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T27 reasoning: The law in the Christian life

Reasoning steps: The law in the Christian life

Verdicts: T27 · The law in the Christian life. Method: conventions, scoring and proximity eras. Scripture is the primary measure; fathers are weighed by era (Era I to c. 150 = 1.0, II = 0.8, III = 0.6, IV = 0.4).

T27.1: Does the moral law (the Decalogue) bind Christians?

Step T27.1.1: Scripture

Jesus came ’not to abolish the Law … but to fulfil’ it (Matt 5:17); Paul sums up the commandments in love and quotes them (Rom 13:8–10); James cites them as binding (Jas 2:8–11). Believers are ’not under law but under grace’ (Rom 6:14) as a way of being justified, not as freed from God’s commands.

Step T27.1.2: Patristic evidence

Irenaeus (Era II): ’the words of the Decalogue … remain permanently with us, receiving by means of His advent in the flesh, extension and increase, but not abrogation.’ Sources: irenaeus-t27-s1.

Step T27.1.3: Weighing decision

Era II and Scripture agree that the Ten Commandments remain, extended by Christ. Verdict: the moral law binds Christians as the rule of life (Scripture, Era II); justification is not by it.

  • Confidence: High.

Step T27.1.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): Matt 5:17–19 and Rom 13:8–10 keep the commandments in force for believers. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Assessment: All traditions that address it agree; the question tests whether a confession states it.

T27.2: Can the justified keep God’s law perfectly in this life?

Step T27.2.1: Scripture

‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves’ (1 John 1:8); ‘we all stumble in many ways’ (Jas 3:2); Paul has not ‘already obtained this or am already perfect’ (Phil 3:12). Yet ‘his commandments are not burdensome’ (1 John 5:3).

Step T27.2.2: Patristic evidence

Council of Carthage (418, Era III): anathema on anyone who says that ‘out of humility, we ought to say that we have sin, and not because it is really so’. Sources: carthage-t27-s1.

Step T27.2.3: Weighing decision

Era III condemned the Pelagian claim of sinlessness: the saints truly sin. Scripture says the commandments are not burdensome, yet no one is without sin. Verdict: the justified can truly obey by grace but do not keep the law perfectly in this life (Scripture, Carthage 418).

  • Confidence: High.

Step T27.2.4: Source-proximity weighing

  • Scripture (benchmark): 1 John 1:8 and Jas 3:2 deny sinless perfection; 1 John 5:3 affirms real obedience. (Scripture confidence: high)
  • Assessment: Confessions that deny perfect keeping fit best; Trent’s canon that the commandments are not impossible keeps the ’not burdensome’ side while also teaching daily venial sins.

Post-750 development by tradition

Catholic

Trent VI (1547), canons 18–19.

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Trent VI canon 19: anathema on saying ’that the ten commandments nowise appertain to Christians’ (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers 3/4; Scripture 3/4): Trent VI canon 18: anathema on saying ’the commandments of God are, even for one that is justified … impossible to keep’ (verified); ch. 11 grants daily venial sins.

Orthodox

Not assessed.

  • T27.1 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: Dositheus has no decree on the Decalogue.
  • T27.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no Orthodox text was checked.

Oriental Orthodox

Not assessed.

  • T27.1 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no Oriental Orthodox text was located.
  • T27.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not assessed: no Oriental Orthodox text was located.

Lutheran

FC VI (1577).

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): FC Epitome VI: believers ‘have been freed and exempted from the curse and coercion of the Law’ but ‘are not on this account without Law’ (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): FC Epitome VI: ‘after they are regenerate and [much of] the flesh notwithstanding cleaves to them’ (verified).

Anglican

Arts. VII, XV.

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. VII: ’no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral’ (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Art. XV: ‘all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things’ (verified).

Presbyterian

WCF XIX.5; WLC 149.

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): WCF XIX.5: ‘The moral law doth forever bind all, as well justified persons as others’ (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): WLC 149: ‘No man is able, either of himself, or by any grace received in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God’ (verified).

Reformed Baptist

1689 13.2; 19.5.

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 19.5: ‘The moral law does for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others’ (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): 1689 13.2: sanctification is ‘yet imperfect in this life; there abides still some remnants of corruption in every part’ (verified).

General Baptist

Orthodox Creed arts. XV, XXVI.

  • T27.1 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XXVI: ’the Ten Commandments, as handed forth by Christ the Mediator, are a Rule of Life to a Believer’ (verified, reformedontheweb.com transcription).
  • T27.2 (fathers 4/4; Scripture 4/4): Orthodox Creed (1679) art. XV: concupiscence remains ’even in the Regenerate, that they cannot love; nor obey God perfectly in this Life’ (verified, reformedontheweb.com transcription).

Anabaptist

Not addressed.

  • T27.1 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not addressed: Dordrecht V speaks of ’the Law of Christ’, the New Testament, without discussing the Decalogue (verified).
  • T27.2 (fathers n/a/4; Scripture n/a/4): Not addressed in Dordrecht (verified).