Twenty-Sixth Question Whether the judicial law was abrogated under the New Testament. We make distinctions Ends of the individual law. I. The forensic or judicial law concerned the civil government of the people of God under the Old Testament and contained a body of precepts concerning the form of that political rule. There were various… Read More Has the Judicial Law been Abrogated? | Francis Turretin
The judicial law of Israel, the laws whose subject matter concerned Israel as a civil body, is expired with the state of that people and is no longer binding except for its general equity (WCF 19:4). “Proper law” (lex propria) recognizes the authority of magistrates to make positive human laws based upon the moral law of God… Read More Lex Propria – Proper Law
Wilhelmus à Brakel The Christian’s Reasonable Service Vol. 2, pp. 168-180 The Relationship of the Civil Government to the Church This generates another question: Does the civil government have any authority at all with regard to the church? If yes, what does or does this not consist of? We wish to preface our answer to… Read More The Relationship of the Civil Government to the Church
A recent article (Doesn’t the Bible Tell Christians to Put Homosexuals to Death?) by popular Baptist John Piper’s organization Desiring God gave me the impetus to attempt to address the numerous problems with how many Evangelicals understand the nature and character of God’s law and its relevance for Christians today. This particular article addresses the… Read More Answering John Piper on the Civil Use of God’s Law
Reformed Theology has always held that God’s Law is best understood as having a threefold division, some being moral, some ceremonial, and some judicial. Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession explains this threefold division. The moral law, summarily comprehended in the 10 commandments (WLC 98), is rooted in God’s character as well as the created… Read More The Judicial Law: General Equity vs. Particular Equity
Geneva’s execution of the heretic Michael Servetus is often referred to as a point of shame for Reformed people today. But should it be? The modern Reformed insist that Reformed theology is not tainted by its history of religious intolerance, yet none-the-less consider it a blight on our history that we have moved past. But… Read More Defending the Execution of Servetus
Wholesome Severity Reconciled with Christian Liberty It will be asked, “But how does it appear that these or any other judicial laws of Moses do at all appertain to us, as rules to guide us in like cases?” I shall wish him who scruples this, to read Piscator’s appendix to his observations upon the 21-23… Read More The Civil Magistrate’s Duty to Punish Sins Against the Moral Law | George Gillespie
Purely Presbyterian 