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 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:
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 & the other 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.
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 then 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 al.
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 |
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