Notes: Chapter Iii. Of The Law Of Christ.
Notes: CHAPTER III. OF THE LAW OF CHRIST.
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The author teaches here that the matter of the Law of Works, and of the Law of Christ, is one: namely, the Ten Commandments, commonly called the Moral Law. — See p. 28, note. And this law of the Ten Commandments was given by God, and so it is of divine authority, to be a rule of righteousness for men to walk by; it is a true rule agreeable in all things to the divine nature and will; it is an eternal rule, indispensable, to continue forever without interruption for any one moment; and if is for all men, good and bad, saints and sinners, of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, at all times, in all ages; it is from the moment of man’s creation, before the fall and after the fall; thus it is before the Covenant of Works, under the Covenant of Works, and under the Covenant of Grace in its several periods. Thus he asserts this great truth, in terms used by orthodox divines, but with a greater variety of expression than is generally used on this topic, which serves to inculcate it all the more. And speaking of the Ten Commandments, he declares in these words, “That Christ has not delivered believers in any way from them other than as they are the Covenant of Works. The scope of this part of the book is to show that believers ought to receive them as the Law of Christ, whom we believe to be with the Father, and the Holy Ghost — the eternal Jehovah, the Supreme, the most High God; and consequently to receive it as a law having a commanding power and binding force on the believer, from the authority of God and not as a simple passive rule, like a workman’s rule, that has no authority over him to command and bind him to follow its direction. No, our author aknowledges the Ten Commandments to be a law for believers as well as others, again and again commanding, requiring, forbidding, reproving, and condemning sin — a law to which believers must yield obedience, and fenced with a penalty which transgressing believers are to fear, as being under the law to Christ. These things are so manifest that it is quite beyond my reach to conceive how, from the author’s doctrine on this topic, and especially from the passage we are now upon, it can be inferred that he teaches that the believer is not under the law as a rule of life; or how it can be affirmed that he does not acknowledge the law’s commanding power and binding force upon the believer, but makes it a simple passive rule to him — unless the meaning that the author teaches is, “That the believer is not under the Covenant of Works as a rule of life;” or “That the law, as it is the Covenant of Works, is not a rule of life to the believer; and that he does not acknowledge the commanding power, and binding force of the Covenant of Works on the believer;” or “That obedience is not commanded of him on pain of the curse, and bound upon him with the cords of the threat of eternal death in hell.” For otherwise, it is evident that he teaches the law of the Ten Commandments is a rule of life to a believer, and has a commanding and binding power over him. Now, if these are errors, the author is undoubtedly guilty; and if his sentiments on these topics were proposed in those terms, as the thing itself requires, no wrong would be done him in this. But it appears from what is already said, that these are gospel-truths: and the contrary doctrines all issue out of the womb of that dangerous position, “That the believer is not set free from both the commanding and condemning power of the Covenant of Works,” — which was mentioned before. See p. 22, note, and p. 26, note.
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These texts are adduced to show that those to whom the law of the Ten Commandments is given, as the Law of Christ, are those who have already received life, even life that shall never end; and that is God’s free gift, before they were capable of doing good works; therefore they need not work for life, but from life. “The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us that God is the Lord, and our God, and REDEEMER, and therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.” Luke 1.74, “That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve him without fear.” — 1Pet. 1.15, “As he that has called you is holy, so you be holy; because it is written, Be holy for I am holy. Because you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things — but with the precious blood of Christ.” Short. Cat. with the Scriptures at large.
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See pages 113, 114, notes. The author treats this penalty of the Law of Christ afterwards.
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To direct the believer how to receive the law of the Ten Commandments with application to himself, he assigns this difference between the Law of Works and the Law of Christ. The one, namely, the Law of Works, is the law of the Ten Commandments; but it is supposed to be delivered by God as he is Creator, apart from Christ; and so God standing in relation to man only as Creator and not as Redeemer; the other — namely, the Law of Christ — is the same law of the Ten Commandments; but it is supposed to be delivered by God, not only as he is Creator, but also Redeemer in Christ. Although the notion of Creator does not imply that of Redeemer, yet Redeemer implies Creator; as God is Redeemer, he is sovereign Lord Creator, otherwise we are still in our sins. For no one of inferior dignity could remove our offence or guilt. But the word of truth secures this foundation of believers’ safety and comfort; Isa. 44.6, 24, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides me there is no God. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He that formed you from the’ womb, I am the Lord that makes all things, that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreads abroad the earth by myself.” — Chap. 54.5, “Your Maker is your Husband.”
Now, the law of the Ten Commandments is given in the former way [as Creator], only to unbelievers, or those who are apart from Christ; it is given in the latter way [as Redeemer] to believers, or those who are in Christ. And to prove whether this is a vain distinction or not, one need only consult the conscience when thoroughly awakened, whether it is all the same, to receive the law of the ten commandnients in the thunders from Mount Sinai, or in the still small voice out of the tabernacle; that is, from an absolute God, or from a God in Christ.
It is true, unbelievers are not under the law as the Law of Christ, and that is their misery: even as it is the misery of slaves that the commands of the master of the family, though the matter of the commands is the same for them and the children, yet they are not fatherly commands to them, as they are to the children; but they are purely masterly. And they are not hereby freed from any duty within the compass of the perfect law of the Ten Commandments; for these commands are the matter of the Law of Works, as well as the matter of the law of Christ. Nor are they thereby exempted from Christ’s authority and jurisdiction, since the Law of Works is his law, as he is the Sovereign Lord Creator with the Father and the Holy Ghost: indeed, and even as Mediator, he rules in the midst of his enemies, and he rules over them, with a rod of iron. (Psa 2.9; Rev 2.27, 12.5, 19.15).
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Receiving the Ten Commandments at the hands of Christ is opposed here (1.) To receiving them at the hands of God apart from Christ. (2.) To receiving them at the hands of Moses, namely, as our Lawgiver. The first is receiving them immediately from God, without a Mediator; and so it is receiving them as the Law of Works. The second is receiving them from Christ, the true Mediator, yet immediately by the intervention of a typical one; and so it is receiving them as a Law of Moses, the typical Mediator, who delivered them from the ark or tabernacle. It is to this, and not to delivering them from Mount Sinai, that the author looks at here, as evident from his own words, page 181. The former manner of receiving them is not agreeable to the state of real believers, since they never were, nor are, given in that manner to believers in Christ, but only to unbelievers — whether under the Old or New Testament. The latter is not agreeable to the state of New Testament believers, since the true Mediator has come, and is sealed by the Father as the great Prophet to whom Moses must give way, Mat. 17.5; Acts 3.22. See Turretin, loc. 11. q. 24, th. 15. However, not receiving Moses as the lawgiver of the Christian church, carries no prejudice to the honour of that faithful servant; nor to receiving his writings as the word of God — for they are of divine inspiration; indeed, the fundamental divine revelation.
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This plainly concludes that to receive the law of the Ten Commandments from God, as Creator apart from Christ, is to receive them as the law (or covenant) of works; unless men fancy that after God has made two covenants, the one of works, the other of grace, he will still deal with them neither in the one way, nor the other.