🧵The Lawful Uses of the Law
“The law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Tim 1:8).
Christ did not abolish the Moral Law (Matt 5:17-19). He wields it as His royal instrument to expose sin, restrain public evil, and chart the saint’s course.
The three uses of the law...
ht: John Calvin
1/9
“The law is good, if one uses it lawfully” (1 Tim 1:8).
Christ did not abolish the Moral Law (Matt 5:17-19). He wields it as His royal instrument to expose sin, restrain public evil, and chart the saint’s course.
The three uses of the law...
ht: John Calvin
1/9
2 / Mirror - Pedagogical Use
Hold the law before your face and behold the blazing holiness of God. It exposes every stain of sin (Rom 3:20; 7:7–10) and serves as a tutor (paidagōgos, Gal 3:24) driving sinners to Christ.
The mirror condemns the conscience, but also compels the humbled heart to plead, “God, be merciful to me.”
By shattering self-reliance it directs the guilty to receive and rest upon the righteousness of Jesus alone.
Hold the law before your face and behold the blazing holiness of God. It exposes every stain of sin (Rom 3:20; 7:7–10) and serves as a tutor (paidagōgos, Gal 3:24) driving sinners to Christ.
The mirror condemns the conscience, but also compels the humbled heart to plead, “God, be merciful to me.”
By shattering self-reliance it directs the guilty to receive and rest upon the righteousness of Jesus alone.
3 / Muzzle - Civil Use
Picture a bridle on a spirited stallion.
Righteous statutes, backed by just and proportional penalties, restrain open wickedness (Rom 13:3–4; 1 Tim 1:9–10). Even rebels feel the terror of just law.
God’s law preserves order, shields the weak, and reminds magistrates that their authority is ministerial, never absolute.
Picture a bridle on a spirited stallion.
Righteous statutes, backed by just and proportional penalties, restrain open wickedness (Rom 13:3–4; 1 Tim 1:9–10). Even rebels feel the terror of just law.
God’s law preserves order, shields the weak, and reminds magistrates that their authority is ministerial, never absolute.
4 / Map - Guide for the Regenerate
When the Spirit grants new birth, the law that once condemned becomes a lamp to the feet (Ps 119:105).
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
The law now maps the “good works prepared beforehand” (Eph 2:10), forging character and fueling gratitude.
Grace saves, law shapes.
When the Spirit grants new birth, the law that once condemned becomes a lamp to the feet (Ps 119:105).
“If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).
The law now maps the “good works prepared beforehand” (Eph 2:10), forging character and fueling gratitude.
Grace saves, law shapes.
5 / Mirror, muzzle, map
Law is never neutral. Together the law convicts the sinner, restraints the lawless, and conforms the saint (2 Tim 3:16–17). Three mercies in the hand of Christ.
But that’s not all…
Law is never neutral. Together the law convicts the sinner, restraints the lawless, and conforms the saint (2 Tim 3:16–17). Three mercies in the hand of Christ.
But that’s not all…
6 / Law always orients
Law always orients a people to the god of the system. “Those who make idols become like them” (Ps 115:8).
Exalt self-sovereignty, and statutes catechize citizens in self-worship.
Exalt Christ, and the law schools them in allegiance to the King of kings.
Law always orients a people to the god of the system. “Those who make idols become like them” (Ps 115:8).
Exalt self-sovereignty, and statutes catechize citizens in self-worship.
Exalt Christ, and the law schools them in allegiance to the King of kings.
7 / Law-Makers or Law-Appliers?
Civil authority exists to minister (διάκονος, Rom 13:1, 4) God’s justice, not to manufacture a rival code.
Yet fallen rulers invent ordinances that clash with the perfect law of the Lord, erecting sins God never named and excusing sins He squarely condemns.
The result is a conscience in turmoil--accusing, excusing, and never at rest (Rom 2:14-15).
Such tyranny is not stewardship; it is self-righteous lordship that Jesus hates.
“Woe to you…hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt 23:23).
“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matt 23:4).
“The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them… It shall not be so among you” (Matt 20:25-26).
Until magistrates become law-appliers rather than law-makers, deacons rather than demagogues, our civil code will continue to grind the weak, embolden the wicked, and provoke the Judge of all the earth.
Civil authority exists to minister (διάκονος, Rom 13:1, 4) God’s justice, not to manufacture a rival code.
Yet fallen rulers invent ordinances that clash with the perfect law of the Lord, erecting sins God never named and excusing sins He squarely condemns.
The result is a conscience in turmoil--accusing, excusing, and never at rest (Rom 2:14-15).
Such tyranny is not stewardship; it is self-righteous lordship that Jesus hates.
“Woe to you…hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness” (Matt 23:23).
“They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matt 23:4).
“The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them… It shall not be so among you” (Matt 20:25-26).
Until magistrates become law-appliers rather than law-makers, deacons rather than demagogues, our civil code will continue to grind the weak, embolden the wicked, and provoke the Judge of all the earth.
8 / We get the government we deserve
Public life follows the law of sowing and reaping.
Israel longed for a king “like the nations,” and God gave them Saul--with taxation, conscription, grief, and an inversion of God’s created order (1 Sam 8:4–18).
When they melted their silver and gold into idols, “princes became devourers” (Hos 8:4).
Where righteousness is esteemed, the Lord raises up shepherd-leaders, and “the people rejoice” (Prov 29:2; cf. 2 Sam 23:3–4).
Ballots, thrones, and even coups are mirrors of the nation’s moral pulse.
Men who bow to Christ must run for office and citizens must also labor to elect them.
Cultural repentance must precede political renewal; revival in pulpits and households will be felt at the polls and in legislative halls.
Public life follows the law of sowing and reaping.
Israel longed for a king “like the nations,” and God gave them Saul--with taxation, conscription, grief, and an inversion of God’s created order (1 Sam 8:4–18).
When they melted their silver and gold into idols, “princes became devourers” (Hos 8:4).
Where righteousness is esteemed, the Lord raises up shepherd-leaders, and “the people rejoice” (Prov 29:2; cf. 2 Sam 23:3–4).
Ballots, thrones, and even coups are mirrors of the nation’s moral pulse.
Men who bow to Christ must run for office and citizens must also labor to elect them.
Cultural repentance must precede political renewal; revival in pulpits and households will be felt at the polls and in legislative halls.
9 / The Remedy
Authority will always be exercised, either righteously or wickedly. The crisis is not power itself, but power wielded with unrighteously, coercing citizens into submission to self-exalting rulers who spurn God’s law and defy Christ’s crown.
External restraints--the righteous sword against evildoers--are necessary and mandated by God, but they can restrain evil only for a season.
The true remedy is twofold: Law and Gospel.
1. Christ-honoring magistrates must rise and apply, rather than invent, the statutes of God.
2. The gospel must be preached to see the Holy Spirit grant new hearts that delight in the very Lord and law they once despised.
Lasting liberty requires internal regeneration. The covenant promise stands: “I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer 31:33).
As law and Gospel labor together, Christ-likeness is chiseled into citizens, and through them God rebuilds a culture where authentic freedom flourishes beneath the gentle yoke of the King of kings.
Authority will always be exercised, either righteously or wickedly. The crisis is not power itself, but power wielded with unrighteously, coercing citizens into submission to self-exalting rulers who spurn God’s law and defy Christ’s crown.
External restraints--the righteous sword against evildoers--are necessary and mandated by God, but they can restrain evil only for a season.
The true remedy is twofold: Law and Gospel.
1. Christ-honoring magistrates must rise and apply, rather than invent, the statutes of God.
2. The gospel must be preached to see the Holy Spirit grant new hearts that delight in the very Lord and law they once despised.
Lasting liberty requires internal regeneration. The covenant promise stands: “I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jer 31:33).
As law and Gospel labor together, Christ-likeness is chiseled into citizens, and through them God rebuilds a culture where authentic freedom flourishes beneath the gentle yoke of the King of kings.
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