OF THE LAW OF GOD

1.  God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart, and a very specific instruction about not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; by which He bound him and all his posterity to personal, total, exact, and perpetual obedience; being promised life upon the fulfilling of the law, and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued Adam with power and ability to keep it. [1]

2.  The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables, the first four containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.[2]

3.  ¯  Besides this law, commonly called the moral law, God was pleased to give to the people of Israel ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly about their worship, prefiguring Christ along with His gracious attributes and qualities, His actions, His sufferings, and His benefits; and partly holding forth various instructions of moral duties; all of these ceremonial laws were appointed only until the time of reformation, when Jesus Christ the true Messiah and only lawgiver, who was furnished with power from the Father for this end cancelled them and took them away.[3]

4.  To the people of Israel He also gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging anyone now by virtue of that institution; their general equity continue to be of moral use in modern times.[4]

5.  The moral law forever binds everyone to obedience, justified persons as well as others, and not only from regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect for the authority of God the Creator, who gave the law; neither does Christ in the Gospel dissolve this law in any way, but He considerably strengthens our obligation to obey it.[5]

6.  Although true believers are not under the law as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned by it, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, because as a rule of life it informs them of the will of God and their duty and directs and binds them to walk accordingly; it  also reveals and exposes the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, and so examining themselves by it, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin; 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, because of the way that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of the law 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 undiminished rigors of the law.  The promises of the law also show believers God’s approval of obedience, and what blessings they may expect when the law is kept and obeyed, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; if a man does good and refrains from evil simply because the law encourages to the good and deters him from the evil, that is no evidence that he is under the law rather than under grace.[6]

7.  Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, as the Spirit of Christ subdues and enables the will of man to freely and cheerfully so those things which the will of God, revealed in the law, requires to be done.[7]