In the last two posts I’ve been explaining the advantage of Puritan spirituality over the spirituality of today’s church. It was the conviction of the Puritans (and is my own) that the inherent righteousness of every believer was to be shaped by the Ten Commandments, the moral Law of God. They are wrong who say that the Ten Commandments are not for the New Testament church.
If that were the case, then why do we find the same precepts pressed upon us in the New Testament as in the Old? Why does Paul, the very apostle who presses justification by faith alone so strongly (Phil 3.7-9; Rom 3.20; Gal 3.21-27), also press conduct in keeping with the law of the God who saved us (Eph 4.1-3; Col 1.9-10; Rom 7.25; 8.4)? Get this: the moral law has changed its claim upon us because of our being united to Christ; but in no way have we escaped its claim altogether by being in Christ. Instead, we now have the means of walking according to it, not perfectly, but sincerely and acceptably before God (Phil 2.13; Eph 2.10; Tit 2.14; Eph 1.6; 5.1). Thomas Watson said it well: “In the covenant of works God required perfection of degrees; in the covenant of grace, perfection of parts. In the covenant of works, God required us to live without sin; in the covenant of grace he accepts our combat with sin. Though a Christian cannot, in his own person, perform all God’s commandments; yet Christ, as his Surety, and in his stead, has fulfilled the law for him: and God accepts Christ’s obedience, which is perfect, to satisfy for that obedience which is imperfect. Christ being made a curse for believers, all the curses of the law have their sting pulled out. Though a Christian cannot keep the commands of God to satisfaction, yet he may to approbation.”
To summarize, the Ten Commandments are a perfect reflection of the character of God Himself, a mirror revealing the glory of God and of Jesus Christ who took on flesh and obeyed the law on our behalf. As the reflection of the character of God, the Ten Commandments provide the perfect standard for righteousness. There’s no duty required or sin forbidden which is not included in its precepts (Ps 119.96). As believers, though we are neither condemned nor justified by the Law, and though we keep it imperfectly at best, we delight in the Law of God by nature (Rom 7.22) and find it to be a perfect rule of conduct (Ps 19.7-9; Ps 119). Until we come into a perfect heaven, the holy and perfect Law of God is the path that has been paved for us to express our love to God through Jesus Christ, and not the ladder by which we come to God. Being justified in Christ by faith, His Law is our love, desire, aim, and guide, but not our covenant. Because Christ has taken away the condemnation of the law for us the Ten Commandments are now the perfect law of liberty (James 1.25)–not contrary to the covenant of grace and not as a covenant of works, but a necessary part of the covenant of grace. Lastly, the Ten Commandments are not positive law, commanding or prohibiting things only for a certain people at a certain time (as were Israel’s ceremonial and judicial laws), but they are God’s moral law, of universal and perpetual obligation to every rational creature and therefore can never be abrogated or dispensed with. The church of Christ on earth must ever abide by them as the infallible rule of conduct according to which she shows her gratitude and love to her Saviour, in whom she has an imputed righteousness for her justification and from whom she enjoys an inherent righteousness for her sanctification.
Three things therefore stand out in a Puritan treatment of the Law of God when compared with the spirituality of today’s church.
First, the conviction that the Law of God is the only rule and standard for Christian obedience.
Secondly, the conviction that keeping God’s Law flows out of a love for God. Since the essence of the Law is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself (Lk 10.27), then obviously all our obedience to God must stem from a love for God. Ultimately and essentially, love is the thing required of us. Love is the soul of religion. It is the spring of all a Christian’s actions (Ps 119.32) and the very thing in which the Lord delights. For it is not so much duty, as love to duty, which God delights in. The Christian sees God’s Law as a delight rather than a mere duty, Rom 7.22.
Lastly, the conviction that keeping the Commandments of God brings joy and happiness. Nothing is lost to the believer by keeping God’s Commandments. “To obey God’s will is the way to have our will…. While we please God, we please ourselves; while we give him the duty, he gives us the dowry…. You lose nothing by obeying. The obedient son has the inheritance settled on him. Obey and you shall have a kingdom,” said Watson. The point is that God’s Commandments are neither burdensome nor grievous. He commands only what is just, holy, and good, and He graciously (not meritoriously) rewards our sincere, though imperfect, obedience. He commands what is glorifying to Him and what is beneficial to us (Dt 5.12-13).
The Puritans therefore saw obedience more as a privilege than a duty since there are blessings tied to our obedience. Watson put it memorably when he said, “There is love in every command: as if a king should bid one of his subjects to dig in a gold mine, and then take the gold to himself.” The work of obedience is done out of love for the king and the gold discovered is one’s own reward.
And so it is with Puritan spirituality: by the grace of God we walk in obedience to God’s Commandments because we love Him and delight in His ways; and the fruit of our labor is brought to us by God in the way of blessings, both temporal, spiritual, and eternal. What would a good dose of this thinking do for the spirituality in today’s church?
If these last three posts have challenged your understanding of the Christian’s relationship to the Ten Commandments I pray you will go back and look up all the Scriptures for yourself. For if you do, I trust you will find it to be just as I’ve explained: the Law of God is not our burden, but our delight, not our Christ, but the law of Christ unto us. May you know the freedom and joy of obedience.
