The Judicial Laws of Moses and General Equity
To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 19.4)
This has been a section of the Westminster Confession which has met with differing interpretations, especially in more recent decades. In particular, it has become central to the question of whether “theonomy” is within the boundaries of the Westminster standards. It also was a point of contention when in 2001 the 68th General Assembly of the OPC declared that “the use of women in military combat is both contrary to nature and inconsistent with the Word of God.”1 A protest to this action objected to this declaration in part because it argued “largely from Old Testament narrative and civil law,” citing 19.4 of the Westminster Confession as a reason why this biblical support was “highly dubious.”2 In my own experience, talking to people and reading books on the Westminster Confession, there is a bit of confusion as to the meaning of this paragraph about the judicial laws.
John Calvin on Obedience to the Law
"It is our wisdom by which we are formed and instructed to complete uprightness. It is our discipline which does not permit us to abandon ourselves in more wicked license." - John Calvin
Dort on Gospel Threats
"God preserves, continues, and completes this work by the hearing and reading of the gospel, by meditation on it, by its exhortations, threats, and promises." - Canons of Dort
Daily Edition: The OPC Republication Report (Updated)
Past decades have seen an emergence of a Lutheran-Reformed hybrid theology in which the Law/Gospel distinction is expressed more as a dichotomy between works and faith (Lutheran) rather than the distinction between the Old administration of the Covenant of Grace and the New administration (Reformed). Additionally, some have begun teaching that the Mosaic Covenant is a republication of the Covenant of Works made with Adam--not simply that the same Law is present in both covenants, but that "in some sense" Israel is brought into a Covenant of Works in which it should merit the land of promise.
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We need not reinvent Christianity or carve out ever-smaller enclaves to prove our faithfulness. We do not need to imitate the liberal order’s obsession with identity and control. We can return to nature, heritage, tradition, fathers, and our faith. Sectarian comfort is a false security for a people who have forgotten how to receive life from God’s hand. It will take Christian courage in an age of liberals and sects to grow deeper roots and provide a more secure and fruitful future.
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