The Lord requires perfect obedience to all Ten Commandments
The Use Of The Law.
The Lord requires perfect obedience to all Ten Commandments
Evan. Yes, indeed he does. And if you question it, I ask you to consider further, that when someone asked our Saviour, which is the “great commandment in the law?” he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This,” he says, “is the first and great commandment; and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” Mat. 22.37—39.
Whereupon, says a famous spiritual expositor, “God will have the whole heart;” all the powers of our souls must be bent towards him; he will have himself acknowledged and reckoned as our sovereign and supreme good; our love to him must be perfect and absolute. He requires that there not be found in us the least thought, inclination, or appetite for anything which may displease him; and that we direct all our actions to this very end: that he alone may be glorified by us. And for the love we bear to God, we must do well to our neighbour, according to the commandments of God. Consider also, I implore you, that it is said in Deu. 27.26 and Gal. 3.10, “Cursed is every one that does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” Now, if you consider these things well, you will perceive that the Lord requires that every man keep all Ten Commandments perfectly, as I have expounded them, and that includes all those under the curse who do not keep them accordingly.
Nom. Surely, sir, you mistake in saying that the Lord requires that every man keep all Ten Commandments perfectly; for I suppose you would have said, the Lord requires that every man endeavour to keep them perfectly.
Evan. No, neighbour Nomologista, I did not mistake. For I say again, that the Lord requires of every man, perfect obedience to all Ten Commandments; and that includes all those under the curse who do not yield to it. For it is not said, Cursed is every man that does not endeavour to continue in all things, but “Cursed is every one that does not continue in all things,” etc.
Nom. But, sir, do you think that any man continues in all things, as you have expounded them?
Evan. No, no; it is impossible for any man to do that.
Nom. And, sir, what does it mean to be under the curse?
Evan. To be under the curse, as Luther and Perkins well agree, is to be under sin, the wrath of God, and everlasting death.
Nom. But, sir, I ask you, how can this stand with the justice of God, to require man to do what is impossible, and yet to include him under the curse for not doing it?
Evan. You will perceive that it well stands with the justice of God to deal so with man, if you consider that these Ten Commandments which we have now expounded, or this law of God, as Ursinus’s Catechism truly says of it, is “A doctrine agreeing with the eternal and immortal wisdom and justice that is in God;” in which, Calvin says, “God has so painted out his own nature, that in a way, it expresses the very image of God.” And we read in Gen. 1.27, that man was at first created in the image or likeness of God, from which it must follow that this law was written in his heart. That is to say, God engraved in man’s heart such wisdom and knowledge of his will and works, and such integrity in his soul, and such fitness in all its powers, that his mind was able to conceive, and his heart was able to desire, and his body was able to execute, anything that was acceptable to God; so that indeed he was able to keep all Ten Commandments perfectly.
And therefore, though God requires impossible things of man, he is not unjust, nor does he injure us in doing so, because he commanded them when they were possible. And though we have now lost our ability to perform it, because we voluntary fell from the state of innocence in which we were created at first, God has not lost his right to require of us what he once gave us.