The Law in the 1689 Confession | James Renihan
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Is the law of God binding on believers? Are Christians freed from the Ten Commandments? What is the relationship between Moses and Christ? Since the time of the Protestant Reformation, Evangelicals have emphasized the importance of a right understanding of the relationship between the law and the gospel. This emphasis is still needed today.
Tragically, the law of God has been neglected by many, and some churches even promote a gospel of lawlessness. While antinomianism is proclaimed by some, others preach the law with no mention of the grace of God, falling into legalism. Founders Ministries has been teaching a confessionally reformed and biblical view of the law and the gospel since 1983, and by God’s grace, will continue to do so. The need in the churches of God is as great now as it has ever been.
This presentation was given by Dr. James Renihan on December 6, 2019 at the Founders "The Law and The Gospel" national conference in Cape Coral, Florida.
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That's was a great explanation of positive (plus) law and moral law. I enjoyed the illustration of how Baptists have historically argued along these lines.
Thank you Doc. Very helpful.
Hear , Hear ! ... most excellent . I had to share it with several people !
Once a person comes to understand the New Covenant promised to Israel and Judah in Jeremiah 31:31-34, which is found fulfilled by Christ during the first century in Hebrews 8:6-13, and Hebrews 10:16-18, and specifically applied to the Church in 2 Corinthians 3:6-8, and Hebrews 12:22-24, man-made Bible doctrines fall apart.
Why is the term "New Covenant" not found in the 1689 LBCF?
Based on the following, Christ is our Sabbath rest.
The 4th commandment was the “sign” of the Sinai Covenant now found to be “obsolete” in Hebrews 8:13.
Paul revealed the temporary nature of the Sinai Covenant in Galatians 3:16-29. Paul said the law was “added” 430 years “after” the promise made to Abraham “until” the seed (Christ) could come to whom the promise was made. Jesus used the same word “until” in Matthew 5:17-18.
In Galatians 4:24-31 Paul told the Galatian believers to “cast out” the Sinai Covenant of “bondage”.
We are not come to Mount Sinai in Hebrews 12:18. Instead, we are come to the New Covenant of Mount Zion in Hebrews 12:22-24.
Col 2:16 Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths,
Col 2:17 which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body is of the Christ; (YLT)
Early Church Fathers who lived before the Council of Nicaea on the Sabbath:
Ignatius of Antioch
If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death-whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master(Letter to the Magnesians(shorter) Chapter IX.-Let us live with Christ [A.D. 110]).
During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathæa had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord’s day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, “As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord’s Day contains the resurrection(The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians Longer Versions. Chapter IX.-Reference to the history of Christ.)
Justin Martyr
The Lawgiver is present, yet you do not see Him; to the poor the Gospel is preached, the blind see, yet you do not understand. You have now need of a second circumcision, though you glory greatly in the flesh. The new law requires you to keep perpetual sabbath, and you, because you are idle for one day, suppose you are pious, not discerning why this has been commanded you: and if you eat unleavened bread, you say the will of God has been fulfilled. The Lord our God does not take pleasure in such observances: if there is any perjured person or a thief among you, let him cease to be so; if any adulterer, let him repent; then he has kept the sweet and true sabbaths of God. If any one has impure hands, let him wash and be pure.(Dialogue with Trypho the Jew Chapter XII.-The Jews violate the eternal law, and interpret ill that of Moses.)
For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined you,-namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your hearts. For if we patiently endure all things contrived against us by wicked men and demons, so that even amid cruelties unutterable, death and torments, we pray for mercy to those who inflict such things upon us, and do not wish to give the least retort to any one, even as the new Lawgiver commanded us: how is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us, -I speak of fleshly circumcision, and Sabbaths, and feasts?(Dialogue with Trypho the Jew Chapter XVIII.-Christians would observe the law, if they did not know why it was instituted. [A.D. 155]).
And we afterwards continually remind each other of these things. And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together; and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the day called Sunday,1 all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration.(First Apology Chapter LXVII.-Weekly worship of the Christians. [A.D. 155]).
“Wherefore, Trypho, I will proclaim to you, and to those who wish to become proselytes, the divine message which I heard from that man. Do you see that the elements are not idle, and keep no Sabbaths? Remain as you were born. For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. For when Abraham himself was in uncircumcision, he was justified and blessed by reason of the faith which he reposed in God, as the Scripture tells. Moreover, the Scriptures and the facts themselves compel us to admit that He received circumcision for a sign, and not for righteousness.(The Second Apology of Justin for the Christians Addressed to the Roman Senate. Chapter XXIII.-The opinion of the Jews regarding the law does an injury to God.)
“As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people’s heart, so it was necessary, in accordance with the Father’s will, that they should have an end in Him who was born of a virgin, of the family of Abraham and tribe of Judah, and of David; in Christ the Son of God, who was proclaimed as about to come to all the world, to be the everlasting law and the everlasting covenant, even as the forementioned prophecies show.(The Second Apology of Justin for the Christians Addressed to the Roman Senate. Chapter XLIII.-He concludes that the law had an end in Christ, who was born of the Virgin.)
Tertullian
“[L]et him who contends that the Sabbath is still to be observed as a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day . . . teach us that, for the time past, righteous men kept the Sabbath or practiced circumcision, and were thus rendered ‘friends of God.’ For if circumcision purges a man, since God made Adam uncircumcised, why did he not circumcise him, even after his sinning, if circumcision purges? . . . Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering him sacrifices, uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, was by him [God] commended [Gen. 4:1-7, Heb. 11:4]. . . . Noah also, uncircumcised-yes, and unobservant of the Sabbath-God freed from the deluge. For Enoch too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and unobservant of the Sabbath, he translated from this world, who did not first taste death in order that, being a candidate for eternal life, he might show us that we also may, without the burden of the law of Moses, please God”(An Answer to the Jews Chapter II.-The Law Anterior to Moses. [A.D. 203]).
I have thought for so long about the 10 Commandments, including the Sabbath commandment in this way but have always been told that I’m wrong about that and that the 10 Commandments no longer really mean anything to Christians. I’ve recently discovered through studying about the Westminster confession and the 1689 confession. And so it turns out that historically Christians have continued to hold the 10 Commandments in high esteem not necessary for salvation, but still very important for our Christian walk. Now I have to find if there are any churches that still take these confessions seriously.
The speaker said, “The two great commandments are summaries of the Ten Commandments which are the essence of the moral law.” This is false because Jesus says in Mat 22:40 “On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” The law proceeds from the two commandments and he doesn’t divide the law.
What he calls “natural law” New Covenant Theology/progressive Covenantalism calls absolute law, minus the Sabbath.
Wow, what a lecture!, thanks brother.
It was good to see you again Pastor Renihan. It's been almost 40 years. Thank you for your clear teaching on this it is a great blessing. In Christ Jay Webler
Grace and peace! ✌😎✌
The moral law is helpful context and backdrop for wider discussion on: interer sex personages and transgendered and homoswxual individuals as our ecclesiastical laws do reality testing to their desired to be enculturated within Baptist and Presbyteriam Church bodies. Natural Law and the Bible Based ecclesiastical courts and their prohibition against allowing their assimilation into our Church bodies through sacramental, creeds and sacramental theology.
See Romans 1 on what God thinks of intersex and LGBTQ persons. An quick hint: they can't be en-cultured because they're NOT Christians!!
Is positive law accumulated orthodox ecclesiastical law?
Thanks for sharing and posting.
47:25 - In light of this statement, what are we to make of the laws placed on Christians in the early church? Fasting two days per week, head coverings, etc. Or am I misunderstanding what is meant here?