Introduction to Biblical Law

Introduction to Biblical Law
Mark Rushdoony

Questions for Discussion

1. What is a Theonomist?

2. How is the whole Bible a single law and not

   two laws separated by the Old and New

     Testaments?

3. What does it mean to glorify God and how

   does man glorify God?

4. How does self-consciously living God's law

     glorify Him?

5. What is Antinomianism?

6. How is the Law a gift of God's Grace?

7. Since being Dead to the Law refers to

reversing the Sin of Adam, how do we view

God's Law in terms of our mortal and

     eternal existence?

8. Define Justification and Sanctification in

  terms of the law.

9. What arguments have been used to ignore

God's Law?

10. Why is the source of a culture's law - is the

   culture's "god"?

11. Cite two seemingly bizarre laws in the Old

   Testament and explain how they might

apply in modern life?

12. Biblical Law has been presented as the way

   of obedience for the redeemed man, how

   is Biblical Law a practical way of life for

   man?

ABQIBL Key Points

Theonomist/theonomy

A Theonomist is someone who believes in biblical or God's law. Theonomy means God's law.

Authority of God's law

God's Law is binding on man. Man's Law is subject to God's Law. It represents the righteousness of God. It is a unity which means that the whole of the Bible is a single code of law.

"The big idea"

Man has a duty to glorify God. Redeemed man is recalled to a life of obedience.

self-conscious obedience

We don't glorify God unless we glorify Him self-consciously. Man does not accidentally or co-incidentally glorify God. Self-conscious efforts are directed towards specific obedience. Man cannot glorify God while violating His law. Glorifying God also means living a life of obedience. The Holy Spirit will never be anything contrary to the Word of God.

antinomianism

The reason the modern church has been ineffectual in impacting the world is because it offers no real way for men to obey God. It is the rejection of God's law that God's law is no longer binding on man.

Grace and the Law

The Law is a gift of God's Grace. A loving Heavenly Father sets limits. The Law is His gracious act of love.

Salvation and the law

Our salvation is not our escape from responsibility, it is a recall to responsibility.

DEAD TO THE LAW

Jesus paid the death penalty for His people to reverse the transgression of Adam. Man is dead to the law or the sin of Adam because man is no longer subject to eternal physical and spiritual death born through Adam. Whereas, the Law of God, which is primarily the whole of the Bible, is perfect bringing order, justice and mercy to man.

justification/sanctification

Justification implies satisfying the demands of the law. Prefect justice is achieved through our efforts to live God's Law AND Jesus power to execute a complete reconciliation with the law when we fall short.

Sanctification mean to become or made pure. Sanctification is achieved when a level of righteousness is reached that allows the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

ignoring god's law

Man has declared God's Law archaic and therefore can ignore it with impunity. Churches have made morality a subjective grey area by categorizing God's Law into moral and ceremonial law (all of God's law can be considered as moral law). God's law categorized as ceremonial law can be ignored because Jesus' Atonement replaced it. God's law categorized as civil law can be ignored because the civil law was only for the Hebrew nation.

characteristics of the law

1. All law has a moral basis.
2. All law is inherently religious in nature.
3. The source of a culture's law is its god.
4. When the law changes, the religious foundation changes.
5. Religion is never disestablished, there is only a change from one religious basis to another.
6. As the religion of a culture changes, there will be a new intolerance for the old religion. There can be no toleration in a law system for another religion.

law-word

All scripture is binding revelation by a sovereign god. There is no valid ground for relegating the Law to the Old Testament and Grace to the New Testament.

seemingly bizarre laws

Far from viewing such laws as inapplicable curiosities, we should examine them as to how they might apply.

biblical law

Biblical Law is not the way to God, it is the way of obedience to the saved of God. It does not make men righteous, only God's act of justification can declare them righteous. It is the way of obedience by those declared righteous by God's grace. It is God's eternal ethical standard of righteousness given to men so he can measure his conformity to the will of God.