Theological term
Pedagogical Use of the Law
68 sermons · All terms
The Law of Love
Matthew 5:43–48 contains the sixth and final antithesis of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Christ corrects the Pharisaic addition 'hate your enemy' — a phrase found nowhere in Scripture — and restores the full demand of the moral law: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you. Christ is not introducing new legislation but faithfully expounding the eternal righteousness of the Father, whose law always required love even toward enemies, as texts from Exodus, Leviticus, Proverbs, and Job demonstrate. The sermon traces the contrast between true law and scribal distortion, the three positive duties of love, the theological ground of sonship in reflecting the Father's common grace, and the summary call to perfection — which ultimately drives the believer to the cross and to the imputed righteousness of Christ who alone satisfied these demands perfectly. Kingdom citizens are not bare-minimum disciples but are called, by the Spirit's enabling, to embody an ethic that distinguishes them entirely from tax collectors and pagans.
The Sixth Commandment
Jesus' exposition of the Sixth Commandment in Matthew 5:21–26 does not elevate Moses' law or introduce a new covenant standard — it clears away the scribal and Pharisaic misinterpretation that reduced 'You shall not murder' to a merely external prohibition. The commandment has always reached the heart: unwarranted anger, slander, and character assassination are violations of the Sixth Word no less than physical killing, because the law of God is, as the Psalmist declared, exceedingly broad. The sermon applies this in two directions: horizontal relationships broken by anger must be reconciled before worship can be acceptable to God, and the law's comprehensive reach exposes every hearer's guilt and drives them to the only one who perfectly kept it — the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty Mediator who alone can plead not guilty before a holy God.
The Ethics of the Messianic Kingdom
The Sermon on the Mount is not a program for moral self-improvement or a blueprint for social reform, but a messianic manifesto addressed primarily to disciples — those already saved by grace — describing what they are and how they are to live. Five historical approaches to the Sermon on the Mount are surveyed and evaluated, with the 'normative' interpretation established as the proper hermeneutic: Jesus expounds the ethics of the kingdom for those who have first believed on the King. The Beatitudes are treated as indicatives of saving grace, not imperatives for earning it, and the pedagogical function of the law is retained as a secondary purpose — crushing the unconverted and driving them to Christ.
The Purpose of the Law
What is the purpose of the Mosaic law if the Abrahamic promise already secured salvation by faith? Galatians 3:19–25 forces this question, and the apostle Paul answers it not in terms of individual spiritual experience but in terms of redemptive history — the covenantal relationship between Sinai and the promise made to Abraham. The law was added to restrain and reveal sin, to preserve the biological and spiritual integrity of Israel until the promised seed, Christ, should come, functioning as a guardian or pedagogue over the covenant people until the fullness of time. The sermon closes by insisting that the expiration of the Mosaic covenant as a covenantal arrangement does not abolish God's moral law, which continues to bind believers as a pattern of sanctified life, while justification remains by faith alone in Christ alone.
The Defense of Justification by Faith Alone
Galatians 2:17–21 presents one of Paul's sharpest defenses of justification by faith alone, and this exposition works through three movements in the text: the proper and improper uses of the law (vv. 17–19), the personal experience of crucifixion with Christ as the ground of the justified life (v. 20), and the exclusivity of grace that renders any supplementation of the gospel a nullification of Christ's death (v. 21). The sermon exposes the logic of the objection that justification by faith makes Christ a 'minister of sin,' refutes it from the text, and shows that legalism — not antinomianism — is the true transgression of God's law. The central application is that any 'Christ-plus' system, whether formal theology or informal churchly shibboleths, empties Calvary of its meaning and must be resisted.
Justification, Faith, and the Law
Galatians 2:15–16 drives Paul's sharpest declaration that justification is a forensic act — a legal declaration by God — received through faith alone in Christ alone, entirely apart from works of the law. This sermon expounds that doctrine in four observations: justification is a legal declaration, not by works of law, by faith as instrument not merit, and impossible by law for any flesh. The sermon then addresses the three classic uses of the law — civil, pedagogical, and normative — demonstrating that rejecting the law as a ground of justification does not entail antinomianism. The believer who has been justified by faith is directed back to God's law as a pattern and rule of life, the ground of genuine assurance being the doing, dying, and rising of Christ alone rather than personal obedience or inner experience.
The Ninth Commandment
The ninth commandment, 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor' (Exodus 20:16), is examined through its prohibition, its underlying reasons, and its positive demands. The sermon identifies seven specific violations — perjury, lying, backbiting, slander, gossip, hypocrisy, and the willing reception of evil speech — and grounds them in the character of God, who is truth, and the dignity of man made in His image. The three uses of the law frame the exposition: the law convicts the unconverted liar and guides the regenerate believer toward a life of truthfulness. Hearers are called to speak truth in every domain of life, to swear to their own hurt, to exercise charity toward others, and to actively discourage the gossip and slanderer.
The Responsibility of Children
Colossians 3:20 addresses children as responsible members of the covenant community with a specific duty: to obey their parents in all things for the glory of God. This sermon expounds that command under two headings — as a religious commitment rooted in what is well-pleasing to the Lord, and as a requirement of God's moral law grounded in the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5; Ephesians 6:1–3). The law's impossible demand is not softened but turned pedagogically toward the cross: children cannot perfectly obey or honor their parents, and that failure is meant to drive them to Christ, whose active obedience fulfilled all righteousness on behalf of sinners. Parents are therefore urged to present the law honestly, presume nothing about their children's regeneration, and cultivate homes where gospel ethics are visibly practiced.