The 3 Uses Of The Law vs. Individual(istic)ism

From time to time the believer in rugged American Individualism will rise up & cry out that the Sermon On the Mount either applies solely to individuals & not institutions in part or in whole. 

Let’s take a closer look at the 3fold uses of the Law & Gospel.  
 
The Law & Gospel & the Image of God
The Westminster Shorter Catechism provides us with an excellent definition/description of what God is:
Q. 4. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom,m power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.

An expanded answer ought to read: 

God is singular a triune Spirit, who, as to God’s 3 Hypostases are each a se & autotheos, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable as to essence, &, as to attributes, God’s essence applies to his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.   God has no material substance, no sexual attributes/characteristics, & God’s 3 Hypostases (Persons) are perfectly & harmoniously perichoretic with with one another, sharing a singular identity (God) & at the same time 3 separate, yet perichoretic identities (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit).

God’s Moral Law & Civil Code, as well as the Gospel itself flow directly from His essence & attributes. The purpose of the created order is to testify to God’s existence, attributes, & authority (Romans 1:20).   

God has chosen to reveal His moral will & decretal will progressively (so as not to overwhelm us).   He has done so through a system of suzerain covenants, & these covenants.   Theopneustos Scripture is therefore reflective of God’s image & authority.    

We know that Christ is the one & only Redeemer - Mediator (1 Tim 2:5, 1 John 2:2).  He holds 3 Offices:  Prophet, Priest, King.    

The 3 uses of the Law are described in the Heidelberg Catechism as follows: 

• pedagogical

• civil

• moral/normative

Question:  How do you get “individual, ecclesiastical, & civil out of these? 

Answer:  The pedagogical use of the Law drives us to Christ by reminding us of our sinfulness.    How is it administered, relative to the 3 offices of Christ?   Via individuals sharpening one another as iron sharpens iron, by godly governments legislating, executing, & judging via laws that are congruent with the abiding principles of the Law & Gospel, & by way of the ecclesiastical class administering worship ethics & civil ethics by way of corporate pedagogy.   We associate the pedagogical use of the Law & Gospel with the work of the ecclesiastical class especially. 

The civil use of the Law curtails evil (Romans 13), & this ought to curtail individual evils like personal vengeance & corporate evils like systemic gluttony.   The prophets did not merely lawsuit the people as individuals, they also lawsuited the ecclesiastical class & the civil authorities.   Yeshua, for example, was lawsuiting the majority of the Sanhedrin, not just individual people.  

The normative use of the Law tilts toward individuals moreso than the other 2 uses.   The civil law is institutional.  The pedagogical law tilts toward the teaching mechanisms in the churches. 

Question: Why do you order them as you do? 

Answer: On the basis of Matthew’s account of the temptation.  Satan sifts Yeshua on dry land.   The other 2 temptations take place on the Temple Mount & / or an analogous location, & the first sounds very like it took place pneumatically.    

He is asked to feed Himself, to break a season of fasting & prayer.   The author is depicting Satan challenging Yeshua as an everyman.  The Prophet office is in view. 

He is led **up** by the Spirit into the wilderness for 40 days & nights — a subtle reference to the pneumatic state.

The 2nd temptation takes place on the Temple Mount.  Satan challenges Yeshua to throw Himself down from the Temple & alludes to the crucifixion.

He is testing Yeshua’s resolve & testing Him for hypocrisy associated with the temple service, which is an ecclesiastical domain.  If he can get Yeshua to do something dramatic & draw unnecessary attention to Himself, this might expose Yeshua as a needy hypocrite who calls out the majority of the Sanhedrin (who run the Temple Mount) for trumpeting gifts & withholding their wealth while the poor go hungry while struggling to give at all. 

The last temptation happens in a location where Satan showed Yeshua the kingdoms of the world & said he would give them to Yeshua if He would worship Him.  This temptation is clearly a bid to make Yeshua a civil authority, maybe even call Himseif a son of one or more pseudodeities. 
 
As you can see,  I am merely looking to the text of Matthew here.  

How the 3 Offices & 3 Uses Interrelate

Prophet	Priest	King
Individual	Individual	Individual
Ecclesiastical	Ecclesiastical	Ecclesiastical
Civil	Civil	Civil
Prophet	Priest	King

O LORD, Hear Our Prayers!