Three Fold Use of the Law

Welcome to the Reform Rookie Video Doctrine Series. My name is Anthony Vigneault and today we'll be going over the question, what is the function of the law for the believer? This is also known as the three-fold use of the law.

The Three-Fold Use of the Law

The Reformed understanding of the law is called the three-fold use of the law. Louis Burkhoff would say it like this. The law serves the purpose of restraining sin and promoting righteousness. Considered from this point of view, the law presupposes sin and is necessary on account of sin.

It serves the purpose of God's common grace in the world at large. Paul would tell Timothy,. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. And by the law we primarily mean the Ten Commandments or the moral law.

The law can be broken up into three areas. Moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral law is the Ten Commandments. The civil law is the case law used by the Pharisees in the Old Testament. And the ceremonial law has been accomplished by Jesus as He's our Great High Priest and has accomplished all the ceremonies necessary for our salvation.

Legalism and Antinomianism

However, the problem for us today, the church has fallen into two common errors. One is legalism. Legalism is using the law as the means by which salvation is attained. However, salvation is by faith alone and not by the works of the law.

If you could get to heaven by the works of the law, you wouldn't need Jesus as your Savior. Salvation is not something achieved by us. Salvation is something received by us as a gift. The second problem is antinomianism, or abrogating or not using the law at all and doing away with it entirely.

The problem with that is, how would you know what love was except by the law? So for us, the law will serve three purposes. As a restraint, as a reflection, and as a rule for living. So, let's look at the law as a restraint.

The Civil Use of the Law as a Restraint

As a restraint, the law serves to curb and curtail behavior in the culture. Much like a seatbelt, the law restrains our behavior protecting us and the others around us. This is also known as the civil use of the law.

Though the law cannot change the heart, it can to some extent inhibit lawlessness or sin by its threats of judgment, especially when backed by a civil code that administers punishment for proven offenses, like we see in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy.

Thus, it secures civil order and serves to protect the righteous from the unjust. Martin Luther says it like this. Through fear of punishment, the law keeps the sinful nature of both Christians and non-Christians under check.

It doesn't stop sin, but it restrains it with consequences. The law helps bring God's common grace to man and limit man's sinfulness in society, which in turn displays God's goodness to all mankind. Second, the second use of the law is as a reflection, as a mirror for the sinner that continually drives him to Christ.

The Law as a Mirror Leading to Christ

The law is to be a mirror, reflecting to us both the perfect righteousness of God and our own sinfulness and shortcomings. As Augustine wrote, the law bids us, as we try to fulfill its requirements and become wearied in our weakness under it, to know how to ask for the help of grace.

Sproul says it like this. The law is meant to give knowledge of sin, and by showing us our need of pardon and our danger of damnation, to lead us in repentance and faith towards Christ. Luther would also again say, it gives us a knowledge of sin and our inability to keep it, and therefore leads us to Christ.

The law is a reflection of God's character and a picture of what love looks like toward God and neighbor. Love God and love man. It shows us what our hearts should look like and how much they don't. The law, as a mirror, reflects to us the depth of our sin and simultaneously the depth of God's love for us in the gospel.

Though our sin is deep, very deep, it is not as deep as God's love for us through Jesus, who would sacrifice himself and atone for the very sins that separate us from him. The law is beautiful in that, although in not being able to keep it, Jesus died on the cross for it, to give us his righteousness.

The Law as a Rule for Life

And thirdly, the law is used as a rule for life, to lead us and propel us into good works. It's third function is to guide the regenerate into good works that God has planned for us. The law tells God's children what will please their heavenly father.

It could be called the family code. Christ was speaking of the third use of the law when he said that those who become his disciples must be taught to do all that he has commanded, and that obedience to his commands will prove the reality of one's love for him.

The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation, but is under the law of Christ as a rule for life. In fact, the law guides life loveward. It points us and directs us towards love. So to sum this up, first, the law is used as a restraint, to curb and curtail behavior in the culture.

Second, the law is used as a reflection for the sinner that continually drives him to Christ. And third, the law is used as a rule for life, to lead us and propel us into good works. And finally, obedience to the law is a mark of true Christianity.

Disobedience to the law is a sign that we don't have a true relationship to Christ at all. The Apostle John would say it like this,. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him.

Thanks for listening. I'm Anthony Eugenio and you've been listening to the Reform Rookie Reform Distinctive series. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to our channel. And remember, Semper Reformanda.