has set forth by way of example the most frightful and wicked element in every kind of transgression, at the hearing of which our senses might shudder, in order that he might imprint upon our minds a greater detestation of every sort of sin. . . . For example, when called by their own names, we do not consider anger and hatred as things to be cursed. Yet when they are forbidden under the name “murder,” we better understand how abominable they are in the sight of God, by whose Word they are relegated to the level of a dreadful crime.12
Each header, furthermore, retains the positive or negative wording of the Ten Commandments. If the commandment reads, “You shall,” the header is stated positively; if “You shall not,” the header is stated negatively. Calvin reminds us, though, that “in negative precepts, . . . the opposite affirmation is also to be understood.”13 So the sixth commandment does not simply prohibit oppressions, it also positively affirms “the requirement that we give our neighbor’s life all the help we can.”14
(2) Decalogue law. In the sixth commandment, for instance, Calvin first interprets the Decalogical law “You shall not murder.”
(3) Exposition. These case laws illustrate how the general principle taught in that Decalogical law applies in various situations. For example, Calvin considers “You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind” (Lev 19:14) as a particular case law that illustrates, or gives an “exposition” of, the principle taught in the sixth commandment. Cursing the deaf and tripping the blind are cases of oppression.
(4) Political supplemental laws (if applicable). Lastly, Calvin collects and interprets political supplements, or aids, to the commandments. With the sixth commandment again, he regards Leviticus 24:17—“Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death”—as aiding political authorities to handle murder.
Uses of This Book
One may use this volume, first, as a reference guide. When encountering a difficult law in Moses’ writings, simply refer to the Scripture index to locate the page in this volume discussing that law. Or perhaps you need ethical guidance about a particular matter. Knowing that the Ten Commandments are ten perspectives on all of life, simply read the chapter of the Decalogical law dealing with the matter in question. Suppose, for instance, the matter concerns what to do about a stray dog that has appeared on your front porch, whom your children desire to keep. Since the matter concerns property, and knowing that the eighth commandment deals with property (let the “General Principle” headers help you here), reading through the chapter on the eighth commandment will bring you across Deuteronomy 22:1–3 and Exodus 23:4. These verses will guide you to make a righteous decision about the dog.
Using this book as a reference guide, though, involves research after a question arises. For the more initiated students, who prepare themselves for questions before they emerge (Prov 15:28), this volume can also be used for an expedited ethics education. In a sense, these few hundred pages cover the entirety of moral instruction. For though the Scriptures sufficiently supply us with moral direction, completely training us in righteousness and equipping us for every good work (2 Tim 3:16–17), the Mosaic revelation occupies a unique place in Scripture. Concerning ethics, it is the seed from which the rest of the Scriptures blossom. As Calvin rightly teaches, the new oracles of the prophets added to the Old Testament (i.e., the books of Joshua through Malachi) were “not so new that they did not flow from the law and hark back to it. As for doctrine, they were only interpreters of the law and added nothing to it except predictions of things to come. Apart from these, they brought nothing forth but a pure exposition of the law.”15 Likewise with the relationship between the Old Testament and the writings of the apostles: “so far as relates to the substance, nothing has been added; for the writings of the apostles contain nothing else than a simple and natural explanation of the Law and the Prophets.”16 Consequently, all moral revelation traces back to that Scripture written with God’s own finger (Exod 31:18; Deut 9:10), causing Calvin to say confidently: “nothing can be wanted as the rule of a good and upright life beyond the Ten Commandments.”17 Reading this book from cover to cover, then, quickly educates one in ethics.
Competitors to This Book
The state of modern theology calls for an analysis of two competitors to Calvin. Since Antinomianism and Natural Law dominate Christendom, and since without a proper dismissal of these ideas, Calvin’s Law-ethic may remain in doubt, a somewhat brief critique of each follows.
Antinomianism
Dispensational Version
Unlike Calvin, many theologians today make themselves ethically unhelpful by lopping off the Mosaic portion of the Lord’s Word. They have antinomian (i.e., against the Law) tendencies at least toward this portion of God’s Law.18 They rely heavily on passages such as Galatians 3:24–25, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor”; Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law”; and especially Romans 6:14, “for you are not under law but under grace.”19 From these they reason that Moses’ statutes are morally irrelevant to the New Covenant Christian:
The specific provisions of the Mosaic law in Exodus–Deuteronomy were intended to apply directly only to Israel at that time.20
Simply put, the New Testament explicitly presents the Old Testament Mosaic law in its entirety as abrogated and replaced by a similar law, the law of Christ, which places greater premium on dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit.21
The entire Mosaic law comes to fulfillment in Christ, and this fulfillment means that this law is no longer a direct and immediate source of, or judge of, the conduct of God’s people. Christian behavior, rather, is now guided directly by “the law of Christ.”22
From these quotes, though, we see that they do not leave us without ethical guidance. They are not antinomian in the sense of allowing anarchy or unrestraint. There is still a law for the New Covenant believer, the Law of Christ. This law is the New Testament’s codification of the eternal moral law of God. The Law of Moses was one codified form; the Law of Christ is its newer codified form. Therefore:
We should approach the New Testament with the assumption that whatever is not re-introduced and re-instated in the New Covenant is no longer in effect.23
We are bound only to that [of the Mosaic law] which is clearly repeated within New Testament teaching.24
The code found in Moses was tailored to that specific people for that specific time. Thus, “While there is unity between the Testaments when it comes to moral directives [eternal moral principles], there is diversity between the Testaments when it comes to ethical directions [cultural applications of the eternal principles].”25 We know what laws of the Old Testament are eternal by their reintroduction into the New Testament. This, then, is one form of antinomianism, what one theologian called “dispensational antinomianism.”
