Chapter 19
Of the Law of God
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God gave to Adam a law of universal
obedience, written in his heart, and
a particular precept of not eating
the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil;1 by
which He bound him and all his
posterity, to personal, entire, exact
and perpetual obedience;2 promised life upon the
fulfilling, and threatened death upon
the breach of it, and endued him with
power and ability to keep it.3
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The same law that was first written
in the heart of man, continued to be
a perfect rule of righteousness after
the fall,4 and
delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in
ten commandments, and written in two
tables, the four first containing our
duty towards God, and the other six
our duty to man.5
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Besides this law, commonly called
moral, God was pleased to give to the
people of Israel ceremonial laws,
containing several typical
ordinances, partly of worship,
prefiguring Christ, His graces,
actions, sufferings, and
benefits;6 and
partly holding forth divers
instructions of moral duties,7 all which ceremonial
laws being appointed only to the time
of reformation, are, by Jesus Christ,
the true Messiah and only law-giver,
who was furnished with power from the
Father for that end, abrogated and
taken away.8
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To them also He gave sundry judicial
laws, which expired together with the
state of that people, not obliging
any now by virtue of that
institution; their general equity
only being of modern use.9
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The moral law doth for ever bind all,
as well justified persons as others,
to the obedience thereof,10 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;11 neither
doth Christ in the Gospel any way
dissolve, but much strengthen this
obligation.12
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Although true believers be not under
the law, as a covenant of works, to
be thereby justified or
condemned,13 yet
it is 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;
discovering also the sinful
pollutions of their natures, hearts,
and lives, so as examining themselves
thereby, they may come to further
conviction of, humiliation for, and
hatred against sin;14 together with a
clearer sight of the need they have
of Christ, and the perfection of His
obedience: it is likewise of use to
the regenerate, to restrain their
corruptions, in that it forbids sin;
and the threatening 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 and unallayed
rigour thereof. These promises of it
likewise show them God's approbation
of obedience, and what blessings they
may expect upon the performance
thereof, though not as due to them by
the law as a covenant of works; so as
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.15
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Neither are the forementioned uses of
the law contrary to the grace of the
Gospel, but do sweetly comply with
it,16 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.17
Footnotes:
1. Ge
1:27; Ecc 7:29.
2. Ro
10:5.
3. Gal
3:10,12.
4. Ro
2:14-15.
5. Dt
10:4.
6. Heb
10:1; Col 2:17.
7. 1Co
5:7.
8. Col
2:14,16-17; Eph 2:14,16.
9. 1Co
9:8-10.
10.
Ro 13:8-10; Jas 2:8,10-12.
11.
Jas 2:10-11.
12.
Mt 5:17-19; Ro 3:31.
13.
Ro 6:14; Gal 2:16; Ro 8:1; 10:4.
14.
Ro 3:20; 7:7-25.
15.
Ro 6:12-14; 1Pe 3:8-13.
16.
Gal 3:21.
17.
Eze 36:27.
©1998 Limerick Free
Baptist Church
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Free Baptist Church of Limerick