In common usage, the “law of God” refers to God’s commands given to his creatures to regulate their lives and moral behavior. Most people identify the “law of God” with the Decalogue, which in some sense is true. However, in Scripture the “law of God” certainly includes the Decalogue but it is also used in a variety of ways, most significantly in the context of covenant relationships. Law (torah, instruction; nomos) is specifically tied to covenants, beginning in creation with Adam to the new creation in Christ. In fact, in Scripture and theology, we must think of the law of God in at least six distinguishable but related ways.
The Law of God is God Himself
First and most foundational, the law of God is God himself. Why? Because the triune God’s will and nature is the moral standard of the universe. As such, God alone has the authority and right to determine what is right and wrong, and to hold his moral creatures, both humans and angels, accountable to whether they have perfectly obeyed his commands.
Why is this so? Because God is the uncreated, independent, self-sufficient Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1–2; Ps. 50:12–14; 93:2; Acts 17:24–25). He alone has “life from himself” (aseity), which not only entails his self-existence, but also that he is the standard of what is just and good. Scripture underscores this truth in its emphasis on divine holiness. Holiness, in Scripture, has a primary and secondary sense to it. First, it refers to God’s transcendent self-sufficiency—God is “high and lifted up”—the “Holy One” (Isa. 6:1; cf. 40:12–26; 45:11; 55:5). Secondarily, it refers to God as the standard of moral perfection. That is why, in light of sin, God’s holiness stands against our sin (Lev. 19:2; 20:3, 26; Ps. 24:3; Isa. 5:16; Heb. 7:26; 12:10; 1 Pet. 1:15–16). As Scripture reminds us: his eyes are too pure to look on evil; he cannot tolerate wrong (Exod. 34:7; Rom. 1:32; 2:8–16; Isa. 59:1–2). And closely related to God’s holiness and moral perfection is his wrath, i.e., his holy reaction to evil (Rom. 1:18–32; John 3:36). Yet, the wrath of God, unlike his holiness, is not an internal perfection; rather it’s an ad extra function of his holy justice against sin. Where there is no sin, there is no wrath, but there is always holiness. But where the holy God confronts his creatures in their sin, there must be wrath and the full exercise of his justice.
No doubt, God is love (1 John 4:10), but love and holiness are essential to God. God is his attributes. As one moves across the canon, God’s holy love is revealed, especially in Christ’s cross and our justification. John, for example, does not think of God’s love as overlooking of our sin; rather he views divine love as that which loves the unlovely and undeserving. In fact, the supreme display of God’s love is found in the Father giving his own Son as our propitiation that turns back his own holy anger against us and satisfies the demands of justice on our behalf (1 John 2:1–2; 4:8–10). Thus, in Christ’s cross we see the greatest demonstration of God’s holiness-justice and love, where the God of sovereign grace shows himself to be just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:21–26).
Combining these truths, Scripture first identifies the “law of God” with God himself. God alone is the Judge of the earth (Gen. 18:25), who always acts consistently with who he is. To fail to grasp this point is to misunderstand who God is and the entire rationale for God’s glorious plan of redemption centered in the obedient life and substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus.
The Law of God is God’s Absolute Moral Demand on His Creatures
The “law of God” is also God’s absolute moral demand on his moral creatures (humans and angels), what it often called God’s moral or natural law.1 As Creator and Lord, God rightfully deserves and demands total obedience and loyal love from us. By creation, the moral/natural law is stamped on our very constitution as creatures and image-bearers. Adam was created to know God and to obey him in love and loyalty, which he knew by virtue of his creation. This is also true of all humans. We know that we ought to love God, to value human life (Gen. 9:6), and to live according to what God has established in creation such as a proper use of our sexuality in marriage, which functions as the foundation for society, along with the establishment of the family. To act contrary to “nature,” or better, God’s created moral order, in our devaluing human life, misusing our sexuality, undermining marriage and the family, robbing people of their work and property, etc., is sin. And sin is properly defined as a breaking of God’s moral law. Such sin turns us into idolaters since our sin is against God and his entire created order. This is why Paul can appeal to what all humans know from creation and their conscience, yet sadly suppress and reject, as the grounds for their condemnation (Rom. 1:18–32). Prior to the giving of the Mosaic law (which makes more explicit the moral/natural law along with more revelation of God’s plan), sin is judged by the moral law universally known by all people (Rom. 5:13–14).
1. I am identifying moral and natural law, although some distinguish them. Moral/natural law refers to God’s absolute and universal moral demand on all of his moral creatures, specifically humans. This law is known by virtue of our creation in God’s image (i.e., natural revelation) and also reiterated and reinforced by special revelation.
In this sense, we can say that the great commandment (Matt. 22:36–40) is not new: it is stamped on our very being as God’s image. No doubt, it is reinforced by God’s special revelation and positive commands, but as humans we know that we are to love the God who created us and to love that which he has made. The great commandment, then, starts in creation and it is given more specificity in all of the biblical covenants, specifically the Decalogue. Although God’s positive law commands will vary from covenant to covenant and change (e.g., the command to circumcise the male child, the food laws, etc.), God’s absolute moral demand remains in all the covenants, thus underscoring a continuity in God’s moral demand across redemptive history, culminating in the new covenant ratified by our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Law of God is God’s Special Revelation and Positive Demand on his Creatures
As Creator and Lord, God rightfully demands perfect obedience and loyal love from his moral creatures, which we know simply because we are God’s image living in his world. In addition, God gives specific laws—“positive laws”—by special revelation that are also the “law of God.” We see this in God’s command to Adam (Gen. 2:16–17) and the establishment of the creation covenant. This command is by special revelation, and it is to be perfectly obeyed, which would result in Adam’s confirmation in righteousness and glorification.
Theology often uses the category of “law” (vs. “gospel”) to describe God’s absolute demand on his image-bearers to love and obey him completely (both in terms of moral/natural and positive). Because we are God’s, and under the covenant headship of Adam, all humans are under this obligation, and to disobey God results in our sin and condemnation, which sadly, is what happened in Adam, and to the entire human race (Rom. 5:12–21; cf. 3:23; 6:23).
After Adam’s sin, God’s absolute moral demand continues on all people (by natural and special revelation), but due to our sin, we stand condemned and under the sentence of death (Gen. 3; 5; Rom. 3:23; 6:23). Our only hope is found in provision of Christ Jesus (Gen. 3:15), who is fully human and thus in his life is able to render perfect covenant obedience for us (Rom. 5:12–21; Heb. 2:5–18), but also, who is the divine Son who alone can satisfy God’s own demand against us as our penal substitute. As God works out his plan of redemption through the covenants, more special revelation is given, including positive commands and a reiteration of God’s universal moral demand grounded in creation.
The Law of God as Scripture
The “law of God” also refers to Scripture, God’s word written. In fact, just as a biblical concept of law (torah, instruction) is directly tied to covenants, so covenants in Scripture are written down. This is especially the case with the Mosaic Law (torah) or covenant that is written as instruction to rule and direct the nation of Israel (Exod. 24:12; 31:18; 32:15–16; 34:1). The purpose of the covenant and the instruction God gives is for him to rule in the midst of his people as their Lord and King, and to guide and instruct their lives.
The written law-covenant, then, along with the entire Pentateuch becomes known as the torah of Moses or “the Book of the Law of Moses” (Josh. 8:31; 23:6; 2 Kgs. 14:6; cf. Deut. 28:61; 29:21; 30:10; 31:26). It not only includes God’s “commands” and “decrees” (Deut. 30:10); it also includes instruction regarding how to live before God, how to approach God by dealing with their sin (e.g., Leviticus), how to live with each other in proper relationships, and promises related to the unveiling of God’s plan centered in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As later Scripture is added, such expressions as the “Law and the Prophets” is a way of referring to the entire OT as Scripture (Matt. 5:17; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16; 24:44; John 1:45; Acts 13:15; 24:14; 28:23; Rom. 3:21; cf. 2 Tim. 3:15–17). With the coming of God’s Son and the inauguration of a new covenant, NT Scripture is added (Heb. 1:1–3; cf. 1 Thess. 1:4; 2:13; 2 Pet. 3:16), which now results in an entire closed canon. In this sense, then, the “law of God” is Scripture in its entirety as God’s word given to direct, instruct, and to guide his people.
Yet, Scripture also requires careful application depending on its covenantal location. Some specific commands (“positive laws”) under the OT covenants such as circumcision, food laws, gleaning laws, etc., which are all to be obeyed under their respective covenants, no longer apply to us today in exactly the same way. This is why we must distinguish between biblical morality that describes God’s moral demands in specific places in redemptive history from Christian ethics which “is locating what is normative for Christians in this present age”2 due to the fulfillment of God’s plan in Christ. All Scripture is for our instruction and obedience, but not all Scripture applies to us in exactly the same way. This requires a full canonical application of Scripture tied to the progressive unfolding of God’s special revelation through the covenants.
2. Michael Hill, The How and Why of Love: An Introduction to Evangelical Ethics (Matthias Media, 2002), 43.
The Law of God as the Mosaic Covenant
In Scripture, however, “the law” probably most often refers to the Mosaic Covenant. The law (torah, nomos) refers primarily to the Sinai covenant and its renewal at Moab in Deuteronomy. It was given to Israel, and it is organically related to what preceded it, namely the Abrahamic, Noahic, and creation covenants, and it is prophetic of what is to come, namely, the new covenant. Thus, in a whole host of ways, the Mosaic law-covenant anticipates and points forward to the coming of Christ and the dawning of the new covenant, as does the entire OT.
It is best to view the law-covenant as an entire covenantal unit. Reformed theology (along with many others) divides the Mosaic covenant into three parts: the moral/natural law (the Decalogue; Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5) that reflects God’s universal moral demand on all people (“moral/natural law”), and the civil and ceremonial laws (“positive laws”) for Israel which are now fulfilled in Christ. No doubt, there is merit in viewing the covenant this way. Scripture makes various distinctions within the covenant (e.g., certain principles are more important and weightier [Matthew 5:24; 9:13; 23:23], laws regarding sacrifices [Leviticus 1–7] versus civil matters or even noting the central place of the Decalogue). Also, there is merit in thinking that the Decalogue basically reflects God’s universal moral/natural law grounded in creation. After all, Israel, like the nations, are image-bearers, and God’s moral demand of them is minimally the same as for all people. No doubt, Israel is given special revelation beyond what all people know from creation, which not only increases their privilege but also their responsibility. God entrusted to them the very words of God (Rom. 3:2)—words that ultimately promise, anticipate, and reveal the coming of Christ Jesus and the fulfillment of the new covenant age.
But with that said, Scripture views the Mosaic law-covenant as a unit given to Israel that serves a specific role in God’s plan, and as a covenant package, it has been brought to fulfillment in Christ and the new covenant. At least two reasons confirm this point.
First, texts such as Galatians 5:3 and James 2:8–13 teach this point. Keeping or breaking one part of the covenant assumes the keeping or breaking of the whole covenant. Or, as the writer of Hebrews teaches, the law-covenant is an integrated whole grounded in the priesthood (Heb. 7:11), and with a change in priesthood (Ps. 110; Heb. 7), there is necessarily an entire change of covenant, not merely parts of it (Heb. 7:12; 8:7–13). Or think of how Paul views himself as a Christian: before he was under the law-covenant as a Jew, but now, in Christ, he no longer is. Instead, he is under God’s law by being “in-lawed” in Christ (1 Cor. 9:21). Paul views the covenants as entire units; the old having reached its fulfillment in Christ.
Second, Scripture views the entire law-covenant as temporary in God’s plan, serving a number of purposes, but ultimately pointing forward to its fulfillment in Christ (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:15–4:7; Heb. 7:11–12). This is why the Mosaic law, as a covenant, is no longer directly binding on the Christian. In fact, the Mosaic law’s supervising God’s people and directing their behavior has reached its end with Christ’s coming and the new covenant (Gal. 3:24; 4:1–7). For this reason, the NT teaches that Christians are no longer “under the law” as a covenant; instead, we are under the new covenant (Rom. 6:14–15; 1 Cor. 9:20–21; Gal. 4:4–5; 5:13–18). The law-covenant has served its purpose in God’s plan, but now in Christ, it has reached its telos (i.e., end and goal) (Rom. 10:4; Gal. 3:15–4:7). Again, remember Paul’s statement (1 Cor. 9:20–21). As a Christian, Paul no longer sees himself as “under the law” and, remarkably, he does not equate God’s law with the Mosaic law. Instead, Paul views himself as under God’s law, but God’s law is now defined completely in relation to Christ. This entails, as Doug Moo suggests, “The ‘law’ under which Christians live is continuous with the Mosaic law in that God’s eternal moral norms, which never change, are clearly expressed in both. But there is discontinuity in the fact that Christians live under the ‘law of Christ’ and not under the Mosaic law. Our source for determining God’s eternal moral law is Christ and the apostles, not the Mosaic law or even the Ten Commandments.”3
3. Douglas J. Moo, “Response to Willem A. VanGemeren,” in The Law, the Gospel, and the Modern Christian: Five Views, ed. Wayne G. Strickland (Zondervan, 1993), 89.
Two important implications follow. First, it is difficult to separate the law-covenant into three parts and suggest that only the Decalogue applies to us today. Second, given that the law-covenant has reached its fulfillment in Christ, we do apply the law-covenant to us today but only as Scripture in and through Christ and the new covenant. The points of continuity in all the covenants continue but now understood in terms of the entire canon and its fulfillment in Christ.
If this is the case, then it is legitimate to ask the question: what, then, was the purpose of the law-covenant? Scripture’s answer is diverse but central to its purpose was to reveal God’s character, the nature of human sin by imprisoning Israel under sin, and also to instruct how God would graciously redeem in priesthood and sacrifice (e.g., Rom. 3:19–20; 5:20; 7:7–12; 8:2–3; Col. 2:14; Heb. 7:11; 10:3). The law-covenant held out the promise of life (Lev. 18:5; Rom. 2:13; Gal. 3:12), but due to human sin, despite being “holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12), God never intended for it to bring about our ultimate redemption. As Paul makes clear: the law cannot liberate humans from the power and consequences of sin (Rom. 3:20). Since Genesis 3, the covenantal means by which we may obtain life is no longer possible for us. In our sin, obedience to law in any form (natural/moral or covenantal) cannot put us in right relation with God because we cannot and do not keep it, and because of the debt we owe to is violation in Adam, along with our own individual sins. Nor can obedience to the law enable us to conquer the power of sin in our lives. This is why we argue that in God’s plan, he never intended the law-covenant to redeem us, yet in its typological patterns (e.g., sacrificial system, tabernacle-temple, priesthood, etc.) it pointed forward to how God would redeem his people by the provision of the only one who can redeem us: our Lord Jesus Christ. But in the end, God’s displays his righteousness by the provision of his faithful Son apart from the law-covenant (Rom. 3:21). In the coming of Christ and the new covenant, Christ’s righteousness now becomes ours by faith in him (Rom. 3:21–31; 8:2–4; Gal. 3:13–14; 4:4–7).
Yet, the Mosaic law does reveal the hideous nature of our sin, especially in Israel’s violation of it. Israel, as a nation, functions as a corporate Adam, who in many ways, is a microcosm of all humanity. In their sin, against God’s special revelation given in the law-covenant, we see something of the nature of the human heart, its total depravity and spiritual inability, and the absolute need for God to act in sovereign grace to redeem them and us. In this way the law-covenant “declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.” (Gal. 3:22). The Mosaic law, then, clearly revealed what sin is, and reinforced in explicit ways, what we know by nature. But in the giving of the special revelation of the law, first to Adam, and then to Israel in the Mosaic law, sin is shown for what it is: a direct rebellion against God of all glory and beauty, an attempt to set ourselves at the center of the universe, and a refusal to obey what God has commanded (Rom. 5:14; cf. Rom. 4:15; 5:20; 7:13; Gal. 3:19).
As Don Carson astutely observes about God’s giving of the Mosaic law: “Yet the fact that the law covenant should reign for almost a millennium and a half shows how important it was to God to get across the persistence, repetition, heinousness, enslaving power, and odium of human sin and the utter incapacity of human beings to break free from it. How else will human rebels cry to God for grace and accept by faith what was promised?”4 Carson’s comment is spot on and crucial to remember: unless we see sin for what it is, we will never appreciate God’s grace and the salvation in Christ. We must first see that we are sinners, and one of the crucial ways Scripture does this is by the giving of his good and righteous law, that we ought to gladly love and obey, but instead we rebel against it because we are rebels against God.
4. D. A. Carson, “Sin’s Contemporary Significance,” in Fallen: A Theology of Sin, ed. Christopher W. Morgan and Robert A. Peterson (Crossway, 2013), 35.
The Law of God as the Law of Christ
As stated, now that Christ has come, Christians are no longer “under the law” (the Mosaic law) as a covenant; instead, we are under the new covenant. In God’s plan, the Mosaic law served its purpose, but now in Christ, it has reached its fulfillment.
However, this does not entail that the Mosaic law can be ignored since it is authoritative Scripture (2 Tim. 3:15–17). In fact, the NT teaches both the replacement and fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant by the new. On the one hand, in the new covenant, the old is replaced by the law of Christ (1 Cor. 9:20–21). Instead of reliance upon the Mosaic covenant, we rely on Christ (Gal. 2:19–20; Phil. 3:4–14), and we discern God’s will in Christ and apostolic instruction (Gal. 6:2; 1 Cor. 7:19; 9:21). On the other hand, the new covenant fulfills the old.
An important text in this regard is Matthew 5:17–20. Although debate surrounds this text, fulfillment is best understood in a redemptive-historical sense (see Matt. 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4; 27:9). Jesus fulfills the Law and the Prophets in that they point forward to him, and Jesus is the one who brings them to their intended end. The Law and the Prophets, then, have a prophetic function as they foreshadow and predict the coming of Christ. No doubt, the prophetic foreshadowing varies depending on whether it is a typological pattern (e.g., exodus, sacrifices, priesthood, and temple), or whether it is the law’s instruction. Yet, in light of the antitheses in Matthew 5:21–48, Jesus teaches that he has fulfilled OT prophecies both in himself and his teaching. In Jesus teaching, he not only clarifies what the OT was saying; in a far more important way, he fulfills the law by showing what the OT was pointing forward to, namely his coming and the entire new covenant age.
This is why for Christians, all of Scripture is for our instruction but applied to us in and through its fulfillment in Christ. In this sense, the entire OT, including the law-covenant, is for our instruction, although not all of its instruction is applicable to us. We are no longer under the Mosaic law as a covenant, yet the moral demands, beginning in creation, expressed through the Mosaic law, continue to apply to us in and through the new covenant. In fact, God’s absolute demand of love of God and neighbor, first given in creation, distorted in the fall, recovered in the OT covenants, both continues and is fulfilled in Christ and the new covenant. In the new creation, there will be no more sin and rebellion, and our obedience to God’s law will be expressed in a complete love, loyalty, trust, and obedience. And even now, by our covenantal union in Christ wrought by the Spirit, we are being conformed to Christ, which will be consummated at his return in our glorification.
What about the application of the Decalogue today? It must be applied in a similar manner, that is, by locating it in its covenantal location and then applying it to us in light of Christ. For example, as we read the opening preamble (Exod. 20:1–2), we are keenly aware of its covenantal location, yet it is now applied to us in light of God’s unfolding plan of redemption culminated in Christ. Unlike Israel, we have not been redeemed from our bondage to Egypt; but in a far greater way, we have been redeemed from that which the exodus typologically pointed forward to (along with the prophets [Isaiah 11, 42, 53]), namely our exodus-deliverance from sin in Christ’s cross (Luke 9:31). Then as we apply each commandment in light of our redemption in Christ, we discover that there is a greater incentive to have no other gods before us (Exod. 20:3) and to honor the great name of our triune God (Exod. 20:7). The moral demand, first given in creation, reaffirmed in the Mosaic covenant, has not changed. But now we obey this command for even greater reasons given our redemption in Christ.
In terms of the Sabbath command (Exod. 20:8–12), we apply it in exactly the same way. In thinking through the Sabbath’s covenantal location—that which looks back to the covenantal rest at creation (Gen. 2:1–3), a day to be obeyed by Israel under the law, and a day which typologically pointed forward to a greater rest to come (Ps. 95; cf. Matt. 11:28–30; Heb. 3:7–5:13)—it is now applied to us in light of its fulfillment, namely Christ who has achieved for us salvation rest. In fact, all of the other commandments (Exod. 20:12–17) are applied in the same way, reflecting God’s continued moral demand on us but now in terms of the new covenant.
Concluding Reflection
To grasp the importance of the Decalogue and its place in redemptive history, we must carefully distinguish the different uses of the “law of God” in Scripture. When we do so, we are better able to apply all of Scripture to us, including the Decalogue as God’s authoritative word. All Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:15–17) and is thus authoritative and binding on us. The Decalogue continues to govern our lives as Christians, but we must think of it and apply it to our lives not only in terms of creation, but also in light of God’s unfolding plan in the covenants, and the fulfillment of that plan in our Lord Jesus Christ.
