Westminster Confession of Faith 19
(paraphrased into modern English
and formatted to be read responsively)
| Leader: | God gave Adam a law in the form of a covenant of works, by which he bound him and all his descendants to personal, complete, exact, and ongoing obedience. |
| People: | God promised life if Adam kept that law. |
| Leader: | God threatened death if Adam broke that law. |
| People: | Moreover, God gave Adam power and ability to keep that law. |
| Leader: | After Adam fell, this law continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness. |
| People: | As such, God gave it on Mount Sinai in ten commandments written on two stone tablets. |
| Leader: | The first four commandments contain our duty to God. The other six contain our duty to neighbour for God’s sake. |
| People: | This law is commonly called the MORAL LAW. |
| Leader: | In addition, God was pleased to give various CEREMONIAL LAWS to the people of Israel as the church under age. |
| People: | These ceremonial laws contained ordinances that were typological and symbolic of things to come. |
| Leader | Some of these ordinances were rites of worship that prefigured Christ—his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits. Others instructed in moral duties. |
| People: | All these ceremonial laws have now ended under the new testament. |
| Leader: | God also gave various JUDICIAL LAWS to the people of Israel to direct them as a theocratic State. When that theocratic State ended with the new testament, those laws ended. |
| People: | Therefore, those judicial laws do not obligate any now, except insofar as they reveal general principles of justice. |
| Leader: | The moral law binds all people in all times to obedience, whether or not they are justified. |
| People: | The obligation to obey the moral law arises not only because of its content but also because of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it. |
| Leader: | In the gospel, Christ in no way dissolves this obligation. |
| People: | Rather, in the gospel, Christ greatly strengthens this obligation. |
| Leader: | We believers are not under God’s law as a covenant of works by which we are justified or condemned. |
| People: | Even so, the law is of great use to us as well as to others. |
| Leader: | As a rule of life, it informs us both of God’s will and of our duty. |
| People: | It directs and binds us to walk accordingly. |
| Leader: | It also reveals to us the sinful pollutions of our nature, hearts, and lives. |
| People: | This is so that, as we examine ourselves in the light of God’s law, we may be further convicted of our sin, humbled because of it, and brought to hate it more, as well as to see more clearly our need for Christ and the perfection of his obedience. |
| Leader: | The law is also useful to the regenerate because, by forbidding sin, it restrains our corruptions. By its threats it shows us what our sins deserve. |
| People: | And, even though we are free from the curse threatened in the law, these threats show us what afflictions we may expect in this life because of our sins. |
| Leader: | Likewise, the promises attached to the law show us God’s approval of obedience. |
| People: | These promises show us the blessings we may expect to follow such obedience. |
| Leader | Nevertheless, these blessings are not due to us by the law as a covenant of works. |
| People: | Therefore, if we do good rather than evil because the law encourages good and discourages evil, that is no proof that we are under the law rather than under grace. |
| Leader: | These uses of the law do not conflict with the grace of the gospel, but are in complete harmony with it. Why? |
| People: | Because it is the Spirit of Christ who subdues us and enables us to do freely and cheerfully those things which God’s will, revealed in the law, requires. |