Of the law of god
John Gill
It appears by what has been
observed, that there was an intermixture of law and gospel under the former
dispensation, as there also is in the present one; they are interspersed in
both testaments; though the law was more largely held forth than the gospel, under the former dispensation; and therefore we
commonly call it the legal dispensation; and there is more of the gospel than
of the law under the present dispensation; for which reason we call it the
gospel dispensation; yet there are of each in both; and here will be a proper
place to treat of law and gospel distinctly, which will connect what has been
already said to what is yet to be said; and by the latter I
shall be naturally led to the great and glorious truths of the gospel, I intend
to treat distinctly of. And shall begin with the law.
The word law is variously used,
sometimes for a part of the Scriptures only, the Pentateuch, or five books of
Moses; as when it is mentioned in the division of the Scripture
by Christ, #Lu 24:44 and along with the prophets, and as distinct from them,
#Joh 1:45 8:5. Sometimes for all the books of the Old Testament, which in
general go by the name of the Law, as does the book of Psalms on that account,
as the places quoted out of it, or referred to in it, show, #Joh 10:34 #Joh
12:34 15:25. Sometimes it signifies the doctrine of the Scriptures in general,
both legal and evangelical, #Ps 19:7 and the doctrine of the
gospel in particular, even the doctrine of the Messiah, #Isa 2:3 #Isa 42:4
called in the New Testament "the law", or doctrine "of
faith", #Ro 3:27 and sometimes it signifies the whole body of laws given
from God by Moses to the children of Israel, as distinct from the gospel of the
grace of God, #Joh 1:17 and which may be distinguished into the laws
ceremonial, judicial, and moral.
1. The ceremonial law, of
which little need be said, since much has been observed concerning it already;
this concerns the ecclesiastical state of the Jews, their priests, sacrifices,
feasts, fasts, washings, &c. and though some of these rites were before the
times of Moses, as sacrifices, the distinction of clean and
unclean creatures, circumcision, &c. yet these were renewed and confirmed,
and others added to them; and the whole digested into a body of laws by Moses,
and given by him under a divine direction to the people of Israel. This law was
a shadow of good things to come by Christ, of evangelical things, and indeed
was no other than the gospel veiled in types and figures;
the priests served to the example and shadow of heavenly things; the sacrifices
were typical of the sacrifice of Christ; the festivals were shadows, of which
Christ was the body and substance; the ablutions typified cleansing by the
blood of Christ; and the whole was a schoolmaster to the Jews, until he came;
but when faith came, that is, Christ, the object of faith, they were no longer under a schoolmaster, nor had they need of the law as
such; there was a disannulling of it, because of its weakness and
unprofitableness; for it became useless and unnecessary, having its
accomplishment in Christ.
2. The judicial law, which respects
the political state or civil government of the Jews, and
consists of statutes and judgments, according to which the judges in Israel
determined all causes brought before them, and passed sentence; in which
sentence the people were to acquiesce, #De 17:8-11. Such as related to any
injuries done to their persons or property, and to the punishment of offences,
both of a greater and of a lesser kind; these were given by Moses, but not made
by him; they were made by God himself. The government of the
Jews was a very particular form of government; it was a theocracy, a government
immediately under God; though he is King of the whole world, and Governor among
and over the nations of it, yet he was in a special and peculiar manner King
over Israel; and he made laws for them, by which they were to be ruled and
governed: nor had the commonwealth of Israel a power to make
any new laws; nor any of their judges and rulers, not even Moses, their
lawgiver under God: and therefore, when any matter came before him, not clearly
determined by any law given by God, he suspended the determination of it until
he knew the mind of God about it; see #Le 24:12 Nu 15:34. And when the people
of Israel were desirous of a king, after the manner of neighbouring nations, it
was resented by the Lord, and reckoned by him as a rejection
of him from being their King; and though he gave them a king, or suffered them
to have one, it was in anger; and so far he still kept the peculiar government
of them in his hands, that their kings never had any power to make new laws;
nor did their best and wisest of kings make any, as David and Solomon; and when
a reformation was made among them, as by Hezekiah and
Josiah, it was not by making any new regulations, but by putting the old laws
into execution; and by directing and requiring of the judges, and other
officers, to act according to them.
It may be inquired, whether
the judicial laws, or the laws respecting the Jewish polity,
are now in force or not, and to be observed or not; which may be resolved by
distinguishing between them; there were some that were peculiar to the state of
the Jews, their continuance in the land of Canaan, and while their polity
lasted, and until the coming of the Messiah, when they were to cease, as is
clear from #Ge 49:10 such as related to inheritances, and the alienation of
them by marriage or otherwise; the restoration of them when
sold at the year of jubilee; the marrying of a brother's wife when he died
without issue, &c. the design of which was, to keep the tribes distinct
until the Messiah came, that it might be clearly known from what tribe he
sprung. And there were others that were peculiarly suited to the natural temper
and disposition of that people, who were covetous, cruel, and oppressive of the
poor, froward and perverse, jealous and revengeful; hence
the laws concerning the manumission of servants sold, at the end of the sixth
year; the release of debts, and letting the land rest from tillage every
seventh year; concerning lending on interest; leaving a corner in the field for
the poor, and the forgotten sheaf; --and others concerning divorces, and the
trial of a suspected wife, and the cities of refuge to flee to
from the avenger of blood: these, with others, ceased when the Jewish polity
did, and are not binding on other nations. But then there were other judicial
laws, which were founded on the light of nature, on reason, and on justice and
equity, and these remain in full force; and they must be wise as well as
righteous laws, which were made by God himself, their King and Legislator, as
they are said to be, #De 4:6,8. And they are, certainly, the
best constituted and regulated governments that come nearest to the
commonwealth of lsrael, and the civil laws of it, which are of the kind last
described; and where they are acted up unto, there what is said by Wisdom is
most truly verified, "By me kings reign, and princes decree
judgment"; and if these laws were more strictly attended to, which respect
the punishment of offences, especially capital ones, things
would be put upon a better footing than they are in some governments; and
judges, in passing sentences, would be able to do that part of their office
with more certainty and safety, and with a better conscience. And whereas the
commonwealth of Israel was governed by these laws for many hundreds of years,
and needed no other in their civil polity, when, in such a course of time, every case that ordinarily happens, must arise, and be brought
into a court of judicature; I cannot but be of opinion, that a digest of civil
laws might be made out of the Bible, the law of the Lord that is perfect,
either as lying in express words in it, or to be deduced by the analogy of
things and cases, and by just consequence, as would be sufficient for the
government of any nation: and then there would be no need
of so many law books, nor of so many lawyers; and perhaps there would be fewer
law suits. However, we Christians, under whatsoever government we are, are
directed to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, and for
conscience sake; even to everyone that is not contrary to common sense and
reason, and to religion and conscience; see #Ro 13:1-7 Tit 3:1 1Pe 2:13,14.
3. The moral law, which lies
chiefly in the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, #Ex 20:3-17 and which our Lord
has reduced, even both tables of the law, to two capital ones, love to God, and
love to our neighbour, #Mt 22:36-40 as the apostle has reduced the commands of
the second table to one, that is, love, which he calls the fulfilling
of the law, #Ro 13:9,10. And this law, to love God and our neighbour, is
binding on every man, and is eternal, and remains invariable and unalterable;
and concerning which I shall treat more largely. And shall consider,
3a. First, The author and
giver of this law; God was the author and maker of it; Moses
the giver and minister of it from God; it was God that first spoke the ten
words, or commands, to the children of Israel; and it was he that wrote and
engraved them on tables of stone; the writing was the writing of God, and the
engraving was by the finger of God; it was from his right hand this fiery law
went: the ministry of angels was made use of in it; it is called, the word
spoken by angels; it was given by the disposition of them;
it was ordained by them in the hands of a mediator, who was Moses, who stood
between God and the people, received the lively oracles from him, and delivered
them to them. There was a law in being before the times of Moses; or otherwise
there would have been no transgression, no imputation of sin, no charge of
guilt, nor any punishment inflicted; whereas death, the
just demerit of sin, reigned from Adam to Moses; and besides the positive law,
which forbid the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil;
and was given as a trial of man's obedience to the whole moral law, and in the
form of a covenant, in which Adam stood as a federal head, to all his
posterity; and which covenant he broke, and involved himself and his in misery
and ruin. Besides this, there was the law of nature,
inscribed on his heart by his Maker, as the rule of his obedience to him; and
by which he knew much of God, and of the nature of moral good and evil; and
which; though much obliterated by the fall, some remains of it are to be
discerned in Adam's posterity; and even in the Gentiles, #Ro 1:19,20 2:14,15
and which is reinscribed in the hearts of God's people in regeneration, according to the tenor of the covenant of grace, #Jer 31:33.
Now the law of Moses, for matter and substance, is the same with the law of
nature, though differing in the form of administration; and this was renewed in
the times of Moses, that it might be confirmed, and that it might not be
forgotten, and be wholly lost out of the minds of men; of which there was great
danger, through the great prevalence of corruption in the
world: and it was written, that it might remain, "litera scripta
manet"; and it was written on tables of stone, that it might be the more
durable; the apostle says, "it was added because of transgressions",
to forbid them, restrain them, and punish for them; and it "entered that
the offence might abound", the sin of Adam; that the heinousness of it
might appear, and the justness of its imputation to all his posterity might be manifest; as well as all other offences might be seen
by it to be exceeding sinful, and righteously punishable: see #Ga 3:19 Ro 5:20
#Ro 7:13. It was not delivered as a pure covenant of works, though the
self-righteous Jews turned it into one, and sought for life and righteousness
by it: and so it gendered to bondage, and became a killing letter; nor a pure
covenant of grace, though it was given as a distinguishing
favour to the people of Israel, #De 4:6,8 Ps 147:19,20 #Ro 9:4 and much mercy
and kindness are expressed in it; and it is prefaced with a declaration of the
Lord being the God of Israel, who had, of his great goodness, brought them out
of the land of Egypt, #Ex 20:2,6,12. But it was a part and branch of the
typical covenant, under which the covenant of grace was administered under the
former dispensation; and of what it was typical, has been
observed before; and a principal end of its being renewed was, that Christ, who
was to come of the Jews, might appear to be made under the law, as the surety
of his people, the righteousness of which he was to fulfil, and, indeed, all
righteousness; being the end of the law, the scope at which it aimed, as well
as the fulfiller of it.
3b. Secondly, The epithets of
this law, or the properties of it, may be next considered; such as the
scriptures expressly give to it; and which will lead into the nature and
quality of it. As,
3b1.
That it is perfect. "The law of the Lord is perfect",
#Ps 19:7
which is true of the moral law, by which men come
to know
"what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of
God",
#Ro 12:2 what it is his will should be done, and what
not be done;
it takes in the whole duty of men, both to God
and
man; for to fear God, and keep his commandments, is the
whole duty of
man; it includes love to God, and love to our
neighbour;
and which are comprehensive of every duty to
both: it is
very large and capacious; it is the commandment
which is
exceeding broad; it is so complete and perfect,
that
as nothing is to be detracted from it, so nothing is to
be added to
it, nor can be added to it, to make it more
perfect: the
papists talk of counsels, exhortations, &c. as
additions;
but these belong either to law or gospel. And the
Socinians
say, that Christ came to make the law more
perfect;
which they infer from some passages in #Mt 5:1-48
where Christ
observes, that it had been said by some of the
ancients of
old, thus and thus; but he said, so and so;
which is not
to be understood of any new laws made by him,
but as giving
the true sense of the old laws, and
vindicating
them from the false glosses and interpretations
of the
Scribes and Pharisees: and when the apostle John
speaks of a
new commandment, he means the old commandment to
love one
another, as he himself explains it, #1Jo 2:7,8 and
which he
calls new, because enforced by a new instance and
example
of Christ's love in dying for his people, and by new
motives and
arguments taken from the same.---
3b2. It is
spiritual; We know that the law is spiritual, says the
apostle, #Ro
7:14 which is to be understood of the moral
law;
for as for the ceremonial law, that is called, "The law
of a carnal
commandment"; and is said to stand in "carnal
ordinances",
#Heb 7:16 9:10 which only reached the flesh,
and the
sanctifying of that: but the moral law is so
spiritual in
its nature and requirements, that so holy and
spiritual
a man as the apostle Paul when he compared himself
with it, and
viewed himself in the glass of it, thought
himself
"carnal, and sold under sin". The law reaches to the
thoughts and
intents of the heart, and the affections of the
mind, and
forbids and checks all irregular and inordinate
motions
in it, and the lusts of it. Thus, for instance, the
sixth command
not only forbids actual murder, but all undue
heat,
passion, anger, wrath, malice, resentment and revenge,
conceived in
the mind, and expressed by words. So the
seventh
command not only prohibits the outward acts of
uncleanness,
as fornication, adultery, &c. but all unclean
thoughts,
impure desires, and unchaste affections, as well
as looks and
words. The law directs, not only to an external
worship of
God, but to an internal, spiritual one; as to
love the
Lord, to fear him, and put trust and confidence in
him,
suitable to his nature as a Spirit; it requires of a
man to serve
it with his own mind and spirit, with his whole
heart, as the
apostle did, #Ro 7:25 and the assistance of
the Spirit of
God is necessary to the observance of it; and
God in
covenant has promised his people, that he "will put
his
Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in his
statutes",
and "keep his judgments, and do them",
#Eze 36:27.
3b3. The law
is "holy"; so it is said to be, #Ro 7:12 and the
commandment
holy; it comes from an holy God, from whom
nothing unholy
can proceed; for holiness is his nature, and
he is holy in
all his works; and the law is a transcript of
his holy
will; the matter of it, or what it requires, is
holy; even
sanctification of heart and life; and it directs
to
live holily, soberly, righteously, and godly, in this
evil world.
3b4. It is
also "just", as well as holy and good, #Ro 7:12. There
are no laws
so righteous as the laws of God; the judgments
of
the Lord are true and righteous altogether, #De 4:8
#Ps 19:9. It is
impartial unto all, and requires the same of
one as of
another, and renders to every man according to his
works; it is
just in condemning wicked men for sin, and in
justifying
those that have a righteousness answerable to its
demands;
for God is just, according to his law, while he is
the justifier
of those that believe in Jesus.
3b5. The law
is good; the author of it is good only, essentially,
originally
good; from whom every good and perfect gift
comes,
and nothing that is evil and bad. The law is
materially
good, it is morally good; as God by the light of
nature, so
much more by the law of Moses, does he show to
men that
which is good; in it he sets before them the good
they are to
do; and the evil they are to avoid: it is
pleasantly
good; not to an unregenerate man, whose carnal
mind is
enmity to all that is good, and so to the law of
God; but to a
regenerate man, who, as the apostle, delights
in the law of
God after the inner man, and loves it, as
David did,
and meditates on it, as every good man does,
#Ro
7:22 Ps 119:97 1:2. And it is also profitably good; not
to God, for
when men have done all they can, they are, with
respect to
God, unprofitable servants, #Lu 17:10 but to men,
their fellow
creatures, and fellow Christians, to whom they
are
serviceable, by their good works, #Tit 3:8 and also
to
themselves; for though not "for", yet "in" keeping the
commands
there is great reward, as peace of conscience,
#Ps 19:11
119:165. The law is good, "if a man use it
lawfully",
#1Ti 1:8. There is a lawful and an unlawful
use of the
law; it is used unlawfully when men seek to
obtain
life and righteousness by it; for the law cannot give
life, nor is
righteousness by it; nor can then be justified
by the works
of it, in the sight of God; for no man can
perfectly
keep it; there is not a just man that does good
and sins not:
but it is lawfully used when obeyed in faith,
from
a principle of love, with a view to the glory of God,
without any
selfish and sinister ends. Which leads me to
consider more
particularly,
3c. Thirdly,
The uses of the law both to sinners and saints.
3c1. To
sinners.
3c1a. To
convince of sin. Sin is a transgression of the law, by
which it is
known that it is sin, being forbidden by the
law;
"By the law is the knowledge of sin"; not only of gross
actual sins;
but of the inward lusts of the mind; "I had not
known
lust", says the apostle, "except the law had said,
Thou shall
not covet", #Ro 3:20 7:7. Yet only as it is used
by the Spirit
of God, who holds it up to a mind enlightened
by
him, whereby it sees the sinfulness of it; for it is the
Spirit's work
savingly to convince of sin; which he does by
means of the
law.
3c1b. To
restrain from sin; of this use are the laws of men;
hence
civil magistrates are terrors to evildoers: so the
law, by its
menaces, deters men from sin, when they are not
truly
convinced of the evil of it, nor humbled for it;
though by
such restraints, it does but rise and swell, and
rage the more
within, like a flood of water stopped in its
3b1c. To
condemn and punish for sin; for sinners it is made, and
against them
it lies, to their condemnation, unless
justified in
Christ, #1Ti 1:9,10. It accuses of sin,
charges
with it; brings evidence of it; stops the sinner's
mouth from
pleading in his own cause; pronounces guilty
before God;
and curses and condemns: it is the ministration
of
condemnation and death; and its sentence takes place
where the
righteousness of Christ is not imputed.
3c2. It is of
use to saints and true believers in Christ.
3c2a. To
point out the will of God unto them; what is to be done
by them, and
what to be avoided; to inform them of, and urge
them
to their duty, both towards God and man; for in that
the whole of
it lies.
3c2b. To be a
rule of life and conversation to them; not a rule
to obtain
life by; but to live according to; to guide their
feet,
to direct their steps, and preserve them from going
into bye and
crooked paths. The wise man says, "The
commandment
is a lamp, and the law is light", #Pr 6:23. And
the wise
man's father says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my
feet, and a
light unto my path", #Ps 119:105.
3c2c. It is
as a glass, in which a believer, by the light of the
Spirit of God,
may see his own face, what manner of man he
is; how
deformed, how carnal and corrupt, when compared with
this law; and
how far short of perfection he is in himself;
"I
have seen an end of all perfection", says David; "Thy
commandment
is exceeding broad"; to which the imperfect
works of men
are not commensurate; hence good men are
sensible that
their own righteousness is insufficient to
justify them
before God, it being but as rags, and those
3c2d. They
are led to prize and value the righteousness of
Christ, since
that is perfectly agreeable to the holy and
righteous law
of God; yea, by it the law is magnified and
made
honourable; wherefore they desire to be found in
Christ, not
having on their own righteousness, but his; who
is the end of
the law for righteousness, to everyone that
believes.
Now,
3d.
Fourthly, The law of God continues under the present dispensation for the said
uses; Christ came not to destroy it, and loosen mens obligations to it; but to
fulfil it: nor is the law made null and void by faith; by the doctrine of
justification by faith in the righteousness of Christ; so far from it, that it
is established by it {1}: there is a sense in which the law is "done
away", and saints are "delivered" from it; "that being dead wherein they were held", as in a prison; and
they "become dead to it by the body of Christ", by his obedience and
sufferings in it, #2Co 3:11 Ro 7:4,6.
3d1. It does
not continue as a covenant of works; and, indeed, it
was not
delivered to the children of Israel as such strictly
and
properly sneaking, only in a typical sense; though the
Jews turned
it to such a purpose, and sought righteousness
and life by
it: but God never made a covenant of works with
men since the
fall, in order to their obtaining life and
salvation by
it; for it never was in the power of man since
to
perform the conditions of such a covenant; however, it is
certain,
believers are not under the law as a covenant of
works; but
under grace as a covenant of grace.
3d2. Nor does
it continue as to the form of administration of it
by
Moses; it is now no longer in his hands, nor to be
considered as
such; the whole Mosaic economy is broke to
pieces, and
at an end, which was prefigured by Moses casting
the two
tables of stone out of his hands, and breaking them,
when he came
down from the mount: the law, especially as it
lies
in the Decalogue; and as to the form of the
administration
of that by Moses, was peculiar to the Jews;
as appears by
the preface to it, which can agree with none
but them; by
the time of worship prescribed them in the
fourth
command, which was temporary and typical; and by the
promise
of long life in the land of Canaan, annexed to the
fifth
command.
3d3. It
continues not as a terrifying law to believers, who are
not come to
mount Sinai, and are not under that stormy and
terrible
dispensation; but they are come to mount Sion, and
to all the
privileges of a gospel church state: nor are they
brought into
bondage by its rigorous exactions; on a strict
compliance to
which, or perfect obedience thereunto, their
peace and
comfort do not depend: nor are they awed and urged
by
its menaces and curses, to an observance of it; but are
constrained, by
the love of God and Christ, to run with
cheerfulness
the way of its commandments; they are made
willing to
serve it with their mind and spirit, through the
power and
efficacy of divine grace upon them; and they do
serve
it, not in the oldness of the letter but in the newness
of the
spirit; or, as they are renewed by the free Spirit
of God.
3d4. Nor is
it a cursing and condemning law to the saints. As
sinners
and transgressors of it, they are subject to its
curses; but
Christ has redeemed them from the curse of the
law, being
made a curse for them; and so there is no more
curse to them
here or hereafter; they are out of the reach
of its
curses, and of condemnation by it; there is none to
them
that are in Christ: Who shall condemn? it is Christ
that died;
and who by dying has bore their sentence of
condemnation,
and freed them from it; and having passed from
death to
life, they shall never enter into condemnation,
#Ga 3:10,13
Ro 8:1,33 Joh 5:24.
3d5. Yet it
continues as a rule of walk and conversation to them,
as before
observed; and is to be regarded by them as in the
hands of
Christ {2}; by whom it is held forth as King and
Lawgiver, in
his church; and who, and not Moses, is to be
heard,
and his voice hearkened to, as the Son and Master, in
his own
house. Believers, though freed from the law, in the
sense before
declared, yet are "not without law to God, but
under the law
to Christ", and obliged to regard it; and the
rather, as it
was in his heart, and he was made under it,
and
has fulfilled it; and therefore may be viewed and served
with
pleasure, #1Co 9:21.
{1} See a Sermon of mine
called, "The Law established by the Gospel. "
{2} See another Sermon of
mine, called, "The Law in the hand of Christ."