a light to our path to guide us how to live in a way that pleases our Lord.
Rom 12:1-16:27
 
As believers how is the gospel useful?
It motivates us out of gratitude to live in a way pleasing to our Lord. Because of the salvation we have been given we serve God.
Rom 12:1-2
 
God speaks in two words: the law and the gospel. There is a danger in either confusing or separating them. The law commands and the gospel gives. The law says, “Do” and the gospel says, “Done!” Both are good, but God does different things through them.
            The law is everything in Scripture that God commands. The gospel is everything in Scripture that makes promises based solely on God’s grace to us in Christ. When it comes to how we receive the promises, law and gospel are opposed, for we are saved apart from the law. The law condemns us, while the gospel is the good news that announces our justification that we are free for the first time to embrace God as our Father rather than our Judge. Lutheran and Reformed traditions distinguish three uses of the law: to expose our guilt and drive us to Christ, a civil use to restrain evil, and to guide Christian obedience. – Horton, Core Christianity, 128.

The basic principle in application is to know whether the passage is a statement of the law or of the gospel. For when the Word is preached, the law and the gospel operate differently. The law exposes the disease of sin, and as a side-effect, stimulates and stirs it up. But it provides no remedy for it. However the gospel not only teaches us what is to be done, it also has the power of the Holy Spirit joined to it…A statement of the law indicates the need for a perfect inherent righteousness, of eternal life given through the works of the law, of the sins which are contrary to the law and of the curse that is due them… By contrast, a statement of the gospel speaks of Christ and his benefits, and of faith being fruitful in good works (The Art of prophesying, 1592, repr. Banner of Truth Trust, 1996, 54-55). – William Perkins     
 
Distinguishing between the law and the gospel is the highest art in Christendom, one who every person who values the name Christian ought to recognize, know, and possess. Where this is lacking, it is not possible to tell who is a Christian and who is a pagan or Jew. That much is at stake in this distinction. - Martin Luther, The Distinction between the Law and Gospel,” January 1, 1532, Willard Burce, translator, Concordia Journal 18 (April 1992), 153.

 


[1]Catechism Inspired by William Twisse (1578–1646). This one is based on Romans.
 

In my last post I discussed the relationship of the Law of God to the believer. While the Law is the standard for how believers are to live, it is no longer in the form of a covenant of works where they must do it in order to obtain, secure, or keep eternal life. The Lord Jesus came as the Last Adam and was born under the Law in order to fulfill its righteous requirements. As we saw last time, the Law as a covenant of works has both a promise of blessing and a threat of a
curse based on one’s performance to it. If at any point the person under the Law fails to perfectly and perpetually keep it, then he is cursed with eternal death (Gal. 3:10). However, if one personally, perfectly, and perpetually keeps the Law, then that person is rewarded with eternal life. In Luke 10, when the lawyer asked Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life, Jesus said that he needed to do the Law (keep it perfectly at all times and in all ways) in order to live (gain eternal life). This covenant of works is encapsulated in the phrase “do this and live” (Luke 10:28; cf. Lev. 18:5). Thankfully, our glorious Lord Jesus was born under this Law as a covenant of works and fulfilled it by personally, perfectly, and perpetually obeying it as an Adam - that is, as a representative for his people. Because of his perfect obedience to the Law, he earned eternal
life for himself and those whom he represented. Believers simply trust in Jesus’ perfect obedience to the Law and his earning the reward of eternal life and receive it as a free gift. Now, while the Law no longer remains a covenant of works for believers, it still remains as a rule of life for them - that is, it tells them how they are to live their life. It is the expression of God’s very will (Rom. 2:18) and is commanded to New Testament Christians (Rom. 13:9-10; Gal. 5:13-14). Understanding this distinction of the Law - the Law as a covenant of works versus the Law as a rule of life - helps us to make sense of Scripture and accurately interpret and apply it to our lives. When Paul says that we are not under the Law but under grace (Rom. 6:14), he does not mean that we are not under the content of the Law (i.e. the Ten Commandments). Rather, what Paul means is that we are not under the Law as a covenant of works (“do this in
order to obtain, secure, or keep eternal life/heaven). Those who do not hold to this distinction tend to think that what Paul means by not being under the Law is that we are no longer under the Ten Commandments, but a new “Law of Christ.” Now, what this ends up functionally being is all of the Ten Commandments except for the 4th Commandment (keeping the Sabbath).


            Nevertheless, stripping away one of God’s Commandments is quite substantial. Just as we would call a person who disregards the 7th Commandment (do not commit adultery) or the 8th Commandment (do not steal) immoral, so someone who breaks the 4th Commandment is likewise immoral. We must understand this distinction between a covenant of works and a rule of life. We are not under the Law as a covenant of works where we must do it in order to live. Rather, the Law is a rule of life for believers (how they are to live) where they first live because of their union with Christ and therefore do it. Believers are still to “do,” however, they do from life and not for life. This is how the reformers understood the distinction between the Law of God and the Law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). The content of the moral Law (the Ten Commandments) do not change. Rather, the relationship to the Law changes. Rather than doing for life (under the Law of God), the believer now does the Law from life. This is what it means to be under the Law of Christ: because Christ has fulfilled the Law as a covenant of works for us, we now keep it, not as a covenant of works, but as a rule of life.
 
Series originally posted April-June 2021
 
Brian Onstead is pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Powell, WY (https://tbcwyoming.com/). He was born and raised in Omaha, NE where he was saved and met his wife Jackie. He then spent three years in San Diego, CA where he attended Westminster Seminary California and the Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies. After graduating in 2015, he moved to Montana where he pastored a church for 4 years. In 2019, he moved to Powell, WY where he currently resides. He and his wife have been married for 10 years and have two young children. You can find his sermons on sermon audio and follow him on Twitter (@brianonstead).

I believe much of the confusion over the law stems from not understanding how it is a covenant of works. The late Meredith Kline once said that those who reject or do not understand the covenant of works are the ones who end up putting others under it. This is because if we do not recognize the covenant of works in Scripture - such as in Genesis 1-2 and Romans 2:6-13 - then we will interpret those sections as normative for believers. For example, a Roman Catholic I was recently interacting with quoted Romans 2:6-13 as proof that believers will be judged by their works. Because he did not understand that Paul was talking about the covenant of works in that section, which believers are no longer under since Christ has fulfilled it, he interpreted it as incentive for obedience so that we can hopefully have enough works to pass final judgment. Not only does a rejection of the covenant of works result in the legalism of putting believers back under a covenant of works, it also leads to a form antinomianism. If the covenant of works is rejected, then Paul’s statement “you are not under the law” (Rom. 6:14) cannot be interpreted as no longer being under the law as a covenant of works, but rather only as to the content of the
law. In this post, I want to simply begin by very briefly introducing the covenant of works before addressing in subsequent posts how it is necessary for having a theology where the Law and the Gospel are clearly distinguished.
 

        The covenant of works is a conditional covenant made with Adam where the reward of eternal life was promised to him upon personal, perpetual, and perfect obedience (works) of the law. Paul says in Galatians 3:10: “Cursed be everyone [personal] who does not abide [perpetual] by all things [perfect] written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” This explains the kind of obedience that is required to the law. Not only does the law pronounce a curse on all who do not perform personal, perpetual, and perfect obedience, it also promises a blessing for those who keep it. A couple of verses later, Paul, quoting the Old Testament, says, “The one who does them [the Ten Commandments] shall live by them” (Gal. 3:12; cf. Lev. 18:5). Paul is not using “live” in the sense that the commandments are rules to live by (which they are). Rather, a more accurate translation to the Greek would be, “the one having done them will live by them.” That is, after one has done them (personally, perpetually, perfectly), then - and only then - will he live by them (gain life from having done them). This life is obviously not referring to physical life or unto one’s heart beating. You have to already be physically alive in order to do them. Rather, this is referring to eternal life - everlasting life - a glorified life with God in eternity. This is what Jesus was referring to in Luke 10:25-28 when the lawyer asked Jesus what one must do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25). Jesus’ answer was “do this (the law) and live” (Luke 10:28). This is the same thing that Paul is saying. So, the Law not only pronounces a curse on those who fail to keep it, it also promises a blessing (eternal life) to the one who keeps it (see also Romans 2:6-10
where there is both an eternal curse and eternal reward - eternal life - based on works). This law was given to Adam in the Garden. We see this by logical deduction and inference in Romans 1 & 2. Paul says that all men intuitively know the law and the penalty for breaking it (Rom. 1:32) and that all men by nature know what the law requires whether Jew or Gentile (Rom. 2:14-15). If this is true naturally, then that means it is part of the make-up of man created in the image of God. The first man, therefore, who received a curse for failed obedience, would have known the law intuitively, especially when he was without sin.

        Having fallen, however, he was thrust out of the land of Eden and all men have been in exile in Adam ever since. Thankfully, God sent his Son to be another Adam - the Last Adam - who represented his own by his obedience, even under testing like the first Adam. Christ did what the first Adam failed to do and fulfilled the covenant of works by offering up personal, perpetual, and perfect obedience to the entire law including receiving its curse for our failed
obedience. Because of this all those who are in Christ are justified (the declaration that the law has been personally, perpetually, and perfectly obeyed) and therefore receive the blessing of eternal life: “so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). All we have to do is simply place our trust in Christ’s obedience and it becomes ours for free and we freely receive the reward of that obedience: eternal life.
 
 
Series originally posted April-June 2021
 
Brian Onstead is pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Powell, WY (https://tbcwyoming.com/). He was born and raised in Omaha, NE where he was saved and met his wife Jackie. He then spent three years in San Diego, CA where he attended Westminster Seminary California and the Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies. After graduating in 2015, he moved to Montana where he pastored a church for 4 years. In 2019, he moved to Powell, WY where he currently resides. He and his wife have been married for 10 years and have two young children. You can find his sermons on sermon audio and follow him on Twitter (@brianonstead).

 
 There has been much confusion over the relationship of the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) to the believer throughout church history and especially in our day. There are antinomians who, in one way or another, deny the Law of God, whether it is by crossing out the 4th Commandment, or by saying that the Law was only for the Jews and has no place in the Christian’s life, or by declaring that God broke his Law in order to love (as one famous heretic
recently said). On the other side, there are legalists who put believers back under the Law as a covenant of works. They use the threat of judgment in order to effect change. They suspend believers’ justification and keep the threat of condemnation possible until believers strive to produce an undetermined amount of holiness (which they are always left guessing and which only the pastor or preacher can determine) in order to keep people incentivized to pursue holiness. In all of this, there is great confusion over the relationship of the Law to the believer.
 
 
 
A helpful pedagogical tool that the Reformers used is called the three uses of the Law. They get this from the Apostle Paul’s statement in 1Timothy 1:8 where he says, “Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully.” Obviously, the Law is good no matter what, but what Paul is talking about here is good versus bad uses of the Law. The Law is good in relationship to a sinner only if it is used lawfully (that is, correctly). Thus, the issue is the right or correct use of the Law. So, then, how does one use the Law lawfully or correctly? Well, based on taking into consideration the whole counsel of God (that is, all the Scriptures and drawing non-contradictory, accurate conclusions from it) the Reformers give three correct uses of the Law.


 
The first (sometimes enumerated differently) is that the Law is referred to as the pedagogical use - that is, the Law teaches us the greatness of our sin and misery in order to lead us to Christ. This comes from what Paul goes on to immediately say in 1 Timothy 1:9 “understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…” The Greek word for “laid down” means “laid or placed upon.” The sense of word comes across in our saying, “I’m going to lay down the law!” When we say this, we are referring to someone who has already done something wrong and needs to be confronted with their wrong-doing. This is what Paul is referring to here. The Law is laid down or laid upon sinners. That is, it shows them the greatness of their sin and misery and therefore their need for Christ. It is meant to lead them to be justified only through faith in Christ (cf.Gal.3:19-24).
 

         The second use of the Law is what is referred to as the civil use - that is, it restrains evil in the civil realm. There are laws against murder and stealing in every society that come with penal consequences in order to deter evil. This does not actually produce a true righteousness from the heart; rather, it merely restrains certain expressions of the evil heart through consequences. Disciplining our children is another example of this use. Our discipline does not
actually regenerate their heart and make them truly obedience with a heart of faith and repentance; only the gospel can do that. Rather, it merely restrains or deters their disobedience by teaching them that there are consequences for their actions.



​        The third use of the Law is that it is the rule of life - that is, it is the rule for how we or to live our life; it guides us in how we are to live out of gratitude to God for saving us. The Apostle Paul tells us that the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) expresses God’s will for our life (Rom. 2:18). After spending eleven chapters declaring to us God’s glorious gospel and how he has saved us, he then goes on to tell us to keep the Commandments because this is how we love our neighbor as ourselves (Rom. 13:8-10). He does the same in Galatians 5:13-14. So, Paul’s conclusion to us being saved is not that we set aside the Law or have no use of it any longer, but rather the exact opposite: that we keep the Law because we have been saved by Christ’s death and resurrection from both the penalty and power of sin. While we are not saved by keeping the Law, yet one of the purposes for us being saved is in order to keep the Law. So, the issue is not the Law itself, as if it must now be set aside, but rather in the use of the Law. We must use it lawfully.
 
Series originally posted April-June 2021
Brian Onstead is pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Powell, WY (https://tbcwyoming.com/). He was born and raised in Omaha, NE where he was saved and met his wife Jackie. He then spent three years in San Diego, CA where he attended Westminster Seminary California and the Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies. After graduating in 2015, he moved to Montana where he pastored a church for 4 years. In 2019, he moved to Powell, WY where he currently resides. He and his wife have been married for 10 years and have two young children. You can find his sermons on sermon audio and follow him on Twitter (@brianonstead).