Second, from the names given to Christ.
Second, from the names given to Christ.
§ 66. (II) The second argument for their assertion is taken from the names which are given to Christ and to His teaching. Christ is called “King,” “Judge,” “our Lawgiver” (Isa. 33:22); “King of kings” (Rev. 19:16); “Ruler” (Mic. 5:2); “Ruler of kings on earth” (Rev. 1:5). His teaching is called “law” (Isa. 2:3). Therefore Christ brought new laws.
We respond. (1) With the Father and the Holy Spirit, Christ is one God, who engraved the moral Law in human minds and solemnly repeated it on Mount Sinai. In this sense we do not deny that He can be called a Lawgiver. But the question is whether Christ as Mediator came into the world for the sake of publishing new laws. This we deny.
(2) Christ is called the Ruler of His church not because He publishes new laws but because He gathers the kingdom of grace to Himself through the public ministry of the Word; He directs its citizens through His Word and Holy Spirit, defends them against Satan and all their enemies, and finally transfers them into the kingdom of glory.
(3) The word “law” is being used generally to mean “teaching”; for, as we have shown earlier [On the Law of God (Commonplace XV), § 2], ּתֹורָה [“Torah, law”] comes from the root יָרָה, “he sowed, he taught.” Therefore it is in this way that the Gospel is called “the law of faith” [Rom. 3:27], that is, the teaching of faith, “the hearing of faith” (Gal. 3:2), “the word of faith” (Rom. 10:8).